20^th April 2019

This year, the Soup Shoot got off to a truly magnificent start, with the football players nowhere in sight, and a huge field party arriving early to set up quickly and efficiently.  Well… once someone took over sighting the targets in from Mark, anyway!

With a field of 59 archers expected, we had one drop out due to injury – a place which was snapped up at the last minute by a hopeful from Whitburn who “just happened” to have his kit in the car.  Two more who couldn’t make it dropped the total number of archers on the field to a still-fantastic 57 – the second year running we’ve had an almost full house.

Beautiful weather was also with us for the second year, with jokes abounding again about changing it to an Ice-Cream Shoot next year.  Our judge was on hand with chocolate eggs for best golds, stealing the limelight for the TO prizes.  While I was overjoyed to get best gold with a longbow (I got a 10!!!), I spent the rest of the shoot devising a way to hand out the Easter Eggs I’d planned to give out for Best Gold in all categories…

With 10 records being either broken or set this year, the results were very close.  Only one point in between first and second in both lady and gent compound, and lots of duplicated scores further down the table, it was 10s all the way to sort out the tables.  Well done to everyone for some great scores 😊

Finishing off the day with the usual amazing mushroom soup and epic raffle, there was a good spread of prizes throughout the clubs, and the Easter Eggs went to “reverse scores” instead of best gold, with smiles all around.

The tournament was a TO’s dream, with everything going perfectly, and the archers all appearing to have a great day – even those who didn’t shoot as well as they’d have liked.  Thank you to everyone for your help and support throughout – to Lynne for judging, David for being a magnificent Lord Patron, Martin for heading up the field party, Merlin Archery for sponsoring the shoot, and all the archers for turning up to shoot.  Hope to see you all again in June for the Amalgamation.

By Helen Lee

Our 4th annual charity shoot, this year in aid of Macmillan Nurses, took place on 18^th August 2018.  It was warm and dry but rather windy, which played to the advantage of the traditional ‘fun shoot with evil rules’, meaning that anyone could be in with a chance of winning.  Once again we played with the Gosforth arrows round, but with the distances shortened to 50, 40 and 30 yards, so as to hopefully include more people.  We also had a Burntwood round set up for our visit from Nadeem, and he was joined by some of our younger archers.

 

Unfortunately, the wind caused too many problems with the setting up of the targets and the balloon-pop element had to be abandoned, although Kieren’s lovely dancing with strings of balloons across the field may have made up for that a little.

The target rules where provided via a random number generator and there were cries of “I hate you Helen!” after a perfect end from a couple of participants, who then had the inner 2 rings not count or had to deduct their score from their running total. Thankfully I don’t take these things to heart and may have laughed evilly once or twice!  One person I know who didn’t mind my rules was Nadeem, who managed to have with score of 9 increased to 90 on an invert score rule.

The scoring, as always, managed to confuse some people, with lots of crossing out and recalculations, but everyone seemed ‘happy’ to sign off on their score sheets.

The winners from the day were:

1^st place:  Steve East                 510

2^nd place: Kieren Brenchley    471

3^rd Place: Brian Clark              464

Team: Fred Forth & Paul Nicholson        846

As always, the raffle went down well, with some people taking away a lot more than others, and the bake sale had everyone getting lots of sweet and some savoury treats. For some reason no-one seemed to want to cut into Jabba the Hutt, but Karen didn’t complain as she got to take him home again.

 

It was good to see the support from within the club and also have a number of visitors from our friends at Norton, Aycliffe and Priory, as well as having someone come from as far afield as The Company of Scorton Archers (near Catterick, I had to look it up). Thanks to everyone’s generosity we managed to raise £400.

 

Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who took part and donated time and money.

Full Results:

Name	Score	Team score
Steve East	510	720
Kieren Brenchley	471	727.33
Brian Clark	464	845
Alan Blogg	450	842.67
Paul Heaps	441	842.67
Rhiannon Beckett	434	836
Fred Forth	432	846
Katie Brenchley	429	844
Simon Bradshaw	428	837.33
Paul Jarred	419	782
Adrian Sutherland	417	837.33
Darcy Summerill	415	844
Paul Nicholson	414	846
Bill Smith	411	837.33
Naomi Salmons	406	684
Andy Mason	402	836
Aaron Clark	384	749
Jay Ingram	381	845
Wayne Summerill	380	727.33
Ethan Bradshaw	373	842.67
Karen Relton	365	749
Ric Ingram	363	782
Nadeem Mughal	278	684
Anth Peacock	240	727.33
Chris McGrath	210	720

 

30^th June 2018

By Benjamin Thompson

        

The 30^th of June was a sunny Saturday unlike any other and for some of us here at Heugh Bowmen, it was undeniably the perfect day for a traditional field shoot. With an early morning start for the majority of archers attending and almost an hour drive on the cards, the day was setting itself up to be quite the adventure! Providing we find the place first… Undeniably there were a lot of members who struggled to find the farm where the event would take place. One particular group, without naming names, attempted to ring Club Secretary Karen for directions without realising she was competing, alongside another three of our own, as part of the DNAA County team at Lilleshall that day (Sorry again for the phone call, Karen!)

