At Archery GB's AGM, members elected international judge and lifelong volunteer Graham Potts as the organisation's President.
The multi-Games international judge, who was the only British international judge at London 2012, will serve for a term of four years.
The voting result was announced at Archery GB's AGM, which took place online on Saturday 26 April. Graham was unable to attend the AGM as he was judging at the European Grand Prix in Antalya, Türkiye, but he sent the following message, which was read out at the AGM: "I am extremely honoured, and very proud, to have been nominated and elected as President of Archery GB for the next few years. I will do my very best to represent Archery GB and archery in general, and very much look forward to enjoying meeting as many members as possible during my presidential term."
Chair Mark Briegal looked back over the past 12 months, highlighting the success of our athletes in Paris and the work that clubs do to welcome so many into the sport. He said: "2024 was certainly a busy year in archery. At the high-performance end of AGB, the Olympics and Paralympics saw our world class athletes perform at the highest level and demonstrate the success of our world class programme. Everyone performed so well, and I was personally delighted to be able to be at the Paralympics to watch two of our Paralympians, Jodie and Nathan, win medals.
"All of our athletes started on a beginner's course at their local club or possibly picked up a bow on holiday. The work carried out by our volunteer coaches at clubs up and down the country is remarkable and feeds into the success of the high-performance programme.
"Closer to home, we have been working on a number of projects to improve the service we give our members. Change is not easy and, to paraphrase the old saying, "You can't please all of the people all of the time". This is particularly true with 40,000 members, over 800 clubs, plus counties, regions and home nations.
"We are fully aware that some of the membership changes have not been well received by all our members. We have listened to the feedback and have embarked upon further consultation to make these new systems so that they work for members."
Mark then formally opened the meeting, first receiving apologies for absence and then inviting members to approve the minutes from last year's AGM.
Next on the agenda was receiving and considering the accounts, which are not voted on. Members had been invited before the meeting to confirm the auditors as Azets Audit Services Limited. The motion was passed with 844 votes (94.32%) for.
The agenda order was then changed as we couldn't appoint a new President until after amendments to the Articles of Association had been agreed. Mark Briegal said: "This is mainly a clean-up exercise as part of our review of home nations, regions and counties. We're going to continue our consultation over the coming months and there's some working groups set up as we may need to make some further changes in the future. The aim is to ensure that the right activities take place at the right level with the right support to make sure that everyone in archery is getting the support they need." The motion was passed with 662 (88.87%) for.
Finally, results for the election of Graham Potts as president were declared with 811 voting for the new president. Mark Briegal said: "We're very excited to be able to call on Graham's vast archery experience around the globe and nationally, as our new president."
After the meeting was closed, Chief Executive Ruth Hall gave an overview of where the organisation is up to and what is planned, particularly around the membership proposal. Updates on this and answers to questions sent in ahead of and during the AGM will be shared directly with clubs and members in the next few weeks.
Thank you to everyone who supported the AGM either through voting, attending or proposing or seconding motions. The 2026 AGM date has been provisionally set for Saturday 26 April.
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