The past year has seen some memorable activity, on and off court, for BADMINTON England and looking ahead, 2010 will be equally as eventful I'm sure.

We are about to embark on several weeks of intense competition with the Nationals, 100th All England Open Championships and the Yonex European Championships before we then begin to focus on the Commonwealth Games in India in October.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support of badminton, whether you are a player, coach, official, volunteer or spectator, our sport would be nowhere without you.

I very much hope to see you in Manchester or Birmingham over the coming months but in the meantime, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Successful New Year.