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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 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, Nick, Laurance and Roger have all represented the Senior County Team
with Mark, Steph, Steven, Amy, Sam, Chris, Rob, John, Alex, Beckie, Jessica 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.
- In 2007 we hosted our first GWAS Field Archery Competition and our membership
rose to almost 100.
- In 2008 we hosted a Fita Record Status Field Competition, ran out first Fita18 indoor record
status event.
- We also hosted a Level 1 Coaching Course (6 members attending) and again hosted the County Junior Squad
Training sessions.
- We also ran 7 beginners courses, including 2 for local schools, established a strong link with
the University of Gloucestershire and our membership passed the 100 mark.
- In 2009 our membership exceeded the 150
mark and we continued to develop our work in local schools with events planned every day in schools throughout the Autumn,
winter and spring.
- In 2009 we also supported the coach training of 7 Level 1's and 4 Level 2 coaches.
- In
2009 we also decided to develop our own field archery training course to give those interested in trying field archery a suitably
challenging course.
- 2009 also saw the club start 5 After-school clubs and receive a substancial grant from Archery
GB to sustain Archery in local schools.
- Early in 2010 we won 14/17 County Indoor Titles at the County Championships.
- One
member won the Archery GB Jack Flinton 'Helping Hand Award'.
- One member became the County Coaching Officer.
- Used
Xperience Archery Company to run a number of our Beginners courses.
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