News ...

Friday 13th May 2005
- NDBA Presentation Dinner Dance

Thirty two of us celebrated until the early hours of Saturday morning rounding off a superb season for the club. We can proudly say that we secured more silverware this season than Chelsea did!

Winners:

Blackford Cup

Mixed Division One Champions

Men's Division One Champions

Veteran's Championship Winners
(Jackie Beaver & Paul Olive)

Men's Doubles Championship Winners
(Jon Schofield & Jon Harry)

Runners Up: Robin Deasley Mixed Doubles (Karen Harrison & Andy Norman), Div Two & Below (Sally Norman & Trevor Poore)

Also, many congratulations to Tom Bass who scooped the Cyril Denton Junior Award (Berks award) this season.

A big well done to everyone at the club for contributing to our most successful season in years ... the real challenge will be defending these titles next season!

Friday 6th May 2005
- Tom & Mel Lift Schneider Trophy

Mel Chalker & Tom Bass are this season's Schneider Champions after defeating Jon Schofield & Keith Simms in a topsy-turvy final. Jon & Keith looked to be heading for a comfortable victory after rattling off the first 10 points without response and the handicap advantage had disappeared. This proved just the kick Mel & Tom needed as moved up through the gears and left the lads in their wake as they claimed the final 21-7.

At the other end of the table, Tony Walker & Grant Lawrence found themselves battling it out for bottom spot with Andrew Nicholson & Luke Heaver. The latter made a great start, but Tony & Grant battled back bravely to win the match and avoid taking home the toilet seat.

Thursday 5th May 2005
- Bon Voyage Alan & Helen

Sadly we've had to say Bon Voyage to Alan & Helen for a whole year. Home is but a distant memory as they set off on their round the world travels on 5th May. Their tour will take them across Canada and down to Australia & New Zealand.

They'll be keeping in touch with the club via email and we'll be posting their travel tales on our web site. Click here to read more about their adventures!

Easter 2005
- Plastered (but not in Plaster!)

The inaugral Shaw BC Ski Trip took place over the Easter break in Andorra ... and our worries that all the Mixed B ladies would come back in plaster were thankfully unfounded. A great time was had by all ... and another trip to Bulgaria is being planned for next season!

A big thank-you to Cate & Trevor for arranging this (and please contact them if you are interested in signing up for next year's trip to Bulgaria).

Click here for more photos of the ski trip (as soon as Jason sends them on!)

Click here for more information on the 2006 ski trip

Thursday 17th March 2005
- Shaw Secure First League Trophy of the Season

Shaw Mixed A have secured the first league trophy of the season when they battled to overcome St Mary's A on Thursday (17th March). With eight of the nine games going the full distance, the tie was finely balanced and could have swung either way. The last time Shaw lifted the trophy was about 15 years ago!!

Well done team!

The Men's A remain on course for the Men's Division One Silverware and remain unbeaten with three matches to play. They need to win two of these to be absolutely cetain of retaining their title.

Friday 11th March 2005
- Shaw Win Blackford Cup

Shaw Badminton Club claim their third silverware of the season (Paul, Jackie and the two Jon's scooping the first two) when they won the Blackford Cup on Friday. Defending a 51 point lead from the first leg.

Shaw faced a full strength Newbury on the return leg but some great performances saw Shaw hold on for victory albeit with a reduced margin. Newbury may have won the second leg by 30 points, but Shaw won the tie by 21 points overall. Well done team!

Sunday 30th January 2005
- Jon & Jon Scoop Silverware

Making their debut in the Level Doubles Championship, the two Jon's (Harry & Schofield) walked off with the silverware in the Annual Level Doubles Championship. They had to beat Paul Olive & Mike Pembroke in the semi-final before beating the Saints pairing of Mark Ferguson and Andy King in the final.

Congratulations to you both ... and you also get half-price tickets to the end of season Presentation Dinner Dance.

Cate and Becks also had a good run in the Levels. They progressed through to the semi-final stage, but came up against the defending champions and eventual winners from St Mary's, Andrea Farmer & Janine Fisher.

