A group of badminton fans attended a beginners 10 week coaching course in Baldoyle Badminton Centre in early 1999 coached by the legendary Mary Dinan. At the end of the 10 weeks Mary asked us would we be interested in forming a new club.

So Baldoyle District Badminton Club was formed in September of 1999. It started off with 22 members, including Ger & Tom Gorman, Mick & Christina Smith and Bernard Foley, all of whom are still with the club! The club used to play Monday & Wednesday nights but this has now changed to our regular Tuesday & Thursday slots.

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Christy Kennedy (Christina’s Dad) ran the club on his own for the first year. Christy organised all the matches on club nights. There was always great camaraderie from the start of the club, with an emphasis on fun as well as playing well, a characteristic that is still at the heart of the club today! Christy was very influential in that.

At our first AGM Ger Gorman became Club Secretary (1999 to 2001), Tom Gorman, Treasurer (1999 to 2012) and Catherine McManus was first Match Secretary. Christy was Honorary Secretary then and we used to have regular committee meetings with minutes!

We used to have a badminton competition amongst ourselves on the last club night before Christmas and then have the usual grub and drinks upstairs in the room beside the bar which was a lot shabbier then. We'd have prizes for winners. A lot of small Galway crystal bud cases were given as prizes over those years. The club has gone from strength-to-strength, growing to 65 members in 2017 and competing with several ladies, mens and mixed teams across a variety of divisions.

 

In April 2018 on Finals Night, Terenure, the Club were delighted to have finally won the The Dublin & District "Cormac Breslin" Perpetual Trophy for the “DDLC Club of The Year 2018”. It was fantastic to get such recognition from our peers and is a credit to the tireless work that Michael Smith (Chairman), Christina Smith, the Club Committee and it's members have put in over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baldoyle District BC will be celebrating it's 20th Anniversary (1999 - 2019) this year with a 'special event' in the planning.

The club has a strong 'Social Side' to it too, with a dedicated pairing of John Ryan & Georgina O'Reilly planning a variety of events for each season. The Club continues to have a social aspect on Thursday evenings in the bar with the Badminton Centre LOTTO draw. This helps raise much needed funds as well offering members and bar patrons the chance to win a large JACKPOT and several smaller prizes.

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We have certainly put some money behind the bar on Thursday nights over the years! 

                                                                 

– Ger Gorman (Unofficial Historian)

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