Once we had all arrived safely, albeit late, the delicious breakfast buns awaiting us was a perfect reception courtesy of our wonderful hosts, Stonebow Field Archers, who could not have been more welcoming. Once all the safety procedures and registration had been completed, the participating members of Heugh Bowman, as well as some accompanying members from Norton Archers, separated into groups of four and were let loose upon the forest, with guidance from the amazing Stonebow team of course! The turn out for the event was fantastic with almost all bow-styles, ages and genders being represented adequately.

As this was the first time at a field shoot for a lot of our archers, most of us did not know what to expect other than trees, 3D animal targets and more trees. Luckily the gorgeous weather held up all day and, a few empty bottles of sun cream later, we were all well-adjusted to the shooting style and scoring method used in field archery. Now, as you will all know by now, the day did result in several casualties, namely several lost and/or broken arrows that are yet to be retrieved from the woodland. If only we had taken the warnings about losing arrows more seriously in the weeks prior to the field shoot… If anything, it’s an excuse to spend some of your hard-earned pennies on those shiny new arrows you’ve had your eyes on for a while, and maybe a field quiver while you’re at it…

In total, each group aimed to shoot at twenty-five different targets with the total scores being compared at the end of the day. With the option to shoot from a ‘wasp’ peg on a couple of targets giving us the opportunity to double our score on that particular target, the competitive nature of the sport began to show. Taking some time out for lunch, and several desperate attempts to find those missing arrows mentioned earlier, the majority of archers ended the day feeling exhausted yet fulfilled. A lucky few of us were able to return to some of our favourite targets, let’s be honest the 6ft bear was on everyone’s highlight reel, and this was a great opportunity to experience the freedom that field archery offers.

 

Before it was time to return home with our archery bags a few pounds lighter, the winners of the day where announced and awarded with medals. The winning members of our club were as follows:

1^st Place Female Bare Bow (Under 13s) – Naomi

1^st Place Male Freestyle (Under 16s) – Justin

1^st Place Senior Female Bare Bow – Helen

2^nd Place Senior Female Bare Bow – Lisa

1^st Place Senior Female Freestyle – June

Joint 2^nd Place Senior Male Bare Bow – Kev B. & Jay

3^rd Place Senior Male Bare Bow – Ben

1^st Place Senior Male Compound – Bryan

Of course, special mention goes to Greg who walked away with the ‘Biggest Loser’ award for the most lost (not recovered) arrows!

Finally, on behalf of all of us here at Heugh Bowman I would like to thank Alison and the other members of Stonebow Field Archers who assisted on the day. If it was not for their fantastic help and guidance, a lot of us would not have had a clue on what to do at the Field Shoot. It goes without saying that we would all have been considerably less fed without these fine fellows too! I am positive we will be returning to Stonebow in the future, eager to try out hand at field archery once more.

Last week, someone (rightly) pointed out that I hadn’t updated the news feed on the website in quite some time.  I couldn’t argue – it’s been just over a year.  Ooops!

So….  What’s happened in the last year?  Loads of stuff, it appears, which is probably why I haven’t had time to do any updates!

The last post was the Amalgamation 2017…  well, just the day before that, Heugh got their first official coach 🙂  I passed my Level 1 qualification, and formally took over all of the beginner courses.

 

Just after the Amalgamation, we got a new house!  Jim bequeathed us a goodly amount of money towards club development, and one thing we KNEW we needed was a more weatherproof container.  What started as replacing the container became a two story structure with a viewing window (Mark’s idea!), but we finally settled on moving the old container (to be replaced later), and getting a second one – an office style, that could be used as a workshop, as well as giving us more space for people to hide from the weather.

On a cold, wet day we emptied the container, and put up a temporary shelter, as well as filling my car with any of the “don’t get wet” items.  Then we got the club flatbow out and chucked some sticks while we waited….

               

 

Sometime around lunchtime, the wagon arrived, with our new cabin (or Cabinet, as Simon persisted in calling it!)  Respect to the driver, who did a fair bit of maneuvering to lift the holey cabin out of the way, drop the new one in place, then re-position the old one.  Lovely bit of work, which ended with everything exactly where we wanted it.

