5 October 2006
Attention All Players: on 23rd and 24th November 2006 we will be running the annual Badminton Marathon which takes place over the two days. Anyone is eligible for a place and our special guests include world number 9, Tracey Hallam, and England Coach, Steve Butler. If you're interested in taking part then please contact us and we'll send out a form.
In recent months we have done extremely well with our bag-packs and we have another three lined up. Morrisons in Lincoln have given us 2nd December and we're at Asda in Grantham on the 3rd. If anyone would be interested in helping us out then please give us a shout.
We have an exclusive bag-pack taking place at Morrisons in Lincoln on 15th December and we will be hand picking people for this. However, if you would like to participate or be considered please get in touch.
15 September 2006
Photos from our recent trip have now been added to the Gallery.
We encourage you to take a minute to register as this will allow you to rate photos, add your own comments, add the photos you like to a favourites list and even send individual photos to your friends as an E-card!
5 September 2006
We returned mid August from a hugely succesful trip to Gambia.
We have now erected a plaque both internally and externally on our hall calling it the William Farr Multi Purpose Hall. We have noticeboards inside and spent 11 days teaching and assessing our players to the Badminton England basic awards scheme that everyone enjoyed, receiving certificates and T-shirts on completion of the course. We also ran matches each day, singles and doubles with trophies for the winners.
More to follow... watch this space!
3 September 2006
Our bag-pack at Morrison's in Lincoln today raised a phenomenal £830.16.
The day was fantastic with only 15 volunteers and for such a short time on a Sunday it was brilliant. A special mention goes to Alex Straughan who was on the tills non-stop and raised well over £100.
Thanks to everyone who took part!
15 July 2006
Four year 7s from William Farr School in Welton have ran a football tournament in aid of Gambia Badminton. The tournament went well, with around 100 people involved, and raised £241. It was a good day and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it so a big thank you to all involved.
Well done Elliot Green, Jack Culpin, Tom
Gregory and 'Custard' for their fantastic efforts. These lads could form the future of the project and
they will be important in years to come. Good luck for future fundraising!
10 June 2006
After our previous bag packs at Asda in Grantham and Morrisons in Lincoln proved successful, we now have three more forthcoming fundraisers. Morrisons have let us have 3rd September and you can find us in Asda on 2nd and 3rd December.
We hope to bring more funds in towards future maintenance of the
hall.
5 June 2006
A junior school badminton tournament at Scothern School, organised
by Callum Green and Connor McLeish, raised £1239.90 for the project. This will
be put towards the purchase and provision of a notice board to be erected in the new hall giving
skills information and pictures to our African players.
1 June 2006
Big Thanks to everyone that sponsored Lesley for the London Marathon, and those people that have bought her handmade cards. We are using the proceeds to repay most of what we have left owing to William Farr School on Monday.
If you would like more information on the exclusive greetings
cards made by the fair hands of our very own Lesley, then please contact her by
email via the contact us page.
31 May 2006
Leo Medley and Tom Scutt recently ran a 10-hour badminton marathon in aid of Gambia Badminton. This involved 27 pupils from the Priory LSST school in Lincoln. Although the final figure has not been announced, it is expected to be around £1200, which will go towards paying for a generator and future maintenance of the hall.
Well Done and thank you to everybody that took part.
29 May 2006
We attended a meeting held in Reading with Francis of GTS, concerning future plans of the project which include maintenance of the hall, managing competitions and admin charges levied by GTS for these services. We are also looking at a possible vehicle purchase.
More details on these developments will be posted as they arise.
28 May 2006
We are in the process of changing some of the code behind the scenes of the website. There may be times when a page may not look right or just does not work - this will be us working on the code. We will be grateful for your patience and if you experience any difficulties, or have any queries during this work, please do not hesitate to contact us.
20 May 2006
Our new online photo Gallery is now complete. We will
be adding new photos everytime we return from our trips out to the Gambia so keep checking back for new
additions. If you sign-up to the album you can rate your favourite
photos and even add your own comments.
8 May 2006
On our most recent visit to the Gambia we ran a doubles tournament which was won by Yorro
and Cisco. Congratulations guys! We now have the scorecards available
to view online or download.
2 May 2006
Young Damon Kennedy, son of Team Member Sue Kennedy, has also been in the fundraising
mood and raised £63 in a recent event. This involved his classmates taking paper cups home and
filling them with loose change. This proved to be a big hit and helped pay for the internal decoration
of the hall. Well done Damon!
