Sunday was the club annual Longbow day. The shooting consisted of a National round in the morning, followed by the notorious mini Pope and Young round in the afternoon, topped off by a wand shoot. All very light-hearted and definitely not to be taken too seriously.
A rather suspicious looking start of the day, weather-wise, was ignored by all who turned up. As it turned out we were treated to almost perfect archery weather conditions. Bright, but without the glare of direct sun; still and dry. You would have thought the scores might have reflected those conditions. Not a bit of it; that would have meant serious concentration… and we didn’t want any of that nonsense.
The numbers may have been lacking, but the atmosphere was not. Ronan turned up looking slightly bewildered until the day’s programme was explained to him. In true Irish style, he shrugged, grinned and was game to join in. He was presented with a bow and arrows and the grin got wider.
The National was just the warm up. The insults and abuse were subdued, no doubt being stored up for the afternoon.
The Pope and Young proved to be it’s usual chaotic, entertaining, frustrating round. (I still can’t believe the number of times I missed that damn boar !!!)
Alan, on the other hand got the measure of the bear, his bête noire from last year.
Ronan surprise us all, himself included, by chucking down numerous kills, and Val, following her ‘on form’ shooting the previous Sunday was repeatedly in the scoring zone. Sue and Barry turned up; Sue to shoot, and Barry to go to sleep. (Yes, it was that exciting.)
During scoring, the comment about ‘someone must be trying’ was laughed out of court, and the banter continued.
Thanks to Roger, who turned up, early, to do the P&Y scoring; I technical marvel in itself.
To top off the day we all lined up to have a go at splitting the wand. Sue led us off, as she is the recognised expert, but this time failed to hit. Dave Churchy however not only hit the ‘wand’ with his first arrow, but, for the first time since I’ve known it, actually split the wood, his arrow remaining stuck half way through it for all to see.
As the numbers were relatively low this year, we decided to rock straight on with the shoots, rather than have a lunch break after the National, which we had finished by 11.30.
A great day, as the Longbow day always is.
We will be moving indoors now, but remember you can shoot at the field anytime.
Thanks to all the helpers who set up the field and took it all down again.
Peter
Results
| Lady o/a Champion | Val Davey. (told you she was on form…) |
| Gent o/a Champion | Peter King. (when is he not on form… ups!) |
| Highest score unrewarded | Alun Pugh. (still snapping at me heals..) |
| Split the Wand | Dave Churchy. (put us all to shame, first arrow.) |
| Pope and Young Winner | Peter King. (no comment; I got enough on the day) |
| George Thayer Trophy (Most hits unrewarded) | John O’Keeffe. (only 2 points in it..) |