The Fletchers Trust, the charitable arm of the Worshipful Company of Fletchers, to invite your support for an appeal entitled British Paralympic Archery – Tokyo and beyond. The principal objective is to raise funds to support our team in the lead up to the Tokyo Paralympic Games and thereafter.
The Fletchers Company was founded in 1371 when the Fletchers petitioned the Lord Mayor of London that the trades of Fletcher and Bowyer should be separated. With the glory days of Agincourt, Crecy and the Wars of the Roses behind us, the Company’s raison-d’etre is now charity with our focus being on providing financial support to all levels of the disabled archery community from the UK Paralympic Archery team to numerous archery clubs and individual archers.
We currently give in the region of £40,000 per annum to individuals and organisations to encourage and enable those with a range of disabilities, including sight loss, to access the sport and to assist their development and progression. Financial support includes contributions towards archery equipment (primarily bows, arrows and shooting stools), wheelchairs, competition costs, travel costs to competitions and physical assessments. Recently we have begun to assist archery clubs to introduce facilities to improve access for those in wheelchairs or with other mobility problems.
The results have been impressive at all levels. At the top end, the support given to the Team GB Paralympic archery squad contributed to their record medal tally at the Rio 2016 games. At the other end of the scale, the Almoner has received many wonderful letters of thanks from individual recipients testifying to the positive, sometimes transformational, psychological and physical benefits of taking up archery. Our coverage is nationwide; indeed just recently we gave a grant to a young man with mental and co-ordination difficulties who is a member of the Scottish archery squad and who needs new equipment to keep pace with other top class archers.
Success breeds success. The growth in interest and take-up in disabled archery is, however, taking place against a background of financial stringency which has seen reduced public sector funding to clubs. Archery GB, the umbrella organisation for archery as a sport, has also had its funding reduced. These two factors combined have resulted in a significant increase in requests for funding from the disabled archery community.
The Fletchers’ Trust has therefore launched an appeal for additional funding to help meet the demands on its limited resources. We are looking to raise £100,000 specifically to support the British Paralympic team in its bid to achieve even greater success at the Tokyo Games and beyond. In this way, not only will we be supporting a national sporting asset (and role model for aspiring disabled archers) but also freeing up our limited resources to enable us to spend more on supporting grass roots involvement.
"Please support generously. With your help we can not only win Gold at Tokyo but bring on the next generation of Paralympian archers. And at the same time transform the lives of disabled and visually impared archers across the UK. Thank you." Tania