 

    

The day continued with fish and chips, three newly assembled workbenches, Morris and BillWithADrill moving a coffin (???), and the amusement of watching Jay and Mark trying to shift 12 paving slabs in one go!

 

 

 

 

Then we entertained the Hartlepool Mavericks Dodgeball Club for the morning…  that was fun!  Our first mass Have A Go for kids.  The new foam tipped arrows came in useful for the younger kids, and the older ones seemed to have a lot of fun too.  Not sure Morris enjoyed himself much, but he made a good coach 🙂

Watch this space for the next visit from them…

 

We also joined in the SCSSC Fun Day, running another Have A Go.  Can’t say we had the most success, but the rugby lads seemed to enjoy themselves…  Martin was great at helping with the unusual set up (we don’t normally need nets on the field!), Paul tried to coach people to Olympic standard in 6 arrows, Helen showed her sales skills, and Ian fed chocolate to the kids…

What else happened…  It rained (a lot!) at the county champs (Norton), and then it was sunny…  and Pam, Kev and Alan brought home the bling.

 

Norton also hosted GNAM – expensive bling!

There was a massive field shoot at Netherwitton (even more bling!!!)

Some of us went to Norton, for the annual Harry Potter Shoot (Go Go Slytherin!), and then they came to us for our Charity shoot, in aid of Cancer Research (specifically Brest Cancer).

After that, we hosted one last cold wet beginner course for the year (well done to those who got through that!), we went 10-pin bowling (Kev Flintstone Duncanson won, as always!), and we hosted the Teesside Champs…  Mark, Pam and Alan were selected to shoot for the county at the 5 Counties at the very end of the season, and guess what???  Yeah…  more bling!

Before we knew it, the indoor season was back again…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4th June saw the 51st Amalgamation and 2nd Jim Rodger’s Memorial Shoot take place at Seaton Carew Sports and Social Club.  In the few days leading up to the competition the weather promised to be truly awful – even threatening hail!  Thankfully Jim came through for us again, and sent the sun, although he did turn up the wind machine by the second half.

 

 

Despite a few issues with entries being lost in the post, we managed to get everyone on the shooting line safely, as once again we had an amazing turn out.  Lots of our friends from around the area came along, some from as far away as Greenlane and Bradford.  Norton sent along quite a few of their archers, and Aycliffe brought a bus load, while Heugh itself saw an amazing 18 archers shoot – one of whom had only finished her beginner’s course a few weeks before.

In addition to Tracey, we also had three of our new juniors take part, and another 7 novices from other clubs joined in the competition for the Jim Rodger’s memorial shield.  This year also saw the return of Shaun, who last shot the Amalgamation in 1975 as a junior.

The day continued fine, with no major mishaps – although Stephen may disagree as he would have won the Woodpecker Trophy if we awarded one, and grandson Cameron tried to claim a “14” (don’t tell Morris you put a hole in his new numbers!)

    

All in all, a good day was had by all.  Bill and Helen looked to be enjoying themselves, as did our lovely judge Sharon (thanks again for the chocolate!), while Becc and Shaun looked a little more serious.  Paul was very cool, for his first competition, and Kev and Jay caught up on FaceBook…

          

With the results counted, there was a good scattering of medals among all of the clubs represented.  Heugh placed in both gents and ladies compound, while Aycliffe and Norton took honours in the recurve.  Bowmen of Walker took the team prize, the Jack and Jill and the best gold, while Heugh’s Will walked off with the novice trophy, and Cameron took home the spoon.  Bill retained the best Heugh recurve, and Ethan took the best Heugh handicap – well done, all !

As always, thanks to everyone who attended – the field party (you know who you are), the raffle ticket sellers (Helen and June), the awesome judge (Sharon), and Merlin Archery for the sponsorship.  Thanks also to the archers for coming along to enjoy the day with us.  🙂

Hope to see those from Teesside clubs in September for the Teesside Champs, and everyone else at the same time next year!

    

 

(Photos courtesy of Ian Telfer, Paul Wilkin and Mr Pye)

Yesterday saw us shoot our first Soup Shoot, with an absolutely amazing turn out of 44 archers, plus assorted partners, parents and grandparents.  Thank you to everyone who turned up to make it a really great start to the 2017 outdoor season!

The original idea was to shoot a FrostBite round, but the FrostBite is traditionally shot outdoors during the indoor season, the idea being to shoot a really short round and run back inside to warm up.  Since our field is shared with the footballers (who are not the most helpful in sharing information!) I couldn’t guarantee they would let us play…hence the reason we went for the double FrostBite (or outdoor Stafford) in the outdoor season.  Let us enjoy the sun 🙂

Despite Tracy telling me on the morning that it was “perfect archery conditions”, the wind was out in force in Seaton Carew (as always!), which led to a few problems for some of the archers.  On the whole, however, everyone dealt with it very well, and even Bill kept his grumbling to a minimum!  Alison from Norton Archers showed everyone how to be calm in the face of adversity as she did the quickest bow set-up seen yet when she arrived late after getting lost on the way.  Despite missing sighters, she came a very respectable 5th!

