The Gay and Lesbian Badminton Club have survived eviction, after the Rise Recreational Centre in Maylands retracted demands they become an incorporated group to secure their 7-9pm spot each Wednesday.
The group generated attendance of over 50 people when it launched six years ago. Organiser Dallas Robertson started the group to offer an alternative form of socialising and recreation for the gay community.
The potential demise of the group prompted 27 members of the group to appeal to management this month. During this meeting, management were persuaded that the unofficial group were sustainable for the year. An annual spot was reinstated, on the proviso that the group move from the 7-9pm to either 6-8pm or 8-10pm
The group faced its first obstacle when it was forced to move out of the previous Maylands recreational centre for renovations.
‘We scrambled to find somewhere; the only place we could find in the whole of Perth was a centre in Girrawheen’.
Following the shift to Girrawheen, attendance dwindled from over 50 people to between seven and ten people.
‘It was just outside the gay circle which is 5km from the city, Maylands is our spiritual home’.
Robertson moved the group back to Maylands when the Rise Recreational Centre opened, ‘it is such a great turn of events that management got to witness that we aren’t just a couple of guys playing badminton, we’re a community’, he said.
