Sport England's promise to help communities through the Covid-19 crisis is quickly becoming reality for some of our archery clubs. One of the first to receive a grant was Crystal Palace Bowmen.
Mark Davis, from Crystal Palace Bowmen's committee, said: Â"I applied for the grant as soon as I heard about it and found the process very easy and the people at Sport England were really nice when there was a minor problem. I was able to quote the exact figures we would lose out on as the amounts were part of our budget forecast for the year: £2,306 to be exact!
Â"The club should have held its Open shoot at the weekend and then our beginners' course starting the week after (as well as the postponed Big Weekend). We run the club on as little money as possible (our fees per year are £42 per adult for the club and no line fees) so realised that the income from the shoot and then the fees from the course and the loss of income from new archers and those deciding not to rejoin would be quite a hit. Plus the loss of the school sessions we run. We might have been okay but when the offer of money came along (via a note from AGB) I just got on with it, having had a quick word by email with the committee.”
Mark added: Â"It was a very easy process and I received a speedy reply. It's nice to know the support is there! I suspect there will be clubs worse off than us. One point I did make was that as we are a club that uses a field where other sports (rugby and cricket) take place, we'd probably be unable to host our events later in the year as their use of the field would have priority.”
So far, four archery club applications have been assessed, and all have been offered awards. You can find out more about Sport England's Community Emergency Fund here.
