Club

The third annual H2H shoot took place under cloudy skies, a light breeze and no sun to speak of. Thanks to Mark and Paul who had already set the field up when I arrived and a slow trickle of archers arrived, before 12 of us took aim for the National round to sort out rankings for the afternoon. Honours in the morning went to Roger and Jim who both shot better than handicap.

Unfortunately only 7 of the archers shooting in the morning could take part in the afternoon and we were joined by Abby and Matt for the H2H. The ranking for the afternoon was:

1st James
2nd Val
3rd John
4th Mark
5th Susan
6th Paul
7th Gary
8th Abby
9th Matt

The first match was Abby v Matt and as Matt had only had six arrows in sighters to work out where to aim his Barebow, Abby with her recurve (and a sight mark) came through this round with a 6 – 2 victory

Onto the quarter finals and in the battle of the juniors Abby beat James 6 – 4.
The next match was last year’s runner-up Mark, against Susan. The H2H experience of Mark saw him through 6 – 0.
Up next was a battle of longbows with John and Paul both having equal handicap allowance. With both archers taking it in turns to shoot well if finally finished 6 – 4 to Paul.
The final quarter final was also all longbow with the inform Val proving too good for Gary trying longbow rather than his usual recurve.

The first semi-final pitted master against pupil in what turned out to be a very tight match. It went to the master, as Mark came back from losing the first end to beat Abby 6 – 2.
The other semi also finished 6 – 2 with Val beating Paul.

The final, recurve v longbow, Mark v Val, handicap allowance of 2 v handicap allowance of 12. The first end saw the highest score of the day as Val scored 35 to Mark’s 25 (yes they were level of made score). The second saw Mark step up a gear with a 28 (his best of the day) to beat Val’s 23. Third end also went to Mark winning 26 to 22 to put him 4 – 2 up.

What proved to be the final end also went to Mark and the club had a new champion, Mark winning 6 – 2.

Other than his first end, Mark had a score between 24 and 28 for every end showing that consistent good scoring is the way to the title.
A big thank you also to Barry our field captain for the day, Mark and Paul for setting up and all those who helped pack away.

John

None of you have any idea how difficult it is organising a club shoot with a bunch of reprobates like you lot. (Except perhaps the previous tournament officers…)
Sunday proved to be no exception

First, I let it be known that, as the shoot would be starting at 10.00am, there was no need for the field party to turn up before about 9.15. In spite of this invaluable advice, Kevin was there at dawn closely followed by Neil and Alan, closely followed by several other insomniacs who, not surprisingly, found they had nothing to do; the field had already been set up…

Full of enthusiasm and trepidation, yours truly turns up soon after 9.00am to find a bunch of bored archers demanding coffee and cakes please, as they had been there for several hours.

On a more serious note, although not much more serious. The days shooting started on a note of warning. The forecast had predicted rain moving in towards us by about 4.00pm. As we all know, there is nothing worse than shooting the last end in a downpour, so I encouraged everybody to keep the shoot ticking along. I was delighted and surprised to find my request acted upon. We romped along, completing the longer distance by about mid-day, and were finishing the round by about 3.30. The rain had in fact caught up with us a tad earlier than expected but not seriously enough to cause any complaints. (But just enough for some to use it as an excuse for questionable shooting… (I think that’s excuse no. 23.)

We were quite a small, but select gathering; and it was a shame to see only one junior, but those of us who did come all seemed to enjoy themselves, which is the whole idea.

As most of you know, we have several dedicated longbow archers in the club. Because the club has its own longbow tournament day (NOTE:- 17th September.) the Club Champs is for recurve, barebow and compound archers. Some of those longbowers turned up on Sunday and joined the rest of us, well aware they wouldn’t be winning any awards, but equally aware they would be the target of banter and mirth. I like their attitude.!

Carol and Pauline excelled themselves, producing a splendid tea after the shoot. Very many thanks.
Also, thanks to John, the numbers man, who worked out the handicap results and helped with the results.
I am obliged to thank the field party who waved their magic wand by creating and then disappearing the targets. (Some dodgy English there…)

Well done everybody who turned up. Now, at last, I can put that damn recurve back in the roof for another year….!

NEXT SHOOTS:-
Club Longbow Day. 17th Sept.
The Sam Fowler memorial shoot. 8th October.

Results:-

1st lady Recurve Champion	Julie Morling
1st Gent Recurve Champion	Andy Clark
2nd Gent Recurve	Kevin Jones
3rd Gent Recurve	Gary Martin
1st Lady Barebow Champion	Sue Cook
1st Gent Barebow Champion	Tim Griffiths
2nd Gent Barebow	Chris Roberts
3rd Gent Barebow	John O’Keeffe
Highest Adjusted Score (Handicap)	Kevin Jones
Most Golds unrewarded	Peter King
Gehler Greening Trophy (most 3’s)	Tim Griffiths
Best Score Mid-distance	Gary Martin
Best Gold	Julie Morling
Worst White	Chris Roberts

You can see that latest Autumn / Winter 2017-2018 Tournament Calendar here…

 

Date: Sunday 10th September 2017

Assembly: 10:00

Morning Round: National (or for beginners/juniors Short, Junior or Short Junior versions)

Afternoon Round: Head 2 Head Handicap Shoot shooting at 30m (or shorter if you can’t reach)

Open to archers of all abilities and any bow type, this is like the matches from the Olympics but with a big difference. With the allocation of an allowance, every archer now has as much chance of winning as the next. Shoot well on the day and you can beat the best archers in the club even if you have just completed your beginners lessons. This is a fun shoot just for club members so hopefully see you there.
Bring your own lunch and help setting up the field beforehand would be appreciated

John O’Keeffe
Records Officer

The latest Club Tournament Calendar can be found here

Sunday 2nd July was the Silver Box shoot.

