Club History

In around 1965 to 1966 a group of Dronfield friends got together to play badminton in Dronfield Church Hall on Monday nights. After a few years they had improved and wished to start a team and play in a league.

To do this they needed a Club name and there was already a Dronfield Badminton Club so they decided on the name “Drone” after the river running through Dronfield.

In their first season they had a men’s team and lost every match until the final one, which they won. A great celebration was had by the whole club in The Green Dragon pub in Dronfield after the win.

Over time the Club grew and had both male and female members. The big change in the club came in 1973 when Dronfield Sports Centre (DSC) opened and Drone applied for 2 courts on Wednesday evenings from 7.30 pm. This enabled the club to have two venues and a much larger membership.

The main driving force behind the club was the Culver family, Brian and Maureen with their daughter Pat and son Jim along with Pat’s husband Roy Millington. Other prominent members were David and Sandra Ward, Eric Walker and Robin Cordock.

The club had a men’s team and a mixed team in the Sheffield league, the latter playing in a “Combined” format which gave the 6 team members a chance to play men’s, ladies’ and mixed all in one match.

The Club grew over the years, started more teams and took on 3 courts at Gosforth School on Friday evenings. Three courts were more than the club needed, but the whole hall had to let to a single party. Therefore to keep costs down one of the courts was sublet to Hallam Badminton Club, which was a mutually beneficial agreement. This enabled Drone matches to be played on Fridays, at Gosforth, leaving Monday and Wednesday nights as dedicated Club nights.

The Club continued to grow to a maximum number of 38, of which 18 were ladies. Since that time numbers fluctuated, but were always in the 24 to 34 range with a fairly even mix of men and women. The Club had 6 teams in the Sheffield League. Two men’s teams, three mixed teams and one ladies team.

At that time the Sheffield league had 7 or 8 divisions in two 2 “legs” i.e. around 14 divisions. Drone had teams in high Divisions though never making Division 1.

It was a great Club to belong to having the ingredients of friendship, camaraderie and team competition. 

When Gosforth School closed, the Friday nights were moved to Graves Centre at Meadow Head.

In 2007 the Club gave up the Monday night venue at the Church Hall, which was taken over by a group of older Drone members and named the “Diehards”. Some Diehard members remained as Drone members.

Unfortunately when the DSC closed for a year in 2008 for extensive refurbishment the club ended up without a venue to temporarily locate to. a lot of members left before the club relocated for a year to the Graves Centre. Regrettably the lady members of Drone dropped to five meaning they could not sustain a ladies team and the remaining five left to join other clubs over the coming years. Since that time Drone has been a male club by circumstance not design.

Following COVID, it rose back to around 14 regular players and has had a men’s team in both Sheffield and Chesterfield Leagues in recent years.

The Club remains at the DSC on Wednesday nights at 7.30 pm and is open to new members who are capable of playing badminton to a good standard both male and female.