In order to become a full member of an archery club, you will be required to either have a minimum amount of shooting experience, or meet a minimum standard of shooting. This varies from club to club. In order to obtain this experience and skill level, clubs organise beginners courses to train up archers from scratch. The duration for this course will also vary from club to club, but will normally be 6 weeks in length (assuming one 2hr session per week).
Although you can later learn how to shoot traditional bows or the high-tech compound bows, you will start off on the Olympic-style Recurve Bow. Don't buy any equipment before starting a course for two reasons. First, clubs will provide the equipment along with the training. Second, your technique will change during the beginners course, and will continue to improve significantly for the weeks and months afterwards. Only when it has settled down should you then consult your fellow clubmates for what equipment to go out and buy.
Check out our London Clubs section for clubs affiliated through the County of London Archery Association. These clubs are typically based within Central London (Zones 1 & 2), but please be aware that these aren't the only clubs within the M25. Neighbouring clubs include those from archery associations of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent
For an exhaustive list of clubs within the UK, check out the club locator on the Grand National Archery Society website.
Started shooting, but want to know more?
One very useful guide to all aspects of Archery is freely available on the internet and should answer a lot of the questions you may be having about the sport. It's called the Archers Reference, written by Murray Elliot of Balbardie Archers and can be downloaded from www.archersreference.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk