The History of the National Badminton Museum

Volunteers realising the importance of recording and preserving badminton’s heritage formed a committee in 2003. The National Badminton Museum (N.B.M.) was launched later in that year and was officially opened on September 9th 2003, by Neil Cameron, Chief Executive of the International Badminton Federation now the BWF. In 2007 the N.B.M. was granted charity status, to comply with the Charity Commission regulations the N.B.M. is now managed by trustees, there is also a working party of volunteers who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the museum.

The Badminton Association founded in 1893, later became the Badminton Association of England, then BADMINTON England who had accumulated a considerable amount of badminton memorabilia. The N.B.M. is indebted to Herbert and Betty Scheele, Humphrey Chilton and Heather Nielsen who were the first people to realise the importance of this material to the history of the game. In 1994 Margaret Cook was invited to become archivist.

The N.B.M. receives no guaranteed income, some of the display cabinets have been donated, and the purchase of others was assisted by a grant from Milton Keynes Community Foundation.

Since the N.B.M. was launched in 2003 the National Collection of badminton rackets, shuttles, books and magazines has increased considerably and now they one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of badminton artefacts, archives and memorabilia in the world.

The N.B.M. has an Acquisitions and Disposals Committee, basically responsible for accepting and purchasing items into the museum’s collection.

The National Badminton Museum is supported by BADMINTON England.