To think archery has no place on a public playing field?

[IroningThrone]

I live in a village with a large public sports/playing field - it has grass tennis courts, football pitches and such marked out. Dogs are allowed and I've always used it to give my dog a good run around (he's on a 50ft bright pink lead, not running loose. I tend to stick to the edges near the hedges so I'm not disturbing anyone!)

Walking today and just been shouted at by man setting up archery targets. They're set out so 1/3 of the field is now unusable. I'd planned to loop round the full field (as shown by the blue line- red dot is where he was setting up. Blue blob is where I entered the field!) He also wasn't shooting at the time so I'm not sure why he felt the need to shout at me that I couldn't go that way!

It's a public field with multiple access points - aibu to think that archery belongs somewhere where the access can be more controlled? A kid could quite easily run in from the side access and right across where he'd plonked himself!

It’s unfortunate as when we moved to the field we notified the parish as well as advertised in the village shop to make people aware we were there and if anyone would like to join. We had a few respond. But in the last few months new builds have popped up so those obviously haven’t seen anything,

Shouting warnings and signs seem inadequate - what about hearing impaired, visually impaired and people unable to read or understand english

For those who don’t read signs or actually look do you think we should have a full time guard at the gate?. With the main gate closed there is still a small cut through to the children’s play area. We have people who shout loud, also a megaphone and whistles,

@GregJP
Your organisation is to be commended for trying to be community spirited and allowing public access to this privately owned field.
Sadly, with the attitudes shown by some on this thread, I think you probably need to protect your own interests and close the field to the public.

Man uses archery field for archery, hold the front page!

So what’s the alternative?

I've seen it physically fenced off before with ropes. (Different location!)

So you are aware Archery exists and on a big open spaced field?.

Also just out of curiosity did you think the archer lugged an approximate target 3ft X 5ft and 2-3 stone on his back?. To an open space?. If not you may have observed he retrieved a target out of a ginormous shipping container which sadly isn’t even movable by the worlds strongest man. at just over 30 TON we had to use a Hiab.

Why the sarcasm? I simply said what I've seen in the past. Of course I'm aware that it exists. I don't think that was ever in doubt. That particular field was part of a private estate down south though. I don't think I've every seen it done on a space where people can just walk in (which is why I started this thread - it's outside my sphere of experience!)

I don’t know why everyone is having such a go at the OP

Because she went to the effort of looking the field up on Google Maps, saw it said "Archery Club", deliberately blocked it out, and then came online to complain about a man using an Archery Club field to...do archery

Surely most people would look the field up, go "Oh! I didn't realise there was an Archery Club there" and either leave it, or look up the club on Facebook/Google?

Yes my bad on the sarcasm. But just the whole thing that developed came around from you after you screenshot the field on google maps and then blocking our Club out and then creating a debate when really you googling it answered your debate. So can you see how this has all exploded?.

Exactly my point.

I wouldn’t even be aware of this if a member of my club didn’t make me aware of it.

I felt I had to come on to discuss this and like everything often has two sides. I’m not saying we are perfect and of course we have all learnt lessons but getting the correct information out there is very important.

When I clicked on the link it loaded a blank page. I explained that!

So you assumed the man doing archery was behaving dangerously rather than that the link just didn't work and try to google the club instead. Makes sense.

The person walking into the shooting line doesn't have to hear or understand the command.

When people are shooting, there should be a marshal present who is watching the area. This may be two people, swapping between ends, so each shoots while the other watches. When the marshal sees a potential risk, their job is to shout - "hold" or "fast", usually - and then try to clear the area. The archers do not shoot because the "hold" command applies to them - they will remove arrows from their string and wait until the range is safe.

You'd have to be bloody fast to run across the range and get into the way of an arrow between the point of no return, and the arrow hitting the target. This is particularly true in the UK as bow hunting is illegal - an archer would be culpable if a pigeon flew across in front of the targets and was hit by an arrow. Thus, we all take adequate precautions to make sure there's no risk of anyone or anything getting in the way.

@IroningThrone

You started this thread with "I live in a village with a large public sports/playing field" , Yet you blanked out Archery Club from the image you provided.

So you knew all along it was used for archery, you actively blanked the fact out. why did you omit that from your initial post to complain. Also you claim you only blanked it out so you could not be identified, what a load of baloney.

Quite possibly - but imagine the risk assessment if they wanted to actually do it 😀

That's great - I'm glad you and your daughter have had positive experiences of the sport!

I'm getting semi abusive messages over this thread. Not thrilled about that, honestly. I get enough abuse in my job!

This poster clearly believes that my thread on here is more important than my job where I have no access to my phone.

Genuinely pissed off over it!

That is truly barking mad!

It's honestly so weird to me. No one has a right to demand answers. It's even more weird because the poster doesn't seem to grasp the concept that I was at work and not pouring over the thread reading every last syllable.

I'm guessing they're the person from the village who passed this on to the club.

That you, Trisha?*

(*not a real name of anyone I know in the village!)

That's a batshit message and I'm sorry you've received that. Please report them.

@IroningThrone Going for the sympathy vote now 🙄. Let's face it your started this thread knowing all the facts and you deliberately misled everyone blanking out the fact it was an archery club.

You have even had to drag the club into this online to defend their actions on their own grounds you had no right to be on in the first place, it's not a public right of way.

I am confused why people are being so aggressive to the OP. Not mentioning that the archery club was marked on Google maps was her only mistake.
It is evident that she has a point about lack of signage on all entrances and a valid concern for public safety. Archery Greg has confirmed this and as a PP mentioned I believe she has done him a favour.
I'm sure most of us would be concerned. I have done archery many years ago and the sessions were highly organized with signage, safety marshall's and roped off areas.

Gosh! I wish I lived there! When I get back from the 16th Century, there is nowhere locally for me to practice (Most local archery clubs being for modern bows, rather than my traditional long-bow)