Thornburn Ladies'
Badminton Association

Thornburn Ladies Badminton Association

Thornburn Ladies Badminton Association

Thornburn Ladies Badminton Association

A Short History of Thornburn Ladies' Badminton Association

In the beginning...

In the late 70s, there was a group of badminton playing women who formed the Combined Melbourne Ladies' Badminton Association. They played weekly on Thursdays at the Tally Ho Recreation Centre. Coloured bibs were made up for each team and the competition ran very successfully.

In the early 80s, Val Nesbitt (whom many of you know through her involvement at Eastern, as President of Victorian Ladies BA, as committee member at Badminton Victoria and longtime organiser of the Atalanta Jamboree) was asked to coach a group of beginners at Tally Ho. She invited a group she'd been coaching at Hawthorn to join in. These ladies wanted to play competition too and a meeting was held to establish a new committee and structure.

With Tally Ho being in Blackburn (or very close to it) - plus the Hawthorn group of players - the last parts of the two suburb names were joined to make Thornburn. They thankfully did not choose the name Blackhaw or Thornhorn!

Many of the Combined players as well as players from the various other associations joined the Thornburn group, and two grades of competition were established. When the land at Tally Ho was sold for housing in the mid-eighties, Thornburn moved to the Recreation Centre at Nunawading, and the competition expanded to three sections. It remains a central location and the longevity of the club is to be applauded.

As I researched this short history, several people mentioned names of players involved in those early days. Some of those people were: Marlene Burrell, Lyn Booth, Mavis Barrett, Eileen Oates, Noreen Quigley, Myra Capes, Judy Hammond, Elizabeth Duthie. If you were involved early on or if you have anything to add to the details above, please let me know so we can document this small piece of history of our club.

- Barbara Davie