Naturally all of this takes place in Taunton, so for people who don't know the area. Sorry, I'll try to include a map sometime!
The club was originally formed on 12th January 1962 out of the Kingston Rd Badminton Club which closed due to lack of funds. £1-17s-3½d was transferred to the new "Unicorn" club. The first annual subscription was 30 shillings and the Club had a maximum of 18 members. It played at what is now the Callebaut Hall in Kingston Rd.
By 1966 maximum membership was up to 20, with Club funds standing at £3-15s-1d with subscriptions of £3-3s-0d.
At around this time the Club transferred to playing at Priorswood Secondary School, (now St Augustine of Canterbury). By the AGM in 1967 funds rose to a staggering £14-8s-1d. Some plastic shuttles were bought to allow members playing in matches to get used to them. These to be used once the evening limit of 3 feather shuttles had been reached!
In 1968 a small group of members decided to set up a tennis group. This was to be self financing and kept separate from the Unicorn Club for the first year.
1969 saw the possibility of a league being formed in Taunton, Unicorn were looking to be a founder member. Up to this time only "friendly" matches had been played with other clubs. Tennis seems to have been forgotten.
In 1970 Unicorn became affiliated with the Somerset Badminton Association but funds were down because of a lack of interest. Efforts were made to improve membership but subscriptions were up to £4-00-00. A team was entered into the new Taunton Badminton League.
By 1971 things were better, funds were up to £19.62p and Eileen Rice was appointed Match Secretary. By this time the Club was playing at Wellsprings Primary/Junior School. Match fees of 30p introduced.
1973 things were worse, some strong team members had left and the team promoted to Division 2 due to a technicality, had lost all its matches. A rule about "team members missing more than 3 club nights being left out of the team" was introduced. An attendance record was to be kept!.
1975 dawns with the Club either going to merge with another or trying to find a new venue - Queens College was suggested. All because of a lack of members or the single court venue. In July '75, a special meeting voted: 4 to go to Queens, 8 to explore merger with either Alpha or Elms. Following later meetings with these clubs, who declined to change their identities, it was decided to book Queens on a Friday night and to encourage new members.
By 1976 costs per night per person were down from 27p at Wellsprings to 23p at Queens. Maximum membership was up to 35, the move was a success. From then on membership continued to grow, as did the number of teams entered in the league.
Another new door opened in Unicorn history in Oct 1990. Following a friendly in Taunton with 6 boys from Lisieux, the Club visited and twinned with C.A.L. in Lisieux. This was followed by a return visit in May 1991 and another by Unicorn to France in May 1992. The friendship between the two clubs and their members continues to grow and grow. In 2000, on a visit to CAL, we celebrated our 10th anniversary of our twinning with a great week of celebrations put on by our French friends. (See the international badminton tab!)
A major change in the Club's playing venue took place in 1994 when just after the start of the season in September, we were told that Queen's College were ceasing the let. So we moved to the new sports hall at Bishop Fox's Comprehensive School. The club stayed here for a number of years.
In 1995 the Junior Club took part in the Youth Sport trust's "Top Club" scheme. We held 3 public junior tournaments and trained more helpers.
As we work more with young people and as the club grew to it's maximum capacity of 55, we were invited to comment on the badminton plans of a new sports hall being built with Lottery money alongside Castle School in Wellington Rd. As this building was completed we moved from Bishop Fox's to this new hall specifically built to hold badminton and managed by Taunton Deane. Despite some minor snags with the building in the first year, the club has found the move beneficial and has grown to like the venue. The junior club has never had so many members, and is being split to make it more manageable. The senior club has five teams in the league.
In 2007 the club continues to be one of the largest within the Taunton Badminton League, maintaining its member numbers across the whole age range whilst the sport goes through somewhat of a recession in the area. The juniors continues to grow, requiring some more of our members to attend official BA of E coaching courses. Regular social events also take place, being an important part of the club. Future events include, pub quizzes, Christmas, Bill Ball and Crown tournaments, Christmas meal and entertaining our French twinning friends over a weekend in May each year.
We are still looking for new members. Please contact us if you would like details.