Support Trackside Archery and Shooting Club

Aim

Help TASC to weather the impact of COVID-19 and continue teaching and practising Archery and Shooting.

Who are we?

Trackside Archery and Shooting Club was founded 10 years ago we are based in rural Lincolnshire near the town of Caistor. We cater for people of all ages, abilities, with a wide range of shooting styles from beginner to expert. It does not matter if you want to shoot socially or take part in many of the club and county competitions.

Shooting in all its forms is a very inclusive sports and promotes all aspects of well-being, improving physical and mental health.  We have people who shoot purely for enjoyment through to county champions. We have a great coaching structure with qualified level 1 and 2 Archery coaches.

Members of Trackside Archery and Shooting Club are a group of friendly, fun and enthusiastic people committed to supporting and developing a range of shooting skills from air pistol and rifle to traditional longbow archery through to modern compound bows, more recently we are looking at target crossbow shooting!

The club’s outdoor archery range is open Sunday, Monday & Tuesday (by Key Code for Members Only). The club is also open on Wednesday 9am - 10.00pm and Thursday, Friday & Saturday 9am - 5pm for both members and non-members. We are open on Sunday mornings 9am – 12midday for a trial period.  

 On site we have 90m (100 Yard) outdoor and 18m (20 Yard) indoor target archery ranges, and 18m (20 Yard) and 10m (11 Yard) indoor air weapon ranges. 

Indoor - Target Recurve bow

Indoor - Air pistol

 And more shooting!

 We provide a range courses for children and adults. A basic ‘have a go session’ - a taster for the sport! Beginners courses which teach the fundamental skills of archery, our club Level 1 and 2 coaches offer regular sessions through the year and helpful advice / support whenever they are at the club. 

  We regularly have air rifle improver days with support from County and Regional coaches.

 Archers from trackside compete at club, county, and national level. Our club competitions are immensely enjoyed by our members and by visiting archers too. 

Members who shoot air weapons compete at club and county level.

 During 2019 our competing archers won the team trophy at the outdoor county championship. Many have represented club, county, and district and one junior represented England at the nation championships and youth Commonwealth games.

 Not everyone is interested in competing and many of our members see this as an opportunity to socialise with events like the summer BBQ and Christmas games night.

A little bit of History

In 1188 The English longbow's first recorded use was in South Wales, during a battle between the English and Welsh. Through the1600's Several archery societies are formed, and tournaments establish archery as a competitive sport as firearms became more available as weapons of war. Shooting has been an ever-present discipline at the Olympic Games and was one of the original nine that featured in the Athens games in 1896. In 1900 Archery becomes an official Olympic event at the Paris Olympic Games. In 1988 Air pistol shooting introduced as an Olympic event.

Current Situation.

Like so many other clubs and business across the UK over the last 6 months we have suffered a significant financial penalty by the restrictions imposed on sports by the Covid-19 pandemic. In March 2020, all Grass-roots archery and shooting clubs were asked to close their doors to club shooting and all competitions were cancelled.

This made it impossible for our club members to shoot and participate in local and county competitions. 

Preparations for the Winter series 2017/18

With club members being unable to shoot we have had a significant reduction in fees, from March to July the club income was reduced to zero, all efforts have been made to reduce the club operating costs, supported by property owner where we shoot. Despite the loss of income, we must cover our rental commitment and therefore It is imperative we keep our club secure and continue to provide such excellent shooting facilities to our members and wider community

 Towards the end of July clubs could reopen if they were able to provide and maintain a safe environment to shoot. This has a significant impact on the number of people who can be at the club at any one time. We have had to cut the available capacity by 55%, this means we are achieving less than half of the revenue we need to maintain our thriving club. We are unsure how many of the current members will re-join the club because of these measures and their own circumstances.

 We want to make sure we can stay open with the facilities and equipment we need to continue attracting new members and teaching anyone who is interested about the sport we love.

Why support our Crowdfunder?

Crowdfunding will help us to raise money to keep the club moving forward and developing archery and shooting 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 members 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:

• Rental fees for our indoors and outdoors facilities. 
• To purchase consumables e.g. new target bosses, target faces, cleaning supplies etc. 
• Maintaining and replace existing equipment bows, air weapons. 
• Continued support in training our coaching staff in the on-going Archery GB Coaching and National Small-bore Rifle Association courses.
• To support our ambition to teach shooting to all members of our community. 

Community Involvement

 From our beginning in 2010 Trackside Archery and shooting club have actively supported the community from school, scout, and cub groups to providing a facility and coaching for young people to complete the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Gold awards.

 While most of the work is at the club, we also engage in off-site events promoting Archery as a sport and support a number public events throughout the year with equipment and trained volunteers.

Caistor Goes Medieval 2015

 Our Club coaches ran regular beginners archery courses until lock down, now we are implementing measures to keep Covid safe and resume running these course.

 We also teach archery to Visually impaired, individuals with learning difficulties and those in wheelchairs. Except for visually impaired we provide the same support to those who shoot air weapons.

 Until Covid 19 hit One of our aims is to be able to provide air weapon shooting to those who are visually impaired, unfortunately this is on hold due to the current situation. We will, however, continue our discussion with the Lincolnshire small bore rifle association about providing this opportunity.

What Trackside Archery and Shooting club means to our archers and community.

What our members think . . . .

And more . . . 

and finally!

This project successfully funded on 24th November 2020