Each week we bring you a good news story from across the South West as part of our wedNEWSday articles.

I would like to take this opportunity to recognise an outstanding achievement of one of our Somerset volunteers.  Mel started her netball journey at a Back to Netball (B2N) session in Wellington, Somerset and has since spent countless volunteer hours pushing to establish a netball club for her area.  An outstanding contribution to netball in the county! Mel, collectively we thank you!! This is Mel’s story:

When I moved to Somerset from the South East I wanted to continue to play Netball. I had previously returned to the sport after 20 years attending a Back to Netball club in Sussex.

There seemed a lack of competitive netball for new players or returners and always thought there could be an opportunity to start a club in Wellington, Somerset.

After training with the fabulous girls of the Welly Warriors it was clear that numbers were good and the interest for learning new skills was there. I contacted England Netball and together we set up a Back to Netball and a Netball Now session.

We had the fastest growing participant numbers in the South West so the need for a club was definitely there!

We were keen to offer opportunities to younger netballers and also establish ourselves as a community club which we were able to do thanks to some amazing volunteers to make a committee.  June this year we were able to launch as Wellington Netball Club. 

A huge amount of unseen work and volunteer hours has gone into setting up this amazing club and I could not have done this without the help of our committee.  We now have over 40 members and are looking to launch Juniors and Bee Netball in September.

Our aim is to give everyone the opportunity to experience netball in a safe and friendly environment. For people to have fun and keep fit whilst also offering social interaction with different people.

My personal aim is to make the club sustainable, so it is there in years to come offering netball to everyone in Wellington and the surrounding areas. 

We would encourage anyone thinking about trying netball or coming back to the sport to do it! Beware though it is addictive, once you hit that court there is no turning back!

If you have a good news story that you would like to share please send your story and a picture to the South West Regional Coordinator (southwest@englandnetball.co.uk).