Badminton work group are on the move

Glenn Curley and his work colleagues from Four Seasons Roofing Ltd in Aldridge started playing at Oak Park Leisure Centre back in the early 1980s.

Their regular Thursday evening sessions at the Walsall Wood venue have continued down three decades – but now they're on the move.

Oak Park is to close for Curley and his colleagues including John Buckley, Steve Daniel, Neil Porley, Rob Jennings, Dave Meek and Bill Criddle.

Criddle is in his late seventies and still travels occasionally from Telford – but they are going a few metres over the road.

The new £26million facility has everything the sporty-minded could wish for – a superb swimming pool, six court sports hall, two glass-backed squash courts and a floodlit 3G artificial turf pitch.

But Curley and his buddies still think fondly of their old base. The 52-year-old, who works in roofing and as a photographer, said: "For us, it's a mix of excitement and sadness.

"It's a community place where a bunch of people who were working for a company, before going off and doing other things, still come back and meet.

"It has kept us all glued together. It's been a large chunk of my life."

While the gang never became an affiliated badminton club, their matches have always been competitive.

Curley, who lives in Hednesford, added: "It was all social. We were a bunch of chaps playing highly competitively, but a lot of laughing gas was involved in the playing too!

"We'll definitely miss the peculiarities of the place. The heating system would blow the shuttle on or off the line and with the way the roof slopes.

"The roof is higher one side than the other, which makes it interesting for players who hit it high. The lighting is also always uneven – but it adds to the character of the place."