Hucclecote Netball Club Commemorates 50th Anniversary

Hucclecote Netball Club, situated in Gloucestershire, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The club, which was established in 1974 with the initial purpose of offering an activity for the partners of rugby players, will mark this milestone with a gala dinner on Saturday. Founder and chair Sue Wainwright explained, “We basically got bored of watching rugby. I was a newly-qualified PE teacher and suggested we start a netball club.” The club currently has over 500 regular members. It organizes approximately 11 adult teams and 12 junior teams every weekend, in addition to a mini league for children aged 7-10, which sees around 100 participants. “It is a huge milestone and I had no idea we would grow to where we are now,” Ms Wainwright stated. She further remarked, “I do get a lot of accolades for starting the club but it is built on so many volunteers and parents who put in so much. “With the size we are now you need a huge volunteer workforce to make it so successful.” Hucclecote presently leads division one of the national league, a competition comprising the top 10 netball clubs in the country. Over the years, former members of the club have also gone on to play for England and Wales. Ms Wainwright mentioned that about 130 former players have been invited to attend the gala dinner. She added, “We’ve invited the original seven players from the first team back in the 1970s, to players who are playing with us today. “Some of them haven’t seen each other for over 40 years so it’ll be a wonderful event.” Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.