Tributes are paid as 'Mr Badminton' Bob Colhoun sadly passes away

Tributes have been flooding into the club and on various social media sites highlighting the massive part which Bob has played in so many lives at home and abroad.

Barbara Beckett certainly one of the club’s finest international players recalled one of her earliest memories when Bob told him to give her one of his old rackets to play with.

Peter Ferguson, described his former mentor as ‘an inspiration to many young and old badminton players’ reflecting back on the Pinta tournament which annually attracted over 700 entries. “Thanks to Bob” he said “I was able to fulfil my dream of representing my country”.

It was only after leaving RBAI and graduating from QUB in electrical engineering that he first became interested in badminton.

When Bob joined Alpha on his return to the province after five years in Edinburgh in the late Summer of 1955 the former pupil of RBAI was quickly snapped up as Honorary Secretary and it could not have been a more astute appointment as he was to become one of the most astute of sporting administrators in the country..

With the formation of a Juvenile club harnessing the latent talent, the club was to grow exponentially and he was to combine his early talents as a coach with becoming a willing taxi driver to matches and tournaments the length and breadth of the countryside in his trusty Volvo.

In the late Sixties Alpha had been fundraising for some years and they were to combine with Hilden Tennis Club and when total assets reached £8,000 they were to receive grant aid from the Ministry of Education for a new pavilion for Hilden and Badminton courts for Alpha with squash also being included.

Lisburn Racquets Club was to be born and the three court badminton hall was appropriately named The Colhoun Hall.

Bob was responsible for introducing a Christmas tournament for young players and at one stage it was being played throughout the province with entries reaching over 600 in the 1980s and was also responsible for an international event which attracted some of the top international players to the Lisburn venue in the pre-Open era.

Bob was to receive many honours including an MBE in 2014 but he was also the recipient of a Meritorious Award from the BWF which was presented to him in front of a packed Maysfield Leisure Centre which was hosting a Europe v Asia International.

Despite being a true visionary Bob was also a character in the kindest sense of the word, often shunning publicity and except in his later years when his visits to the club were restricted, still received the greatest satisfaction from seeing the hordes of youngsters visiting the club throughout the week and taking advantage of the now splendid facilities which he has made such a large contribution to in bringing to this part of Lisburn.