On behalf of your
CCBA committee, I hope you had a great Christmas and that the new year proves a
good one for you, on or off the badminton court.
The new year
always brings some fresh challenges and one that faces us all as a badminton
community is the future of the much-loved Duchy Tournament (or Cornwall Senior
Silver tournament as it is now more properly known). During September of 2015, this tournament had it's 33rd
staging under the expert co-ordination of it's long established committee, who
have built up a wealth of expertise over the years such that the tournament
always runs very smoothly. It is also
one much enjoyed by entrants and spectators alike, and of course, in recent
years it has proved a valued “testing ground” for our own young players who
have the chance to compete against experienced players from the national
scene. In particular, this has been of
great benefit to the development of members of CYB, many of whom have gone on
to represent Cornwall at senior level with great success.
It is extremely
sad, therefore, to see that this tournament may now never be staged again
unless some way is found to bring in new management to take on its organisation. Due to certain rule changes brought in three
years ago by Badminton England, it became no longer possible to enter older CYB
players 'en bloc' which led to a decline in entries, putting stress on
the viability of the tournament. At the
same time, the organisers of the Duchy felt it was their time to take a
well-deserved retirement and have now resigned; this leaves a considerable
vacuum in our domestic calendar of events.
Your CBA is determined to make BE reconsider the rules governing such
tournaments so, in the hope of success in that respect we are now seeking a new
set of organisers from within Cornish badminton to undertake the running of the
tournament. We felt it would be
appropriate to ask either a group of members or a club to consider taking it
on.
Any
group contemplating this should know that the out-going Duchy committee have
produced a “handbook” giving precise detail of what to do and when, who to
contact, current sponsors, lists of regular entrants and so on, plus there is a
small amount of cash available to back them up. In effect, it is ready to run but the challenge is that this
needs to be taken up soon. There is
insufficient capacity within the CCBA committee to undertake the running of the
Duchy but any new group could certainly count on our backing.
Please would all clubs and all members now give urgent thought as to
whether they feel they can step up to the plate on this issue and to let us
know as soon as possible. You can
contact any committee member or reply outlining your interest to either Lyndon
or myself (details below). The
future of this tournament is in your hands!
Lyndon Allen, Secretary CCBA (01726 63245; lyndoncallen2@btinternet.com)