26 April 2006
Lesley's London Marathon update: I had a fab day and finished in a time of about 5hrs 58 mins so was delighted to say the least and what a sense of achievement it gives you. There were many personal battles going on and I hit the wall at 20 miles and bawled me eyes out cos everything was hurting so much - despite nearly everything being numb!!! The crowds who lined the route are out of this world and second to none with their support and generosity - I am sure many of us would give up if it wasn't for them.
Although I am hobbling around with a permanent grin on my face I will be on a high for weeks at what I have achieved... well worth the pain!
25 April 2006
Tim's Gambia update: The 7-day trip proved very successful and we now have lines marked out properly, a very good tiled floor and proper badminton posts thanks to LSST School. The hall is coloured green, marked out for one court and has lights and fans ready to be fitted. A stage area is fully tiled with a seperate toilet area, shower and storage office. Approx. 19k has been spent so far and still outstanding is a generator to power the lights. We will post some pictures on the site over the next couple of weeks.
We ran two successful competitions involving many players and
spectators. My thanks go out to the two boys, Leo and Chris for their contributions
during the trip. Particular thanks also goes to Sue who helped so much with the
transport and organising. Because of that this trip really was successful.
21 April 2006
Leo's Gambia update: Sue, Tim, Chris and I arrived back in the UK from the Gambia to a cold climate in the early hours of this morning. The trip went very well and we managed to mark out a court, finish the tiling and most of the internal decorations. The sports hall is now approximately 90% completed.
We played badminton every day and the standard of badminton has improved greatly.
Good Luck for the London Marathon today Lesley!
4 April 2006
Team member Sue Kennedy, who will be going to the Gambia this month, held a fete at her local residential home to raise funds for badminton equipment. The day was tremendous and raised £471.15.
The Lincolnshire Echo once again helped spread the word of the project and you can read their article online.
28 March 2006
Tracey Hallam, Commonwealth Gold Winner in Melbourne, has kindly decided to donate some of her commonwealth games kit to the sports hall project. This will be available for auction as soon as we get it and we'll let you know more then.
We are also hoping to get Tracey to visit Lincoln in the near future and do some coaching for the
children. Stay tuned! In the meantime, you can read all about Tracey's progress while she was in Australia,
and read her answers to questions from the public over at Central
Sports.
25 March 2006
The bag-pack at Asda in Grantham went extremely well. The badminton boys were
in good form and raised £1550 which will go towards the tiles and internal
decorating of the hall.
11 March 2006
Team member Lesley Hedley is taking part in the London Marathon to help raise funds for the project. The event takes place on 23 April 2006 and if you can sponsor Les then we would love to hear from you!
4 March 2006
It has been 4 months since our last visit to West Africa and we are now ready to teach more badminton to our Gambia Badminton Team. The planned visit will take place from the 13th April to the 20th April. Tim and Leo will be accompanied by two more enthusiastic supporters: Sue Kennedy and Chris Baggley.
Chris plays badminton and Sue is a frequent helper at Tim's Badminton Sessions
and will hopefully give a new dimension to the project. By visiting West Africa
in Easter we hope to strengthen the Badminton Team and again further the project
towards completion.
9 February 2006
We have arranged a Bag Pack to be held at Morrisons in Lincoln on Saturday 25th February. If you would like to join us, please contact a member of the team. We will keep you updated.
7 February 2006
We have a new Guestbook on the website. It is ready and waiting
for your messages! We'd love to hear a little about yourself and what you think of our project.
4 February 2006
"I was at Manchester airport ready to board the plane. I was anxious, nervous and pondering on how the trip was going to go. I really wanted it to go well; meanwhile the loud speaker announced it was time to go."
Read Leo's full report on his view of The Gambia.
17 December 2005
Bag Pack at Morrisons: A great day with lots of support. We raised £1320 the project.
3 December 2005
Bag Pack at Asda: Great support from Tim's badminton children helped raise £1331 for the project.
22 & 24 November 2005
24 hour Badminton marathon: 100 players turned up to play, have fun and games all day long! Lincoln City FC manager Keith Alexander donated a prize of two badminton players to train with the Lincoln City 1st Team. Main aim nearly completed; to pay William Farr School the £3000 we borrowed for the roof structure of the sports hall at Youna. However, £600 is still left to pay.