Bromyard Bowmen

Everyone is welcome to join Bromyard Bowmen, whether you are young or old or of any ethnic origin. Because archery is a physical sport we unfortunately have to have some restrictions to joining, and these are:

• If archery could be detrimental to your physical well being
• You are physically incapable of drawing up a bow
• If you incapable of understanding and acting upon safety instructions

If you are not sure, please call us and we can arrange for you to attend on a convenient coaching night and a senior member of the club can assess your, or the prospective archer's, ability to shoot safely.

If you have a child who is too young to join the club at the moment, let us know your details and we will contact you after their eight birthday. Junior members are always welcome, as they are the next generation of Olympic champions.

So how do you become the next Robin Hood or Maid Marrion of for those Elves amongst you, the next Legolas Greenleaf?

The first step is to attend a beginners course, this course costs £ 35.00 for adults and £ 25.00 for children. For this you get five training sessions and an end of course tournament. The training sessions run as 3 half days on Saturday mornings. At each session you are made aware of the safety aspects of being an archer.

All projectile sports are potentially dangerous and like all archery clubs, Bromyard Bowmen treat this aspect of the sport with the highest importance.

Once the safety rules are understood you will be shown how to shoot a modern recurve bow (as used in the Olympics), this will involve the correct stance, how to aim using the sight, how to safely pull the bow string and how to release the arrow cleanly. You will also be shown how to assemble and disassemble the bow and the basics of maintaining your archery equipment. You will also learn about other types of bow, the longbow and the compound bow.

At the end of the five sessions you will have shot many arrows at official targets, learnt the basics of the sport, met many like minded individuals and hopefully gained an understanding of what being a member of the 'best' archery club is like. Most of you will have had an enjoyable three Saturday mornings of entertainment that will leave no doubt in your mind whether or not archery is the sport for you.

At the end of the training sessions all potential archers are given a simple test of the safety rules. If all questions are answered correctly and they have demonstrated throughout the course that they are capable of understanding and acting upon safety instructions they will receive a successful completion certificate. This certificate proves that you have completed a beginners course and is required if you wish to join any club in Herefordshire.

So how much does it cost?

Everyone joining the club must affiliate to the Grand National Archery Society (GNAS) or Archery GB as they now prefer to be called. This provides your liability insurance and without which no one is allowed to shoot at the club. As well as insurance and a magazine there are many other benefits which will be explained to you on the beginners course.

Senior GNAS fees are £ 35.00 per annum with an additional £ 7.50 for County/Region fees making a total of £ 42.50. Junior GNAS fees are included with their club subscriptions (see below).

An annual fee is payable to the Bromyard Sports Foundation (BSF) for the use of the site and this is currently £ 7.00 for seniors and £ 2.00 for juniors.

Both GNAS and BSF fees have to be paid in full when you join the club.

Club fees currently are £ 72.00 for seniors and £ 48.00 for juniors (which includes GNAS fees). This fee covers shooting for the whole year and works out at less than £ 1.40 per week for seniors and 95p per week for juniors. These fees can be paid in full, quarterly or monthly by standing order (£ 6.00 and £ 4.00).

A family of three or more qualifies for a 10% discount off club fees.

The Archery year ends on the 30th September, so in consequence fees are aportioned on a pro rata basis but if you join on the 1st October, Seniors can expect to pay £ 121.50 and Juniors £ 50.00.

Club subscriptions go towards the overheads of the indoor shooting hall, wear and tear of targets etc. We are able to keep subscriptions at such a low level due to fund raising events as well as the major parts of repairs and maintenance being carried out on a voluntary basis by members and friends of the club.

Equipment Hire

Anyone joining the Bowmen can hire club equipment for £ 2.50 per week, invoiced at £ 10.00 per month with the first month free of charge.