News

Update: 15th April 2022 

We are coming to the end of our winter season, which has been far from ‘back to normal’ but has meant regular club nights and a number of 1st and 2nd team matches. Thank you for all of your support as Forest BC members or as friends/guests over the last 8 months.

A number of you have been asking about potential play over the summer and we are please to say that we will be able to play for a total of 10 (ten) weeks at Ashton on Mersey (AoM) School during the summer season (May through August). Unfortunately the school hall will be unavailable due to exams from Fri 13th May until Thu 23rd June, so 6 Mondays will be lost. We are looking for alternatives here but so far without success but we will keep looking (school GCSEs are a national event of course).

In the meantime we would like to gauge your level of interest for playing with us during the summer period. 

Please show your interest here.

There would be ten weeks at AoM in all, including 

9th May

27th June

4th, 11th, 18th, 25th July

1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd Aug

Times: 20.15-22.15

We would continue using exclusively feather shuttles.

Guest fees would be £8 per session.

Alternatively you can sign up for ‘summer membership’ for these dates for £50 up front, and then come along on as many of the above dates as you like at no extra charge.

Update 29.01.2022

A quick update for the start of 2022. If you're dropping in for the first time this year you'll have noticed a brand new website. We hope you find it easier to navigate and more informative. We really want you to get the most out of your membership so if you want to see updates and improvements, let us know! 

The New Year has seen a fantastic turnout of visitors and club players, all keen and enthusiastic to play badminton. So we've been filling the courts with great play. We hope it continues.

Many also have noticed new contactless payment methods. It's making collecting, visitor and match fees very straight forward and it means there's no scrambling around for loose change anymore.

Ashton-on-Mersey are closed for some dates in Feb, so we're finding an alternative court venue. 

We'll update the site soon when we have more news to share.

Update 24.08.2021

Restart Information

Dear All,

After far too long and at least two ‘false starts’ it really is looking like we will be in a position to return to playing club night badminton at Ashton on Mersey on Mon 20th September. We have very recently updated our website again accordingly. This also includes a link to the latest Badminton England Roadmap….from July 2021 – copied here also for your information.

https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/RTP-roadmap-July-19-Step-4.pdf

Due to numerous uncertainties regarding venues and other clubs, the Manchester Badminton league will not be running league matches for the foreseeable future (potentially next calendar year).

We are nevertheless very keen to return to club night badminton as soon as we can.

To this end, earlier in the summer we circulated a link to a survey so that we could understand our current and potential members’ views regarding the level of interest in returning to club night as well as to joining as members.

We sent the link to 60 people and received 26 responses. This is a very good response rate. Thank you very much indeed to all of those who took the time to fill this in.

Our venue managers are requiring us to commit to regular court time and to pay in advance/on the night instead of on account. 

We therefore need to carefully plan how much court time we are able to commit to, and so your answers are vital in helping us to do this.

Survey Breakdown 

Here is an very brief summary of the responses to the main questions:-

Q1: How keen to return to playing?

100% of respondents interested to some degree – with over half either desperate to get back to playing or definitely VERY interested

Q2: Value of summer club as ‘pay as you go’?: 

All consider worth £6 per night if on pay as you go basis; Over 40% would be prepared to pay more than this (£7 or £8 per night)

This will therefore be taken into consideration for future years.

Q3: Value of block of 10 if including ‘Associate Fitness membership’:

Over 60% would be willing to pay £60 for this block; and 23% would pay more (£65 or £70)

Q4: Likelihood of Joining for winter season at £100*: 

88% of respondents either likely, very likely or absolutely certain to join.

Q5: 2 potential new committee members

2 might be interested  – Thank You ! - please could you let us (Duncan, Lesley, Kerry or Greg) know who you are when you get a chance if you are still interested and would like to discuss in some more detail.

Q6: Level of interest in combined winter/summer membership including associate fitness membership 

£73% either fairly or very interested and 56% willing to pay £160 or more.

We will keep this in mind for future years.

Outcomes & Decisions

Based on these responses we will be setting our Winter membership fee at £100 per adult member (with a 10% reduction if paid on or before 20th Sept). 

The Winter Membership will run from September 20th through until the end of April 2022.

An additional benefit to the Forest membership will now include a complimentary membership to the fitness centre at AoM. 

This will allow you to book extra court time and use the gym facilities at AoM at no extra cost (subject to availability). 

Full details of the new benefit is available at this link -  https://www.aomfitness.co.uk/memberships/  

It is worth noting that the Gym facilities will actually be open from 6th Sept – so anyone paying their membership before that date will be able to squeeze in some additional pre-season fitness training!

We would kindly ask anyone planning to come down on the 20th and 27th, to email (Duncan.hurlstone@forestbadminton.co.uk) with "Septembers return to Badminton" as the subject. This will help us to provide adequate court provision for those intending to play. 

In the first few weeks of our return, whilst we are trying to understand the demand on court time, it may not be possible to accommodate guests that do not inform us prior to arriving. Please contact us prior to your arrival as you may be turned away if we are over-subscribed.

Club night guest fees will be £8 payable on the night before playing.

Please note though that anyone who has not paid membership will be required to pay the full guest fee on the night.

There will be some court time dedicated to fully paid up club members only.

Update 22.10.2020

Dear All,

We very much hope that you are all keeping safe and well during these very difficult times.

We have been in discussions with our venue at Ashton-on-Mersey as well as keeping abreast of COVID-related developments via Badminton England.

From a Venue perspective, AoM are planning to allow badminton to be played at our usual venue from 27th October.

An update from Badminton England on 15th October, however, gives details of playing restrictions for each of the three ‘Tier’ classifications. This shows that organised club activity is only permitted in areas that are within Tier 1.

 Here is the relevant link for you to see the details:-

Breakdown of activity by Tier:

https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/media/9056/badminton-activity-by-tier.pdf

Forest Badminton Club will continue to follow Badminton England policy on restriction and so will not be organising any club activity until further notice.

If you are wanting to enquire about court availability for social play, and potentially to make bookings for your own household, please send an email to the sports centre manager, Dean Walsh, at the following e-mail address: -info@aomfitness.co.uk

 Further COVID-related information can be obtained via the links below.

Please do take some time to familiarise yourself with these and stay up to date as developments emerge. 

Badminton England:

General Info: https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/play/information-regarding-the-coronavirus/

Return to Play:  https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/return-to-play/

Player Guidance Documents: https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/media/8980/rtp-player-v5.pdf

Ashton on Mersey Venue Information:-

Opening Plan: http://www.aomfitness.co.uk/opening-plan/

Court Hire charges: http://www.aomfitness.co.uk/facilities-hire/

Contact: http://www.aomfitness.co.uk/contact/

We very much hope to be in a position to get back to club badminton safely at some point in the future and look forward to planning a return to club badminton once this becomes practicable.

Kind regards,

Forest Badminton Club Committee.