News

Dan and Ant after competing in the Indoor Championships Open Tournament

Berkshire Archery Indoor Championships & Open Tournament

Ant K and Dan S competed in the Berkshire Archery Indoor Championships & Open Tournament, a UK record status shoot in Sandhurst UK. They achieved excellent scores in the Recurve and Barebow categories.

Results tbc.

A judge with an arrow in her hair

Waterside Indoor Tournament

Club member Chris B travelled to Southampton to take part in Waterside Archer's triple Indoor Tournament. They were awarded bronze medals for both WA18 WRS and Worcester UKRS rounds in the barebow category.

Six arrows in the gold ring, a maximum combined score of sixty.

Frostbite Dozen

Congratulations Dan on scoring a perfect round in our Frostbite league match. An impressive feat!

The Frostbite league is part of a winter competition run by the British Archery Postal League, for over 40 years. Clubs across the country shoot outdoors at 30 metres. Sixty is the maximum score in a single end of six arrows.

Triple spot target faces.

Hillingdon WA18 Weekend

Four members took part in Hillingdon Archery Club's WRS shoot on 2nd and 3rd November, at Brunel in Uxbridge. Despite fierce tenacity we didn't take home any prizes this year, instead there were goodies for participating archers as Hillingdon celebrated their 15th year.

Lots of us in fancy dress, on the field of spookily decorated bosses. There are dangerous banners and spiders webs. In the crowd you will find the Grim Reaper, Freddie Kruger, the Mad Hatter and, Gengar the ghost pokemon.

Halloween Fun Shoot

Our annual monster hunt saw an excellent turn-out from fancily dressed monster members.

Costume prize winners were the Mad Hatter and, a Viking-age person suffering from an unfortunate werewolf attack!

Five Darenteford members stand with their game face on, at the sports hall at Clacton Archers

Clacton Archers WA18

Five Darenteford archers competed in WA18 in Clacton, Essex.

We took bronze medals in both the Gents and Ladies recurve, with team results yet to be announced.

Update: Darenteford recurve team won second place.

Arrows in straw bosses in the sports hall, from the first indoor sighters of the year.

Starting the Indoor Season

With the shortening of the days, the indoor season is here. Outdoor archery is on Saturdays. Indoor archery is on Thursday evenings.

See info for archers for updates to the calendar, plus times and indoor fees.

Phylis the Fox, the trophy for the Fox versus Darenteford annual challenge.

Fox Challenge and KAL

Darenteford competed with Fox Archers in our annual challenge match, and won the trophy for another year.

This was the final Kent Archery League match of 2024, won by Darenteford who won every league match this year. League results will be announced in course.

Following a break-in at Otford where this match was scheduled, we extend our special thanks to the archers from Fox who attended this match at our field.

A blue 'Aim for Paris' balloon pinned to a target face

Aug/Sep Beginners Course

Congratulations to everyone who took part on our beginner's course on 31st August and 7th September. Many thanks to our volunteers, and a very warm welcome to our newest members!

Participants in this course received an Aim For Paris certificate for taking part in an archery event during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Sunset from the archery field at Bluebell Barn Farm

Week Night Outdoor Shooting Ends

Summer is drawing to a close, and the last mid-week evening shooting at Bluebell Barn Farm, is done for the year. The final Summer season weekend shoots will be on 28th and 29th September.

Indoor shooting on Thursday evenings will resume soon, and our Winter Frostbite rounds will start from Saturday 5th October.

Colourful handmade poster reads 'preloved, you may need archery equipment. PRELOVED SALE, Unofficial. Bank holiday Monday'

Bank Holiday Equipment Sale

Our members are having an bring-and-buy archery sale, including some club equipment. If you have something to sell, bring it to the field with you on bank holiday Monday.

The sale will take place first thing, before setting up the field.

Archers on the shooting line from Darenteford in black or white, and Crown in purple.

KAL Match at Home

Darenteford competed with Crown Archers in the August Kent Archery League match. We've managed to hold onto the winning streak once more!

Darenteford archers ready to take part in the Ind Coope competition

2024 Ind Coope

Leaves Green Bowmen hosted the 42nd Ind Coope shoot, on a beautiful afternoon.

Our members took home several gold medals and team awards from the outdoor event.

Six archers look happy having their photo taken. They're wearing deep-red Kent county uniform.

SCAS Inter Counties 2024

Members Jason and Antony shot for Kent in the SCAS inter counties shoot at Andover Rugby Club, coming away with silver in the compound and bronze in the recurve. Kent also won gold in the juniors compound.

Archers Chris and Ruth sit in the stands of Les Invalides at the Paris 2024 Olympics

Lucky Spectators at Olympic Archery

Congratulations to Darenteford members Ruth and Chris, winners of a pair of tickets to the mens and womens individual eliminations in Paris, with Archery UK magazine.

Participants show their certificates on completion of their two-day course.

July Beginner's Course

Congratulations to everyone who took part on our beginner's course on 11th and 27th July. A warm welcome to our newest club members, and big thanks to our volunteers.

