Pennington Archers

CLUB HISTORY

Pennington Archers archery club was formed in 1976 after an archery "have a go" stand had proved so popular an attraction at a village gala at Pennington Memorial Hall, that some of the participants wanted to continue shooting on a regular basis.

The leading light at that time was Terry Ridal, who had been shooting "in the bow" since the age of sixteen, initially shooting a Lindop flat, or now more popularly known, as an American longbow. Eventually he progressed through various recurve bows, inevitably including the fully stabilised set up now called an Olympic style, he finally found the Longbow, and has remained a devotee of his "bent stick" ever since.

In the early days Terry took on the role of Chairman and the club was formed entirely as a target archery club, hosting open shoots and tournaments on a regular basis which provided Cumbria County Archery Association with a steady supply of county team members. The ladies proved the most successful; three Pennington ladies formed the core of the county team which took the Martin trophy off Durham and Northumberland and the Scottish National teams, for the one and only time since the competition began in the mid 50s.

Pennington Archers turned their attention towards field archery under the Grand National Archery Society (G.N.A.S.) banner in the early 80s and shot on a wonderful course at Finsthwaite (near Lake Windermere in the Lake District). This course gained a formidable reputation not only for its breathtaking views over the Lakeland hills, but also for terrain which challenged the best archers in the land. Indeed it was a world class course and was worthy of its highest accolade of hosting the British Open Field Archery Championships in 1994.

The club became a victim of its own success and challenging courses as the numbers of archers attending shoots fell, many archers not wanting to wound fragile confidence by being confounded by the difficult terrain and the top class courses being set for competitions. Very few archers scored a personal best on this course as it was assessed as being up to and beyond international standard!

Eventually the members moved away from field archery under G.N.A.S. rules and regulations and made sorties towards the National Field Archery Society (N.F.A.S.) This coincided with a move from Finsthwaite to a new location, about five miles away, at Bigland Hall in Mungeon Wood.
Again the members showed that their enthusiasm had not waned and have twice hosted and laid a course for the N.F.A.S. National championships, first at Newby bridge, then two years later, in the woods around Bigland estate where their course laying gained so many accolades.

When Bigland Hall went up for sale we had to find a new home and after viewing quite a few areas of woodland we were lucky enough to find Linsty Woods. After an initial one year lease we were able to secure a longer lease which gave us the security to progress an expansion programme.
Terry had been leading the way, both as the club coach, and as chairman for many years and he decided it was time for a new administration to take the club forward. The club rewarded his efforts over the years by making him Honorary President in 2005. A new and larger committee was formed at this time, lead this time by Janet Ridal, and has brought up to date and revised all the club procedures (Rules of Shooting, Health and Safety issues, Child Protection Procedures etc, etc).

Over the years Pennington Archers have been active in the local community by helping others to raise money for their funds. We have demonstrated archery and organised “Have–a-Go” sessions at many local school fetes, galas, Medieval Fun days (Furness Abbey) and the Holker Hall Driving Trials. They have also been active during the Ulverston Charter Festival by organising a Medieval Longbow Tournament, making a donation to the Mayor’s Charities and by stewarding at the Lantern Procession.

Since the AGM in May 2005 the new committee decided that fundraising for a new hut on our Field Course should be a priority. Setting out and maintaining a Field Archery course involves quite a lot of woodland, forestry and agricultural equipment and therefore we needed a hut for storage and as a meeting place for the archers.

The fundraising included - 2 local Have-a-Go's (Dalton Medieval Fayre in May and the Jousting Day in Ulverston’s Charter Festival in September), both in medieval dress. - Organising beginners courses which were fully subscribed on Ford Park in Ulverston - Car boot sales to sell items donated from club members.

We have also been fortunate enough to receive funding from - Ulverston & Low Furness Neighbourhood Forum - Ulverston Town Mayor's Charities - Ulverston Carnival Committee.
A new sub committee was formed to organise tournaments as a direct response from the membership.