ROLLING NEWS HEADLINES

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• February 2024 

The TWBL is saddened to hear of the recent passing of Jamie 'Bullet' McGuire at The Tunbridge Wells Hospital. Jamie had played badminton from a young age and over his many years in the TWBL area had played for Telephones, Tonbridge/Invicta, Chelwood Gate and most recently Trident, where he spent the last 13+ years and for several of those was the Club Captain. He also played in the Orpington League when time allowed.  

Bullet will perhaps be most remembered for his larger than life personality and 'loudness' on court which  was always just intended to be his way of playing and enjoying badminton. He brought fun and enthusiasm to everything he did which was infectious to all of those around him. Along with badminton, he also spent many hours in our local pubs organising bands and singers, where he almost took on a manager role for them, ensuring they got their chance of the limelight on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night. He will be greatly missed by all those who knew him. Our sincere condolences go to his partner Elaine and Jamie's two young children.

UPDATE - Jamie's funeral will take place at the Tunbridge Wells Crematorium on Friday 22 March at 12.15 pm. If you do attend, it is requested you don't wear black. In fact, Jamie would have been happiest if he knew you had turned up in red, after his love and support for Liverpool FC.   

•  August 2023 

 The TWBL confirms it is adopting the new Badminton England Transgender Policy with immediate effect. Our Rules will be updated accordingly. In brief, this means that references to Men's divisions will change to "Open" and that only 'female at birth' ladies will be able to play in traditional ladies events.

• April 2023

 Fabulous news from Canterbury as our Junior U19s and our Senior team win the Kent Inter-Regional competition at the University of Kent. With several years of no play due to Covid, this means the Tunbridge Wells senior team has won this for two years out of the last three played. That's pretty good for us! We secured top place by finishing ahead of both Orpington and North Foreland this time around. 

• February 2023

 One of our senior players, William Brown, has put together a document highlighting the strength in our region of our Masters players. Well done to all our 'of a certain age' players who continue to compete at a high level around the country!                  Please click  here

• October 2022 

 - Don't forget, Chelwood Gate BC also have a new venue, which is now Brambletye School in East Grinstead RH19 3PD.

- Paddock Wood BC have a new venue for their matches - Somerhill School in Tonbridge.  Please see the document on the      Admin page for the exact address and dates and times. 

- Our new 2022-23 match playing season start will be on 1st October as is usual for the TWBL. All further, relevant information can be found on the Administration tab. 

  
• April 2022

 KENT INTER-REGIONAL - Our Juniors entered into this competition, which took place in Canterbury, to represent the TWBL and finished first in both competitive age groups, namely U15 and U19. A very well done all round to all of them for their excellent attitude and skilful playing! Thank you also to the parents who helped on the day and took on the role of squad captains.

• June 2021

 As things currently stand, the TWBL Committee is planning on running our usual competitive season from October this year.     

        -  Updated July - our season start will be Monday 1 November.

• February 2020

 Well done to Rory Easton and his doubles partner for reaching the final of the English National Badminton Championships Men's Doubles at the Westgate Badminton Centre in Winchester. Although they took the first game, they then lost the next two to finish as runners-up in this important Seniors tournament. Very well done!

• December 2019 

 More stunning news now as both Kenton Jones and Martin Staden (see also below) became Singles Champions in their respective age groups in the 25th English National Masters Championships 2019 at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Kenton was ranked #2 at the start and he beat Tim Cope the #1 seed 21-13, 21-17 in the final. Martin was ranked #1 in his event and he beat the #2 seed Mike Nevett 21-15, 21-7 in the final. Well done chaps! 

For further information on the 2019 National Masters event, please CLICK HERE

• October 

 Congratulations to Kenton Jones (Trident) for winning the Kent Masters Gold over 45s Singles tournament on Friday 25th October at Medway Park, Gillingham where he beat Marco Gouw in the final. Kenton was presented with his medal by Geoff Rofe (see below). On the Saturday he partnered Chris Spice (also Trident) in the level doubles and they finished as runners up in the over 40s. Another excellent result, bearing in mind they beat the number 1 seeds in their group match on the way to the final. A big well done also to Martin Staden (Trident) for winning the Men's singles in the over 55s event. A fabulous result! Several other TWBL players took part in this Gold Masters tournament and well done to them all for competing.

• Langton Green BC now start their 6s matches at 7.00 pm in the LG Village Hall. This is due to a new time restriction for finishing at the hall. 4s matches will continue to start at 7.30 pm.                                                  
  
• June: 

 Stewart Wild

St John’s Badminton Club are sad to announce the news that Stewart Wild passed away recently after a short illness. Stewart was the inspiration behind the formation of St John's back in 2008, became their first chairman, and subsequently treasurer. 

Stewart will be greatly missed by all who knew him at St John’s, and by everyone in the wider badminton community. 

• October 2018:        Please note Sevenoaks BC matches now start at 8.15 pm and not 8.00 pm.
  
