On Friday, November 8, members of the Cowal Badminton Association gathered to celebrate 100 years since it’s founding.
The celebration took place at the Queen’s Hall, including a meal and a dance, with speeches from some important figures in Cowal and badminton.
Among those was Badminton Scotland chief executive, Keith Russell, Deputy Provost, Jan Brown, and former Scottish international badminton player, Dan Travers.
Travers won a host of accolades as a player, including finishing with a bronze medal at the 1981 World Games, but perhaps his biggest achievement was winning gold at the 1986 Commonwealth Games against England, in a home games in Edinburgh.
Along with Billy Gilliland, the pair reached as high as world number two, and proved to be a formidable opponent in international badminton – shown by being awarded BBC Scotland Sportsperson of the year in 1986.
After retirement, Dan appeared in many roles, becoming the head coach, and later president, of Scottish Badminton, and he joined in the celebration of Cowal Badminton’s centenary.
The speaker for the night, Peter Flanagan, noted that the first advertisement appeared in the Dunoon Observer in April 1922, so it could be argued that the club is even older, however the first monthly meeting took place in 1923.
The article from said meeting, stated: “The first monthly meeting of Cowal Badminton Association was held on Wednesday night.”
The meeting elected the delegates for the association committee season 1923-1924 and broke the news that ‘the association had been successful in obtaining the use of the Pavilion for all league matches’.
Over 100 years on, the sport is still proving to be as popular in Cowal, with the celebration proving to be a huge success.
