Welcome to Overton Black Arrows Archery Club

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As the end of 2025 starts to come into sight, members of Overton Black Arrows will be reflective and be in remembrance of the founder of Overton Archers and Black Arrows, two clubs which merged to become Overton Black Arrows in 1975, all three share the same founder member, Peter Turner, whom in 2010 was made Lifelong President.

 

Sadly, Peter passed away peacefully in hospital in early November 2025 and as this years Winter Field League begins, OvBA members, as well as Archers, Coaches and Judges across the archery community, will be remembering a man who began his archery journey when he was 15 years old, setting up his first archery club at 17 years old and continuing to take part in, be involved with, support and give back to the sport he loved, beyond his 80th Birthday. There's a longer article, click here, dedicated to the memory of Peter Turner​, please do have a read and remember Peter as you do. Thank you.

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Rest In Peace Peter Turner, you will be missed, but never forgotten.

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We had a great turnout for the 2025 English Field Championships in September, over 100 archers entered the event, with 95 taking part and to shoot the challenging course, befitting of an event of this status. The Warren lends itself well to uphill and downhill shots, with and without the added complication of cross slopes. The guest course designers did themselves proud with some challenging and different shots around The Warren.

The results of the event are available here. 

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We had an amazing turnout for the 2025 UK 3D Championships in July this year.

Making it one of, if not the, largest AGB recognised 3D Event in the UK to date, something we're very proud of. Hopefully, if we get to hold the event again, we can have more than 100 competitors complete the event, having had a 106 strong entry list, exactly 100 archers completed the event.

The results of the event are available here.

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​​Beginners Courses

We try to hold a couple of courses each year, our events page will have the details of courses as and when we are able to confirm dates and the number of spaces. All courses are taught to AGB standards, run by an AGB recognised coach, assisted by AGB recognised coaches and experienced archers from OvBA. Providing you pass the course, you'll be awarded an AGB recognised certificate allowing you to join OvBA, or another AGB recognised archery club. The following gives an example of when we try to run courses, although depending on the availability of coaches and experienced archers, all of whom give up their own time to run and instruct on the courses, dates aren't known until a month or two before each course.

Recent and Upcoming Beginners Courses

Our Spring 2025 Beginners Course took place during April & May with all those completing the course gaining a pass and a certificate to enable them to join an AGB club of their choice. Many, we're pleased to say, have chosen to join Overton Black Arrows as they will get free membership for the rest of the year to continue their archery journey.
Our Autumn 2025 Beginners Course took place during October & November with all those completing the course gaining a pass and a certificate to enable them to join an AGB club of their choice. Many, we're pleased to say, have chosen to join Overton Black Arrows as they will get free membership until June 2026 to continue their archery journey.

We have a Winter 2026 course, starting in January and finishing in February, but this is filling up fast, so you'll need to book as soon as possible to avoid missing out on the last ticket available.

If you're interested in trying archery, please see the BEGINNERS page for more information.​

If you'd like to put your name down for a Beginners Course, please use the CONTACT page and use 'Beginners' or 'Coaching' from the drop down list and we'll get in touch.

We typically have up to 30 people on the waiting list at any one time, sometimes more, so whenever dates for the next course are announced, places tend to fill up fast as courses are typically for around 15-18 participants, very occasionally up to 24. So, if you get an email informing you a course is available to book on to, please make sure your you book your place as soon as you can to avoid disappointment.

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I've brought a bow and want to practice with it ...

Whilst it is possible to teach yourself to shoot, there are all sorts of things that can go wrong with this!  Where will you shoot this lethal weapon?

An official range has a minimum length of 100m and a width that includes a sizeable safety area either side of the targets.

Are you insured? ... Are your neighbours happy? ... Is your equipment even fit for purpose?

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A potted history of Overton Black Arrows [OvBA]​

"Overton Archers" were originally established in 1962. Another archery club was established in the local area, the "Black Arrows". Then, by 1975 it was realised the members of both clubs was almost identical and so they merged and became "Overton Black Arrows".

Overton Black Arrows want to allow members to enjoy all aspects of the sport of archery from beginner tuition, recreational archery through to competing and coaching. The club is affiliated with Archery GB [AGB], Southern Counties Archery Society [SCAS] and the Hampshire Archery Association [HAA].

OvBA have a target archery range, a field archery range and over the winter months have access to an indoor facility too.

Members currently shoot a variety of disciplines including; Target, Field, 3D and occasionally Clout using; American Flatbow, Barebow, Compound, Horsebow (Asiatic), Longbow, Recurve and Traditional bows. Some equipment is available for novices to use until they develop sufficient technique, before continuing their journey with a hire bow, if they wish, before going on to purchase their own equipment. Coaches and members at the club are a great source of knowledge of what equipment to consider buying and where to buy it.

