Swindon's oldest netball club celebrates 80th birthday in style

The oldest netball club in Swindon has just celebrated a milestone anniversary by hosting a special party which brought together past and current players.

Pinehurst Netball Club was founded by Doreen Wilcox, 95, and her school friend Jean Neville when they were just 15 years old - 80 years later the club is still going strong.

On Saturday, June 8, old friends, ex-players and current teams marked the celebration in style by dressing up to enjoy a buffet, DJ and a well-deserved drink or two at The Village Hotel.

Laura Barrat, who has played for the club since primary school said: “The event was a great success. We had around 130 people attend which was made up of current players, coaches and umpires, previous players and lots of familiar faces who have been affiliated with the club over the years.

“We gave out all our end of season awards to our junior and senior teams which was great to celebrate a successful season and ended the party with lots of dancing.”

Doreen, loyal since the very beginning, still attends many of the weekly training sessions to watch and support the players.

Founder Doreen Wilcox enjoying the event (Image: Laura Barrat)

She has also been awarded an MBE for her dedication to the community and her charity work, including raising over £100,000 for various cancer charities.

Laura told the Adver back in April that the event was ‘not only to celebrate the club, but to celebrate Doreen’ and Doreen said it would be ‘out of this world’ to reconnect with the people who had supported her beloved club over the last 80 years.

“Doreen attended the celebration and she had a good time. The other two founder’s children were in attendance too which was lovely. We had every generation represented”, said Laura.

Pinehurst Netball Club currently has around 100 members at junior and senior levels of all ages and abilities, with local and regional teams competing across the country.

Their next endeavour involves trying to attract even more senior players to their local teams and they have two upcoming trial evenings on Tuesday, July 9 and Tuesday, July 16, which are free for anyone to give it a go.

“To keep us going for the next 80 years we will continue to do what we love; playing netball and providing a fun and inclusive environment where everybody and anybody can come to play”, Laura added.

For more information contact pinehurstnetballclub@outlook.com