Archery GB is the largest national governing body for the sport of

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Archery GB is responsible for all levels of

within the UK from elite to development level and supports over 40,000 members. Archery GB is the umbrella organisation for English Archery Association, Archery Northern Ireland, Scottish Archery and Welsh Archery Association. Under Archery GB are eight Regional Societies and many different county societies. It is affiliated to the World Archery Federation (WA); (formerly

FITA Fita (Ѳ ѳ; italics: ''Ѳ ѳ'') is a letter of the Early Cyrillic alphabet. The shape and the name of the letter are derived from the Θ, Greek letter theta (Θ θ). In the ISO 9 system, Ѳ is romanized using F grave accent (F̀ ...

, the ''Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc'') and is a member of the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA; ) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also incorporate represen ...

. The society's

motto A motto (derived from the Latin language, Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian language, Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a Sentence (linguistics), sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of a ...

is: "Union, Trueheart and Courtesie". Archery GB is the trading name of the Grand National Archery Society, a company limited by guarantee no. 1342150 Registered in England

Role

Archery GB is the largest governing organisation of

target archery Target archery is the most popular form of archery, in which members shoot at stationary circular targets at varying distances. All types of bow – longbow, barebow, Recurve bow, recurve and Compound bow, compound – can be used. In Great Brita ...

, field archery, flight and clout archery in the United Kingdom; the society is in management of the Olympic and Paralympic World Class programmes funded by UK Sport. The society is responsible for over 750 clubs and 32,000 registered members across the UK, all of whom may receive the magazine '' Archery UK'' twice a year, included in their affiliation. It also organises its own national tournaments such as the National Tour and is responsible for training coaches and judges, as well as ensuring affiliated clubs are covered by their public liability insurance policy. These costs are partly covered by affiliation fees, which all club members pay, both to county and regional associations and Archery GB itself.

History

The first Grand National Archery Meeting was held on the Knavesmire at

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

in 1843 but the Grand National Archery Society (later Archery GB) itself was not founded until 1861,''Encyclopedia of Sport'', Charles Harvey (ed.) – Purnell & Sons 1959 when it met at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool. It confined its early activities to organising the Annual National Championships, being at that time just one of many archery Societies; and it did not become the governing body for the UK until much later. Following this, it became mandatory – rather than optional – for every archer who wished to enter a competition or shoot at a club to become a GNAS member for insurance purposes, and administration was through clubs, counties and regions. Three older and historically important societies – all of which survive today – were the Royal Toxophilites (founded in 1781), the Woodmen of Arden (founded in 1785), and the Royal Company of Archers (founded in 1676). They are independent of the GNAS, although some members may belong to both. With archery now firmly established in the Olympics, GNAS/Archery GB has seen many international successes and British archers have won a total of 4 medals since the restoration of the sport in the 1972 Olympic Games.

National Events

Archery GB hold a series of National Championships, Events and also a National Tour where archers compete over a series of events around the UK and gain points to qualify for a grand finals.

Event	Series
The National Tour
The Grand National Archery Meeting
The British Target Championships
Archery GB Youth Festival
Junior National Outdoors
National County Team Championships
UK Masters
Junior Masters
50+ Masters
National Indoors
Junior Indoors
Back2Back

Rebranding as Archery GB

At the Annual General Meeting held at Lilleshall on 19 April 2008, an official announcement was made confirming that "Archery GB" would become the trading name of the GNAS. An item in the Summer 2008 edition of ''Archery UK'', the official GNAS magazine, states:

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Archery in the United Kingdom Archery organizations Organisations based in Shropshire

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

Telford and Wrekin 1861 establishments in the United Kingdom