As some users of the Heath have noticed, on Thursday evenings, archers from Royston Heath Archery Club have switched the direction of our club shoot from East-to-West to West-to-East. This change was implemented after consultation with the Heath Conservators and rigorous evaluations of our safety guidelines and risk assessments.
We would like to share our reasons behind this and ease any concerns other Heath users may have. We shoot outdoors on Thursday evenings, May through August. On sunny evening shoots, our normal Sunday morning orientation can be uncomfortable for our members shooting towards a setting sun. Changing the shooting direction so the sun is to our backs has alleviated this issue. On cloudy evening we will still shoot East-to-West where possible.
As a club we follow strict rules provided by our national governing body, ArcheryGB. Members are bound by these rules as a condition of our participation at the club. Our range layout follows the detailed safety guidelines as defined in part 3, section 302 of ArcheryGBs rules of shooting. The club must ensure these standards are met or exceeded as a condition of our insurance coverage and our affiliation with Archery GB.
When we shoot, we rope off the area to ensure we have clearly marked boundaries. We also put signs up to alert other Heath users to our presence. Our range is managed by a field captain, who controls the range with whistle commands to indicated when it is safe for archers to shoot and when it is safe to collect arrows from the targets. In practice, the range is live for less than half the time the club is on the field. The remainder of the time is spent collecting arrows from targets, setting up and packing away.
We are always vigilant for any Heath users, their pets or sports equipment entering our range and our club members are drilled on the procedures to bring our shoot to an immediate halt until the range is clear again and it is safe for us to continue with our session. We appreciate it may seem unnerving if you feel someone is shooting towards you, however we are confident that the size of our range and our overshoot are more then sufficient to contain any arrow that may miss the target. We pride ourselves in having a very safe sport that welcomes everyone. Please feel free to get in touch (https://www.roystonarchery.org/) if there are any specific concerns.