16 September 2007
"Firstly I would like to congratulate every one of our boys that raised the funds and thoroughly enjoyed both trips to The Gambia. The boys played with spirit and determination and off-court were second to none from a social perspective. A further detailed report will be added to the website with diaries from all of our UK players
Secondly, a rather large event will be taking place in October this year. Olympic Silver Medalists, Commonwealth Champions and former World Champions Gail Emms and Nathan Robertson will be visiting both LSST and William Farr school on 18th October to play and coach some of Lincoln's 'finest'!
All proceeds go to Gambia Badminton and I would to thank Mat Shuker (Carlton Top Man), Tim, Gail and Nathan for the continuous support on the project. Mat Shuker will also be lucky enough to have the world's best curry later in the evening... it may be enough to persuade him to come to Lincoln again in the future!"
- Leo Medley
View more images from our Summer visits
5 September 2007 - THE GAMBIA WIN THE CUP!
"Our fantastic 2nd trip from August 17th to August 28th resulted in The Gambia keeping the trophy after a hard fought battle. Our UK kids really enjoyed the trip playing badminton and mixing with our African players.
Many enjoyable stories and moments soon to be posted by our players in a diary form over the next few weeks. Special thanks go out to Leo and Sharon... U2 were magic!"
- Tim Mawer
15 August 2007
"Trip 1 was fantastic, with a score of 5-4 to the UK being decided on the last day. It was a tournament full of excitement, competitiveness and aggression (Tim Williams!) The trip itself was full of laughter and enjoyed by the 13 people that went out.
More reports will follow on the website shortly, but for myself the trip went well and I would like to thank the following people for all their efforts: Tim Mawer, Ronan Morrisey, Sue Kennedy, Nathan Kennedy, Mandy Medley (mum), George Hornsey, Sean Cox, Greg O'Sully, David Pettit, Tim Williams, Jordan Harlow and Liam Blow."
- Leo Medley
View more images from our Summer visits
20 July 2007
"Tim and I recently went out to The Gambia in preparation for summer. Although a few problems arose they were successfully sorted and the summer trip is looking good.
"The week went well with our players in The Gambia pumped up for the match in August. We trained hard with them and saw a significant improvement in their ability on the court. They are more determined than ever and no less than a Gambia victory in the summer will do!
"Our two captains, Omar jadama and Saul Silva, will be organising the team with Abu and Jerreh. Jerreh is still currently in the UK which means Abu is running the training at present and which is still our top priority. The two trips are all in order and many reports will be written by our boys to go on the website after the summer.
I wish everybody a good summer break."
- Leo Medley, Project Manager
13 June 2007
Jerreh arrives in the UK for the first time on Friday 15th June. Our Team Manager will be staying with Tim and Leo in Lincoln for six days, playing badminton and meeting all the people that Tim teaches. The local press have been invited to meet Jerreh.
21 May 2007
Tim and Leo will be departing for The Gambia on the 29th June and staying until the 6th July, in preparation for the summer trip. In unusual circumstances, Jerreh is flying across with us following his forthcoming trip in the UK.
Gambia Badminton would like to send a HUGE thank you to Inflight for all their support on the project with the T-shirts last summer and also the fabulous tracksuits which will be arriving this week.
We would also like to thank Starbucks for allowing us to raise money from a raffle to go towards the tracksuits and other maintenance work on the hall itself. Phil (The Bossman!) is a great character and I am sure that we will have many future events at the coffee house.
Thanks also go out to another large badminton company, Carlton UK, having supplied us with 30 Titanium FX rackets which are awesome and these will be put to good use in The Gambia.
Martin Pulford at Notts Badminton has been a great help in donating many rackets and he could yet open many other windows for us.
Big thanks go out to Morrisons Lincoln for their tremenous support in regularly letting us pack bags at their store. This helps us and our supporters with fundraising for their trips out to The Gambia.
Through Phil at Starbucks, who kindly introduced us to his girlfriend, Jen, we have been able to look into having charitable status. This will prove vital in big-money sponsorship with large companies. However, this will be a time-consuming procedure so if you can help out in any way then please contact us.
27 April 2007
"This was the first trip on my own since August 2005. Nervous about being on my own, it started badly with the sad news of the death of Leo's Grandmother, making me wish I was somewhere else.
"This played with my mind whilst at the airport and during the flight. Arrival was prompt and hot with Omar Jallow, Omar Jadama, Jerreh and Abu meeting me at the airport. Our green bus was my first sighting, the logo standing out nice in white with the green back-ground...
