Here we attempt to answer some questions that we are frequently asked about our club. If your question is not answered here, please visit our Contact page to send us a message. Questions are grouped into the following sections:
Beginners’ Course Questions
We welcome anyone from age 11 upwards. Any juniors (ages 11 – 17) must be accompanied by an adult during all course sessions. This adult may or may not be participating in the course too.
Yes, all of our instructors have passed Archery GB instructors qualifications.
Yes, all of our instructors have been DBS checked as part of their qualification.
The club’s safeguarding policies are in line with those mandated by Archery GB, which can be found here. The committee includes a Safeguarding Officer responsible for ensuring these policies are met. For our beginners’ courses, any under 18s will need to be accompanied on the course by a parent or responsible adult.
Yes, we are covered for our course attendees by the Archery GB insurance provided by the club’s affiliation to Archery GB. Many of the conditions we have in place for our beginners’ courses are conditions of this insurance.
Stout/waterproof footwear is advisable as the playing field can be wet and muddy. No open-toed sandals for safety reasons. Try to avoid wearing clothes with baggy sleeves. Any nose-piercings should be removed or taped over, and long hair tied back. Note that there is little shade available on the range, so on very sunny days a sunhat and sunscreen is advisable.
We have the use of the tarmacked car park which is next to the playing field we shoot on. We have the use of toilet facilities at Matchpoint Lifeline Fitness Centre next to the range.
Shooting in heavy rain is a challenge and not much fun! In bad weather we may decide to postpone a session to the following week. We aim to run the courses during the better weather months to avoid this problem!
All equipment is provided for you. This includes bows, arrows, arm and chest guards, finger tabs etc. We have a range of sizes of equipment available and on the first day of your course you will be allocated suitable equipment that you can use for the duration of your course (and beyond, for a time). All equipment is stored in a secure container at the range – you will not be expected, or allowed, to take club equipment home with you.
The course is not assessed and there is no pass or fail criteria. The aim is to teach you how to shoot correctly and safely. Improving your skill level is something that happens after your course. Provided you are shooting safely, you will be allowed to complete the course and shoot with the rest of the club in subsequent sessions.
After the course finishes, you can take advantage of a further two consecutive Sunday sessions shooting with the club to see if you would like to join us. After this, if you have not already done so, we would ask that you Join the Club in order to continue to shoot with us – this is a condition of our Archery GB insurance. Should you wish to join another club, or simply decide that archery is not for you, we will happily issue you with a certificate of attendance on the course as evidence you have completed it (this can also be useful, for example, in Duke of Edinburgh and other award schemes)
Range Questions
Our shooting range is located on an outdoor sports field in Hurst Green, near to Oxted in Surrey and close to the Surrey / Kent border. A detailed map and more information can be found in our Location & Times page
We typically have a maximum of 8 bosses we can use for target shooting. We can safely shoot up to six archers on each boss, so could accommodate a maximum of about 50 archers on the range. However, in general, we have between 15 and 20 archers shooting during a session.
We can shoot all distances up to 100yds on our outdoor range.
Our range is part of a sports club complex, and we have access to the tarmacked car park next to the range, and the toilets located in the sports club building. There are no food or drink facilities at the range, so bring your own tea and biscuits – especially for those all-day shoots and winter mornings!
Stout/waterproof footwear is advisable as the playing field can be wet and muddy. No open-toed sandals for safety reasons. Try to avoid wearing clothes with baggy sleeves. Any nose-piercings should be removed or taped over, and long hair tied back. Note that there is little shade available on the range, so on very sunny days a sunhat and sunscreen is advisable.
We welcome archers with disabilities in the club and will do our utmost to accommodate any needs. There is step-free access to the range from the car park, and the on-site sports centre has disabled access toilets. When signing up for a Beginners’ Course, include as much information about your requirements as possible and we will be happy to discuss how best we can help.
General Questions
We are a target archery club – shooting at different sized targets on foam or straw bosses at specified distances, generally shooting defined rounds. On occasion we have a clout shoot session (aiming at a target flag in the ground). Different types of bows (traditional, recurve, compound) are welcome at our club, though we do not allow crossbows.
Our club has been around in one form or other for over 50 years! See our History of the Club page for more information.
In the past the club has taken part in the Kent Archery League, against other clubs in the summer months. We would be happy to do so again, if there is enough interest within the club to form a regular team. This also involves other archers helping out when we host other clubs. In addition, local events at other clubs are advertised within the club by our Tournaments Officer, and listed on our Events Page and members are encouraged and supported in participating in these events should they wish to do so.
We currently only have access to an outdoor range. We shoot all year round, though if there is heavy rain, strong winds or snow, we will call off the shoot. This is generally done on the morning of the shoot, with members being notified via our WhatsApp group. If it is only light showers, it is likely that the shoot will go ahead, though in bad weather there is always a risk that a shoot will be cut short. Obviously attendance is entirely optional to all shoots, so shoots in poor weather are often lightly attended