CMO Bowmen has been around since 1961 shooting target archery in Croydon, South London with recurve, barebow, compound and other traditional archery equipment. Our archers are of mixed ability, from beginner to County standard.
Through the ArcheryGB ontarget programme we are working hard to grow the sport of Archery at grass roots level. We take pride in the fact that we are an open and friendly club who gives a warm welcome to members and new archers from all areas of the community.
We make it as easy as we can for people to enquire and to quickly attend archery training courses and taster sessions for beginners, run by fully qualified and DBS/CRB checked coaches.
By Steve HarrisIt wasn’t looking to good for the first round of Game of Arrows on January 7th 2023, but a late start
was in order though, which helped as the assembled archers missed the worst of the weather.
The games were keenly contested by 3 teams, around 20 archers in all, and they were neck and neck
to start with, however, after a few rounds Draccar and Wolfgar pulled away from struggling Leander.
After we fired up the BBQ and had personal service handing out the burgers, hot dogs and mulled wine while trying to keep those waiting in the dry. Hopefully everyone went away fully fed and watered and didn’t slip in the mud on the way home, which left the club house floor fit for wrestlers (mud that is). Thanks to Nigel for mopping that up.
It was a great turn out and good to see everyone enjoying themselves on a very overcast and
drizzled day. Thanks to all that helped set up, take down and aided with BBQ. At the end of the day
we gave Martin a deserve bottle of wine as he rarely gets to shoot.
Congratulations to Draccar house who won this one-off Game of Arrows shoot with 2860 points.
We look forward to more Games this year starting in April.
By Steve HarrisIt was a crisp morning at the field but quite a lovely sight for the xmas archers setting up the field.
Christmas themed posters replaced our usual targets with Robbie the robot snowman and Rudolf making up 11 in all. It was great fun for the twelve but a few unfortunately couldn’t make it so missed out.
The runners and riders in their Christmas attire
Luckily, we had our own Robin hood on hand (named Kieron).
We had some lovely warming soup after made by Phil and Julia, (my wife), along with mince pies, other nibbles, and mulled wine, made by Sainsburys.
The fun shoot as ever was very competitive, with Chris winning the recurve from Neil, Steve against the rest of the field winning the barebow, Dexter winning the compound as he was the only one, and young William turning in a great score. It was good fun and thanks to all those that came along, help set up and take down and found the lost arrows in the snow, well done Tony. Don’t forget the New Year game of dragon’s arrows is up next, so book in.
And, Merry Christmas to all.
By Steve HarrisThe weather hasn’t been great but it didn’t stop members turning up to help re-fletch the beginners arrows in early November.
Violins at the ready in this pic!
26th November was Warwick day.
This is a very short round only 48 arrows with a good attendance but over quite quickly, so we held an impromptu game of Rainbow Warrior. Eight stayed on to show their skills at who knows what short distance? but it was fun and enjoyed by everyone. I had archers pick a number from one to eight as I know the rules (make them up as we go) and what happens to your score, so it’s fair. However, I sure there’s a little gamesmanship and good spirit involved too. It was a closely contested game with Chris running out the winner with a score of 222 followed up by myself 211, Sam 3rd on 175. Tesfa came in for some unfair heckling as he was last on the line a few times.
Photos taken by Ice
By Steve HarrisSunday 15 th October was the first reconvention of the Atkins shoot since the dark days of covid lockdowns. A small and friendly club in Epsom and not too far away to get to. A group of 6 CMO archers including Jarrod, Ice, Chris, Gordon, Grant, and myself went, although a couple couldn’t make it unfortunately. It was an enjoyable day with Atkins providing some very good hospitality and food in their marquee.
Gordon was entered into the Barebow group along with Jarrod and myself as they had never seen the likes of his stick and string (American
flat bow) ha ha. I managed to secure second spot by the end of the two distances, but trailed to Jarrod in the early stages when he was second.
Ice also came second in her round so we all came away with a box of Liquorice All Sorts or treats.
The raffle was very enjoyable at the end with some good prizes and I think we all came away with something. The red, white, and blue theme wasn’t adopted by everyone there but CMO put up a good show, and it was good to meet and talk to archers from about 6 different clubs.
Hopefully we can develop this going forward and arrange a friendly with some of them.
On the whole a very enjoyable day and one to watch out for next year, and it helps support a club to keep going, something we all need as we recover from the last couple of years.
So don’t forget our own Halloween shoot on 29th where soup is going to be supplied and there could be a prize for the best costume!
Well done to all of you who came to our Halloween Fun Shoot this year.
Huge thanks to Tony for doing the BBQ, Gaynor and Veronique for the sweets and cakes and to Neil for the pumpkin carving.
Some more pics in the Members Gallery
After a very difficult six months for us all and our beloved sport, we were delighted to welcome The Worshipful The Mayor of Croydon, Councillor Maddie Henson along with Mike Seaton, Executive Headmaster of Cumnor House Schools to come and shoot with us ahead of our socially-distanced outdoor AGM.
They were joined by Steve Tully of Archery GB and Guildford Archery Club, and Dave Morris from Surrey Archery and Nonsuch Bowmen who offered their support as we encourage archers to come back to the sport and practice using the guidelines for safe shooting laid out by our national governing body.
We gave the Madam Mayor, her Macebearer, Nick Evans, and the Headmaster of Cumnor House, Mike, a quick archery lesson and then watched as 'gold fever' took over! After a couple of ends they were all hitting the middle in a quest for the ideal selfie to remember the day.
On Monday 5th August, a bunch of willing and able volunteers led by Mike orchestrated the swap of our 20ft main container for the Cumnor House 40ft container at the field.
The plan is to use this new space to house all of our existing field kit plus the beginners kit, freeing up the 10ft container to be used as a workshop for us all.
On May 25th we held the first House Games event, Game of Arrows. A brand new format for members designed to introduce a competitive element in a fun way.
The Games have a medieval/fantasy theme, with the three houses being Draccar - the dragons, Leander - the lions and Wulfgar - the wolves.
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