Founded by Michael Dutton in 2014, Newark Castle Archers welcomed over 50 people on its opening day that year and has gone from strength to strength since
More than ten years on, the club continues to thrive at its base at Newark Rugby Club, offering everything from have-a-go sessions and beginner courses to advanced coaching for experienced archers. Here, chairperson and coach Mandie Elson gives us a flavour of what to expect at the club in both summer and winter.
A great way to meet people
I’d moved back to my hometown of Newark some years ago and I was flicking through a paper and I saw a little advert for an archery beginners’ course. So I joined the course and I absolutely loved it. Straight away I was like, ‘Wow, why have I not done this before?’ And from that moment, that was it.
Archery is one of those sports where people may think about it, because something will resonate maybe on TV, but then it goes to the back burner because it’s not out there, is it? It’s not like football and rugby, where it’s always on.
And one of the main reasons I wanted to look into it and give it a try was because I’d just moved back to the area and I thought it was a great way to meet different people.
Continuing a legacy
After I completed my beginners course I joined Newark Castle Archers, which was run by a gentleman called Michael Dutton. He’d only set the club up a year prior to me coming on board, so it was really new to the area, but it grew quite quickly.
So that’s how my journey started, and we’re a very close knit club. Unfortunately Michael passed away, but before he died his wife invited me around and I went to go and see him. He sat there and basically handed over the reins to me, regarding the club. It was a very emotional moment and I see it as clear as day now.
After his passing, I was elected as chair of Newark Castle Archers. And we’ve done an awful lot in his name and his memory, and we’ve gone from strength to strength. In the seven years since the club is still going, it’s had a few dips, as lots of clubs did, especially through that time period that we all know about. But we’re doing well, we’re out in the community, and we’re trying to get new people in.
Star archer to star baker
At the moment we have about 39 members. For a discipline like archery, those are pretty good numbers. There are clubs out there that have 120-200 members. And generally you find that’s because they’ve got a lot of people helping. Volunteers are so, so important, so the smaller the club, the less pool of volunteers you have. But we’re happy with that. We shoot at a local rugby club, so we support them in that way as well. During indoor season we shoot at a school, so that’s creating an income for them too.
At Newark Castle Archers, we always make sure that we have lots of food. Cake is always a good way to bond with new people. At our club we’ve got a chief cake baker. I wasn’t able to shoot last on Monday night, and she made a load of cake and then shared it on the WhatsApp group. I was like, ‘damn, I’ve missed out!’.
I’m a great believer that anybody – and I mean anyone – can do archery
Practicing responsible archery
We advertise on social media platforms for beginners, and we often get people inquiring about how they can get into archery. It’s all about educating those who show an interest in the sport. You can’t just jump straight in.
We have a structured beginners course that teaches all the safety rules, how to set up and take down a bow, how to load and draw the arrow, and how to aim at the target.
Anyone who wants to join our governing body needs to have completed a beginners course, or, if they’ve come from another organisation – such as Field Archery, which is run by EMFAS or the English Field Archery Association – they’ll be assessed before being allowed on the range.
We also offer “have-a-go” sessions. These are great for people who are interested but unsure if they want to commit. A coach will supervise them, and they’ll be matched with the appropriate bow and arrow. Many people don’t realise how technical archery is, you can’t just hand any bow to any person. If it doesn’t suit their draw length or strength, the arrow might not release correctly.
We have to make sure each person has the right bow length, arrow length, and appropriate poundage, which comes from the limbs of the bow as it’s drawn back.
For beginners, we provide a selection of bow sizes. Adult bows typically range from 66 to 72 inches. For juniors, depending on their size, bows range from about 50 to 54 inches. We also have arrows in various lengths, but generally, we provide full-length arrows during beginner courses to ensure safety and suitability. Everyone is checked first to make sure the bow and arrows are appropriate for them.
Beginner course outline
The guidance is 12 to 16 hours of tutorial. Clubs can do that in whatever way is suitable for their club. We have a tendency to do it over a two-week period because I think the quicker you can do it, the more likely people are going to absorb the information.
We have a process with each session of what they can do. In the first session, we’ll set all the equipment up for them, and we’ll go through the housekeeping and safety protocols, identifying the shooting line, the waiting line, the target line, safety areas, and the safety signals that we have.
Then we’ll assess them for the height of the bow, whether they’re left-handed or right-handed. Archery comes from eye dominance, so we have, for example, right-handers who shoot left-handed and left-handers who shoot right-handed because it all depends on which eye is most dominant. We’ll go through which side they need to be shooting from, whatever is comfortable for the archer in front of us.
We’ll do that and then measure the arrow so they get the right draw length. They’ll do a bit of a warm-up, and we’ll show them some warm-up exercises they need to do. Contrary to belief, a lot of people think you don’t need to warm up for archery, but imagine you’re sitting at a desk all day and then suddenly you’re doing that action. Archers are terrible for not doing warm-ups!
We’ll get them straight into shooting on the first session. In the next session, we’ll leave the bows down and show them how to set them up, because every archer needs to be able to set up their own bow. They’ll practice that, then practice taking it down and putting it back up, and then go back to shooting.
We always start off with a barebow because there are no gadgets to put on the bow, so we give them that opportunity to just get on there and shoot. As we develop through the beginners course, we’ll get them to shoot barebow first, then shoot with a sight on. That’s a different process, because in barebow you anchor at the corner of your mouth, whereas in recurve, you anchor underneath your chin. They can play with that a little bit by tweaking the sights and we’ll give them an idea where to start from.
In the second week, they get the choice of whether or not they want to shoot recurve. We start them off on recurve, then give them the choice of whether they want to stick to recurve or barebow. That’s entirely up to them. Then we teach them how to score, how to pull arrows out, and things like that. It’s all fun, creative, and inclusive.
Anyone can do archery
I’m a great believer that anybody – and I mean anyone – can do archery. I’ve worked with a variety of disabled people: children, neurodiverse, ADHD, autism, missing limbs, no sight, hearing issues. You see people shooting with their feet because they haven’t got hands. You’ve got people who have no sight and are using tactile sights.
I volunteer for the Transplant Games and I had a young lady who wanted to have a go at archery. She had prosthetic legs and fingers missing on her left hand. She said, “I really want to have a go. I’ve had a plate made so that I can hold a bow.” I said, “Come on. No problem.” A couple of people were like, “Well, what about her balance?” You know, she still had her core. She had the stability. Not a problem. We put the bow between her plate and her hand, because she had no fingers on her hand, and she got to experience archery.
I have a young man at one of the disabled schools I go to who has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal. Did I get him to shoot a bow and arrow? Yes, I did. A little bit of help from me holding the bow and holding his hand on the string, and he had a go.
So long as you’ve got the safety protocols in place, the targets, everything protected, and you’re following the same rules, there is nobody who cannot do archery. I’m a firm believer in that.
Our volunteers are everything
We’re always dependent on volunteers on the committee. We’ve got five members on our committee, and we all do a variety of different jobs. Some members take on roles but don’t even shoot because they can’t actually get to the range due to work commitments.
We’re a tight-knit club doing a really inclusive thing when it comes to setting up and taking down the range. Everyone is responsible, every member is a volunteer helping to keep the club running. No matter what the job is, even if someone has an injury or is unwell, they can still put the signs out or set up the lane rope and things like that.
We’re all a collective. We’ve got some cracking people at our club.
Find out more about Newark Castle Archers