26th January 2005
- Shaw Progress to Blackford Cup Final

Shaw have made it through to the Blackford Cup final with a great team performance to clinch victory over the reigning champions, St Mary's. Taking a 43 point lead into the second leg, they managed to slightly increase the lead to 51 points on the second leg. They will now face either Aldermaston or Newbury in the final.

29th November 2004
- Kevin's A Daddy!

Kevin & Sandy became the very proud parents of a little girl called Megan Jess.

12th November 2004
- Shaw Progress to Blackford Cup Semi-Final

Shaw have progressed to the semi-final stage of the Blackford Cup after beating Cannons by 168 points overall. Shaw took a slender 34 point lead into the second lead, and Karen & Bod gave the team the boost they needed with wins in both singles matches and Adam & Clare followed suit securing the first Mixed game. Cate & Tony proved key to vital victories in the Level Doubles and with the whole team finding top form, they lost two ends on the night but with Cannons conceding one of the final Mixed games through injury, the semi-final spot had been secured.

We now face St Mary's in the semi-final which is bound to be a closely fought affair!

5th November 2004
- Shaw Mixed A vs St Mary's A

The bonfire night clash pitting our Mixed A team against St Mary's certainly had it's fireworks, and for the first time in FIVE seasons, Shaw got the better of their rivals. All the games were close, but for once, all the Mixed A team found their top form and came away with a memorable 8-1 victory. It's a huge step forward to try and secure the silverware but there's still a long way to go.

30th October 2004
- Charity Ball

10th October 2004
- Veterans Championships

Jackie Beaver & Paul Olive have secured the first silverware for Shaw by winning the Veteran's Championship. A steady performance right the way through - they only dropped a single point all day after losing 21-20 to Aldermaston's Sally Jenkins & Graham Page, but they saved their best performance until last when they destroyed the favourites Sheila Moore & Kevin Walker 21-7.

May 2004
- Shaw AGM

Two club awards were presented at this year's AGM ... it will come as no surprise to learn that Tom Bass was voted the Most Improved Player of the season whilst Rebecca Chivers was voted Player's Player.

April 2004
- County Call Up's for Tom & Bod

Andy "Bod" Norman has received his first Berkshire 1st team call-up a week or so back against Oxford and contributed magnificantly to the teams eventual victory and play-off spot for promotion to Division One.

Tom Bass has also played his first ever match for the Berkshire U17's and went on to win all of his matches.

Well done to you both!

Tuesday 20th April 2004
- New Arrival for Hoe Seng & Eun Mi

Hoe Seng and Eun Mi are now the proud parents of a gorgeous little baby daughter, Janice (although the name is still being finalised!!) who arrived today weighing in at 2.8kg.

Tuesday 9th March 2004
- Double Delight for Neville, Jules & Alexa!

Neville & Jules are delighted to announce that twins Max and Miles arrived safe and well today.

Saturday 16th August 2003
- Michael & Jo tie the knot

Michael & Jo have tied the knot!!

Monday 9th June 2003
- New arrival for Ali & Bill

Ali & Bill are now the proud parents of little Rory Macklin. He arrived safe & sound on Monday 9th June (early in the morning!) and they are all doing really well ... just slowly adjusting to the sleepless nights!

Wednesday 4th June 2003
- Kev turns 40!!

Happy birthday Kev!

(And with Kev mentioned in 4 bits of news in a row .. hopefully someone else will get a mention in the next bit of news!!)

Wednesday 21st May 2003
- Shaw AGM

Two club awards were presented at this year's AGM ... Helen Roberts was voted the Most Improved Player of the season whilst Kevin Walker was voted Player's Player (and he's still not yet 40!)

Friday 9th May 2003
- NDBA Dinner Dance

In addition to the 4 league trophies presented to our Mens A & B and Mixed B & C teams, one club member was also presented with a very special award.

A stunned Kevin Walker was delighted and honoured to be presented with the Terry Snook Trophy from Daphne Snook, in recognition of the tireless work for badminton in the local area and within the county ... and he's not even 40 yet!!

Kevin has been a regular face in the badminton leagues, starting off his playing career at Thatcham BC before moving to join us at Shaw BC. He's played badminton at the highest level and used his gifts to enhance play in matches and tournaments and proving himself to be a worthy, if not generous opponent. As a consequence of his ability, he would typically find himself playing off an "owe-a-hand" handicap, but it rarely bothers him ... and usually makes it through to the finals.

