Lochside Bowmen came into being in 1975, when the Council opened Lochside Leisure Centre and was asking for clubs to be based there. The founding members were Ron Male and his then wife, who moved to Forfar from Perth and were both members of the now defunct Perth & District Archery Club (how many of you remember P&DAC and Gordon & George McEwan & Jock MacAulay?)Originally, there were 10 members and the yearly subscription was £3. As a matter of interest, Ron is still a member and is now married to another of the original members, Kathleen Male, who is the present Treasurer.
Soon after the club was constituted, it was decided that a badge was required and a "competition", without a prize, was held. The winning (only) design was submitted by Ron and is the present club badge (shown on Homepage).
Within 3 years of the Club’s inception, one of the members, the late Mrs Jean Duncan, was shooting for Scotland. In 1984, Kathleen was selected to shoot for Scotland and continued in the team until 1994. By that time, Kathleen’s daughter, Louise, was shooting for the Senior Team, having successfully shot with the Junior Team for several years. Louise was Scottish Ladies Outdoor Champion for 7 consecutive years, a feat which has not been equalled or surpassed. She also travelled the length and breadth of England to tournaments and in one year was ranked 5th in Britain, but unfortunately was not selected for the British Archery team. Several other members made it to Scottish Squad over the years, both at senior and junior level.
The club currently still shoots at the Leisure Centre during the indoor season, but has in the past shot in the Reid Hall. Outdoors, the club has shot at the Leisure Centre, West End Park and Guthrie Park before moving to Lochlands Caravan Site in 1982 at the invitation of the then owner, the late Mr Bill Duff. We then moved to The Angus Gliding Club, near Kirriemuir, after current and planned expansion of the caravan site by the current owners restricted the space available to us. As of 24/4/098, we are now located at South Leckaway Farm, Forfar DD8 1XF, which co-incidentally, is just over the A90 from our old location At Lochlands.
Originally, our "clubroom" was a fibreglass workmans shelter. Over the years this has been upgraded, first to a small wooden garden shed, then to our present luxurious and spacious accommodation of a portakabin, provided by Bett Bros., Dundee. This we have slowly been refurbishing to its present condition.
That then, is a potted history of Lochside Bowmen. With the level of competitive spirit in the club, there is no doubt we will continue to go from strength to strength.
