About the Club

Ely Archers is a friendly and thriving club. We promote shooting socially, for fun and shooting seriously for tournaments. The club runs an "open-to-all" policy i.e. we accept anyone regardless of gender, ability, race or religion. We do operate a minimum age policy - for children to be considered for membership, or for a beginners course, they must be 10 years old or subject to individual evaluation by experienced archers to ensure they are physically capable of shooting a bow.

The Club was formed in 2004 by two local archers, and membership grew steadily from there - we currently have around 40 members. Not all club members shoot regularly every week, but obviously the more you shoot, the better value you are getting from your membership! Club membership fees are currently £70 for an adult for a full year, (£120 for a couple). Junior fees are £35 for a full year, and all fees are reduced on a sliding scale if you join part-way through the year. We have a wide range of members who shoot all types of bows.

Soon after the club was formed, we developed close links with Littleport Leisure Centre, where we were based for over four years. Then, in April 2009, we moved to shooting outside at the Amherst field belonging to the Kings School, which is near Ely railway station. The winter indoor shooting venue is now the Sports Hall belonging to the Kings School which is at Barton Road, in Ely. Competitions will continue to be run at Littleport Leisure Centre. The club runs beginners courses for people wishing to get into the sport, which are normally held outside at the Amherst field during the summer months. For more information on these courses, please see our Beginners Course page.

You will find all sorts of people at the club with differing abilities, including children, visually impaired people, and archers in the county squad. The Club has received a grant in the past for its support for disabled archers. One member of the club is also the County Coach, and he runs his own coaching school - for more details of the services that he can offer, please see our 'Links' page.

We have our own junior section of the Club, the 'JETS' or Junior Ely Target Squad, for children up to the age of 18 years.

On 1 July 2007, the Club was proud to host the East Anglian Championships at Littleport, the first time that we have organised such a large and prestigious event. In November 2008, we organised our first open indoor Portsmouth competition, and this was repeated on 22 November 2009 as a UK record status event. We now run these Portsmouth competitions annually each November, and we also now run FITA25 competitions in January each year, (the one in 2011 being a world record status event).

We shoot on Wednesday and Friday evenings, and on Sundays. Wednesdays are when our coaches can help you with any shooting style or equipment issues, and Fridays are club nights, with Sundays the main day for shooting proper archery rounds.

This is just a little about who we are; everyone in the club is very approachable, so don't hold back from asking anything of anyone - we will be pleased to answer any questions that you may have and will always try to help. Our contact details are here.

Any established club members who are interested in helping to run the club by getting involved on the committee would be most welcome. Details of what is involved can be viewed by having a look at the job descriptions for each committee member here. All club members are welcome to attend any committee meeting to see what goes on. These are held at approximately two monthly intervals at the Prince Albert pub at 7.30pm.