He has also been a worthy ambassador for the sport, representing Berkshire on several occassions and entering various county tournaments as well. He is also a qualified Part 1 Coach and here has used his coaching abilities with various West Berkshire County Junior & County Back-up squads; Newbury Junior & Youth Clubs; coaching handicapped children and finally with local clubs & players. From next year, Berkshire will no doubt be keen to see him make an appearance or two on the Vets circuit!!

Terry Snook was the main inspiration behind Kevin's game, teaching him a valuable lesson in the game at an early age. This experience is firmly etched in his mind. Very much like Terry, Kevin is a true analyst of the game of badminton - as their playing partners AND opposition will vouch for!!

Well done Kev!

Friday 2nd May 2003
- 11th Schneider Championship

Tony Walker and Pam Norris were crowned champions of the 11th Schneider Championship. They beat Kevin Walker and Adrian Lovell 21-12 in the final.

At the other end of the table, Andrew Nicholson & Mel Chalker came close to picking up the bottoms award, but were thwarted at the last minute by a stunning display from Richard Ilsley & Keith Simms to lose 21-19.

Sunday 6th April 2003
- 3rd Veteran's Mixed Doubles Championship

Clare Beavis & Andrew Nicholson came really close to successfully defending their Veteran's Title on Sunday 6th April. In spite of leading 10-3 at the change of ends in the final against Sue Richardson & Keith Fleming, they ensured a strong fight back to lose 21-18 and narrowly miss out on retaining their silverware.

Sunday 26th January 2003
- Robin Deasley Mixed Doubles Championship

Bod & Becks along with Kevin (who partnered Sheila Moore from Newbury BC), made it through to the semi-finals of the Robin Deasley Championship.

Alas, Bod & Becks were beaten by the eventual champions, Pete Braithwaite and Sue Allen from St Mary's, 21-16.

Kevin and Sheila comfortably won their semi-final 21-11, but were just edged out by Pete & Sue in the final 21-17 - revenge for the 21-20 defeat in the group games.

Saturday 23rd November 2002

More wedding news ... Tony Walker tied the knot at St Mary's Church, Shaw with Radka. Brother Kevin was best-man and Ralf & Danya Schneider and Mike Be all made it back for the big day!

Congratulations!

Sunday 17th November 2002
- Level Doubles Championship

The first silverware for the season has been claimed by Tony Walker & Adam Turner in the Newbury & District Level Doubles Championship. They played a faultless game and beat the defending champions and fellow team-mates Andy Norman & Kevin Walker in the final.

Saturday 16th November 2002

The Quiz Night was back after a year's absence ... but the time-off had no bearing on the mighty brains of "The Dons". They were going into the event with 6 Quiz titles under their belt and they were determined to succeed again.

"The Philanderers" were back and determined challenge for the title ... and "HAKAPA" (don't ask!) led by Paul Olive had no respect for history when they entered the battlefield for the first time. Add to this the double team challenge from St Mary's and the usual suspects you're in for a chellnging night!

True to form, The Dons pipped The Philanderers to the post by a mere two points ... the Harry Potter round combined with the Ryder Cup Bonus round did sufficient damage to the other challengers. HAKAPA finished in 3rd place overall.

November 2002
- Shaw's Edwards Moves Up a Gear (or four!)

Some of you have been wondering what's happened to the Steven Edwards ... well ... he's now starting to make a name for himself in the world of motor sport and his sole aim is to break into the ranks of F1 by the end of the decade (remember where you saw him first!)

After two years karting, Steven made a successful transistion into Formula Ford. He successfully mastered the demands of a more powerful car and impressed both his team members and supporters alike. Next season, he's going for the championship title.

He can be regularly spotted racing on Sky Motor Sports, as true to form, he's usually in the thick of the action and involved in the more memorable tussles!

For more information Steven Edwards Racing (and details on sponsorship opportunities!), take a look at his website (www.stevenedwardsracing.co.uk/).

6th August 2002

The Chivers BC junior squad had a new addition - Bethany Ellen made her first appearance. Congratulations to the proud Mum & Dad: Matt & Sam Chivers, Aunty Rebecca and Granny Sue!

