Archery: Legacy fund helps Ettrick Forest club take cover

Ian Henderson hard at work preparing the ground for Ettrick Forest Archers' new clubhouse

Ground works started last week at Thirladean on the Philiphaugh Estate where the Selkirk based longbow club shoot by kind permission of Sir Michael Strang Steel.

With over 50 members the club, which started about ten years ago with half a dozen or so enthusiasts intent on reviving the traditions of the archers of Ettrick Forest, has now grown to one of the largest Longbow Clubs affiliated to the British Longbow Society.

When their current storage facilities of three dilapidated horse box trailers were deemed no longer fit for purpose Sir Michael kindly offered to lease the club a piece of land on which they could erect a Log Cabin storage and shelter. The Cabin supplied and erected by Alba Cabins is some 14m X 5m and will house the club’s archery, ground maintenance and safety equipment, as well as providing a shelter for members to store their gear while out on the field shooting.

The facility is funded by investment of £12,044 from sportscotland’s Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund which aims to provide a lasting legacy for grass roots sport from the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Other major funding groups are SBC’s Communities Grants Scheme, The Selkirk Common Good Fund, Club Sports Ettrick and Lauderdale, as well as the Club’s own members and a donation from the flood prevention contractors R J McLeod.

Club Chair Dougie Anderson said: “The start of this work is the culmination of a great deal of work and effort by previous administrations of the club as well as the current one.

“It has taken us a long time to reach this point and I am thrilled we have finally got here.

“Our equipment was beginning to be damaged by weather and vermin and when the unit is completed we will have a great facility to enable us to continue to bring traditional archery to the community.”

Stewart Harris, Chief Executive of sportscotland, said: “Communities right across Scotland have benefitted from the Glasgow Games and through projects like the improvements here in Selkirk, will help provide more and better opportunities for people to take part in and progress in a wide range of sports and physical activities.”

The work is expected to be finished by the end of March.