Archery in General

General Information about Archery 

 In its basic form there are two types of Archery practiced at clubs in the UK, these are Target and Field and it is common that a club is either a GNAS Target/GNAS Field Club run under GNAS (Grand National Archery Society) regulations and Insurance or they a NFAS Field Club run under NFAS (National Field Archery Society) regulations and Insurance.  The two Archery types are very basically described as follows:

Target - This is where an arrow is shot at a target face, that is place at a specific distance on a laid out field or indoors in a Gymnasium of Sports Centre (during the winter period), and depending where the arrow lands on the face a score is achieved for that arrow.

 Field - This is where an arrow is shot from one or more of three marker pegs in the ground , at a field target face (which varies at each target location) set at a marked or unmarked distance (dependant on the round being shot), and depending where the arrow hits the target face, and from which peg the arrow, was shot a score is awarded.

Bow Types - Chippenham Archers, depending on their preference, shoot Recurves (Olympic), Compounds, Longbows and BareBows but Crossbows are not permitted at our Club.

Progression in Archery - Members take each of the two types as far as they want to, some prefer to come to the facilities, shoot a few arrows and generally relax, others progress to attending open tournaments hosted by other Clubs and these themselves range from local friendly events through County and Regional events up to National and International level and for Target archery these include Indoor Tournaments during the winter time.

Archery Links

The following are the various organisations involved in Archery in the UK - Web Site Links are underlined

GNAS (The Grand National Archery Society) 'Archery GB' is the governing body for the Olympic sport of Archery in the UK. All GNAS registered Clubs are grouped first at County level then at Regional level:

NFAS (The National Field Archery Society) is the governing body for the sport of Field Archery in the UK, (Field Archery is also held under the governing body of GNAS) details of NFAS and how to join can be viewed on their web site. of the .

BLBS (The British Long-Bow Society) exists in order to perpetuate the use of the traditional recreational Longbow.

FITA (The Fédération Internationale De Tir à L'Arc  ) is the International governing body of Archery

The following are a selection of Archery retailers (our nearest being Wales Archery Specialists )

Wales Archery Specialists       Quicks Archery      Archery World      Alternative Services      Arrowhead      Bowsports      Merlin Archery Centre      Little John Arrows      KG Archery      Centre Shot      Perris Archery      English Longbow Company    Greg's Top Strings (makes and supplies strings for a lot of the Countries Top Archers)