TORQUAY'S Circus & Barton Acorn Badminton Club (CBA) has won national recognition after being named Club of the Month by Badminton England.

It is an honour that is awarded each month to a badminton club that is helping lead the charge in promoting and developing the sport in England.

Club member Sue Jarvis who also acts as liaison officer for Devon County Badminton Association and as coaching and development officer for South Dartmoor Partnership, has witnessed first hand the progress made at a club that boasts a thriving junior and senior section.

"The club was formed many years ago and currently has more than 100 members and seven coaches, all of whom have passed through the club's junior ranks to gain coaching qualifications and volunteer as coaches with the junior section," said Jarvis.

"The club moved venues five years ago and is now based in a very deprived area of the Bay, so tries to offer badminton to juniors at a very reasonable rate.

"The club achieved Badminton England Premier Club status five years ago and the youngest member is six years old and the oldest member of the senior club is 80-plus."

Sue tells me that no-one is ever turned away and the club offers social activities throughout the year, where everyone is encouraged to come along and have fun. So successful is the junior club it is now in two sections.

"We have a primary school group and a secondary school group," said Sue. "This was introduced as we had a very long list of juniors wishing to join our club and we felt that sometimes younger players were put off by the size and standard of the older players."

One of the great strengths of the Circus & Barton Acorn club is their ability and willingness to embrace all ages of people that play the sport as exemplified by six-year-old Ellis Knowles and 80-year-old Pia Teague.

The club is proud of the fact that they never turn anyone away and as well as all the junior and senior coaching there is a popular Monday morning session that attracts some people who are unable to go out in the evening.

The slogan 'badminton for all' has never been more apt than at the CBA club with teams in the seven-division-strong Torbay junior league and sides in the senior league, two of which play at the highest level with the men's A-team featuring all former junior club members.

The club has so many adults playing on club nights it is looking to have another night set aside at a different venue for matches.

The future looks rosy but then they do make things happen, as Jarvis explained.

"Our coaches are always looking out for talented players, asking them to be seen by our county squads as soon as they feel they are at the appropriate standard," she said.

"Three of our coaches work within the county junior set-up and five have this year been involved in coaching within local primary and secondary schools.

"Our coaches will hopefully continue to work within the local primary and secondary schools and running after-school clubs, which encourages youngster to join local clubs."

In my 30-years as a badminton writer with the Herald Express there has never been the number of youngster's playing the sport in South Devon that there are now.

Current England junior Dan Chow cut his teeth in the hugely successful junior league and while he is an inspiration to others, Badminton England's 'club of the month' is a fine example of what can be achieved when you have that wonderful ingredient of facilities, players, coaches and volunteers all pulling together.