Welcome to the Merdon Bowmen Archery Club founded in 1954.
Originally located in the grounds of the Merdon Castle, in the early 70’s Stan and Carole Montague moved the club after taking over the management of the Jubilee Pub in Dundridge and changed it to ‘The Hampshire Bowmen’. Carole was in the British Archery Olympic team and converted the orchard next door into an archery field for the club. Tragically Carole died in childbirth in about 1974 and Stan continued to run the pub until the early 1980’s.
It’s been our home for nearly 50 years but the pub and grounds are being sold and we have to vacate the field in July 2024 as we move into our next adventure. Having been unsuccessful in finding a field with sole use, we are moving to a shared facility with a cricket club at The Holt, Upham.
We are affiliated to ArcheryGB, Southern Counties Archery Society (SCAS) and Hampshire Archery Association (HAA). Today we have between 40-50 members and have regular Saturday/Sunday morning club shoots as well as Wednesday evening shoots, indoors during the winter months and on the field in the summer.
Membership
Our club membership runs from 1st October to 30th September in line with the Archery GB membership year and include Archery GB, SCAS and HAA fees where appropriate.
Membership to the Merdon Bowmen Archery club is either through a beginners course for new archers, or an assessment session with one of our coaches for experienced archers.
Club members must be affiliated to Archery GB through Merdon Bowmen, but can have associate membership with other clubs.