How can you take a beginners course with our club?

If you are interested in taking a course please make first contact with 'Margaret' on this telephone number:

01670 - 715499.

Killingworth archers hold several beginners' courses over the winter months. We do attempt to hold a course over the summer months but this relies so much on regular good weather that we cannot routinely offer this.

Courses tend to be held on Wednesday evenings from 7pm until 9pm and are held at Burnside School, Wallsend. Courses last for six weeks and the cost depends on the venue we hire but is £45-00 for the coming year 2009/10. As we use school premises we regret that courses may be delayed during exam time when the shooting hall is used as an exam venue. In this event we try to find an alternative venue but this cannot be promised.

Margaret will try to let you know if you are able to be placed on the next course or one planned for later as we are limited to the numbers we can accomodate on each course and, often, the list of those interested is longer than one single course.

All equipment is provided and fully qualified Grand National Archery Society coaches, often accompanied by experienced club archers run the courses. You will be shown the two basic shooting styles and we follow the governing body recommendations for the content of the six week course. We include, apart from shooting technique; scoring methods, competition etiquette, and much more. After the completion of the course you will be presented with a certificate to confirm that you attended the course. If you subsequently wish to join an Archery club, not necessarily ours, this certificate will confirm to them the validity of your course.

Please note that in the interests of safety we limit the entry age of children to those over ten years of age.

PLEASE NOTE: We send out a small questionnaire to ensure that we make the best efforts to have the correct equipment ready for the course to suit members of the course, and to ensure that you will not be asked to do something which you may not be physically able to do or find excessively uncomfortable.

Also note that the club is amateur and we have no paid employees. Most of our members and coaches hold down daily jobs as well as provide support to the club in their leisure time. Conseqently we are unable to run multiple courses within the same week. I hope any delay in providing a course does not deter you from trying 'Archery' as a sport or recreation?

Once the six week course is over you must decide if you have achieved your 'goal' while trying Archery? You may well wish to take it no further, having tried it, but what are the 'running' costs if you do?

What next......... and how much will it cost?

Initially you will need equipment of your own PLUS membership of our club and society. The society membership supplies insurance while shooting and the administrative costs associated with the running of a sports society. The club can help with your initial investment in equipment but we have little control over the fees we are asked to pay towards the upkeep of the sport. During the course we can explain the help we can give if you choose to take up the sport but this cannot be done easily through this page as we tailor the help to the resources we have at the time. Club membership fees are minimal as we use 'target fees' as our main source of income.

Fees for one full year October to October are:

Society membership: Fees after GNAS 2009 AGM shown.

Senior £50 (pounds) made up as follows - to GNAS £35, to the region £1-50, to the county £3-50 and to the club £10.

Junior £25 (pounds) made up as follows - to GNAS £21, to the region £0-75, to the county £1-75 and to the club £1-50.

In the case of juniors, when circumstances demand, the club will absorb the higher percentage from GNAS to allow us to charge a 50% fee. NOTE: If you join after May 1st in any year, the fees paid run until October 1st of the following year. You do not have to pay May to October then pay again!

The club employs a system of ‘target fee’ which is the payment per session dependent on the venue being indoors or outdoors.

Indoors the fee is normally higher as we pay for the use of the venue beyond the normal club running costs. Outdoors we have to pay for field marking, wear and tear on the club equipment etc.

Indoor - Seniors £2-50. Unaccompanied junior £1-25, Accompanied Juniors FREE (accompanied by a family member who is also a shooting club member and pays.)

Outdoor - Seniors £1-50 Unaccompanied junior £1-00 for as long as daylight allows. Accompanied juniors as above.