Club Championships 2017 – Report and results

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

Club Shoot: 2017 Head 2 Head Handicap Shoot

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

Pope and Young Silver Box Shoot 2017

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 Fowler Memorial Shoot to held on Sunday 8th October 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…

Open Tournament 2017

The Tournament was held on Sunday 14th May 2017

You’ll find the results here… Results


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.

May Sunday Summer Shoots – The Nationals Results

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

Longbow Open Tournament 2107

Whiteleaf Bowmen Longbow Open Tournament 2107

My worst fears were not realised. A couple of weeks before the shoot, I was wondering if we would have enough entries to make it all worthwhile. A late spate of entries and a renewed interest by club members ensured we had a presentable field of about 30.

The Gods were kind and we had almost perfect weather; so nobody could use that as an excuse… As always I am amazed and slightly humbled by the enthusiasm of some of our members. Tony (Mrs. Mop) White had, on the Friday, terrorised the clubhouse floor, and it positively shone. Saturday morning saw a stalwart gang clearing the newly cut grass from the field. A thankless and back-breaking task. Thanks in particular, to Gary, who organised it and to the Dickson’s who rocked up with the other club members. 8.00am on the day saw Dave and Mark digging out the bosses and setting out the field under the watchful eye of yours truly; not that they needed watching over. BBQ Will arrived with all his food and two fantastic helpers. Within a few minutes, we were all distracted by the mouth watering smell of bacon being cooked. On course, some of us had to stop and check Will was doing it properly. Needless to say, he was. By this time, a veritable crowd of Whiteleafers (Good word?) were helping out and I was hard pushed to find them all jobs, so I just left them all to it. (It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.)
Guest entrants started to arrive, as usual, about an hour and a half early, so we were all glad of the 8.00am start. Insults and abuse was exchanged and the day looked as if it might turn out ok after all.

I had been asked if some juniors/beginners might be able to join in. We had three from the club, all of which were doubtful as to their ability to reach 60 yards. As the formal shoot was a Double National, and no alternative rounds advertised, we couldn’t, in all fairness, include them in the shoot. However, we decided to include them on the field, along with the rest of us, but shooting Double Short Junior National, (say that with a mouthful of cream-cracker) and not include them in the awards. Everybody seemed happy with that, so a separate boss was set up at 30 yards for them.

We heard all the usual excuses for the dubious quality of shooting but the best to date was from Mike Tappin, who said the ground must be sinking under the weight of his wheelchair because he kept shooting low……
The essential sherry break after 4 dozen restored relative sanity to the proceedings and in happy bonhomie the shoot continued. Lunch BBQ was Will’s teams second moment of glory, well deserved it was too. By 4.00 we were finishing off the shooting.

Carol and her sister swung into action with a fantastic spread for tea. More than even we could eat. While James and I, under the eagle eye of John, were sorting out the results, the raffle team were doing their thing outside. In the midst of all this activity, the field was being taken down and put away. I’m sure I didn’t take too long entering the scores, but when I stuck my head over the parapet, all the clearing up had been done. I have no idea who was responsible, so all I can do is send out a heartfelt THANKS to everybody involved.
The awards were distributed and I got the impression the day was enjoyed by all. I know I did, despite my earlier trepidation.

Well done to you lot. You know who you are so I won’t try and name names.
Now we’ve got to do it all again on May 14th.!!!

Longbow Open 2017 Results