 

It was also great to see such a wide range of bowstyle and experience on the line.  The longbow contingent was out in force, and there was an excellent show from the local Novices – all of which seemed to be taking the opportunity to gain some valuable experience at competition while listening to advice from those who have been shooting for a few more years.

A big shout out also needs to go to Alex Smith, our Field Captain for the day.  He traveled all the way from Ponteland to give us a hand, and he kept us all on track beautifully!

All in all, a lovely day, and a great way to start off the season.  It was a shame more people couldn’t stick around for the excellent soup, but the Norton and Green Lane gangs did their best to make up for it, and the Rugby and Cricket teams helped us out with the rest!

Once again, thanks to everyone who attended, and to everyone who contributed raffle prizes (once again, Merlin Archery were top-notch with their donation!) and to those who dug deep when Tracey came around selling tickets.

 

 

 

 

Hope to see everyone again at the Amalgamation on the 4th June.  Entry form will be out soon!

17th December was this year’s Christmas shoot, and this year we decided to make a change from the usual shoot-for-chocolate Portsmouth.  With about 10 days to go, I started to question Nicola at Norton about what sort of targets they were going to be using, and stole a few ideas…

…then I recruited some help, and started painting.

7 target faces later, I was all ready to go.  Despite a small mishap with the prizes (leaving them at the checkout in Tescos – thankfully forgetting to buy them, not buying and then forgetting!), things went fairly well in the preparation.  Making all 7 myself (well, with Leo’s help) was a bit of a rush, so be prepared for me asking others to make some next year!

Thanks to Kev for making the score cards, and a massive thanks to the guys who set the range up early for me, so that I had time to get the targets sorted properly, and to Ian for putting a nocking point on the brand new club bow that I used for Pin the Nose on Rudolf.  I really don’t understand why anyone had an issue with shooting a 24lb barebow, although Morris did forget that he didn’t have a sling on, and tried to fire the bow at the target along with the arrow!

The barebow didn’t seem to be the only thing that was causing problems, as the Christmas tree refused to let go of Mark’s arrows – so much so that it took him and Jay to pull them out of the straw!

Thanks again to everyone who attended the shoot, and congratulations to Alan and Bill, our two winners, and Alan and Ian who showed us all how to use the barebow!

Merry Christmas Everybody, and Happy New Year to you and your families.  See you all on the 3rd January.

When I discovered a few months back that the county wasn’t running a Novice Championship this year, I got together with Nicola over at Norton, and we decided to do something ourselves.  Thanks to every single weekend in September being full with competitions of one type or another already, we decided to push the comp back to outside of the outdoor season.  Unfortunately, that meant that we had to limit numbers as most of our bosses would already be at the indoor venue, but we found enough space to add in a few from Aycliffe Archers too.

 

The footballers didn’t help much, scheduling a game for right before we we due to start, but we managed to get the field marked out before the game and then did the quickest field set up I’ve ever seen the second the final whistle blew.  Thankfully what began as a truly awful day for the footballers became a sunny and almost warm day for the archers, with just a bit of wind to contend with.  Nothing more than we expect at Seaton!

We gathered our experienced archers around, and assigned them all one target each to look after, to offer help and advice where needed, and to make sure that everyone knew how to score correctly, and to point out the finer points of archery etiquette.

As our novices crowded around for assembly, they all looked a little nervous – which became even more obvious during the first few ends, as the silence spread down the archers and into waiting line, so much so that the experienced archers found themselves whispering so as not to disturb anyone!  It didn’t take long for everyone to relax a bit however, and start having fun.  A slight equipment failure part way through caused a short delay, but some glue soon sorted that out, and the fun continued.

 

 

Spot prizes were once again doled out by our lovely judge, with the young lads very excited for chocolate.  Archers were also competing for Best Gold at their longest distance, and the usual fun Worst White, while Sharon kept them all in line.

 

 

 

We finished the day with the usual raffle, before the prize giving.  Norton took most of the prizes, but both Heugh and Aycliffe showed their stuff and proved that they have some up and coming archers to watch out
for.

Many thanks to everyone who helped out – Sharon, George, Nicola, Ian, Jay, Morris, Louise, Clare, Martin and Becc.  Even more thanks to the archers who showed up, despite the weather and the nerves, to shoot in their first ever competition – especially those who only finished their beginners courses a month before.