After much discussion amongst the committee we had decided to combine this shoot with a second trial shoot of the Pope and Young that we are hosting on 8th October. Our first effort had thrown up several unresolved issues that we needed to resolve before we could open it to the general toxophiliacs.

Although we didn’t end up with quite as many archers as I had hoped, we went ahead with the shoot.

The weather was about perfect and 13 willing (eventually) participants meant we could get three details of four, four and five. Nick turned up not expecting to shoot and was cajoled into having a go with a longbow….. Then Paul arrived after we had started, but joined in after the first round, with great effect…

I won’t go into the details of the shoot, far too complicated, suffice it to say, we very quickly picked up the method, and the shoot romped along at a cracking pace. We started at 10.00 and were finishing almost on the dot of 12.00 having got through 60 arrows a piece. Mind you, we were trying to shoot an arrow every 4 seconds at the last session.

It was such a delight and surprise to receive so many positive comments after we had finished. The general consensus was, it was FUN. I think everybody enjoyed themselves and the results, such as they were, seemed to be of little interest. Having said that the full results are below.

Many thanks to the lovely Jo, who, once again, acted as timekeeper and scorer, (and Lady P).

We did resolve the issues and are confident the Open version of this shoot will be as much a success as this one was. Please spread the word to any fellow archer you might meet on your travels, and please also let me or Val know if you’d like to shoot on the 8th October. Bear in mind we have only 30 places and visitors will take priority. Remember too, we will need a field party of about 8 for the open shoot, so volunteers needed.

Well done us!!!

Results…

Chris Roberts	36
Gary Martin	33
Peter King	25
Alan Pugh	23
Jim Beckford	20
Paul Davis	18
James White	17
Neil Allen	16
Maria, Val, Ian	=9
Nick Skegg	8
Dave Churchyard	6

 
Peter King 02/07/2017

Sam was a club member and a very popular and friendly archer who sadly died of cancer a few years ago. Her husband, and the club, are hosting this tournament in her memory.

We will be shooting a Pope and Young round. The Pope and Young was, and as far as we know, last shot as a national round, back in the 1930’s. It’s just the kind of shoot that Sam would have loved. Be prepared for a day’s chaos and laughter.

More information and entry form…

The Tournament was held on Sunday 14th May 2017

You’ll find the results here… Results

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Club report…

Whiteleaf Bowmen Open Tournament 2017

I was feeling quite chuffed when a couple of days before the tournament I filled the last target space on the Hereford list. I did wonder what would happen if anything went wrong, and as it turned out, I was soon to find out. The evening before the shoot I received two cancelations, then on the morning of the shoot one of the entrants arrived without a bow. Finding a replacement left hand recurve proved to be impossible, so a longbow was presented and accepted, albeit rather uneasily. Furious rearranging of the targets resolved things only for one of the field party to ask where his name was on the list. (Ups..!!) More furious rearranging and, with a very respectable 38 entrants, we were ready to go.

The day was perfect and, with the intermittent smell of bacon cooking, everyone seemed to be having a good time. (That bacon was a real distraction!) As usual, things just seemed to happen behind my back, and before I realised it we had finished the shooting and the raffle was in full swing. A sumptuous tea revived any flagging spirits. In spite of help from James, the eagle-eyed John, and a computer programme, the field party had cleared everything away well before the results were ready.

Things got ever-so-slightly chaotic at that stage, primarily due to the last-minute target juggling act. One or two medals will have to be posted but nothing that can’t be sorted..

Thanks, as always, to the field party, particularly to Churchy and Neil who turned up to help set up but couldn’t stay for the day’s shooting. Many thanks to the Tutties for their BBQ work. (Best bacon butties in the world.!) Carol and Pauline who, not only produced a fantastic tea (with a little help from their friends), but also supplied teas and coffees to any who were in need over the day; myself included. Well done the raffle girls – I’m afraid I didn’t even get a chance to talk to them, even though I did win a bottle. ? We are grateful to Brian and Den for acting as Judge and Lady Paramount, respectively. Finally, a big thanks to all you Whiteleafers for making the day such a triumph.

Next one to look out for will be the Sam Fowler Memorial shoot (The Pope and Young.) in October.

Peter.

The second SSS proved to be just as successful as the first. Numbers might have been slightly less, but the morning’s shooting was great, helped once again, by the very good weather.

We were all ready to start on time even allowing for three beginners doing their first tournament, and setting up on their own, almost unaided. This, after all, is the whole reason for these shoots; to teach the beginners and novices what is involved in tournament shooting. That, and to try and show them that being at a tournament doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy themselves. It’s time the mystique was dispelled. It really was a pleasure to see the novices standing next to some of our most experienced archers all banging arrows into the bosses.

As ever, thanks to everybody for helping out, and remember the next SSS will be on the 11th June.

That time it will be an American round; 7½ doz, so be prepared to stay until about 1.30pm.

Remember also that there is an award for the highest overall winner of all the year’s SSS shoots.

Not that anybody is interested, but here are the results…

May Sunday Summer Shoot Nationals Results