Friday 10th May 2002
- Terry Snook Trophy

Our very own Sue Chivers is the 2002 winner of the Terry Snook Trophy. Awarded annually in memory of the late Terry Snook, this award recognises Sue's contribution to badminton in the development of the Junior Badminton in the area and also on a club level.

She was one of the original founding members of Shaw BC following the merger of Eagles and Exiles. She remains the driving force behind the club, committee and social events.

In addition to her enormous contibution to the club badminton, it is also her commitment to Junior Badminton in the area that has been recognised. With Bridget Bowsher, she ran Newbury Juniors and Newbury Youth for many years and under her guidance and coaching, Newbury Youth finally gained the recognition they deserved when they won the Blackford Cup two years running. Many of the 20-something juniors are still actively playing badminton in the area today.

Sunday 7th April 2002
- Veterans Championship

The last championship silverware for the season comes Shaw's way (well shared with Downlands!).

Andrew Nicholson (in his maiden Vets tournament) partnering Clare Beavis beat fellow team mates Jackie Beaver & Alan Morris in the final (but don't ask the score!)

30th November 2001

Keith Simms became a first-time father, when wife Karen produced a bouncing baby boy - James Alexander today. Things were cut slightly fine on time as Karen had only been on maternity leave for six and a half hours!!

Karen & James are both doing really well ... Keith's still in shock!!

Saturday 24th November 2001

Another Shaw wedding and this time it's the turn of Karen Jackson who married Jon Harrison at St Mary's Church, Thatcham.

Sunday 18th November 2001
- Level Doubles Championship

AT LONG LAST, Andy Norman and Kevin Walker have lifted the Men's Doubles title ... after 3 years of being knocked out by brother Tony!

June 2001

Ralf & Danya got married today! Sue, Derek, Jackie, Martin & Kevin all made the trip over to Germany to see them tie the knot ... with Martin giving a speech in German!

Congratulations to you both

Sunday 28th January 2001
- Level Doubles Championship

For the third year in succession, Tony Walker and Neville Varnham have managed to keep their hold on the Men's Doubles title. The pair beat Basildon's Simon Corke & Ian Johnson in a nail-biting final, 21-20.

Sunday 26th November 2000
- Robin Deasley Championship

Shaw pair Mandy Sainsbury and Adam Turner were this season's runners-up in the Robin Deasley Mixed Doubles Championship. They were narrowly beaten in the final by St Mary's duo, Margaret Mason & Mark Ferguson.

Sunday 1st October 2000
- Berkshire Restricted

In one of the first tournaments of the season, Shaw's Tony Walker partnering Newbury's Ruth Lovell have won the Berkshire Restricted Handicapped Tournament at Woodford Park.

Sunday 30th January 2000
- Level Doubles Championship

Shaw made a clean sweep at the Level Doubles Championships this week-end, with Neville & Tony picking up the Mens Title, whilst Rebecca & Karen lifted the Ladies.

Neville Varnham & Tony Walker retained their Mens Title when they beat former Shaw player, Gary Chambers & Chris Timpson 21-19. In the ladies, Rebecca Chivers & Karen Harrison beat Su Barber & Emma McParland of St Mary's.

Sunday 28th November 1999
- Robin Deasley Championship

It was nearly an All-Shaw final at this weekend's Robin Deasley Championship. Tony Walker & Ruth Lovell (Newbury) put in a faultless performance, edging out the Shaw hopefuls of Jackie Beaver & Mike Be.

Saturday 21st August 1999

Another wedding and Shaw BC is turning out to be quite a family club! On Saturday 21st August, Matthew Chivers married Sam Page at St Mary's Church in Shaw ... and in doing so, she became the fourth member of Chivers family to play for the club. Perhaps it's time for a club name change!!

Monday 2nd August 1999

Update from Ralf ...