Members shoot regularly all year round at our outdoor range in Laverstoke (between Overton and Whitchurch) with targets up to 100yards distant and during the indoor season the club shoots one evening a week at an indoor range in Whitchurch, usually shooting at 20yards, typically from early September to the end of March. We also meet on a regular basis at our Field Archery course, The Warren, in Kingsclere throughout the year to shoot Field and or 3D archery, although you will need to book a ticket to the relevant 'events' to shoot at our Field and Indoor venues.

Details of when we can use The Warren and our Indoor venue appear on our Events page and anyone wanting to shoot at either must book on to the event for insurance purposes.

Unfortunately, we cannot simply turn up at The Warren and practice our Field, or 3D, archery whenever we want, but we do get to shoot there plenty of times throughout the year.

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Shooting Times

'Club Night':

• Wednesday from around 6:00pm to dusk (Laverstoke Range) in spring & summer (outdoors) and if light allows even if we're shooting 'Indoors' at Testbourne.

• Wednesday normally 7:00pm to 9:30pm (Testbourne School Sports Hall) in the autumn & winter (indoor season only - typically early September through to the end of March).

What 'other' days/times and places can I shoot as an OvBA member:

• At The Warren field archery course (near Kingsclere) when available and providing you've booked a ticket to shoot, this includes 'Warren Only' members.

• Members can shoot 365days a year at our Laverstoke range, as long as the range rules are complied with and you can see all of the overshoot when you're on the shooting line.

Please see our Contact page for location details and maps.

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​Want to do more Field & 3D shooting/competitive practice?

Towards the end of the year we typically start a Winter Field League, which has been growing in popularity in recent years. This is intended to give archers an opportunity to take part in and try out Field and or 3D archery in a fun league. Sure, most archers keep score, but it's not mandatory. The WFL typically runs over five shoots and is an ideal introduction to shooting Field and 3D competitively, as well as to keep fine tuning your Field and 3D shooting skills. Plus you can always pick up tips and tricks from other archers while you're there.

The 1st and 3rd shoots (typically November and January) are normally WA12 Field courses half marked distances, half unmarked distances.

The 2nd and 4th shoots (typically December and February) being WA12 3D courses, all unmarked distances.

Then a 5th shoot (typically March) is normally a combined WA12 Field course with half marked and half unmarked distances, plus a WA12 3D course, all unmarked distances. Both courses being shot in the same session.

More details will appear on our events page later in the year.

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​The Warren​, Peter Hastings Woods, & The Combe - occasionally

The full OvBA Field Course has three distinct areas, albeit it's normally referred to as The Warren, regardless of what area(s) are in use:

The Warren, 12acres or more, which can be described as a curved dead end valley with many steep slopes.

The Woods, 7acres or more, of sloped woodland, some level ish areas, lots of shade but and some steeper slopes too.

The Combe, another 12acres or more, plenty of slopes (again) with part of it resembling a steeply sloped natural amphitheatre.

The venue, as a whole, represents a challenging environment for even the most seasoned field archer, and is both loved and likely feared in equal measure by many field and 3D archers alike. Slopes are a given whenever you shoot at The Warren, so uphill and cross slope shots will always be abundant, plus some lovely steep downhill shots where we can do so safely. All we're really missing is a pond/lake to shoot over/towards, and a cliff/sheer drop to shoot near vertical downward shots off of.

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As a club, Overton Black Arrows are delighted to have archers shooting the whole venue, which only tends to happen when we host the All British & Open Field Championships.

We hope whenever you shoot any area of our field course venue you won't be disappointed with it and hope you felt challenged shooting it!

Hopefully, everyone leaves with a smile on their face, even if one or two competitors may leave an arrow, or two, in storage somewhere within the venue!  But, don't worry, someone will likely find it, although we can't say when, but most arrows stored there do get found ... eventually.

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Beginners Course

  Our Beginners Courses typically take place in Spring and Autumn and they tend to fill up quickly due to a long waiting list.

An 'Ad-Hoc' Beginners Course for an individual, or couple, may be possible please use the Contact page and select 'Beginners'.

Please see the EVENTS and/or the BEGINNERS page for more details.​

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I've brought a bow and want to practice with it ...

Whilst it is possible to teach yourself to shoot, there are all sorts of things that can go wrong with this!  Where will you shoot this lethal weapon?

An official range will include a sizeable safety area beyond it's furthest marked/allowed as well as safety areas either side of the range where targets are located.

Are you insured? ... Are your neighbours happy? ... Is your equipment even fit for purpose? ... Always ask the question "Where can the arrow go if I miss, or my equipment fails?" and if the answer is into someone else's property, then you need to find somewhere else to practice, or better still, join Overton Black Arrows and use our facilities.