The Founding of the Club

By Hilary Hull nee Quinn

In 1958 my Father, William Quinn (deceased) placed an advertisement in the local newspaper asking people to attend a meeting at a working men’s club to discuss setting up an Archery Club in Stalybridge. At the meeting a group of very enthusiastic locals formed a committee and Stalybridge Archery Club was established.

My Father [William Quinn] approached the council (then Stalybridge Borough Council) to see if a field could be made available for the club. At this time ‘Captain’, the council's long serving shire horse was going into retirement and therefore no longer needed the stone stable and paddock at the Mottram Road entrance to Cheetham Park. The paddock was ideal and the council were eager for the club to use it. All the club members helped to clear the field and stable area. We were able to store the straw target bosses in the stable as it was quite dry.

The maximum shooting distance we had was 80 yards. Bows then were pretty simple. Wooden, metal and then laminate fiberglass. There were no stabilisers at first and very simple sights. The picture opposite shows me [Hillary Hull] shooting a metal bow. This type of bow split into two sections for storage.

The photograph below shows my Father William Quinn (Bill) using a laminate fiberglass bow. This was taken at the Bowmen of Ladysmith. My Father [William Quinn] was a painter and decorator so was put in charge of painting signs, like distance markers and target faces. He was also Secretary of the Club, made wooden quivers and fletched arrows for the club.

I was only a junior member of the club but some of the early years members I remember were:

  • Ged Saxon – Chairman

  • Sid & Gladis Murray

  • Betty & Jim Trotman

  • Ron Wilson

  • Jade Bradley

  • Brian Smithe

  • Alan Smith

  • Gerald Leigh

  • Author Brooks

  • Harold Ashcroft

  • Sam Johnson

  • Alan Johnson – Junior

  • Don Hunter

  • Kathleen Thorpe nee Phillips

  • John Thorpe

  • Joyce Quinn – My Mum

  • William Quinn – My Dad

We were a very happy bunch, and the club grew from strength to strength. We managed to purchase a wooden pavilion and all the members helped to erect it in the grounds. The ladies put the finishing touches to the inside of the building. My Mum Joyce [Quinn] helped with this and Kathleen Phillips from Mossley, who later became Kathleen Thorpe, recalls it was a great pleasure it was making little curtains for the windows.

Kathleen has many happy memories of the club and in particular her marriage to John Thorpe. The couple met at the club and were married in 1963. As you can see from the photograph some of the club members formed an arch of bow outside the church at the wedding. My Mother [Joyce Quinn] and Father [William Quinn] are on the right-hand side of the picture.

Many of the archers achieved 1st, 2nd, 3rd class status but I only remember one Master Bowman from those early years, that was Harold Ashcroft, who achieved great success.

We attended shoots at various places in the country such as Huddersfield, Holiwell, Nottingham and Cheshire Bowmen. The club also had an indoor shooting area at the old building (now demolished) on Blandford Street in Stalybridge.

The picture opposite shows Kathleen Phillips shooting at Stalybridge around 1962 using a laminate bow

The club also had sad events involving the deaths of two members within weeks of each other. Alan Smith a director of Sterling Mouldings Stalybridge was involved in a car accident and a few weeks later Gerald Leigh the Treasurer of the club whose parents had a greengrocer shop in Portland Place Stalybridge was also killed, in a motorcycle accident. It was a tragic time and everyone at the club was distressed. The families of both Alan and Gerald presented the club with Trophies to be used for memorial tournaments.

Although we did not win many prizes at the shoot’s we attended there was always such camaraderie. It was the taking part that mattered. Although I [Hilary Hull nee Quinn] was only a junior member I will never forget the comradeship there was in the club and I’m sure that this remains so today.