Beginner FAQ

Bows (and arrows) are not one size fits all. We strongly recommend that you do not buy any equipment until you've completed one of our Archery and Club Induction Courses (or equivalent with another club) and taken advice on what might be the most appropriate equipment for you, usually based on your physique, ambitions and budget.

This will depend upon your level of experience. The normal route for entry into the club is through one of our Archery and Club Induction Courses. However, if you've completed a course at another club, or can demonstrate an equivalent level of competence from experience gained elsewhere, then you can normally join without completing one of our courses after an assessment. If you have been away from the sport for a long time, or if you haven't completed a formal Archery and Club Induction Course or have other experience, we will invite you to our ground at Garras for an assessment of your overall competence, then provide advice as to whether you are ready to join the club or whether we'd recommend that you complete our Archery and Club Induction Courses before joining.

As a parent, you've probably noticed quite a wide range in development in children of the same age. We recommend and accept children with a minimum age of 10 yrs old for starting archery. However, any children taking up archery need to demonstrate a degree of maturity, discipline, physical coordination and stamina. Also, we make it a rule that a parent/guardian be in attendance at all times when their offspring are present, even if the parent/guardian is not taking part.

Our Archery and Club Induction Courses are currently £60 per person. Following successful completion of this course you will be invited to join the club. Details of annual membership costs (and a breakdown of where the money goes) are available on our website. Daily "Target fees" £2 are payable every time you shoot, with an additional £1 for the loan of club equipment whilst you decide what equipment to buy for yourself. A complete set of equipment to get you started can be bought for a couple of hundred £'s if you are willing to shop around (but the sky is the limit, if your budget is unlimited) – but we'd recommend not buying anything without taking advice from the club coaches first.

Our Archery and Club Induction Courses are based on recurve archery. However, many aspects of recurve archery are transferable to longbow / compound bow, and the safety rules / implications and general etiquette are the same regardless of bow style. Following completion of our Archery and Club Induction Course we have a number of coaches and experienced archers who can help you transition into shooting the bow style of your choice.

We are very fortunate in that we have our own field and so members can, generally, shoot whenever they like after booking in on-line. However, in order to be allowed unrestricted access to the field, we do need to be sure that you can shoot to a reasonable standard and that you know how to behave safely on an archery range, which we have included in our 'Freedom of the Field' document that contains everything that is required of you. Until you have been awarded 'Freedom of the Field' (by the Committee at a meeting), you will be limited to shooting whenever a senior archer is present and booked in on-line. It's not quite as bad as it sounds; the vast majority of days are covered by senior archers, allowing for a good deal of shooting. This allows you to settle in to our club; it is a steep learning curve with an awful lot to learn about archery and the procedures for looking after our fantastic facility.

Because we own our own field, our members are free to come and shoot at the field whenever they like all year round subject to the restrictions outlined above for those who have not been awarded 'Freedom of the Field'. This works very well for those archers who like to shoot as and when it pleases them, and over summer months in particular, someone will be at the field at some point almost every day either individually or in groups. Indoors from 1st October to 31st March annually, we shoot at Gweek Village Hall near the Seal Sanctuary four days a week, Tuesday and Friday evenings and Wednesday and Sunday afternoons, see website for timings.

Our members shoot a wide range of bow styles including recurve (Olympic / freestyle / Barebow), traditional (longbow, flatbow, horsebow, primitive) and compound bows. Whilst we permit crossbows, as things currently stand, we don't have any members sufficiently experienced to offer advice / coaching to people wanting to take up this archery discipline, nor suitable targets / bosses to stop crossbow bolts without significant wear. For these reasons, crossbow shooting is not, currently, encouraged / supported.