Mine and Nicola’s aim was to show those new archers that competitions nothing to be scared of.  Whether you take home a medal or not, it’s all about having fun, meeting people, and enjoying the sport.  From the feedback we have since received, it seems the message was understood…

“Writing on behalf of all 3 of us who took part, we all had a brilliant day, it being our first competition everything was explained with professionalism, humour and the experience of meeting other archers, (other than the ones at our club). The whole day was fun, relaxing with the added bonus of 2 winners to inspire our club.”

“Thanks for a great day. Loved every minute.”

“I must say that everyone I got to speak with were a pretty friendly bunch – makes such a difference when you are a stranger”

With that in mind, don’t forget to keep an eye out for the entry for for the indoor Novice Championship at Whitburn in March, and the official outdoor Novice Championship in the summer (which most of you will still be eligible for).  If you need a hand with your entry, don’t forget that your club officials and experienced archers are all there to lend a hand.

 

Hope to see everyone at the Amalgamation on June 4th, if not before 🙂

 

 

Sunday 4th September saw the annual Teesside Championship being shot at Heugh’s home ground in Seaton Carew.  As the field party arrived at 8am, it was cold, wet, windy and miserable.  And frankly, it didn’t get much better!  With one target blowing over before we got started, and the rain coming down so hard we left the target faces off until the last minute, it looked like it was going to be a pretty awful day.

Just as Kev called assembly, the skies brightened a little, and the rain stopped.  The wind stayed with us all day, causing more than a little grumbling at the 80 yard mark, but for those of us used to shooting at Seaton, it wasn’t too bad!

The rain returned with a vengeance at lunch time, but cleared up yet again just as Sharon called the five minute warning, and the clouds slowly continued to lift until we had clear blue skies. The raffle and the awards were completed in blazing sunshine – with some of us topping up our tans!

With competitors from Heugh, Norton, Aycliffe, East Durham and Glaxo lining up to take a share of the honours, it was a mixed bad at the awards ceremony.  Heugh took Ladies Recurve champion, while Norton took the gents.  Heugh took the Compound Team, while Norton took Recurve.  Aycliffe put up a good fight, by taking Ladies Compound and Best Gold at 80 yards, but Norton walked away with all of the longbow trophies – as normal 🙂

The annual meeting of the minds after the competition discussed the reason why we haven’t had a lot of archers entering in recent years.  Part of the reason (we think!) is that although it’s a fun, relaxed shoot, the Albion puts off those who aren’t very experienced.  With that in mind, next year we will be adding a Windsor round for first year novices.

Many thanks to all who entered, and for all who helped on the day.  As always, a big thank you to Kev (as TO), the field party, Sharon (the judge!), and George (for his outstanding patience with a metal detector!).  We still haven’t found that arrow!

 

 Hope to see everyone again next year!

 

For full results, click the link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uhzOYEhH5e-HFKQfZBiRIT1ZyOFur1JjubJV81J7mNA/edit#gid=0

(Apologies for the lack of photos.  Louise decided to shoot her sticks instead, so we had to do without a photographer! 🙂 )

Wednesday night saw us shoot our first outdoor Fun Shoot, in aid of the Stroke Association.

After a week of uncertain weather I was very very worried that we’d have another night of wind and rain, but thankfully we had the best day of the week for it.  Bright blue skies lasted all day, and it stayed warm right up until late evening.

We chose to support the Stroke Association in memory of Jim Rodgers, as he suffered a stroke in his last few months and unfortunately didn’t shoot again.  I’m sure he would have been very happy with the turn-out and support, although no doubt would have grumbled over the rules for the night!

Many thanks to those who turned up early to give me a hand with set-up (and those who helped to pack away at the end) – your help in moving targets, blowing up balloons, and sticking stickers was much appreciated!  With all of the help we were ready to go at 6pm as planned, and with help from Jo (the charity representative) and her son Warrick, we soon had the archers split into pairs.  Or in the case of our single longbower, a trio.  Mark was of course the last on the field (with seconds to spare), racing across the cricket pitch with his bag balanced on his shoulder.  Perhaps I should have made him shoot as a team on his own, just for being late!

          

The rules were fairly simple.  Shoot sticks at the targets, score more points than the other teams.  Try not to get caught cheating.  

Scoring rules differed slightly from the norm, on some of the targets, but at least this time you knew what you were aiming for before shooting (unlike the March fun shoot indoors!).  The more “experienced” archers aimed for the balloons right away, forgetting that we don’t score sighters, and therefore missing out completely on some of the extra points available.  Ooops!

Warrick did a brilliant job of handing out spot prizes, acting as our judge for the night (no one gets away with not working!), and Catherine did a grand job of selling raffle tickets.  The archers, meanwhile, forgot to mark their stickers, forgot to change their sights, and in some cases forgot how to add up.  Organised chaos, as is often the case when the rules are changed!

