About Us

---

Bingham Leisure Centre was built alongside Toot Hill School in 1969, one of the first Joint Use facilities in the UK.  Amongst the wide range of sports available archery was catered for in the Small Hall or Red Gym and early on was used for indoor shooting by Sherwood Archers.

In 1981 an approach was made by Fred Stapley, the Centre Manager, to mount an Able bodied/Disabled shoot to mark the “Year of the Disabled”.  This idea fell on fertile ground with Sherwood Archers providing the equipment for the shoot.  So successful was it that Fred expressed a wish that it should become an annual event.

In 1982 a further conversation, between Jim and Fred, led to Fred suggesting that a club be formed based at the Leisure Centre.  In July that year an inaugural meeting of interested parties took place and Bingham Leisure Centre Archery Club was formed with Jim, David Jones and Peter Noble the founder members.  Fred helped the club acquire equipment and the first of many Beginners courses took place.

Since 1982 the club has grown to be a well thought of group by both the town and the Leisure Centre.  One initial objective was to encourage archery in the school (Toot Hill) and town and it is fair to say this has been a success.  Our link with Toot Hill continues with the weekly school club being organised and supported by club members ~ a steady flow of juniors into the club from Toot Hill being beneficial to both parties.

The club has also been very active within the Nottinghamshire and East Midlands Archery Societies and at National Level. One of our previous Chairmen, Les Smeeton, was Performance Director for GNAS prior to the Sydney Olympics and closely involved with the English Archery Federation in the run up to the 2010 Commonwealth games in Delhi at which the English Archers were very successful. Our current Club Secretary, Simon Barnicott, was one of the coaches for the GB Archery team at the first Invictus Games which were held in London and he also coaches in schools and colleges across Nottinghamshire.

Not so far afield, we now also shoot in Aslockton/Whatton on the Sports Field on Dark Lane. Moving there in 2019 for mid-week shooting, and Sunday mornings in the winter, has allowed us to make contact with a completely new community and we are excited about the prospect of building the club up even more over the next few years.  
 

The move to Aslockton led to the club changing it’s name to Archers of Bingham in November 2021. This reflects our strong links with Bingham but also the weaker ties we now have with the Leisure Centre. The new Bingham Arena, which opened in February 2023, replaced many of the existing facilities and it is clear that the focus for the future is on the Arena site. Shooting will remain on the Toot Hill site but, as that is also due for redevelopment, the club is always on the lookout for alternative venues.

Over the years we have developed and supported a number of archers to shoot at the highest level:

• Lindsay Smeeton was reserve for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, having previously shot for England and Great Britain.
• Louise Jones (daughter of a founder member), Brian Thornton and Tony Moore shot for England as did Madeleine Lane, as a junior.

Innumerable members have shot for the county at both senior and junior level having been trained and supported by our coaching team.   

The original Able-Bodied/Disabled shoot changed over time to become Bingham’s Open Western and Club Championships and, until the pandemic, continued as one of two regular competitions the club hosts. The other being our Open Spring Western, which for many years was a two-way longbow shoot, only opening out to other disciplines over the last few years. Since the pandemic we have had to cancel both shoots, for a variety of reasons, but we are always hopeful that they will be resurrected in the future.

The club has had considerable success at National Level winning the National Indoor team trophy on several occasions ~ in fact when the old trophy had no room for any more names we were allowed to retain it in perpetuity as not only did we win it that year but also our name was on it more than any other club.  We have yet to win the new trophy but keep hoping we will have a squad capable of doing so in the future. 

In 2012 we were designated a Community Specialist Club, one of the first to be given this status.  This recognised our work in taking archery out into the community and giving people an opportunity to experience a sport they might not otherwise have thought about. We run have-a-go sessions several times a year as well as running sessions for beavers, cubs, scouts, Brownies, Rainbows, guides, Round Table, Church groups, disabled groups and many more.  This work has been aided by generous grants from both Sport England and the Nottinghamshire Legacy Fund. This accreditation was reconfirmed in 2016 when we were also recognised as a Specialist Young Peoples Club.
 

From a high of having five Nationally Accredited coaches we are currently down to just one, Simon Barnicott. Aided by experienced archers he aims to support the development of our existing archers as well as introduce people to the sport for the first time through regular beginners courses. We are hoping that we will be able to train some archers up to become coaches in the near future.