Derbyshire Badminton Association were recognised for their significant achievements in club membership growth this weekend at the BADMINTON England AGM in Milton Keynes.

The county, which boasts the likes of Olympians Anthony Clark and Donna Kellogg [pictured] as key, active ambassadors, were presented with the annual shield for recording the highest % improvement in club membership within the past season.

The shield, which has been presented to Middlesex, Berkshire, Essex, Staffordshire and Herefordshire in the past, was the brainchild of Hertfordshire, who have funded and awarded the accolade since 2003.

Derbyshire, who first picked up the award in 2004/05 season, were once again winners after growing their membership base by an impressive 24.2% since last season. However, with 28 of the 41 counties all registering increases for the past season, competition was fierce.

Other counties with notable increases in club membership were Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Dorset, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Wiltshire and Surrey.

Special mention must also go to Lancashire and Yorkshire, who despite having the highest number of affiliated clubs and members across the country, still registered healthy levels of growth on previous seasons.

Having seen the number of affiliated clubs at a 5 year high, Membership Services Manager, Lauren Blake said “BADMINTON England would like to congratulate Derbyshire on their impressive figures for the past season and would like to also commend the other counties who have seen similar results.

“It is fantastic news that 65% of our county network are showing strong figures across England and this reflects our continued increase in membership numbers which have grown by more than 15% over the past 2 seasons”.