All in all, a fun night for everyone.  With cake (I’m still sure Amy made a sticky cake in order to glue the competition to their bows), hasty target face changes, haribo, and the most awesome trophies ever handed out at an archery competition, spirits were high as we ended the shoot.  Thanks again to our Lady P, Jo, for helping with the scoring, the raffle, and awarding the prizes.

So far, we have raised over £200, although the full amount of cash raised isn’t yet known as I’m waiting for a few more donations promised by some of Heugh’s archers who couldn’t make it.  Should anyone else wish to donate, please pass your cash on to me or Ian.

Thankfully we managed to finish up before full dark hit, but only just.  Next year we’ll move it forward a bit, to June or July, to make the most of the daylight hours.  And I hope to see you all there again, when the rules will change yet again!

Our lovely neighbours, Norton Archers, invited us along to their Annual Harry Potter Shoot last week, and four of us took them up on the offer.

Myself, Matthew, Bill and Joe wandered along there to see what the fuss was about, with no idea at all of what we were letting ourselves in for.  All we had been told was “basilisk”, “teams” and “the novices are running it”.  Sounded like it was going to be fun!

On arrival we were met with the usual high level of welcome, from bright and cheery greetings, to “there will be cake later” – music to our ears 🙂  While we set up and had a chat with our Norton friends, the novice crew sorted out the target faces.  I was a little confused at what looked like a tin of potatoes, but I was fairly certain that it would make more sense once I was told the rules…!

Joe started the afternoon looking like he was wondering what he’d let himself in for, as he watched the set up, while Bill casually leaned on his bow, looking amused.  This certainly wasn’t going to be a “normal” afternoon’s shooting!

Once we were all set up, we split up into our Houses, and were given a tour of the targets, and an explanation of the scoring system.  Points would be awarded for hitting dementors and death eaters, but you would lose house points for hitting owls and Triwizard contestants.  The house with the most points at the end of the competition would be declared the winner.

All sounds fairly straightforward 😀

The first few targets were just that, so long as you remembered what you were aiming for.  Hitting the dragons seemed like it should be easy, but I managed to hit the blank space right between it’s wings and scored zero, while Alison from Norton managed to… well… hit the back crossbeam of the target , and wedge her arrow behind the boss.  While being a marvelous trick shot, it wasn’t a scoring arrow!

The trickier shots came as we got to the last two targets for my team.  You’d think the Basilisk would be fairly easy, as it’s “a dirty great snake” (Ron’s words), but we had to go halfway up the field to retrieve some arrows…  Can you see it?  That green thing on the grass to the left of the bosses.  Yeah, that’s it.  Good job we went on the field shoot last month – helped a little for this one!  Maybe they should paint it a different colour for next year, though? 😀

Last target of the day for me and Matthew was the potatoes.  Which turned out to be Snitches.  That’s right, they expected us to hit small, golden, winged, egg-shaped balls, which were camouflaged rather well on a straw boss!

 

 

Joe was the first of the Heugher’s to let out a delighted (rather shocked) yell of “I GOT ONE!!!”, followed by myself a few ends later.  However, when a dozen or so of us lined up at the end to shoot a volley at them, not one single archer scored a hit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, a great afternoon.  Slytherin took most of the honours, which means Matthew and myself have to go back next year to defend our title, along with Glenn and Athol.  Norton’s novices did a great job of organising the shoot, creating the targets, and handing out free invisibility cloaks.  And the cake was rather nice, too!  I think I can safely say that the afternoon was enjoyed by all, and I’m looking forward to next year!

Thanks to Norton Archers once again for the invite, and for making us so welcome.  

Yesterday proved to be a typical day in Seaton Carew for the weather, as we lined up for the annual Ship Inn Shield and Junior Horn trophies.  The round was an Albion/Windsor, and as we began the first end at 80 years we were standing in glorious sunshine, with a mild breeze.

Three dozen arrows later as we reached the 60 yard mark, the wind came out to play in force.  Nice strong gusts to keep us on our toes (those archers in Rio who have been complaining about the wind need to come and train with us!).  Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as it had been on Friday night, and it died down a bit again by the time we got to 50 yards.

Just in time for the rain!

Only a quick shower, and it was actually quite refreshing, before the sun came back out to end the day.  As I said, typical Seaton Carew!

It also looks like the Rugby season is about to start, as we were shooting to the age old cry of PIZZA!, and random numbers/colours being called out behind us.  Ol’Billy wandered off to find out what they were yelling about, but didn’t come back any wiser!

