Club History
HISTORY OF BRIDGWATER NETBALL CLUB
The club was formed around 1950 when Mrs. Irene Tester, a local youth organiser, spotted a group of girls from the local Life Brigade playing basketball against the boys from the Boy’s Brigade. She suggested that they form a netball team and the Red Triangles were born. They evolved into the Bridgwater Netball Club and started to play teams from Frome, Taunton and Weston-super-Mare.
Amazingly, in 1954, the touring Australian national side was persuaded by the same youth organiser to stay in Bridgwater for a week and during that time they played against Bridgwater and Somerset. There is no record of the score but founder member and Club President Doreen Hodge, who played in both matches, remembers the local sides suffering heavy defeats!
In 1972, having expanded to two teams, the club amalgamated with a team at the YMCA to become the Bridgwater YMCA Netball Club. Over the years the number of teams grew to six and the club enjoyed a long period of success with Jupiter dominating the Somerset Premier Division in the 1980’s
Following several different venues and club names over the years, the Club has now returned to its roots and is once again called Bridgwater Netball Club. Approximately 10 years ago the Club sought better playing facilities for its members and as a result moved to Haygrove School. This move proved very successful, as the Club has built very strong links with the school.
The Club has a very popular junior section, which has increased the Club size to 14 teams (5 senior and 9 junior). This success is largely due to the dedicated committee members who strive to continually develop the Club further. As a result of their efforts, the Club has achieved the Silver CAPS Award from England Netball.