After a devastating fire to Ten Zone Targets, archers donate over £15,000 to help rebuild the company.
At 5:30am on Friday 8 December, owner of Ten Zone Targets, Steve Olding received the heart-breaking call. His business along with five others were consumed by a fire, of which the cause is still unknown. The workshop and tournament stock were completely destroyed. One of the firemen on the scene managed to open up the workshop roller shutter and drive out the forklift. Steve had instructed the man, as well as his son, on an archery beginners' course back in 2011.
Ten Zone Targets, a Hampshire-based family business since 2010, has provided tournament targets for competitions and national events across the country for many years. They have recently provided targets for the National Indoor weekend at the start of December, and merely a week before the fire, they supplied the targets for the new Performance Archery Centre at Lilleshall.
Steve informed his clients and the public via social media about his situation, and he was forced to start deciding his next action. Upon learning the sad news of the fire, the archery community began to rally, sharing Steve’s story and their appreciation for all his company has done for them and their clubs. This show of support shed a new light of hope for Steve, and with a little encouragement from his family, he created a GoFundMe page to begin his rebuilding journey.
Jon Nott, Archery GB Events Manager, said: "Without Steve and Ten Zone Targets, so many competitions in the UK are at risk. The service he provides to archery clubs is so essential. If you can help, please do. What happened to Ten Zone is truly unlucky and devastating."
Steve set a goal to raise £15,000 which was met in just 24 hours. Currently, the total is standing at over £18,000! The generosity of archers everywhere has not let up as this donation figure continues to grow and grow. People have even offered their owns tools, equipment, and manual labour to help Steve. Ten Zone are in the process of finding a new workshop, materials, and machinery to begin to rebuild the business.
What could’ve been a Christmas nightmare soon turned into a Christmas miracle. Archery has played a key part in Steve's journey this week. One of the advisors from the local council had been on a beginners' course which Steve instructed, and the German supplier for their replacement foam cutting band saw also turns out to be an avid archer.
Steve said: "The support received from everyone is overwhelming and has left us speechless. We have a way to go before we get operational. The help received has taken a big chunk of pressure away from this process, and we will be forever grateful to our supporters."
