Churchdown Netball Club have a fab four in the Gloucestershire League and they’re certainly top of the charts in Vanessa Howarth’s eyes.

The club’s press officer is in her fourth season with the club and she’s delighted she joined them after moving up from Somerset through her work as an HR manager.

“I enjoy the competitive side,” she said. “I like being part of a team and it’s a great way of meeting new people.

“We’ve got four teams, one in Division One, two in Division Three and one in Division Four. It means we can attract a range of players because we have a number of teams who play at different levels.

“We aim to be the best we can be and we are competitive, but we’re also friendly and very welcoming to players of all abilities.”

Churchdown were founded in 1980 in the days when Blondie and ABBA were reeling off the number one hit singles.

They weren’t known as Churchdown back then, instead for the first 23 years of their existence they were known as Dowty.

“The club moved away from being a works team to being more of a community team when we changed our name in 2003,” said Vanessa.

But although they are a Churchdown team, they train at Bentham on Tuesdays and three of their teams play their matches on a Saturday there as well.

The other team – the 1sts – play their matches at the recreation centre in Cheltenham.

Frances Phillips is in her first season as chairperson of the club, although she has spent a number of years on the committee.

Frances, is a goal defender or goalkeeper for the Bluesox team in Division Three, so what makes netball so special for her?

“Netball is really important to me because I have a busy work schedule, and playing for Churchdown means that twice a week I am able to put that to one side, exercise and have a laugh all in one place,’’ she said.

While Vanessa is a relative newcomer to netball in this county after cutting her teeth in the sport in Yeovil, there are players like Karen Joiner who have been synonymous with Churchdown Netball Club for many years.

“Karen has been with the team for 23 years and has retained an excellent shooting record, while taking on significant committee responsibility too,” said Vanessa.

Churchdown have three selectors who have a keen eye for talent and this year they have seen massive improvement throughout the squads. In particular they named Zoe Purnell (GA, Division One and Division Three), Samantha Bashford (GS, Division One and Division Three), Lindsay Howson (C, Division Three and Division Four) and Amy Gray (GK/GD, Division Four) as most improved players in the first half of the season.

With people like Frances, Karen and Vanessa there is certainly plenty to sing about at Churchdown.

Training is on a Tuesday night, 7pm-9pm at Bentham.