Write on Target
Hello again! Remember us? Well, it’s blowing a gale, coming on to rain, so now’s a good opportunity to do a newsletter. You may have noticed that Newsletters are more frequent during the winter months – I wonder why??
Welcome to Fletchlings
We have had a fair few new members, both from the courses, and direct enquiries. A very big welcome to all of you – we hope you will indulge yourselves with the luxury of our facilities, both outdoor and especially indoor (8.00 pm, Friday nights, Perryfields School in the sports hall. You might as well, there’s nothing on the tele anyway!)
Indoor
Our indoor sessions have started – we need a good attendance at Perryfields, as (a) we’d love to see you, (b) we need to cover the cost of hiring the hall!! (c) We’ve entered four Winter Postal Leagues so we need your support on match days at least, and (d) the club had to subsidise the indoor last year, and we’d be happier if it made a small profit, or at least broke even.
Buddy System
In order to
bring our newcomers along, it has been suggested that we start a buddy system
whereby an experienced archer adopts a newcomer, so they have a point of
contact, and somebody more experienced to shoot with. If you are willing to adopt a ‘fletchling’,
contact Mag.
It is more
beneficial if you have a shooting partner, even if it’s someone who, like
yourself, has just started, as one tends to pull the other upwards, and it
makes your shooting experience more enjoyable.
The other way to
improve and monitor your progress, is to shoot rounds. A round can be as short as 30 and 20 yards,
and it still counts towards your handicap rating. Having got a handicap, you can then monitor
your performance against any round that you choose to shoot, which is much
better practice than just pinging arrows up the field. You will be surprised by what you can achieve
with even modest scores. GO ON, HAVE A
GO AT ROUNDS!
Dates for your Diary
Keep your eyes
on the club notice board for entry forms for the indoor rounds which constitute
the Garrington Cup. The first is the
Evesham 18m FITA: Dave Johnson has the entry forms. This will be held late in November.
(8th actually - Webmaster)
Stourbridge Co. of A. Worcester round will be held on Sunday 1st November 2009 at
Perryfields. Shooters and volunteers
required, please. Contact Peter Langmaid
to volunteer!
Droitwich Worcester in December.
AGM
At our recent
AGM the Committee were once again elected en-bloc, with the exception of Martin
Dorrance. Martin has a shoulder injury
and has decided not to rejoin, so we are now looking for a new Junior Section
Leader. The duties are not particularly
difficult – and involve collating juniors’ scores, rather than any ‘hands-on’
coaching. If anyone is interested in taking up this
post, please contact any committee member.
We are sorry to
lose Martin – he’s done a sterling job over the years, and we hope his shoulder
problem recedes and he’s able to join us again in the future.
The attendance
at the AGM was pretty good – nearly as many club members as Committee – so well
done. Maybe next year the ‘ordinary’
members will outnumber the committee – here’s hoping!
There were no
big surprises or any contentious issues.
The Club Fees will remain the same, with any outside increases such as
affiliations, being absorbed. The
membership has remained stable, with the loss of some juniors, and the addition
of more senior folk.
E-mails
The editors have
at long last arrived in the twenty-first century and are now on-line!!
We have managed to obtain quite a few of your
e-mail addresses, and hope to send this newsletter out electronically to those
of you similarly equipped.
If you do not receive this via e-mail, and would like to in future (it does save postage),
please e-mail your request to Bob & Mag
Steve Knight, our membership secretary, would also like your e-mail addresses, so if you
would like to send us your address, can you ping it to Steve as well.
If you have received this electronically, for the first time would you please acknowledge
receipt, so that we know the system works.
Anyone who doesn’t reply will get a hard copy through the post within a
week.
Records / Shoot Reports
At the recent AGM Derek reported on our positions in the various postal leagues, and we are generally very near the bottom of the all divisions we are in. This could be resolved if our less experienced archers helped us out – we need your scores, as they are generally handicap adjusted, and if you can hit the target, then you are a great asset!!
Lost Arrows
As our field is a multi-sport area, all lost arrows must be found. Leaving them in the grass is not an option. We have several metal detectors, and a rake, and everyone is willing to help search. In the event that an arrow cannot be found, please report it either to Bob, with a rough location of whereabouts you think it is, or directly to the Somers staff (Ian or Jo).
Putting Targets Away / Etiquette
We shouldn’t have to be doing this, but if you have finished shooting, do not assume that
someone else will use your target afterwards; unless you have a prior agreement
with another member, please put your target away. Thank you.
I know we’re all
guilty of this, but whilst people are on the line, please try not to make too
much noise near them, and certainly don’t upset their concentration by
interrupting them.
Bog Snorkelling
It has been
reported that at a very recent field shoot, one of our members who shall remain
nameless (a barebow archer) decided to combine the sport of field shooting with
bog snorkelling.
Nobody was more
surprised than him when, taking a shortcut, he found himself literally waist
deep in the mire. The question is, did
he manage to keep his equipment dry??
Dave’s Quiz.
All the answers include a colour
The answers to last time’s “Missing Words” quiz are as follows:
Thoughts from the shooting line:
Archery: A series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle.