The club was created by a group of friends in 1959 and quickly grew. One of the first members was John Roach who became Club President. In the 1960s the club was asked by the City of Swansea to organise an annual archery tournament and this event lasted until the council removed its financial support for the competition.
Members have taken part in national and international competitions including Ernie Arnold in the 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992 Paralympics. More recently Alice Reynolds picked up two bronze medals in the Commonwealth Junior Archery Championships at Llanharen in 2014.
The club badge
The club badge is similar to the emblem of the City of Swansea but it represents the burning of Calais (or maybe Harfleur) by Henry V’s army which included Welsh Longbowmen from Llangefelach. The Gonfalon of the club was blessed in the church there by the vicar and placed there for safe keeping.
In 2009, Ihe Bowmen of Gower celebrated 50 years as a club. The Swansea Archery Club was formed by John Roach, Ken Gower and Garrit Watson on May 14th 1955 after a demonstration at the University playing fields. Its life was short due to the three founders being students and also due to the lack of an indoor venue. All three continued in an informal way until an article in the South Wales Evening Post asked for interested parties to contact Mr Brian Maquire. One June evening in 1959 Brian was surprised when two new members turned up with equipment. Garrit and Ken informed them that John Roach would also be joining them. The Gower Bowmen’s inaugural meeting had been held in Brian Maquire’s caravan home at Blackpill in March 1959 when the club was officially formed. It was at the 1960 AGM that the club name was changed to the Bowmen of Gower to avoid confusion with Gwent Bowmen.
The indoor venue for 1962 was the skittle alley at the Smelters Arms in Morriston and was the location for one of Ken’s favourite stories. Ken Gower recalled one evening when in the long room John Roach shooting and Ken was consuming a pint of the best mild. The arrow John shot at the target to their surprise rebounded from the target coming directly towards them and stuck in the wood work alongside Kens right ear. How this seemingly impossible event occurred will forever remain a mystery as subsequent inquests failed to find an answer.
The first City of Swansea Tournament was held in 1964 and with attendances reaching 120 archers in the early 90’s it was a highlight of each May. The shoot was last held in 1995 at a change of venue due to the high rental charge by the council after 30 years of running the shoot on behalf of the Council. Many well known archers competed at the shoot over the years including Lynne Evans.
Over the coming years strong links were formed with Neath Archers with Marley and Vicky John shooting with the club on a regular basis. Field Archery internationals Joy and Colin Hobbs joined the club despite it being a target club.
Joy and Colin were not the only Internationals in the club. Ernie Arnold competed at the Paralympic games in 1984, 1988 and 1992. Ernie also had many other international appearances competing in both Archery and Bowls. Viv Rees who joined the club in 1970 rejoined in October 2008 after a short break due to family commitments and has been a real help in running the well attended beginners courses over the winter. Other “old faces” include Secretary Gareth Seymour clocking up 31 years with the club in May. Spencer Thomas was a club member in 1961 becoming junior champion and stopped shooting in his late teens only to rejoin the club in 2005. Adrian Jones also shot for a while whilst in school, stopping around 1981 to rejoin in 2002.
The club still shoots at the outdoor venue it was given over 40 years ago and in 2007 set up their first field course which was also used by the Australian squad for practice in 2008.
So how’s the club looking for 2009? With 12 new members last autumn, another batch just finishing their beginner’s course and a long waiting list the future looks healthy for the club. The club should have its best membership figures this year despite loosing a couple of members we should reach 50 paid up members on the books in our 50th year. With Andrew Tizard-Varcoe keeping his eye on club life as chairman, The Bowmen of Gower should live on for many years yet.
Indoor shooting
Indoor shooting has been a feature of the club right from the start. In 1962 the club shot at the Smelter’s Arms in Morriston. The club had a long-standing relationship with the Swansea Met. at its campus on Townhill until the site was closed in 2018.
In 2008 a new sports hall was built at Pentrehafod School with the idea that it was a community resource in the evenings. The Bowmen of Gower was among the first local sports to take up the offer and in 2009 the club was successful in obtaining a grant to equip the hall with backstop netting hanging from a ceiling rail. This halved the time for setting up the hall for shooting each evening.
When the club lost the use of the Townhill campus sports hall we moved Saturday sessions to New Lodge, Alexandra Road, Gorseinon with the help of a Sport Wales grant. Backstop netting was hung from the stage curtain rail and the targets were hung from the front of the stage. The move did not resolve the issue of lack of space behind the shooting line which we had got used to at Townhill but the range has been well used for club practice shoots and Introduction to Archery courses.