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History of Erina Archery Club:
The Erina Archery Club was initially called Gosford
Archery Club and was formed we believe in the early 1960’s. Roy Morris
was the President and Robert Vickers was the Secretary/Treasurer.
Shooting was conducted every Sunday morning at the Jus-Fruit Park
adjacent to Henry Kendall’s Cottage at West Gosford. As there were no
facilities for storage, targets & stands were covered in plastic sheets
and stored against a large tree with the hope that they wouldn’t be
stolen or vandalised.
When West Gosford started to expand we moved to an area near Gosford
R.S.L that is now occupied by the Galaxy Motel. As the Motel & R.S.L
Club expanded we were gradually edged out and had to go further a field.
Davistown R.S.L Club came to the party and the Archery Club, after a
lot of hard work by the members, developed a very good range. The
facilities included a storage shed for the equipment and the use of a
hall with toilets and a kitchen. Other sporting bodies used the area and
we were eventually informed that our range was to become a soccer field.
Geoff Breene of Gosford Council was able to have an area of Frost
Reserve at Kincumber made available to us, so another move was made.
This was in early 1980. These grounds were quite open and the wind was a
problem. If the targets were not tied down the wind blew them over and
you could break quite a few arrows. We were now shooting on Saturday
afternoons. Sometimes we had to finish early or shoot in the morning
because of the conflict with other sporting groups needing use of the
ground as well.
We had a small shed where we stored easels, stramit boards and target
faces but there were no other facilities at the grounds. Each week we
had to set up our easels and targets before the shoot and take them down
on completion. We had approximately a dozen members back in those days
so the monthly meetings were usually held at the home of one of the
members.
During 1982, one of our members got talking to a member of Erina
Rugby Leagues Club which resulted in our current grounds being offered
to us. We inspected the area and quickly accepted their offer.
We relocated our little shed and all our equipment to the new grounds
adjacent to the Leagues Club in Ilya Avenue, Erina. This ground was an
improvement on the one at Kincumber with trees on three sides and the
use of the facilities at the Leagues Club. The only disadvantage was
when it rained; it was very boggy and boots were an essential part of
your equipment.
It was about this time we changed the name of the club.
During the next few years we were quite busy improving the Club:
We erected a shelter shed out of branches and corrugated iron that
later became extended and converted to a steel frame.
We acquired an old tractor & slasher for $50.00; fixed it up and used
it to cut the grass for which we were paid by the Leagues Club for
maintaining their grounds.
We put up some permanent target butts originally made of a wooden
frame, hay bails and old cardboard boxes. Later on these butts were made
of steel and purchased pre-cut board.
A few of our members did instructor courses and we started running
beginners courses on a regular basis to teach people the sport of
Archery and to hopefully increase membership.
Some of the members started up a field course in the bush behind the
ground but this only lasted a few years because of the encroachment of
the residential area and loss of interest in the field course. We lost
some members to the local Field Archery Club.
Generally we got a bit more organized by setting up a calendar of
rounds for the year and organizing a monthly handicap competition. We
started having our monthly meetings at the Leagues Club on a weeknight
and this eventually converted to the Saturday afternoon of our handicap
competition. We had to have regular working bees, as not being a council
ground and having permanent butts we had to keep them maintained.
In 1988, the Leagues Club Touch Football association wanted to start
using the grounds. They did a lot of work levelling the field and used
the excess soil to build a mound of dirt behind our target butts as a
backstop. On to this we erected some conveyer belt rubber to extend the
height of the safety barrier. We moved the butts back near the mound so
that the footballers could use the whole field.
We also had to move our shed down the field and close it in due to
vandalism.
Now that the football club maintain the grounds our
faithful old tractor was sitting idle not getting much use and was
eventually sold. Over the years the membership has fluctuated, members
come and go but there are a few who have been in the Club for quite a
few years that keep the Club going.
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