Participants in this course received an Aim For Paris certificate for taking part in an archery event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games!

An archer in Medway uniform stands on the shooting line, and an archer in Darenteford uniform waits behin the shooting line, on a sunny weekend at the field.

KAL Match at Home

Darenteford competed with Medway Archers in the latest Kent Archery League match, continuing a winning streak in league matches this season.

Archers pull arrows in the rain, the judge holds an umbrella which as a target face design.

2024 Club Metric Shoot

This year's Metric event was rained off despite starting in the sunshine.

Since not all rounds could be scored due to the weather, no prizes have been awarded for the club Metric shoot this year.

competing archers of Bowmen of Darenteford pose for their photo before the match.

Fox American Shoot

Ahead of American Independence day, Fox Archers hosted their annual American competition. Five of our archers attended, and took three prizes; Gold and bronze in the ladies recurve category, and bronze in the gents barebow category.

Smiling photo of Brian Kember, taken in 2017.

Evening Taster Session

Thanks to the members and participants involved in our taster session on 6th June. We're looking forward to welcoming many of you back for our next beginner course in July.

Smiling photo of Brian Kember, taken in 2017.

Memorial Shoot for Brian Kember

Many of our members are familiar with Brian Kember, President and a founding member of our club. We are sad to share that Brian died earlier this year.

This summer, we remembered Brian and celebrated his life and contribution to the club with a Memorial shoot. Please remember Brian, and keep his friends and family in your thoughts.

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May Beginner's Course

Congratulations to everyone who took part on our beginner's course on 11th and 18th May - all participants passed.

A warm welcome to our newest club members, and big thanks to our volunteers.

Laptop on a desk displaying a webpage from the new website design.

Website re-design: live

We're proud to have been one of the first archery clubs with a website, since 1999! Initially set up by club member Gordon Childs, we've now launched a big makeover.

We'll continue to make improvements to the site over time, and hope you'll find it easier to use and navigate on your device.

The wooden horse head trophy stands on a neat lawn. The horses left ear is chipped. It stands on a black plinth with a silver engraving which reads, Swan V Darenteford Challenge.

Swan v Darenteford Challenge Match

This is an average handicap match where all archer scores are used for the team total.

We won, bringing the score to 13:7 for this long-running challenge shoot.

Two young visitors and an adult are coached by archers in Bowmen of Darenteford uniform at the farm open day.

"Have a Go" Farm Open Days

On Saturdays 23rd and 30th March, our hosts at Bluebell Barn Farm held open days where the public could visit the farm and join in with our club's "Have a Go" archery sessions.

Despite challenging weather on the first week, it was a huge success. Thanks to our members for volunteering their time, we're look forward to many more to come.

Team photo at home in Northfleet

Indoor Club Championships

The Indoor Club Championships had 19 archers taking part, shooting a Portsmouth round. At the event we handed out Indoor Classification badges, Portsmouth badges and, Frostbite badges.

Three archers with their awards at Fox

Fox Archers Portsmouth

Our members did well at this Portsmouth round event, coming away with two wins.

Team photo at the event in Kent county uniform

Four way Indoor County Match

Six Darenteford members where selected to represent Kent at the county match - a great achievement making up over a third of the archers representing Kent (there were sixteen Kent archers in total). Club members did well, with two personal bests, one club record and, a win for Kent in the Compound division.

Team photo at Allington

Allington Castle Spring Tournament

This event is a WA18 in the morning and a Portsmouth in the afternoon, with results for both rounds and, overall. Our members came away with four wins, five 2nd places and one 3rd place, plus, a potential county record for U12 Barebow Women.

Team photo at Shrimp shoot

Gravesend Archers Shrimp Shoot

We had eleven Darenteford archers attending the Shrimp Shoot - Portsmouth round with team elements - taking three individual wins, three team wins and two team second places and, the Lord Paramount prize for the afternoon session!

Our two archers competing in Vegas

The Vegas Shoot

Over the weekend of 1st to 3rd February, this year's Vegas Shoot took place in Las Vegas, Nevada USA, with two of our archers competing in three Vegas 300 rounds shot across three days. Although neither of our members came away with prizes, both won medals for scores and, a potential county record for men's Recurve.

Peacock Archers

Peacock Archers WRS WA18

This event is a World record status WA18 run by a club in Bottisham, Cambridge. Members did well coming away with a win and a score that broke the club record.

Rayleigh Town Archery Club UKRS Portsmouth

Rayleigh Town Archery Club UKRS Portsmouth

This event is a UK record status Portsmouth with team element run by a club in Rayleigh Town, Essex. Our members did well taking third in the team recurve event.

Clophill Archery Club Triple

Clophill Archery Club Triple

This event is a UK records status triple round shoot run by a club in Ampthill, Bedford. The event consists of a Portsmouth followed by a double Vegas 300, finished off with a Worcester - over 200 arrows shot throughout the day! Our members came away with two wins, three second places and one third place.