Formed in 1972 Colne Badminton Club has enjoyed many successes over the years never failing to take part in the local Leagues and its 50-strong member base has seen several members progress to Lancashire teams and feature in the top 16 of England players.

The Club has always maintained a lively social aspect, and welcomes all junior and senior players of club standard to play.

Prior to achieving Clubmark the Club was struggling with declining membership numbers and financial difficulties.

The decision to start the accreditation journey towards Clubmark was coupled with a desire to increase membership numbers and spread the badminton experience further out into the community.

After successfully achieving Clubmark in October 2010 the Club, with help from Joe Cooney (Pendle Leisure Services Club Development Officer) and Julia Kelly (Regional Officer for Badminton England) attracted funding from PremierLeague4Sport which enabled 2 satellite clubs to be formed at local high schools, offering free badminton for players aged 11-16 years.

Sport England also awarded the Club a grant to extend badminton coaching to all high schools and FE colleges in Pendle, which grew into the formation of a Gifted and Talented Development group.

Testament to the Club's hard work, earlier this month it won ‘Community Club of the Year 2011' in the Pendle Sports Awards.

In the 11 months since the Club was accredited it has:

• Developed into a transparent, accountable and creditable organisation, which attracts and retains more members especially juniors
• Expanded its public image, especially in the high schools with which it has school-to-club link agreements
• As a result of the funding for additional coaches and the coaching performance, it has junior players at a performance centre in Bolton and with Lancashire Coaching at Wigan.

To ensure continuous improvement the Club plans to separate the juniors from the seniors to focus on individual needs, there are an additional two 1st level coaches joining the Club in autumn alongside the permanent 2nd level coaches and in conjunction with PremierLeague4Sport, it will continue to be a hub satellite club for a further season.

Additionally, working with the Pendle Schools Partnership Team, the Club has been involved with a successful grant application to maintain a Community Coach in local schools.

Club secretary Sharon De Maine offers the following quote to other clubs thinking of applying for Clubmark:

"It's a job worth doing, but spread the workload amongst club members and you will not look back."