How The Club Runs

How The Club Runs

Rivernook Bowmen is a friendly and relaxed archery club. We aim to provide a framework for pursuing archery in which you can be as as social or as solitary as you like, and your approach to the sport can be as relaxed or intense as you wish. We encourage all members to make a commitment to the club; details of how the club is organized and managed appear below.

Keeping in touch

We use e-mail, WhatsApp, Facebook and the noticeboard in the shelter at the range. All important messages are sent by email, with WhatsApp the most active method of sharing information on a day to day basis. Club members will be given links to join our WhatsApp and our closed Facebook group when they join.

Shooting

Our outdoor range is open for shooting year-round during hours of daylight. As a club member, with your own equipment, you can come down and shoot whenever you want. Note that under-18s must always be accompanied by a responsible adult.

On Sunday mornings you will almost always find the club flag flying and other club members shooting. In the summer, Wednesday evenings and Friday afternoon/evenings are also popular times for club members to gather and shoot. Our club committee members are often down at the range at these times and will be happy to give informal help and advice if you want it. Use the WhatsApp group to ask when others are heading to the range, or let people know you are heading down, if you want to be sociable.

Note that Chessington Bowmen also currently sharing the range, and you may find their members shooting here during the week. Chessington’s main weekly meeting is on Saturday mornings, so we try to avoid shooting then.

Organised club shoots

Once a month, we hold a ‘Monthly Shoot’ on a Sunday morning. We get together and shoot a scored round, under the whistle, like a very informal mini-tournament. The monthly shoot is open to all club members, from beginners shooting at 10 or 20 yards, to expert bowmen shooting at 80 or 100 yards.  Formal rounds at the monthly shoot are not obligatory, and club members are encouraged to come along and do as much or as little shooting as you wish. Club shoots are a good way to meet fellow members to get advice, etc. As an added incentive, bacon and egg butties are sometimes on offer at the end of the monthly shoot.

There are other club shoots organised throughout the year. These include a competitive shoot with prizes for new archers in April, a Midsummer Fun Shoot and our main Club Championships in September. During the winter months, we shoot Frostbite rounds together as part of an inter-club postal league. All these shoots are open to all club members, no matter your level of experience.

See here for more information about our organised shoots.

Club Equipment

Having completed a beginners’ course, you will probably want to continue using club equipment before you take the plunge and buy your own. After joining the club, we are happy for beginners to continue using club bows, arrows and accessories for a few weeks or months. We may not be able to give you exclusive use of a bow, as we need them for other beginners, and you cannot take equipment home. Use the group WhatsApp to ask if a keyholder is planning to be at the range so you can come to the range and use the club equipment to practice.

Competitions and Tournaments

Rivernook takes part in postal tournaments including the Surrey winter Frostbite league and the Surrey winter Worcester League. The Frostbite is very popular, and at 30m is a short enough distance that beginners can easily join in. The Worcester is shot at 20 yards, so even shorter. Look out for the emails about these.

Our members regularly participate in tournaments held by other clubs. The Records Officer emails club members with details of nearby tournaments that are suitable for archers of all standards; including those just starting out on their archery journey.

As a beginner, the idea of an all-day archery tournament might sound intimidating, but they are actually great fun! They are not nearly as competitive as you might think, especially when shooting at the shorter distances, where everyone is very sociable and encourage each other. See here for more information on how to prepare for them.

How the Club is Run

As with most other clubs Rivernook Bowmen is run by a committee made up of club members who have volunteered for the various roles. The committee is elected each year at the AGM which is normally held as close as possible to the end of March. If you would like to join the Committee, please let us know.

Committee Roles

  • President
  • Vice President
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Records Officer
  • Safeguarding Officer

Club Roles

  • Equipment officer
  • Web master
  • Team Captain
  • Rangemaster

Other Important Jobs

  • Grassmower in Chief
  • Arrow fletcher
  • Mole hill kickers
  • Lawnmower wizard
  • Landscape gardener
  • Chef

All Members

  • Come and shoot, enjoy the facilities, be considerate to your fellow archers.
  • Kick the molehills.
  • Join in working parties to maintain the targets and range.