NORTH DOWNS ARCHERY CLUB
An archery club for archers of all levels located on the border of Kent and Surrey
Joining the Club
In order to join the club you must either, 1) already be a member of Archery GB or, 2) complete a beginners’ course either at our club, or through another archery club. Please see our Beginners’ Course page for details.
After completing your Beginners’ Course with us, you will be invited to attend the two subsequent Sunday mornings free of charge. After this, you will need to join the club in order to continue shooting with us. There is a small discount on your initial subscription for having completed our beginners’ course. Our club fees are detailed here.
Although the club meets every morning at 9:30 (depending on the weather), attendance is purely optional. When you join, you will be invited to join the club’s WhatsApp group which is our main way of communicating club news and when/if there are any cancellations or changes to shooting plans. There is a small amount of general chat too – we are a very friendly club! Juniors are allowed to join the WhatsApp group with their parents’ permission. Members are expected to “muck-in” with setting-up and putting away of all the equipment, hence the start time of 9.30am; it takes half an hour to get everything set up. Don’t worry, we won’t expect you to know what to do straightaway, you’ll be shown the ropes all in good time. We generally start shooting at 10am. Depending on what rounds are being shot, and what the weather is doing, we finish anytime between 11.30-1pm. There is no obligation to stay to the end of a shoot every time; you will have a better idea of your own progress, however, if you are able to score complete rounds.
We would recommend that you don’t rush into buying your own equipment. You will continue to have full use of the club’s bows and arrows until they are needed for the next beginners’ course. A set of fairly basic recurve archery gear will probably start somewhere in the region of £200 and will go up from there. Some items can be bought online, but you will need to be properly assessed/fitted for a bow/arrows by someone who knows what they’re about. Expensive mistakes can be made if you buy online without knowing exactly what you’re after.
