CLUB DIGEST DECEMBER 2025
All the latest news and information for BF clubs. Wrapping up the year and looking ahead: funding opportunities, dates for your diary and more.
December Club Digest – Wrapping up the year and looking ahead!
As we reach the final month of the year, it’s a perfect moment to look back at everything our fencing community has achieved and look ahead to what’s coming next. Thank you to everyone who has trained, volunteered, competed, supported, or simply cheered from the sidelines this year.
In this Club Digest:
- BF Community Awards: Free promotion for your club
- Funding Opportunities
- Dates for Your Diary
And more…
BF Community Awards – Nominations still open!
The BF Community Awards are a great way to raise the profile of your club for free! We share stories about the winners on our website and social media.
Nominations are still open for the 2024–25 BF Community Awards, celebrating the outstanding clubs, coaches, fencers, and volunteers who make a difference in our fencing community.
Nomination deadline: 14th December, midnight
All BF members, across every membership type, are invited to submit nominations using the online form. After nominations close, a shortlist will be created, and an independent panel will select the winners of the 2024–25 BF Community Awards.
You can find full details— including award criteria and previous winners—on the BF Community Awards page.
Please also review the BF Awards Terms and Conditions before submitting your nomination.
Pass this on to your members and let’s recognise and celebrate the people who make our community thrive!
BF 2030 Strategy – Empowering Clubs for Long-Term Success
Launched earlier this year, the BF 2030 Strategy brings us all together to drive inclusive participation, transform the perception of our sport and enable more opportunities to fence. This is great news for clubs! As part of creating a sustainable future for our sport, one of the specific goals, set by the BF Board, is to empower clubs for long term success.
Take a look at the Strategy here. This Club Digest is one of the ways we are supporting the goal of creating a sustainable future for clubs, ensuring their long term viability and growth.
Funding Opportunities for Clubs
As clubs across the country plan for the coming year, a number of national funding programmes are now open or opening soon:
Cash4Clubs (Sported / Flutter UKI) – Small grants of £2000 (€2000 in Ireland) are available this autumn to support clubs and organisations that help keep adults engaged in sport, particularly in areas of need N.B Funding is available to groups that support over 18s only.
Sport England – Movement Fund – Grants from £300 to £15,000 to help clubs grow participation, especially within under-represented groups and communities.
Inclusion Spotlight – Building a More Accessible Sport
This year has seen major steps forward in inclusive fencing across the UK.
BF launched the SwordSeat™ in 2025. It’s a purpose-designed wheelchair fencing system that makes inclusive fencing more accessible, portable, and affordable for clubs. The design allows clubs without specialist equipment to offer safe, enjoyable wheelchair fencing sessions, whether for beginners or experienced fencers.
The SwordSeat™:
– Reduces barriers for disabled athletes trying fencing for the first time
– Allows clubs to run disability inclusive sessions more easily
– Provides easy set-up and storage
– Encourages broader participation and visibility of para-fencing
– Helps coaches to broaden experience and skills
To help coaches and volunteers get started, BF has released free online training and CPD modules covering inclusive coaching practices, wheelchair fencing safety, and session design.
Beyond its practical design, the SwordSeat has earned strong endorsement from elite wheelchair fencers, including Paralympic medallists Piers Gilliver and Dimitri Coutya, who hailed it as a “game-changer” for its potential to broaden grassroots participation. By drastically cutting entry costs to levels comparable to standard loaned equipment, like masks or jackets, it facilitates trial participation without significant financial investment.
You can purchase a ready-made SwordSeat for £400 directly from BF, or build your own using our printed patterns, or design file self building guides.
If you have any questions, please contact Rick Rodgers, BF Inclusion Manager (Disability) via rick.rodgers@britishfencing.com
Accessible Club Information
We have hundreds of requests for accessible club information throughout the year and that number is growing every day. This a great opportunity for your club to welcome new members!
British Fencing holds a list of self proclaimed accessible clubs. To check you are on the list please follow the link.
Have you updated your accessibility information on Sport80?