"...sad to leave. So many came to the airport with me to see me off. That boy Amadou Bah, it's so difficult to walk away from him, his letter says it all and is a constant reminder to me why I started this with Les and why I now must deliver on our promises."
Read Tim's April 2007 visit report in full.
25 February 2007
In July/August this year we will be taking a UK team out to The Gambia to challenge our strong badminton players in Africa. We are having two trips with 13 jeeting off on the first and 8 on the second. This will give us a chance to see our players stack up against a UK team and see how well they will get on!
It also it gives an opportunity for our UK players to spend some quality time with their African counterparts to find out about their lives and the sport of badminton in The Gambia.
6 February 2007
We have now added player profiles to the site.
23 January 2007
Photos from the December 2006 visit can now be viewed in the gallery.
17 January 2007
Tim and Leo have written Visit Reports for our December 2006 visit to The Gambia. Photos from the same visit will be uploaded to the gallery shortly.
7 January 2007
Wow! We had an amazing trip to The Gambia over the festive season, from 30 December 2006 to 6 January 2007, and have made significant progress on the following:
We now have a Team Bus. It holds 17 people is very green and will soon be decorated with our logo.
Dedicated driver Abu Jallow will provide weekly transport for our players to train. He is also the assistant Team Manager helping Jerreh.
Jerreh has accepted our offer of Gambia Team Manager and is now organising weekly training at Youna, preparing a roster and providing fares to the players to meet up with the bus at a central point. We are providing all the funds for this on a three month trial.
Players now have the opportunities to deliver on their training. We have done what we can for now so they need to support this and promises have been made!
A more detailed report and pictures will follow shorltly. Many thanks to Leo and Mandy for their support in The Gambia - without their support these things are just not possible and real progress has been made on this trip.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
The year is now coming to a close and the team at Gambia Badminton would like to wish every single person who is involved in this project one way or another, a Very Merry Christmas.
Your help, whether it be bag packing or donating, has been phenomenal. We have had successful marathons, bag-packs and celebrity evenings all year long, and all thanks to our supporters. With the money we have raised we plan to take the project further by solving the transport problems, maintaining the hall and coaching our players to a better badminton future.
Once again, you've not just made our Christmas, but you have made the Christmas of hundreds of smiling Africans. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
18 December 2006
Trip number 11 is soon to be underway... On 30th December Tim, Leo and new team member Mandy Garnham will be jetting off to The Gambia.
The aim of the trip is to use some of the money we have raised to solve transport issues, coach the players to the next level and form a foundation for the project for year 2007. A report will be made available here in the New Year.
15 December 2006
Three bag packs in December proved very successful raising approximately £3600.
At Morrisons in Lincoln on the 2nd December we raised around £1700 and at Asda in Grantham on 3rd December we raised £1000. On 15th December back at Morrisons in Lincoln we raised £900. Altogether a great month for fundraising and the team would like to thank everyone that participated, and especially the supermarkets for letting us fundraise on their tills.
May the Christmas parties begin!
1 December 2006
The 24 Hour Marathon was fantastic this year with over £4000 being raised, so many thanks to everybody who participated and especially World Number 9 - Tracey Hallam, who was also fantastic and her efforts were phenomenal.
A special thank you also goes to Daniel Lowes, who raised over £500 and was chuffed at meeting the badminton superstar! This has been the most successful marathon ever and we hope to better it next year.
Thank You for your support everyone. May the Cucumber Eating Competitions take place next year! Pictures of the event will be posted in our gallery early next year.
6 November 2006
After confirming that National Champion Tracey Hallam and FZ Forza coach Steve Butler will be coming down this month for the 24 hour marathon, we would like to send out a huge thank you to everybody involved in bringing these stars to Lincoln and involving them in our Project.
"I would like to thank Steve and Tracey for taking time out of their busy schedules to help children in the Gambia - especially as Tracey is recovering from injury. The 24 hour marathon is looking very promising and we hope it will be a massive success like it has been for many years" - Leo Medley, Project Member.
5 November 2006
After the enormous success of The Priory LSST 10 hour marathon in May 2006, raising £1500, we have been granted another opportunity in January 2007 from the kind staff at the school.
A big Thank You goes out to the Year 11 HOY team, Mr. Grover, Mrs. Bell and the school for their support. Lets hope it will start the fundraising in 2007 with a bang!