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Deer Park Archers is a family orientated Club that was set up in 1996 to run have-a-go archery sessions for Guides and
Brownies at the Gloucestershire Guide Activity Centre. A group of 10 adults participated in an Archery Leaders Course to enable
them to teach at the Guide Centre. Friends of Deer Park purchased all the original equipment.
If you would like to findout more about the Gloucestershire Guide Activity Centre then click on this link.
Children of the original archery leaders also started archery and our Club was formed to allow these juniors to compete
in local competitions. The original summer venue was the small site opposite the Guide Centre, the first winter venue for
seniors was the Green Dragon Pub and the juniors shot in our Club Secretary's garage. In 1999 Mark one of our original juniors
(then aged 11) became our first archer selected to represent the County. Steph became the second one a year later. By 2001
Steph, Amy and Sam gained the honor of Deer Park Archers Juniors winning the top Junior Club in the Region (Gloucestershire,
Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire, Devon and Cornwall). In 2001 Andrea became our first senior archer to shoot for the County
and in 2002 Steph (Aged just 13 and shooting recurve) became the first junior Deer Park Archer to represent the County Senior
Team. Since then Di, Andrea, Amy, Steph, Rob and Roger have all represented the Senior County Team with Mark, Steph,
Steven, Amy, Sam, Chris, Rob, John, Alex and Callum having represented the Junior County Team.
2001 saw our winter venue become Birdlip Village Hall and 2003 we also started to use Balcarras School Sports Centre.
During the summer of 2001 the summer venue changed to Bubbs Hill!
Up until 2003 the Club membership remained around 25, the following 3 years each saw an increase of around 20 archers
with membership at the end of 2006 reaching just over 80.
2006 saw us creating a 12 acre Field Archery Course just 1 mile away from Bubbs Hill. It is thanks to a local farmer
Mr Matt Hobbs who has not only allowed us to use the land (now called High Cross) but also purchased 24 foam bosses and an
ample supply of target faces. 2007 see's formation of our Field Archery Club (High Cross Field Archers) which will be affiliated
to the NFAS.
Since its formation Archers from Deer Park have had many successes and the following highlights a number of them:
- Rob became our first member to represent Great Britain and finished 4th in the World Junior Championships
- Chris and Steph became our first members to represent the England Junior Team
- Steph became our first member to be selected for the England Senior Team, competing in India at the Commonwealth Championships,
finishing 9th in the Individual Competition and winning a Silver Medal in the Team Event.
- 6 Members have won one or more British Junior Titles (Rob, Chris, Steph, Amy C, Amy J and Eliza)
- 3 Members have won British Schools Championships (Rob, Chris and Steph)
- Over the last 6 years members have held no less than 17 British Junior Records (Rob and Steph)
- Junior Teams from Deer Park Archers have twice won the Top Regional Club prize (2002 - Amy, Sam and Steph, (2006) - Rosie,
John and Eliza
- In 2005 we were nominated to represent the GNAS as one of 3 clubs in the National Sports Club of the Year Awards.
- Until 2006 the Club did not have any Archery Coaches however four have now qualified as Level 1 and a more Senior Coach
joined us from a local club.
- At the end of 2006 the Club decided to work towards Clubmark Accreditation.
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