Well, Ralfi is doing just fine. Still happy with Danja, job wise things have slowed down to "normal life". My vacation is coming up soon. We will go to Mallorca for two weeks in early September. Then, in October, I will fly to Sydney with a friend to prepare for the Olympics of next year for Bayer 04 track & field athletes, coaches and officials. Means, we rented some private accommodation which we will check, check infrastructure, traffic and so on. On the way over, we stop at Hong Kong where a good friend of mine lives. Well, you can tell, I haven't changed. Still travelling around the world and still partying hard, despite life with a woman has slowed down partying, just a bit though. You can be sure, I will be a regular viewer [of the web site] from now on. Best regards to Shaw Club and hopefully I/we can manage to come next year to play in the Schneider again. I wanna be on the list of Past Winners not just as Runners Up!!!!

Take care, Ralf

Thursday 22nd / Friday 23rd July 1999
- Mens Friendly: Shaw C vs Kennet

Kennet BC seized an early opportunity to assess competition in the Mens Division Three, when they meet the Shaw C team in a friendly. Kennet have a wealth of men and fielded two different teams in each leg both. For Shaw, the most impressive performances were from the two youngsters of the side; Steven Edwards and Gareth Clarke, both 16, picked up their first ever win as a doubles pair.

Kennet could not have wished for a better start to their Mens campaign in advance of the new season. They claimed victory in their home leg 6½-2½ and then went onto win the away leg 5½-3½.

Monday 28th June 1999
- Mixed Friendly: St Mary's A vs Shaw A/B

The return leg of the St Marys v Shaw A/B friendly saw fortunes reversed and St Marys claimed a narrow 5-4 victory. There was very little difference between the two teams with the majority of the games taken to three ends. This time the home team kept their cool and won the valuable points in setting to secure the win.

Margaret and Mark suffered a rare defeat in their opening rubber but bounced back in tremendous form to take their last two in their usual convincing style. The Shaw team took most of their games to the wire but just failed to hold their serve to secure the vital points. There was very little to separate the three teams last season and the close competition looks set to continue into the next Millennium.

Friday 11th June 1999
- Mixed Friendly: Shaw A/B vs St Mary's A

The second friendly match between Shaw and St Mary's saw the battle between the two teams continue . The encounters during the season had proved to be extremely close and tonight's match proved no exception. The final score didn't really reflect the closeness of the games, most of which could have gone either way.

Dave and Katie got the evening off to a winning start for Shaw with a three-end thriller against Pam and Peter. Karen and Alan took Philip and Andrea a little by surprise when they raced ahead to take the first end, only dropping a single point. The St Mary's duo then found their usual form and took the second end after setting. The third end proved close, but Shaw had the slight edge to secure the second point of the evening for Shaw..

The third game saw Sue and Margaret with new partners for the evening. Both pairs quickly adapted, but it was Sue and Tony with home advantage that secured another point.

Both St Mary's victories came from Philip and Andrea. With all cylinders firing, they were pushed hard by the Shaw pairs, but nothing was going to stop them.

The return leg will take place at Kennet Leisure Centre on Monday 28th June.

Saturday 5th June 1999

Neville Varnham and Jules tied the knot today, with Kevin Walker as Best Man and brother Tony, making sure he made it to the church in good time!

Friday 4th June 1999
- Friendly: Shaw Cvs St Mary's B/C

The first in a series of summer friendlies between Shaw and St Mary's took place today with the Shaw Mixed C team taking on a St Mary's B/C team. With Trevor Poore and Matthew Chivers playing Tennis and Cricket matches elsewhere, the Shaw super-subs of Rick Stone and Andy Norman joined the rest of the C team regulars.

Rebecca Chivers and Andy Norman had a really tough first game, facing the might of Tony and Lyn Glinos. Although Rebecca and Andy were narrowly beaten in the first game 17-16, they fought back to take the second. In thrilling third end, it could not have been closer - Andy and Rebecca again took the game to setting, but yet again, that elusive winning point went to Tony and Lyn who took the rubber 17-16 in the last.

Meanwhile, Andy Nich and Pam faced Neville Booth and Sam Ferryman. The Shaw C duo continued their winning form to secure the rubber in two ends. Ali and Rick took on Clive Marsh and Francis Rayson. The experience of the St Mary's pair proved too much and Shaw pair went down fighting!

Tony and Lyn went on to win their remaining two games which set St Mary's in the winning mood.

The return leg will take place at Kennet Leisure Centre on Monday 5th July.

