Archery Costs

Go along to any competition (archery tournament) and you’ll see thousands of pounds of equipment but the sport does not have to be expensive. How much you want to spend is entirely in your hands.

For most archers, the costs are split into four categories:

Membership Costs

AoR’s Club Membership, Affiliation/Shooting fees as well as Hiring of equipment can be found here.

In addition, AoR is a non profit making organisation and prices can fluctuate from time to time based on the membership level, direct costs to the club for facilities, equipment, etc. A higher membership count can see the prices remain static or even fall; conversely, a drop in membership and a rise in costs could see the opposite effect on prices.

Membership fees are typically reviewed and set at the AGM, but the committee reserves the right to review the finances at any time with adequate notice to members of any impending change. At the time of writing, becoming a shooting member at AoR can cost as little as 18p per day for a junior and adult memberships can be as low as just 36p per day (plus Archery GB subscriptions).

Archery GB,  EMAS & NCAS Membership

Archery GB, EMAS and NCAS membership is a mandatory requirement for all archers who join and wish to shoot at Archers of Raunds and also for all guest archers wishing to shoot at the club. Archery GB Membership provides archers with several million pounds of insurance that covers the archers for most liabilities and members will also receive a quarterly Archery GB magazine. The cost of Archery GB,  NCAS & EMAS membership is beyond the control of the club and it usually rises slightly on a yearly basis.

Shooting Equipment

As well as the membership fees, archers obviously need some equipment. The club has basic takedown recurve bows and associated equipment available during the beginners course. Subject to availability, metal risers can be hired in your early days of shooting for £40 for a 12 week period.

During the hire period, the club encourages smaller purchases to be made to spread the cost and after that, the amount that you wish to spend on equipment is totally under your control with basic setups costing around £150, up to state of the art equipment totalling £1,000 or more. 

Other Paraphernalia

Once your membership and Archery GB fees are settled, your bow and associated items (e.g. quiver, arm guard, etc) are bought, you are pretty much set to shoot at the club’s venue. However, the real benefit to archery is getting out to competitions and this can sometimes mean a little travelling and shooting in all conditions. Archers who regularly attend competitions usually include a tent (or bivvy) to shelter in between ends when the weather is bad and to keep their equipment together and dry.

One item that is very useful during the outdoor season and often overlooked is a spotting scope and tripod. Scopes can be around the £100 mark, but there are plenty of good scopes online for around £40 to £50. 

If you only plan to shoot casually and at the closer 40m or less distances, then a scope is probably not required if your eyesight is reasonable.  

However, stepping over that distance and for competitive shooting, a scope can quickly become invaluable.

There is a dress code set out in the Archery GB rules of shooting for archers shooting in competitions. Archers of Raunds members are required to wear plain black trousers or skirt and the club’s green polo shirt. A plain green short or long-sleeved shirt can be worn without any logos (other than the club logo), but strapless tops or those with thin straps should be avoided. Those archers lucky enough to be called up to shoot for County, EMAS region or even Nationally, are also permitted to wear those specific tops.

Otherwise, there is little else needed except a good packed lunch and a warm flask for those cold days and a little sun cream for the warmer days.

Archers of Raunds aims to help new archers to keep their costs manageable and new archers are encouraged to make use of the club equipment for as long as it is available to them or until their ability exceeds that of the bow.