 

Ian is still on the injured list, so he again did a marvelous job of keeping the juniors (and Mick!) in line.  I’m sure the results would have been a whole lot different, had they scored their own arrows.  Poor Ian needed a well deserved rest after explaining (again) that you can’t score an even number at an Imperial round!

 

 

The Juniors (and beginners) shot some very nice scores at 30 yards.  I think we’re going to have to stop letting them shoot these easy targets!  Nice to see Joe there to shoot the round, but he missed out on the prize due to not having a handicapped score.  And with only a few weeks to go until he joins the seniors, he’ll have to get some more practice in 🙂

 

Ethan Bradshaw took home the Junior Horn, with an adjusted score of 1511.  Well done Ethan!

 

 

The Ship Inn Shield went to Matthew David, with an adjusted score of 1461.  Well done to Matthew (and a great excuse for having to come back next year!)

The Rose Bowl (Ladies) will be shot at a later date this year.

Final (senior) scores for the day:

Matthew – 1461

Alan – 1423

Morris – 1384

Karen – 1369

Bill – 1369

 

Yesterday saw Heugh Bowmen’s annual Norma Telfer Trophy Shoot.

The day started off grey, overcast and wet, and frankly didn’t get much better!  Billed as a 1pm sharp start, we didn’t get underway until half past as we waited for the rain to ease off.  Thankfully it did brighten up a little, and other than one small (but heavy) shower, it stayed relatively dry – although the wind did come out to play late in the afternoon in typical Seaton Carew style.

Norma Telfer was a long-standing member of Heugh Bowmen, and from all accounts an excellent archer 🙂   When she sadly passed away a few years ago, Ian chose to let her legacy live on with a handicapped tournament for Heugh members only.  In his words, he picked the American round as something a bit different for the beginners, as most tend to stick to the rounds that are only two distances.

The third annual winner of the Norma Telfer Trophy was Brian Clark.   Although his poor addition originally gave him 100 points more than he should have had, he was undoubtedly the winner of the day by a large margin.  Amy’s also incorrectly totalled scores meant that she didn’t come second as I announced yesterday – that place was taken by Steven.  🙂

In other news, Ethan Bradshaw took the Templar Junior Trophy with his Windsor.  Aided by his dad, who also added the scores up wrong (although it didn’t affect the result).  Maybe we should start handing out calculators as prizes?  😀

Many thanks to everyone who turned out in the not-exactly-ideal weather conditions.  While the rain and wind obviously put a few people off, there was enough there to make a fun shoot, so thank you for your support of the Telfers!

For full results, see below

 

Thanks to the football tournament, we couldn’t shoot at Seaton yesterday, so off we went on a trip to Thirsk.  For most of us, it was our first ever attempt at field archery, and the members of Stonebow Archery thankfully took that into account as our arrows flew wildly 🙂

 

 

 

We were welcomed with bacon butties (or veggie equivalent!) by Alison and her team of helpers, divided up into teams, and sent on our way.  Although field archery comes with it’s own set of rules, all carefully explained by the experts, most of us ignored the “one arrow” rule and continued to empty our quivers at each target.  Most of us also ignored the different coloured pegs and tried everything from the red (or the wasp!) – regardless of advice from the experienced field archers on hand!

 

 

Injured Ian did a marvelous job of shooting everyone and handing out afternoon snacks, while Morris was on hand to lend his morale support (and sympathy) as we blundered our way through the woods.  It’s a good job we weren’t relying on stealth to catch our supper…

Last year’s beginners set off as a group, and soon proved their head for heights with the flying owl.  Graham helpfully worked the hoist while Ethan took careful aim from the platform, before Denis and Catherine each took a turn.

    

Colin confidently led his team off into the woods, carrying his longbow, while
Patrick chose to go barebow for the day.  Pam and Kev, however, opted to keep the full Olympic-style recurve.  One of them obviously had the right idea, because they scored a kill on the owl!

Patrick looked calm and confident while taking aim at a distant pig, while Pam put the coach’s tips into practice, Kev pulled faces and Colin did…  a happy dance???

 

 

     

 

My team headed off to shoot some fields (they’re big, so you can’t miss!), and despite the usual comments about my hat, I was glad of it when we got to the windy end of the course!  Bill brought his flatbow, and seemed to be trying to kiss the string without drawing it, while Ethan showed us all up with his new longbow.  Joe was proof that if you take the expert’s advice you do much better, as he hit first time once he set his foot to the peg!

 

Lunchtime was a welcome break, with hot food and a bit of a rest!  Veggie soup was lovely, as were the cakes.  Can’t comment on the chilli, but since there wasn’t any of it left it must have been good!

After lunch we went off again, to finish off those wild animals.  And a few trees.

