Our History
The Erina Archery Club has been in operation for over 50 years and was initially called the Gosford Archery Club. Erina Archery Club’s objectives are to support and promote all forms of Archery and the spirit of good fellowship. Raise public awareness of Archery as a recreation and competitive sport.
Members can optionally join Coast Archers Inc. which is affiliated with the Archery Society of New South Wales and in turn Archery Australia and can compete in tournaments throughout Australia and overseas.
The Club conducts two competition events each month for which successful members are awarded prizes. A handicap event is held on the first Saturday of the month. Awards are presented at the club's General Meeting.
Peats Ridge
Over December 2023 and January 2024, the Club was relocated to our new grounds at Fred Pinkstone Oval at Peats Ridge. Originally used as a cricket field, the oval has now been repurposed as an archery range. The field now has 16 permanent targets which were relocated from Erina, plus capacity for 11 portable targets. We have built a safety barrier across the back of the range. We continue to work on improving the grounds and rebuilding our Clubhouse.
We have been operational at the new ground since February 2024.
1960s | Gosford
Roy Morris - President 1960s
Erina Archery Club was initially called Gosford Archery Club and was formed we believe in the early 1960s. 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 afield.
Multiple clubhouses
We moved around!
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.
Erina Leagues Club
Erina - Our Clubhouse
Before we moved to Erina, we had a small shed in Kincumber, where we stored easels, strammit 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.
Where can you find us?
The Erina Archery Club range is situated at Peats Ridge, adjacent to the Springs Golf Club.
We are almost opposite the Peats Ridge shops.
This is about 15 minutes drive from the freeway down Peats Ridge Road.