Chris Kemp

This year we would like to celebrate key members who have made a contribution to the club. Chris Kemp has been a member of Cheltenham Archers since the mid 70’s and is by far the longest serving member we have.
Before taking up Archery, his sport was tennis, but somewhere in the early 70’s he took up archery and joined the Bowmen of Ina in Somerset. After relocating to Cheltenham fortunately for us he joined Cheltenham Archers. At that time we were shooting on a sports ground in Cheltenham. Whilst using this facility there was a unfortunate incident where an arrow ended up on a nearby tennis court. No one was injured but the club was forced to seek a new home. Chris was one of the team who helped the move to our current location at Cheltenham Racecourse in the late 1970’s.
The new range was close to where the RDA now is, and where the “tented village” has grown up. The continual growth of the Gold Cup week and the extra number of Race meets, meant that for ever extending periods the Club was unable to use their range during the spring months. Negotiations with the Racecourse eventually lead to our relocation to Oakleaf Field. Chris was deeply involved with this process, including very protracted negotiations to obtain planning and approval and “Change of use permission”.
Since then Chris has been a backbone to the Club. He has served as Chairman, Coach, Equipment Officer and Groundsman. He must have lost count by now of the number of beginners he has trained up, and the number of embryonic archers he has coached. For a great number of years he single-handedly mowed the grass every Tuesday afternoon. He has made strings galore, and helped innumerable ” would be Tyros ” tune up their new bows. His Archery knowledge is encyclopedic.
Whilst doing all this, he also became a very proficient archer in his own right, becoming Regional Champion for the South West at the Dunster Meet (see photo in the Club House!)
He and a very small number of like minded volunteers are what keeps our Club going, and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude.



