Club News | Mar ‘26
Greetings everyone and welcome to the March-roundup newsletter from the management committee. We hope you are all well and enjoying the warmer sunnier weather we have been having and getting to use the club.
We would like to give you all advance notice of our Annual General Meeting (AGM) which will be held on Thursday 21st May 2026 at the club. More details of this will follow in due course but for now it’s a date for your diary!
Shout out for volunteers: We are always on the hunt for volunteers to help with various things around the club as the committee cannot cover everything the club needs all the time. Guy Mines has been working for free at the club for six months, putting at least 500 hours of work over that time period. His six month stint comes to an end in April. If any of you can help with anything such as bar cover, helping with events, or anything else you think would be of benefit, please drop us an email at admin@lbsc.org.uk
Easter opening
In accordance with usual practice, the Club will be open over the Easter weekend. Any club sessions will not take place but if members wish to make their own arrangements they can book the courts through the ebooking system and use their WhatsApp groups to make the arrangements. Members will need to use their own equipment.
Recent Committee Activities
Total number of approximate volunteer hours spent in running the club this month: 175 hours
Steve Bridgeman, Club secretary, has completed training with Badminton England and is now the Club Welfare Officer. Any concerns regarding Safeguarding can be communicated to him on lbscsecretary1937@gmail.com or 07968 224505.
Steve is also leading the second stage of Grant Aid application with Littlehampton Town Council. The funding will be used to host an Open Day where young people will be involved to create murals on the inside and outside walls of the Club, under the supervision of expert mural artist Ben Cavanagh.
Sam Horne has been looking into ways we can improve the marketing of the club. We have a potential opportunity to advertise a banner within Littlehampton, but more importantly has been creating some design templates so that the committee can be using them for events or announcements that are upcoming.
Sam, Pete and Vanessa are continuing to explore the range of eBooking functionality that we can make use of in the club and will be trialling different aspects of this in the coming months!
We have unfortunately had to clean black shoe marks off the badminton courts a number of times this month due to players using shoes with marking soles. Can we remind members to ensure you and any guests you are responsible for, wear non-marking soles on the courts? This costs time and money to remove if marks are found and we will have no choice but to fine members who are found to have marked the courts going forward.
There have been a few instances in the last month whereby members have been found playing on the badminton courts in the dark without feeding the light meters. This is not only a health and safety issue but it also means that we do not know who is in the building for fire and health and safety procedures. It is imperative that you book courts if you wish to play outside of club sessions and ensure you include all members names in the booking that are playing with you. Any guests you bring need to pay the guest fee and are the responsibility of the member who has invited them onto the premises.
The Committee has been considering the thorny issue of fees for the forthcoming financial year and proposals will be put forward for consideration and decisions at the AGM in May.
The Committee has also continued to monitor the financial position of the Club and a report will be submitted to the AGM by the Treasurer but it is expected that with the savings identified already, that the future of the Club has been made more secure. With a falling membership and falling income, strong measures needed to be taken urgently to arrest a deteriorating financial position.
In the difficult economic situation we all find ourselves in, we are keen to ensure that the club remains open and hopefully we can encourage more people to join and play the sports we all enjoy. One of the ways that members can help us with this is to help promote our club as and when possible. If any members are able to introduce a new member to the club this alone would make a positive impact on the club. We have a number of leaflets in the office that you are all welcome to help distribute in your local areas to help with the club promotion. Please email admin@lbsc.org.uk to arrange collection of these.
John is continuing efforts to increase the amount of coaching at the Club and has spoken to many coaches to see what options are available. We are hoping to have coaching courses for all playing standards and also hope to run summer schools during the school holidays and also one and two day courses for more advanced members.
Links to our social media and website: If you haven’t already had a look at these please follow the links below and give us a follow if you haven’t already on social media! Share posts to raise our profile.
April 2026 Events
Here’s what’s on next month. Don’t forget, you can come down to the club to watch any of the league matches. The bar will be open for all the below events, so why don’t you come down and cheer on your club!
Social Events:
Thursday 9th April, 11.00 - 15.00 - Easter Community Day: We will have a stall in the town centre and will be offering free taster sessions of pickleball. The sessions are open to everyone, so bring friends and family for instruction in this fast growing sport which caters for all ages and abilities. If you can help on the day, please contact Steve Bridgeman, club Secretary, on lbscsecretary1937@gmail.com or 07968 224505. Thank you.
18th April - Shuffleboard
24th April - Quiz night
AGM will be held on 21st May(!)
Badminton home matches:
8th April: Bognor Men’s 2 against Felpham: Home match
9th April: Fusion against Hassoks: Away match
10th April: Brighton mixed combi against Nondescripts: Home match
13th April: Bognor Mixed 2 against Chichester: Home match
14th April: Bognor Men’s 2 against Felpham: Away match
17th April: Brighton full mixed against Brighton Badgers: Home match
22nd April: Bognor Men’s 1 against Felpham: Home match
29th April: Bognor Men’s 1 against Chichester 2: Home match
29th April: Bognor Men’s 2 against Chichester 1: Home match
Next six weeks of Junior Badminton starts 14th April
Squash home matches:
Tuesday 7th April: Development Team away to Chichester
Friday 10th April: 1st Team home to Arun, 19.15 start
Next six weeks of Junior Squash starts 14th April
