Our course has been running now for a very very long time and has always been extremely popular. Due to normal sports club limitations such as equipment, volunteers and the size of the hall, we have always had to limit the number of people who could attend our course. The course has always ran once a year as a great way of bringing fresh faces into the club.
However over the years, archery has became very popular; the Olympics and many blockbuster films have caused a boom. It’s great to see the sport get so much recognition and interest. However, despite being classed as a ‘big’ archery club we are still only able to hold so many people in the hall and only have so much equipment to hand. We keep the maximum club size to around around 60 members to allow everyone a fair time to shoot without causing chaos or generating excess risk.
“Why don’t you run on two nights?”
“Why don’t you find a bigger premise?”
These questions are asked all the time. We require a “5 badminton court hall” to shoot – there are only two in Dumfries and we have the best one by far. We have tested running on multiple nights but its just not cost-efficient nor fair on the regular members who get left with the set-up and clear-down.
Up until Covid struck we were very fortunate that the numbers for the course always balanced. A bunch would sign up, a few would drop out when arrangements were made, and once the course was over, those who wanted to commit to an ongoing membership would typically balance against the number in the club who reluctantly left for university or change in personal circumstances.
We last ran our course in September 2019 but were forced to close in March 2020 due to the global pandemic. Like so many others, we weren’t operational for much longer than expected, yet our waiting list continued to grow.
In September 2021 we finally reopened for our indoor season but with strict guidelines in place, which prevented us from running our Beginners Course in 2021.
Here we are in November 2021, with over 120 people on the waiting list. We are delighted so many are looking to get involved in the sport and we would love for everyone to be able to come along and take part. More importantly, we want to be able to offer everyone who does the course the opportunity to join the club at the end.
Our intention is to run our next course in January 2022. Normal limitations above will require we keep this at 30 people maximum. We’ll be starting at the top of our waiting list and working down to contact everyone until spaces are taken. If the membership numbers allow, we will consider running a second course in September 2022 using the same method.
We have brainstormed many ideas and the committee have determined that this is the fairest and most logical way. Some people have been on the waiting list for over 2.5 years and we want to give them first chance at attending.
It’s a bitter sweet situation for us to be in, and rest assured, we’re doing what we can and excited to welcome new members. Thanks again to everyone that has signed up; your name is on our list and we will be making contact as soon as a space becomes available. If you are looking to sign up, you’ll appreciate it may be over a year before we can get back in touch with an opportunity to come along.
Keep an eye out on our website and facebook page for updates as we progress.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, Team LA x.