• April:    

 Fabulous news from Canterbury as the TWBL Senior team & our U19's win the Kent Inter-Regionals

We're used to reporting here that our Juniors have won this tournament on a regular basis (see further below) but it's a rare event to see our senior team come up trumps. Albeit a couple of the players were under 18 but a win is a win and for the first time in a number of years TWBL can stand proud in this event. To complement this win, our U19 Juniors walked away with the Kent Inter-Regional title the day after. Both events are staged annually at the University of Kent in Canterbury. 

Seniors -

U19's -  

• January 2018:     Some changes to our Player Handicapping List - please see the new list on the Admin tab
  
• December:           Paddock Wood's start time for matches at Putlands has changed. They now start at 8.15pm 
  
• April 2017: 

TWBL Juniors win both Kent Inter-Regional trophies.... again!

Once again our juniors, ably organised by Alex & Tara Easton, have won the inter-regional trophy in both age groups (all players can be seen below).  

Other regions represented were Medway (U15 only), Orpington and North Foreland. This is an annual event that has been taking place for many years and we have had our name on it quite a few times in recent seasons.

Particularly well done to Hannah and Annabel who were playing in their first competition of this type and also to Rohan Shergill who although he would have had a lovely time playing in his own age group (U15) had to take one for the team and play up against the U19s. Both Hannah and Annabel won points against the two weaker teams in the U15 group proving they were not out of their depth at all despite only playing the sport for a relatively short time.

The closest match for the U15s was against Orpington and the two stand out performances of that match were David playing first singles and Prabhav playing 2nd singles. Both won against older County squad opponents who have beaten them in the past. So it was their points, backed up by a solid boys doubles and Shivani winning her singles (more comfortably!) that gave TWBL a 4-3 win and secured the Trophy. 

Rory captained the U19s to a comfortable win by strategic use of his girl power (Emily Easton, Emily Tillman and Alisha Gupta) who in combination were stronger than the girls in the opposition teams. So together with his own points they were comfortable victors.

• April:  

Holly Williams (HBC junior) takes 2 Golds & 1 Bronze in U15 English Nationals!

It is perhaps no coincidence that Hildenborough Ladies A have risen to the top of the TWBL Premier division this season with 4 of the team aged U17 and all junior training under the watchful eyes of Jo Muggeridge & Alex Easton. 

At this year’s Nationals 13 year old Emma Goddard made it through to the quarter finals of the U15 ladies singles whilst Holly Williams stole the show with a stunning display of controlled shot making to take Gold in the U15 Mixed partnering Neil Bhabuta & Gold in the U15 ladies doubles partnering Gauri Shidhaye. Holly fell short in the ladies singles after a 3 set loss to Sofia Nicholson in the semi-final but she was magnificent throughout the whole tournament. 

In the U17 Nationals, HBC’s Rory Easton had another fine weekend reaching all 3 finals only to be un-done in the boys singles & doubles by arch rival Harry Huang with Harry partnering Ethan Van Leeuwen in the doubles. Rory was not to be un-done though as he and Mixed partner Annie Lado controlled the final of the mixed with a 21-7, 21-12 win over Ethan Van Leeuwen & Abbygael Harris. 

Both Holly (below) & Rory are on International duty in the coming weeks as Holly heads to Ireland for the Home Nations and Rory is off to Denmark for the 6 Nations.

• February 2017:

Great success for many junior badminton players from St John's at the Mid Sussex tournament which took place over two recent weekends at the Dolphin Leisure Centre in Haywards Heath. Please see the attached document for a list of their medal winners! 

Please Click Here

• April 2016:  

      Tunbridge Wells Junior Badminton players win Kent Inter-Regional

A team of seven Under 15, and seven Under 19 badminton players representing Tunbridge Wells Junior Badminton won the prestigious Kent Inter Regional Badminton Tournament at the Kent University Campus, Canterbury on Sunday 17th April 2016. The Kent Inter Regional is an annual junior badminton tournament that places the top juniors from each of five Kent regions against each other. Our teams can be seen below.

Ian Kinghorn the Chairman of Tunbridge Wells Junior Badminton thanked Alex Easton of Hildenborough BC for all his assistance in selecting and managing the teams and stated that the wins in both age groups clearly demonstrates that we in the TWBL area have the best juniors in the county and clearly shows that the growing success of junior badminton clubs within the Tunbridge Wells area was paying dividends.

• February:  It is with sadness we report the passing of Jane Turner of Borough Green BC. Jane had played for BGBC since the early 1970's when it was first set up by a group of parents and teachers at Borough Green School, including her dad Len. Whilst at the club she had been their treasurer for some 25 years. The onset of cancer was quite sudden last year and sadly Jane died peacefully at Kippington Nursing Home in Sevenoaks on 25 February. She was 55.   
  
• February 2016:  St John's BC took 19 juniors to the U-16 and U-18 Mid Sussex tournament and once again enjoyed success. This time the progress was almost exclusively in the main section rather than the plate, and their players went much further into the singles competitions too. Please read on by opening the attachment - Click Here    Pictured here are two from St John's, Lola & Jemima, with medals 

• Senior Kent Restricted 24-27 Sept - Well done to Ryan Staden and Emily Easton who both won trophies as the champions of Kent in their respective events of Mens Singles and Ladies Doubles (with Gemma Whiting). For a complete run down of the Kent Restricted please click here for the full tournament results - 

Kent Restricted Sept 2015

• Hildenborough, Montreal and Sevenoaks badminton clubs all have part or fully new match venues for the coming season - please see the updated Match Venues document. Also, Paddock Wood BC joins the TWBL for the new 2015-16 season.
  
