Keep Cheshire County Bowmen "On Target"

Aim

CCB need your help to raise vital funds to cover the losses suffered due to Covid 19 so that we can continue to provide facilities.

Who are we?

Cheshire County Bowmen is a long-established archery club having been founded 54 years ago and is based in Chester. We cater for people of all ages and all abilities, from beginners to elite archers.

Archery is a very inclusive sport and promotes all aspects of well-being, improving physical and mental health.  We have archers who shoot purely for enjoyment and sociability through to international competitors and world Paralympic champions.  We have a great coaching structure with qualified coaches from beginners to elite levels.

Current Situation.

Like so many other clubs and business across the UK over the last 6 months we have been significantly financially impacted by the restrictions imposed on sports by the Covid-19 pandemic. All Grassroots archery clubs were asked to close their doors to club shooting and all national competitions were cancelled. This made it impossible for our club members to shoot and is also meant we were unable to run our annual local and record status competitions which provide a very large proportion of our much needed income for the club. With club members being unable to shoot and as a result we have had to reduce shooting fees on a pro-rata basis especially as some families have also had a direct impact financially from the pandemic. 

The income from competitions and member fees is used to cover facility/venue hire and help develop the club, its archers and any coaching qualifications that our members need. Our club hosts one of the biggest 2 day indoor tournaments in the North West with over 350 archers competing in individual and team competition over the 2 days. We also host an annual junior tournament which for many junior archers this is a good first step in to the realms of competitive archery. Outdoors we have also held an annual outdoor FITA Star tournament every year for 33 years. 

If the current restrictions stay in place as they are, social distancing will make it almost impossible to host our largest competition, most likely only achieving 25% of the normal amount of archers competing and after hire costs we would just about break even . 

All of our facilities are on a rental basis although long term we hope to obtain our own open space area but this may take years to come to fruition. Despite the loss of income we still have to cover our rental commitment and therefore It is imperative we keep our club secure and continue to provide such excellent archery facilities to our members and wider community

Why support our Crowdfunder?

Crowdfunding will help us to raise money to keep the club moving forward and developing archery in the locality. All monies raised will ensure the club can continue at its present location and support all its current members as well as future archers and to continue to provide accessible sports facility for our community. Every pound pledged to support the club will help to cover the following areas:

• Your donations will help cover vitally needed rental hire / fees for our facilities both indoors and outdoors keeping the clubs doors open to its members. 
• You will be helping to provide funds to continue to buy necessary equipment such as new target bosses, target faces, equipment sundries such as new strings, tabs etc. and also maintaining existing equipment all of which allow us to provide these to our current members, new archers coming through the beginners courses and also community events such as the Chester fun games and schools.
• Additonal funds will allow us as a club to purchase some extra safety "back stop" netting with poles and guide ropes that can be used outdoors. This will enable us to run "have a go" sessions to raise future revenue and also to run beginner courses if indoor restrictions on distancing remain in place. (example of netting below)
• 
• Continued support for costs in training our coaching staff in the on-going Archery GB Coaching courses. This will help to develop our youth archers who are the future of the sport and to also support archers who are at levels from beginner to experienced levels. 
• Vehicle van hire to move equipment and targets to tournaments and community venues.
• Social distancing has meant that we  are unable to accommodate the same number of people as before in our indoor facility. As a result we are having to increase the amount of space and number of times that we book our venue to achieve the same service to our community as we have done before. As well as spending  more on venue fees we will need to buy more signage, one way directions and sanitizer etc .

Community Involvment

Cheshire County Bowmen have actively supported the community and in particular since 2004 we have been a key supporter and have volunteered our clubs coaches and equipment at the annual Rotary District 1180 Fun Disabled Games providing the opportunity to over 300 people with disability to attend the games. 

Rotary district 1180 covers North Wales, Merseyside and parts of Cheshire, Shropshire and Lancashire.  The Games, which are free to all competitors, are designed to give adults (18+) with disabilities, in particular learning difficulties, an opportunity to take part in activities they would not normally be able to access, aside from archery there is a range of sports available, all of them specially adapted so that everyone, regardless of their disability, can take part. We take great pride in helping at this event every year which continues to grow and be such a successful day. (Archery is definitely the most popular event!) 