 

Bill showed his group how it was done, while they all watched carefully.  They must have been expecting a few lost arrows, as Morris carefully watched through binoculars.  No need for it by the time they got to the Centurian, as Steven showed him who was boss!  Brother in laws Wayne and Kevin kept their cool (and their sights!), but headed off early to go to work.

    

Last group consisted of the kids…  While Jay seemed to take it seriously, Mark didn’t.  Except when we was shooting, while Amy didn’t take it seriously.  And I’m not sure we should have let Amy climb the ladder.

  

All in all, a very successful first field shoot for Heugh.  We had a few casualties – Kev shredded three arrows, Steven decided his would go round trees better if they were bent, and Ethan took the ear off a fox – but nothing spoiled the day.

    

As for good shots – there was a few.  I kneecapped the Centurian, while someone else shot him square in the forehead.  Ethan’s longbow was deadly (especially if you were behind him), Joe thought a tree branch looked like a tempting target, and it looks like someone managed to shoot Bambi vertically in the head four times.  Wow.  And I’m sorry Mark, but shooting the deer in the eye, through the brain and out of the back of it’s skull doesn’t count as a kill shot, so you don’t get the points.

       

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get the all important group photo at the end of the day, because the last group there were too busy having fun to notice how late it was getting, and folks had already begun to leave.  As we left, we expressed our thanks to our hosts (as I’m sure everyone did!) and promised we’d see them again soon.

So, anyone up for another go in September/October???

Although the day started off a little chilly and overcast, by lunchtime it was clear blue skies and sun-screen for all, as Jim certainly sent us the best of the weather.  Light southerly breezes persisted all day (as normal!), but they weren’t enough to spoil anyone’s shooting, and one spot of equipment failure just after lunch was all that marred the day.

 

 

Many thanks to all of the Heughers who turned out for the field party, and got the targets up and ready in great time for our guests arriving.  Kev, Alan, Bill, Morris, Jason, Matthew, Aaron and Brian worked very hard, as always, while Pam did a great job as the welcoming committee (and debt collector!)

We all soon got into some serious shooting, while Judge Sharon Tideswell lightened the mood with some on-the-spot prizes for Best Blue and Worst Red.  Thanks Sharon!

Meanwhile, Injured Ian looked after the juniors (including Jason), and Wayne made some new friends.

 

Overall, a fantastic turnout from the Club as a whole, with 16 shooting and a further five non-shooters as support.  Six of us took medals home, and Kev and Pam secured the Jack and Jill.

 

As for the Heugh-only trophies, Bill passed on the Johnson Arrow to Emily (best handicapped score), so that he could up-grade to Best Heugh Recurve!

Everyone there contributed to a brilliant day, and honoured Jim by shooting well and having fun.  There’s no doubt that he would have been pleased with both the turn out on the day and the high level of sportsmanship shown by all.  A huge thank you goes out to Kev Duncanson as Tournament Officer, Pam Duncanson for the support, the field party for all of the hard work, Sharon for her Judging and her prizes, Wendy for bringing a sparkly basket for the raffle, and everyone simply for coming along to shoot with us.  Hope to see everyone again next year!

 * Photography by Louise Arkwright – thanks Louise!

Not to be outdone, the last session of beginners are also photo-worthy!

Andy hit his three gold end, while Ben outshone him with a five gold end!

Now the beginners are finished, time to look forward to the next handicap shoot – July 9th is the Norma Telfar Trophy, and we will be shooting an American round.

The beginners are still coming along very well, with Katie getting her three gold end last week.

Not to be outdone, dad Graham then shot his first six gold end at 30 yards last night!

Congratulations to Aaron Clark who won the Templar handicap shoot (WA720). The weather went from heavy rain (we were all sheltering in the hut)  to glorius sunshine. The wind was moving around quite a bit making things awkward.

Well done to all that turned up and supported the clubs first outdoor competition of the year.

Handicapped adjusted scores.

1st Aaron   1503

2nd Morris 1431

3rd Bill 1428

4th Jason 1384

5th Amy 1373

6th Kevin 1339

7th Pamela 1168

Thanks to our session two beginners for their efforts – the beginners have come along great over the last four weeks, and we’re looking forward to seeing them all come back to join the club.  Thanks to Mark for giving them a taste of compound and flatbow.

Final session ended with a bang as they had a go at balloon popping in the wind, and a one arrow shoot off at the end left Roy with a huge bar of chocolate to enjoy.  🙂

A few pics from the beginning of the season, as we had all hands on deck to repair the foam targets.  I’m not sure who allowed Mark to use the hammer, but he seemed to have fun, while Alan stood well back…  And while Bill H slowly sank into the mud on his ladder, Morris was doing a grand job of watching Bill S do the hard work!

Fantastic job done by all!