• A team of riders, including some from Borough Green BC, are cycling from Paris to Avignon in September for a recently formed charity. Please see their website for details which also has the link to their JustGiving page. 

• The Kent Junior Restricted Tournamament 2015 will be held at Medway Park over the week-end of the 19-20th September. The entry form may be found on the Tournament Info tab to the left.
  
• St John's club night changes to a Monday evening and Sevenoaks changes to a Tuesday evening for the 2015-16 season.
  
• April -  A team of six U15 badminton players representing the TWBL won the prestigious Kent Inter Regional Badminton Tournament in Canterbury on Sunday 19th April. Please CLICK HERE for the full report from Ian Kinghorn.   

• March - Well done to our local juniors who competed in the TWBL Spring Restricted tournaments at the Angel Centre. Several familiar faces from St John's BC won gold or silver medals. The results may be seen on the Tournament Info page.   
  
• March - It is with sadness that we report the passing of Lucy Mead, former club secretary of Sevenoaks Badminton Club. Lucy had been bravely fighting cancer for several years. She was 46.  
  
• February - Success for St John's juniors!  PLEASE CLICK HERE
  
• January 2015 -  Our obituary to John Bristow may be READ HERE 
  
• November - The Nationals are being held at K2 in Crawley, Friday 30 January to Sunday 1 February 2015. Badminton England members get a discount code to use when purchasing tickets. 
  
• September - Well done to Xander Hurley, competing for Great Britain Deaf in the European Deaf Badminton Championship in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this month. He reached the quarters in the Mens Doubles losing out to the eventual silver medal winners Germany. He also reached the last 16 in the Mixed and the last 32 in the Singles. 
  
• April - Congrats to TWBL's U15 team who competed in the annual Kent Inter-Regional tournament in Canterbury and for the third year running beat off the competition to win the round robin league. Well done to our team of Alice Xu, Isobel Boshoff, Rebecca Saunders, Luke Bailey, David Zhu, Dominic Mawdsley and Ashwath Hari.
  
• April - Very well done to Holly Williams for becoming NATIONAL champion in the recent Badminton England U11 National tournament, held at Redbridge Sports Centre. Holly trains as part of the HBC Juniors club and is personally coached by Jo Muggeridge. Fantastic news!  To see Holly's route to the final in the knock out rounds, click here
  
• February 2014 - Some of St John's U16 juniors took part in the recent Mid-Sussex tournament in Haywards Heath. Congrats to James Hallet for achieving the Gold medal in both singles and doubles (with Aaron Perry) and to Ciara Barry and Laura Johnson for achieving Silver in the girls doubles. Well done! 
  
• Well done to all the juniors who competed in our non-county tournaments on Sundays 17 & 24 November in Tonbridge. Full results can be found on the Tournament Info tab 
  
• Thank you to all players who made our senior tournament a success on Sunday 3 November in Tunbridge Wells. Please see the Tournament Info page for the link to all the match details and results and the Scrapbook page for photos of the winners and runners up in each category.  
  
• September - Congrats to Amanda Wright (Sevenoaks BC) for being picked to play in the Kent Masters' squad for this season. 
  
• September - HBC's Rory Easton, representing England and partnering William Jones from Surrey, won the inaugral U13 Boys Doubles Adidas Refrath Cup in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.  

Further info here:  Refrath Cup  (images 4 & 8)

• August - Congrats to Paige Butler (HBC) for achieving Ladies Singles runner up in the Kent Senior Silver tournament up at Medway Park.   Results here:  Kent Senior Silver
  
• The TWBL Junior Open 2013 took place in Sevenoaks from 31 July through to 3 August and produced some great matches and moments. Our thanks to Hildenborough BC for administrating this tournament on our behalf, particularly to Alex & Tara Easton.  
  
• The League AGM took place in June. Thank you to all those clubs who attended. The TWBL committee remains the same as last season, except for Amanda Wright (Sevenoaks) who joins and John Meredith (Hildenborough) who steps down after several years as Treasurer. Ian Kinghorn will take over as Treasurer for 2013-14.
  
• Our annual awards dinner and presentation took place in May at the Hadlow Manor Hotel. We hope all those who attended enjoyed themselves. The committee is mindful of a slightly reduced number of people coming along to this event over the last couple of years. If players have ideas as to how the event could be changed or improved for next year, please do get in touch!
  
• April 2013 - well done to all players representing the TWBL at the Kent Inter-Regional tournament in Canterbury. Our senior team eventually came second, just losing one match to Orpington. But our juniors (u19's and u15's) excelled by again winning both titles. This is now three years running for the u19's and two years running for the u15's. Fab work everyone!

The TWBL U15 Kent Inter-Regional winning team

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