A Brief History of Welbeck Archers
At approximately 4 p.m. On St George’s Day 1975 Doug and Pam Fox, Pam and Barry sides, Christine and Keith Gascoigne and Peter and Linda Stockhill sat down in the committee room at Lady Margaret Hall on the Welbeck estate.
At this meeting they decided to form an archery club. They wrote to the head of the military College on the estate to this effect and asked for permission to shoot at abbey bottoms.
The college gave the newly formed club permission to shoot on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays after 6 p.m. and all day on Sundays.
Peter and Linda Stockhill did not join the club but the other six started to shoot on a regular basis even though they only had one boss/target at this point.
This target boss and stand was having to be stored at Christine and Keith house and was brought by trailer each evening to the field.
Eventually the club was given use of a small stone building just off to one side of the field the bread and cheese lodge (Pictured at the top of the page)as the building is known became the store room for the target. After further negotiation permission was given for the club to erect a wooden hut on the field.
Peter Orwin (one of the members at this point) managed to acquire a bright red builders hut made of wood. This was transported to the field in sections, rebuilt by the club members and painted green.
In 1977 Les Howis the owner of Marksman Archery asked the Welbeck Archers to put a tournament on to mark Queen Elizabeth II silver jubilee year. The tournament was held on the May bank holiday weekend and all the archers used Marksman bows. It proved so popular that the following year the Welbeck Archers put on their own open tournament and this tournament has been shot every year on May bank holiday ever since. It remains one of the major events in the archery calendar.
In September 2023 Welbeck Archers were sad to leave their shooting ground on the estate. However moving to a new ground has allowed the committee to extend the shooting times, which has made it more popular and allowed the club to prosper.