Dear Sir,

As a keen Badminton player, it is good to see that Peter Walton is hoping to establish childrens’ coaching at Newton Aycliffe Youth Centre. Peter is a coach of many years experience and many local players credit him with their introduction to the sport. I would like to wish him luck with his project especially in these troubled times.

Badminton is a sport that can be played for many years at many levels. The younger players start, the better, and physical activity can be of great benefit at school teaching teamwork and discipline, as well as being great fun. I am sure Peter will be happy to add anyone interested to his mailing list at peterwalton1@aol.com

On another note it was good to see your tribute to retiring tennis coach, Ian Wilkinson, in a recent edition of Newon News. Ian was one of my teachers, many years ago, at The Avenue Comprehensive School, before it became Tesco. I’d like to wish him a long and happy retirement.

Incidentally, from your picture it looks like there could be a new opportunity there as a lookalike for former England cricketer David Gower!

Darren Clarke