Abbey Bowmen (Herts.) was founded in 1967. Originally, shooting took place
alongside the river Ver at Westminster Lodge, close to the historic St. Albans Abbey.
More recently, we have moved to more spacious and safer shooting grounds at Verulam School
Playing Fields and St Albans Girls' School sports hall (See Shooting
Arrangements).
The club prides itself on being very friendly and welcomes anyone with an interest
in Archery, whatever their level of expertise. We do however require complete beginers to
take part in a GNAS approved beginners course before shooting with us.
(See Beginners).
Currently, we have more than 97 members, including 29 juniors. A variety of bow types are used - the traditional Longbow, the Recurve bow as seen in the Olympic Games, and the technically more sophisticated Compound bow. Most of the time we practice Target Archery, but we have a small number of Clout competitions and there is a growing interest in Field Archery. What every type of archery you choose, there is always some expert advice available within the club.
Although many members shoot purely for fun, we encourage the competitive aspects of the sport. The monthly handicap competition gives the up-and-coming archers the best chance of winning. Juniors are especially likely to come away with a prize! There are also many other indoor and outdoor club competitions such as the monthly barebow-challenge, postal-league matches and the club championships. Members are also encouraged to attend the many archery competitions throughout the UK. Abbey have been particularly well represented and successfull in these competitions.
We are always interested to receive enquiries from prospective new members. Please contact Linda Owen for further information.
We welcome members from other archery clubs or individual GNAS members to join us at our target days on payment of a small visitor's fee (See Fees).