The March Hare club was formed in 1996 by members of the former Ramscombe club, a well known band of shooters who had the use of woodland at Ramscombe Hill near Great Witley.
Ramscombe Bowmen was formed in 1984, but lost its woods in 1990 to pheasant shooting, prompting the move to the March Hare. The old Ramscombe club lives on in name only through the monthly field shoots at Oaklands; 'Ramscombe at Oaklands'. These shoots are held at the Oaklands archery range at Ditchford Bank near Hanbury. Oaklands offers a fourteen target course with excellent practice and catering facilities and remains popular with March Hare members.
While the Ramscombe club lived on in name through Oaklands, the March Hare Leisure Centre gave the new club its name. Monthly classification shoots were held at the Leisure Centre from 1996 until the beginning of 2003; the club hosted the National Championships there in 1997.
Re-development of the leisure centre's facilities meant that once again the archers had to move to a new venue. The club was fortunate to find our current venue at Throckmorton.
The move to Throckmorton in February 2003 entailed a great deal of effort; few of us have forgotten the work party on that fateful Saturday morning when we moved our shed and every target butt over to our new ground. Next came the planning of the new course and then the course building itself. Next to arrive, on the back of a lorry, was the large portacabin which was to become our splendid clubhouse. The portacabin was delivered on a wet and cold February evening and the lorry delivering it became stuck in the mud; the whole operation has become legendary.
By April 2003 the course was sufficiently sorted to be ready for our first club shoot. We steadily improved the course and the club's facilities and in August 2003 we held our first Open Day. 2004 has seen the club host the Spring Championships and complete its second course of fourteen targets. Our second portacabin arrived in spring 2004 and was duly converted into toilet and a storage area.
Re-establishing the club at Throckmorton was a challenge; the course and club facilities were a tribute to the small band of activists who turned out for the work parties ensuring the many have a pleasant place to shoot.
2005 and 2006 saw a further development of the club. The club established a web site created by Anthony Pearson who works in the business of web site creation. The club began to take off in a big way. We had many enquiries about the club and lots of new members, chiefly because the website enabled people to get in touch more easily. In 2005 we had a big influx of new cub and junior members. Some of our cubs quickly became very accomplished archers. Thomas Phillips, Michael Evans and George and Edwards Watkins won many medals and had some record scores in 2005 and 2006. The growth in new members continued and we had over 30 new members in 2005. In 2006 we ran another two beginners courses and recruited another 13 members for 2006. In 2006 we also had several of our newer members attend the European Championships for the first time.
There still seemed to be no limit to the demand for archery lessons. Legolas and Robin Hood have brought many new faces into the sport. We decided that in 2007 we needed to take things a little easier. Our training team had been working flat out for two years to train new archers. We decided that would concentrate our efforts on our newer members and take more beginners in the Autumn of 2007.
September 2006 saw the club host the EFAA National Championships. Our members began preparations early in the Spring of 2006. Richard Hardcastle and Malcolm Staley (AKA 'The Buttmeisters') manufactured and rebanded over 50 target butts. The clubhouse was improved and both courses were mowed and re-mowed in preparation for the big event. Pete Gray, recently voted Club Member of the year of 2007, designed and built the porch for the clubhouse. Our members (with the assistance of Barclays Bank) levelled the ground outside the clubhouse and made a paved area. Our members gave up countless hours of their time to strim weeds, pull up the dreaded Ragwort, make signs and clear litter from the course. By the time September came around the courses were in immaculate condition. This reflected the hard work that had been done by many of our members for several months prior to that shoot. In addition to those named above, Joan Grey in particular gave up much of her time to attend to a multitude of tasks for the club. The Nationals were a great success for the EFAA and for the club. The event was fully booked and went without a hitch. Everyone that we spoke to on that weekend seemed to enjoy shooting at March Hare and many people told us what a good weekend they had had. The success of the 2006 Nationals is down to the hard work and meticulous planning by the club over several months.
The club continues to go from strength to strength. Every year a good proportion of our shooters attend National, World or European archery tournaments and every year sees an impressive haul of gold, silver and bronze medals as well as our almost obligatory team victories; long may it continue.
