Welcome to Overton Black Arrows Archery Club

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Originally established in 1962, the Overton Black Arrows Archery Club was founded to allow members to enjoy all aspects of the sport of archery from beginner tuition, recreational archery through to competing and coaching. The club is affiliated with Archery GB, Southern Counties Archery Society (SCAS) and the Hampshire Archery Association (HAA).

Members currently shoot a variety of disciplines including; Target, Field, 3D and Clout using; Barebow, Compound, Flatbow, Horsebow, Longbow, Recurve and Traditional bows. Some equipment is available for novices to use until they develop sufficient technique to warrant the purchase of their own equipment.

Members shoot regularly at its outdoor range in Laverstoke (between Overton and Whitchurch) all year and during the indoor season the club shoots one evening a week at an 18 metre indoor range in Whitchurch, typically from early September to the end of March. We also meet at our Field Archery course in Kingsclere throughout the year for specifically arranged sessions.

Details of when we can use The Warren appear on our Events page as and when The Warren is available to use and members must book on to a session to shoot at The Warren.

Unfortunately, we cannot simply turn up at The Warren and practice our Field, or 3D, archery whenever we want, but we do get to shoot there plenty of times through the year.

Beginners courses are run on a regular basis and enquiries from anyone interested in archery are always welcome, you may find details of our next Beginners Course further below, or on our Events page.

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Shooting Times

'Club Nights'

• Wednesday and Friday from 6:00pm to dusk (Laverstoke Range) in spring & summer (outdoors)

• Wednesday 7:00pm to 9:30pm (Testbourne School Sports Hall) in the winter (indoor season)

 

• At The Warren field archery course (Kingsclere) by arrangement and booking a ticket to shoot

• Members can shoot at any time at our Laverstoke range, as long as the range rules are complied with

Please see our Contact page for location details and maps.

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2024 All British & Open Field Championships

Click here for the Prospectus!

 

Thank you to all who took part in the competition and congratulations to the winners.

For a full list of the final standings Click Here to visit the i@nseo website where the results are stored.

Thank you also to everyone who helped, in any way, to enable us to run the event.​

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We hope you enjoyed the course and the catering and we hope to see you again in future. There was a silent auction over the competition weekend and we were delighted to be able to raise £915.00p for our chosen charity DiveAbility, so thanks to everyone who put in a bid.

 

Overton Black Arrows competitions for 2024

So, if you want to shoot some more Field Archery,

We held the Watership Down Open HAA & SCAS Field Championships in July, the results can be found on our Competitions page.

In September,

We're holding the Watership Down 3D Tournament & HAA Championships Click Here for more information and to book your spot.

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Want to do more Field & 3D shooting/competitive practice?

Towards the end of the year we we'll likely run another Winter Field League, which has been growing in popularity in recent years. This a fun, and occasionally competitive league, which runs over five shoots and is an ideal introduction to shooting Field and 3D competitively, as well as to keep fine tuning your Field and 3D shooting skills.

The 1st and 3rd shoots (typically November and January) being WA12 Field courses half marked distances, half unmarked distances.

The 2nd and 4th shoots (typically December and February) being WA12 3D courses, all unmarked distances.

Then a 5th shoot (typically March) which is a WA12 Field course half marked and half unmarked distances, plus a WA12 3D course, all unmarked distances. Both courses being shot on the same day.

More details will appear on our events page later in the year.

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The OvBA Field Course venue has three distinct areas:

The Warren, 12acres ish, which can be described as a curved dead end valley with many steep slopes.

The Woods, 7acres ish, of sloped woodland, some level ish areas, lots of shade but with light spots throughout.

The Combe, another 12acres ish, lots of slopes (again) with part of it resembling a steeply sloped natural amphitheatre.

The venue, as a whole, represents a challenging environment for even the most seasoned field archer.

 

As a club, Overton Black Arrows were delighted to have archers shooting the whole venue, which tends to happen only when we host the All British & Open Field Championships.

We hope you weren't disappointed with the course and hope you felt challenged!

Hopefully, everyone left with a smile on their face, even if one or two competitors did leave an arrow, or two, in storage somewhere within the venue!  But, don't worry, someone will likely find it, although we can't say when, but most arrows stored there do get found ... eventually.

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Beginners Course

  Our Winter 2024 Beginners Course finished on Saturday the 3rd of February.

24 potential new archers are now able to join Overton Black Arrows, or any AGB affiliated club.

Our next Beginners Course will start in September and is already full with a waiting list.

'Ad-hoc' beginners courses for an individual, or couple, may be possible please use the Contact page and select 'Beginners'.

Please see the EVENTS and/or the BEGINNERS page for more details.​

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I've brought a bow and want to practice with it ...

Whilst it is possible to teach yourself to shoot, there are all sorts of things that can go wrong with this!  Where will you shoot this lethal weapon?

An official range has a minimum length of 100m and a width that includes a sizeable safety area either side of the targets.

Are you insured? ... Are your neighbours happy? ... Is your equipment even fit for purpose?

From a coaching perspective, it is important to NOT just go out, buy a bow and start shooting.  Correct shooting technique should be learnt on a light-weight bow, before moving to a heavier poundage otherwise you will be stuck with bad technique and quite possibly end up injuring yourself.  A typical beginners bow has a low draw weight, 14-18lb, is enough, less for juniors.  Once good technique has been learnt, an archer can gradually move up in bow weight. We teach using recurve bows (as these have interchangeable limbs), but the basic techniques we teach transfer equally well to; Barebow, Compound, Flatbow, Horsebow, Longbow, Recurve, Traditional - you can hire bows from us once you have finished a beginners course and we'd recommend continuing with one of these for a few months before switching to a different bow style, or buying your own equipment.

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