About the club

THE FOUNDING AND AFTER

Until 1893, archery was entirely unknown as a sport in Cadier en Keer.

That changed soon after when Sebastiaan van de Ven, headmaster of the primary school, and Sjang Vliegen, municipal secretary, decided that year to found an archery association. The decision to establish it was taken in café Sebastopol and sealed with a generous drink of brandy. Café Sebastopol stood on the corner of the Rijksweg and the Limburgerstraat. The building was demolished after the war. In the early years the first shooting ranges were set up in Mr. Van de Ven’s garden on the Rijksweg, where he personally gave the first archery lessons to the young men from the village who wanted to try out this new sport.

After a short time several fine archers had been trained who were renowned and feared by the other archery associations in the region. Hardly a competition was held without Amicitia bringing home one of the top corps prizes, and often also the rosette or honour cross for the best archer.

At one point, so many prizes had been won that the decision was taken to commission an oak cabinet to store and display them. But the number of prizes kept growing, so two more cabinets had to be built. Because the association did not yet have its own clubhouse, the cabinets were hung for a long time in the “great room” of Van de Ven’s house. Later they were moved to the first clubhouse, which was set up in a café. The prizes and diplomas can now be admired in the clubhouse on the sports grounds at the Bemelerweg. Unfortunately, almost all of the pre-war prizes have disappeared. At the meeting of 28 April 1945 it was noted that at the Liberation, virtually all trophies, laurel wreaths, medals and crosses had been taken by soldiers.

After the war years, a search began for a new clubhouse. The shooting ranges were temporarily moved to a plot behind the home of Joep Nederlands on the Rijksweg (where “Willems Keukens” is now located), and to the homes of Pierre Daemen and Pierre Geelen on the Kerkstraat. Meetings were once again held in rotation at the local cafés. At the meeting of 11 April 1959 it was urged to try to lease a piece of land from the municipality near the existing sports grounds. In 1960 the clubhouse was established in café L. Bessems (later café “De Hazehook”) on the Rijksweg. In 1969 the shooting ranges also moved to the grounds next to this café.

In 1971 the possibility was discussed of building an indoor shooting range. A wooden shed was put up right behind the café. From the window at the front — the archer stood with their back against it — arrows were fired through the opened rear window at the targets in the attached shed 3 metres away. The café and its hall were 22 metres long, so together with the 3-metre shed an “indoor range” of 25 metres was created. Meanwhile, plans were being developed to relocate the shooting activities to the sports grounds that the municipality of Cadier en Keer had been laying out at the Bemelerweg. The wooden shed at café “De Hazehook” had to be dismantled and rebuilt on the grounds at the Bemelerweg. Working flat out, the members completed this job in as short a time as possible. They managed to have everything ready to shoot again within a week. In 1976 the first meeting was held in this building.

On the occasion of the 150-year anniversary of the municipality of Cadier en Keer, on 16 September 1978, the new “Bakkerbosch” sports complex was officially opened. This sports complex included two tennis courts, a football pitch, a hockey field, a paved playing field, a shooting range for the archery association, and changing and meeting facilities.

Thus, in 1980, Amicitia was finally able to take possession of a brand-new clubhouse. The municipality had taken care of the shell, while the members of Amicitia had to fit out and furnish the building themselves. The result is a fine facility with, among other things, a kitchen, bar, sanitary amenities and a generous room for meetings and for shooting during the winter months or in bad weather.