Monday 24th May 1999

Nicky C is continuing her travels 'round the world ... latest update from her:

"Well I'm in Sydney at the moment and the weather has certainly changed although we have had a few nice day's. We are staying with my friends aunties at the moment for a bit of civalisation, like a bath and some home cooked food!! It's lovely!! We are doing all the touristy things this week like, the Opera House, Darling Harbour, and the Zoo of course!! The weeks leading up to know have been a little quite as we were staying in the quieter towns like Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie!! but we are going to make the most of the last few weeks in Sydney before we move onto New Zealand. Party hard comes to mind!!"

Monday 10th May 1999

Graham Lockyear became a Dad third time round on Monday when wife Helen produced a bouncing baby girl, Olivia Katie who weighed in a 6lb 11oz. Brothers William and Alistair will certain have their hands full trying to look after her!

23rd April 1999

Having won the Over 45 South West Doubles Championships, Tom Dingwall qualified to play in the National Championships. The tournament took place late in April, despite playing some of the games of his life and his team finished in 6th place.

9th March 1999
- Update from "Our Man up North"

"Just thought that I would e-mail you with the news from Saturday's final which was played at Birmingham University (last minute venue switch so we didn't end up playing at the NIA). I got up at the criminal time of 5:40am on saturday to find that it was sleeting!!!! Left the house at 6:15am and it had just started to actually snow but as it was so wet, it wasn't settling. After about ten minutes it got a lot heavier and within 10 - 20 minutes the whole place was white!!!! Travelling around in the mini-bus was difficult as we were sliding backwards down hills and even the rear wheels were sliding out to the side. On the motorway we were reduced to 40mph and ended up being 2 hours late. Still they let us play and after some very close matches and me and my partner coming within 3 points of losing the whole match, we managed to win!!!!! We were awarded a medal and free tickets to the All England tomorrow."

Sunday 29th February 1999
- Level Doubles Championship

The final of the Mens Doubles was an all-Shaw affair and saw the Walker brothers square up over the net. It was a thrilling final with some superb play and a result that couldn't have been closer. In the end, Neville Varnham and Tony Walker just edged victory over brother Kevin and Andy Norman to clinched the trophy with a hard-fought 21-20 result.

In the Ladies, Rebecca Chivers and Karen Jackson went out in the semi-final's to Ruth Lovell and Shiela Moore, the eventual winners.

26th February 1999
- Message from "Our Man up North"

"Ok you will now see my head get bigger than ever. On Wednesday I went to play in the semi-finals of the Badminton Cup/Shield that we are in. This took place at Northumbria University in Newcastle. Whilst playing we all performed not to our best but managed to win 5 - 4 even though we were told that they had a Malasian international player, (he wasn't playing). We, Sheffield Hallam Badminton Team, are now in the final, to be played in the weekend of the 6th and 7th of March at the one, the only: NATIONAL INDOOR ARENA in Birmingham where all the other finals of the university events are also being played. I personally think that this is fantastic news and can't wait to go. See you all soon and hope that everything is going okay."

25th December 1998
- Thank-you from our Birthday Girl's Son Down-Under!!

"Hi, I am Steve McGregor, the Australian based son of Marian McGregor who 'featured' in your skittles night feature. I have just spoken to Mum (for Christmas)and have been given a run down on the 'total surprise' of the sixtith party that you put on for her. She truly had a terrific night and was very touched by the thought and effort put on to make the night so special. Please pass on my thanks to the organisers (no doubt 'young Hugh' as Mum calls him had something to do with it?) and I wish you every success with your club activities. Warm regards, Steve & Clare McGregor"

18th December 1998
- Thank-you from our Birthday Girl

"To all of you devious, scheming people!! A great big thank-you for Saturday night, what a wonderful surprise that was! Thank-you also for the beautiful flowers, lovely gifts and not forgetting the Birthday Cake. I was totally gob-smacked by it all; I think I still am. There are a lot of lovely people in this world and I think they all belong to Shaw BC. Thank-you and Merry Christmas to You All"

Sunday 29th November 1998
- Robin Deasley Championship

Tony Walker partnering Ruth Lovell from Newbury BC, walked off with the honours at the Robin Deasley Tournament. They beat Shaw rivals Graham Lockyear and Alison Humphrey in the final 21-17.