About the Club

History - The club was originally founded in 1955 and was known as 'The Bowmen of Cyppa' Cyppa is the Anglo Saxon name from which Chippenham (settlement of Cyppa's people) gets its name. Later the Club name was changed to Phoenix Archers but for many years it has been known as Chippenham Archers  In the Club archers shoot all styles of Bow from Olympic Recurve, Compound and Longbow through to the simple Primitive Bows similar to the 4500-year-old Meare Heath Bow. Please note that we do not shoot Crossbows at this club.

The Club - Chippenham Archers is Club which is registered under Archery GB and where all members must be an ' in-date' member of the County Organisation 'Dorset and Wiltshire Archery Association' (DWAA), the Regional Organisation 'Grand Western Archery Society' (GWAS) and the National Governing body 'Archery GB' (GNAS - Grand National Archery Society).

The Membership - The membership ages range from 10 to well over 60 and has members of all abilities ranging from those who shoot only at the club, those that regularly compete at local open Competitions, others who take part in County and National Events and some who have represented England and Great Britain.

Facilities - Unlimited access, with (except on a couple of designated days in the year when open Tournaments are held) to both, a Target Range with a number Foam Bosses permanently out, a Field Archery Training Course, and Indoor Shooting on designated Saturday mornings during the winter Season (Mid October to the following mid-March) all provided from a single membership Fee with  No additional 'pay as you go' fees .

Criteria for membership - Before anybody can be accepted as a member this Club, like other Archery Clubs, has to ensure that all its members are capable of partaking in the sport of Archery safely, therefore:

• Those with previous experience will be vetted prior to being accepted as Club Members
• Those new to the sport will have been expected to have successfully completed a structured Beginners Course (either at this club or another registered Archery Club).
• Please Note that the Club cannot accept Juniors under the age of 10 on the Beginners Courses or as Club Members.
• The Club runs Beginners Courses commencing in early spring, details of the Course structure and contact details can be found on the Starting Archery page.

General information about archery at chippenham Archers - 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 Archery GB Target/GNAS Field Club run under Archery GB (Grand National Archery Society) Rules of Shooting and Insurance or they a NFAS Field Club run under NFAS (National Field Archery Society) Rules and Insurance. Note: The Insurance cover for Archers under one Society does not allow them to shoot under the others rules. 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 on where the arrow hits the target face, and from which peg the arrow, was shot a score is awarded.