We would appreciate clubs updating their details to confirm their accessibility, equipment status, and whether they run specific disability-inclusive sessions. This will help us signpost new members who need wheelchair access and are looking for support with their seated fencing activities to the right places.
You can update information on venue accessibility, wheelchair fencing equipment, and disability inclusive training sessions through the club’s Sport80 profile. The tick box options are available under the accessibility tab on your membership details panel – see image below.
Learning & Development – Your Journey in 2026
Looking into the new year, it’s a great time to to look ahead to upskilling your team. Whether a fencer, parent, volunteer, armourer, or aspiring coach, there are many ways to deepen your team’s skills for them to contribute further to your club and the wider fencing community.
Throughout 2026, a full programme of courses will be available covering coaching, refereeing, armoury, safeguarding, and volunteer development. These courses are designed to support you and your people at every stage, from complete beginners to those progressing toward higher qualifications.
Chris Turner, BF’s Coaching and Workforce Development Manager said, “Looking ahead to 2026, the Coaching and Workforce Team aims to broaden our comprehensive calendar of workforce development opportunities for clubs including coaching, refereeing and team manager training, as well as important SafeGuard training. In addition to our annual BF Learning Week, our Sword in Hand CPD days have been an overwhelming success with close to 80 coaches attending. Coaches have said these opportunities have helped to increase participation in their clubs and improve the skills of the fencers they work with.”
Are you interested in hosting a training course at your club? Are you looking for specific courses for your team? Complete the expression of interest form here.
Follow the link to our Upcoming Courses page to explore all available dates and find the course that best matches your club’s goals for 2026.
Dates for Your Diary
BF Community Awards Nomination closing date 14th December
BF Office closed from noon 24th December – Monday 5th January 2026
British School Team Championships 7th-8th March
British Senior & Para Championships (Individual and Club) 25th-26th April 2026
British Youth Championships 2nd-4th May 2026
British Open Championships 4th-5th July 2026
British Cadet and Junior Championships TBC
Please note that dates for the events above are provisional and changes could occur. All calendars (FIE, EFC, WPF and BF) are subject to change, and in some cases, this may happen due to circumstances outside of BF’s control.
Further information, including confirmation of event formats and schedule, will be announced for each event in due course.
Event dates have been planned to avoid clashes with religious holidays as much as possible.
Club Reminders
Stay up-to-date with the BF Fencing Digest
Please share this sign-up link to our weekly newsletter with your members, to keep up to date on all our news including FIE, EFC and WPF rule changes, latest courses and more.
Membership Reminder
This is a great time to remind all club members that they must have a current BF membership. For newcomers and anyone who has not previously held a membership, we’re pleased to offer a FREE 90 day BF Introduction Membership for people who fence at an affiliated club.
Having an active BF membership is incredibly important, not only because it is required for participation, but because it provides essential insurance cover, ensures safe and regulated training environments, and supports coaching standards across the sport. Membership also helps fund the development of fencing nationally, from grassroots programmes to elite pathways, meaning you’re directly contributing to the growth of the sport you love.
Membership Rewards
Membership will also give access to Sport:80 Member Rewards where members can find hundreds of exclusive deals and discounts across major brands. Login to Sport:80 to find rewards include lifestyle, fitness, running and many more.
BF Digital Portal – Free Assets for Clubs
To streamline the number of platforms we have across media, we have moved the albums on SmugMug to the BF Digital Portal, which now host free to download assets for members and clubs.
The portal features include:
– A landing page with the ability to search by album, event, campaign or athlete.
– Filter by type of asset.
– View the library of albums available from within the portal.
Assets for Clubs:
– Clubs can download various assets in order to promote their club to different audiences, helping to expand their membership.
– There are also safeguarding posters for clubs to provide advice and contact information to their members.
– Throughout the year, clubs can access assets for different national campaigns, for example, World Fencing Day and Keep Your Child Safe in Sport Week.
In the Next Club Digest…
- Upcoming Community Discussion event dates
- More on club compliance
- BF Honours
- BF Ratings Scheme
LATEST NEWS
Don’t forget you can read all the latest news on the BF website here.
As this is the last Club Digest of the year, we wish you and your members happy holidays and we will see you all in 2026!