“Toad” is a name worn proudly by every member of Toad Hollow Archers
There is no such thing as a standard or average “Toad” they are all awesome in their own way
Every “Toad” comes from a different background, being different people means that all of the “Toads” have different skills that they are always eager to put to good use for the benefit of their club
“Toad” membership spreads across a wide variety of ages, and being truly an inclusive sport for all our membership covers men, women, boys, and girls
Outside of Toad Hollow, our members work in all manner of fields, some are very highly qualified in the work that they do, some have high level careers with great resposibility, we have some that do skilled work with their hands & we do have some who have followed the artistic life, also we do have some “Toads” who are retired, and some are in education, but when they are in the woods all of them are a “Toad”
What binds them together is a real love of field archery and the strong bond they have with all the other “Toads” as they all strive not only to increase their skill at field archery but also they all work to improve the club, they work to set courses both for practice and also competitions, these “Toads” build whatever they can to increase the quality of our woodland home that being a Toad means you can enjoy, anytime, any day
Within “The Toads” we have a very wide spread of skill levels in field archery, some are novice archers who have recently found the enjoyment of field archery and Toad Hollow and are busy practicing to increase their bow skills,
Toad Hollow has many field archers that only shoot for the fun and thrill of seeing their arrow fly, but do not underestimate their skill level and their commitment to Toad Hollow and field archery many fun archers can often put their skill against the top competeive archer and show them how it should be done
Some of The “Toads” enjoy the competition elements of field archery and travel locally and travel all over the UK to enjoy shooting at a different course they have never been to before. Several “Toads” attend National Competitions and Toad Hollow has within its membership 4 past UK National Champion, 3 Scottish Champions and 2 Irish Champions
Our Coaching “Toads” are in charge of running our beginners courses that since Covid restrictions were lifted and Toad Hollow has been allowed to hold our Beginers Course in Field Archery each course has been over subscribed and some training days in 2022 are already fully booked
When any “Toad” has a problem with their equipment, or their shooting there is always a “Toad” willing to stop their own shooting and lend a hand or their knowledge to sort it out then not only does the problem have a solution but if that archer has the problem again or they come across another “Toad” with that problem then it is their turn to stop shooting and pass on their knowledge
When the founder members of the club got together to discuss starting up the club, we had long discussions on what we wanted to achieve with the club and how we wanted to achieve it
One of the first things discussed was that we didn’t want to be a club where high membership fees excluded people joining because of their financial situation
We also discussed ways of making everyone have an equal say in how the club would be run so that everyone felt they would be a respected and valued member of the club
We wanted to be all inclusive, many of the experienced archers who have joined Toad Hollow have said that the way we run Toad Hollow is a breath of fresh air and very relaxing but they also admitted that sometimes it is hard work, but very satisfying when they stand back and can say ” I helped do that ” it does give every member a sense of pride in the club
Another archer came from a rather large target archery club, he was amazed that after his first visit he had met every “Toad” that was there, some 25 “Toads”, they all welcomed him chatted and he knew all their names and they knew his. Hs comment was that in over 2 years at his last club he knew about 8 people out of over 120 archers, and, he wasn’t going back
At Toad Hollow our “Toads” follow a simple code, and every member when joining agrees that they will contribute their share of effort to make the club improve. It Works