Pic below - Chester Disability Fun Games

Our coaches also work with the University of Chester and with local schools. As a result of this students from both have joined our club as full or associate members in order to be able to shoot more regularly and to receive coaching from our qualified coaches. 

Our facility is also the centre for training Cheshire County junior and senior squad members who are all coached under the guidance of our 3 county coaches.

Rewards

We have some fantastic rewards in addition to a  donation.  Our club are offering quite a few of our own rewards. If you have ever thought about giving archery a try then this could be a great way to do exactly that. 

We have rewards for “have a go” sessions either as an individual or with a friend or partner. There is a reward for discount from a beginner course or even a CCB key ring to put on your bunch of keys to remind you how much it has meant to us that you have supported this cause. 

In addition to these great rewards from CCB we have kindly been donated some further great rewards. 

Tufflite Civils have given us a pair of corporate tickets to see Liverpool FC play at home which you can win in a draw. 

Archery World Preston - kindly donated a £30.00 voucher to be used at their shop. 

1hr Sports Massage – Elspeth Rose Therapies Chester £25.00 (Normally £35.00 ) 

Gentleman’s Hair Cut – Suave Gentlemen’s Hair Salon Chester with Stylist Damian

Hand Car Wash "Wash & Go" at Groomy's on River Lane Saltney

Not only will you be helping a well established club get through the current pandemic but if an archery have a go is one of your choices you could well be on your way to your first step to becoming one of Cheshire’s next top archers! 

Without these vital funds the club will have to face some difficult decisions without the excellent facilities we have we will struggle to bring more youth in to the sport and provide the needs to continue providing an accessible facility to archers with disabilities. Every penny counts and will ensure that we safeguard the future of the club and the involvement we have with the wider community. From all of us at Cheshire County Bowmen we really appreciate your support.

What Cheshire County Bowmen means to our archers and community.

John Bird - Chairman, Rotary International District 1180 -  I have been involved with organising the District Fun Games now for many years, this has involved over the last 16 years young adults with special needs taking part in specially adapted games with a competitive nature but we make sure that everyone receives a medal for their efforts.

One of the most enjoyable events in the games is the archery competition which is thoroughly enjoyed by all who take part. This part of the games is always organised by the volunteers from the Cheshire County Bowmen Archery club who have supported the Games for the past 16 years.

Without their help we would not be able to offer this activity for the Games and it would be greatly missed by all concerned

H Morgan – Parent of Junior Archer – “My son is 15 and for a while we struggled to find a sport that engaged him. When he was 12 he went on an outward bound course and archery was one of the sports on offer. When he came home he talked about it non-stop. He has been the only one to get a gold! I searched online and was delighted to find CCB had a beginner course with available spaces. 

The course was a massive success and as a result my son joined the club and has since shot regularly indoors and outdoors and in competition also. He has won several trophies and achieved a number of County records for Cheshire and has represented Cheshire at Junior level. 

Archery really seems to have a place for people like my son who don’t enjoy team sports but still want to compete and participate in a sporting activity. Archery has also helped my son learn to focus and concentrate without distraction and this has had a positive affect on his school work and exams. He would be absolutely heart-broken if he had to stop”. 

Ian Finlay – CCB member for 15+ Years – "I have been so fortunate with joining CCB as their infrastructure has helped me develop my skills to compete at the very highest level. The training coaching and advice has helped me achieve a world championship win at the world Firefighter Games in South Korea. I have also represented England at the home Nations Indoor Championship, which, once again we were successful in winning. This year I had been chosen to represent England for the Outdoor Championships but due to COVID19 this will have to be another year. 

Archery to me isn’t just a sport. I suffer with depression and have found that the sport and especially CCB as a club has helped me with my condition. I am able to focus my mind and draw on the support of others within our club. It is one of my support networks”.

John Stubbs MBE – “As a member of the British Paralympic team, gold and silver medalist, four times world champion and 23 years on the GB squad and currently selected to go to the Tokyo Games. I have been a social member of Cheshire County Bowmen for some time and I have found the club to be extremely respectful of my disability and the needs that I have to be able to train at the club. Cheshire County Bowmen have all of the equipment I need as a world class archer to maintain my training at world class level. As a grass roots club it has the coaches to help no matter what your standard of archery is and in my opinion is one of the best clubs in Cheshire”. 

John Stubbs MBE Pictured Below. 

Terms & Conditions of draw entry here. 

This project successfully funded on 7th September 2020