Write on Target

Stourbridge Company of Archers' Newsletter March 2011

Time flies and believe it or not, it has been almost six months since our last Newsletter, so with spring in the air (we hope!), it’s time to dust off that equipment (if you haven’t already) and get down to the field for a few ends of arrows and some friendly banter. Since it has been a while since our last edition, this is somewhat of a bumper issue, so read on and we hope you will find something to interest you.


Members News

Best wishes to Kay Jeffs, who has just finished her Chemo, and is hoping to start some radiotherapy this month. She's hoping to be back to archery a bit later this summer, and we wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her (and Bernie!) soon.


"Team Stourbridge" take the Garrington Cup!

For only the second time in the Club’s history, our compound team won this year’s Garrington Cup – an inter-club competition for Worcestershire Clubs held over the winter season.

The Cup is awarded based on scores from six nominated open tournaments - the World Record Status FITA 18 held at Evesham; the UK Record Status Stafford held at Redditch; Droitwich’s Double Worcester; our own 25m FITA; Wyre Forest’s Portsmouth; culminating in the WMAS & CWAA Indoor Championships at Evesham. After each round, points are allocated depending on each Worcestershire Club’s overall team score (maximum of three compound archers per team including one lady or junior); the team with the highest score being allocated the maximum 10 points; the Club with the second highest score being given 9 points; the third placed team 8 points and so on.

SCOA's Garrington Cup-winning 2011 compound teamStourbridge took the maximum 10 points from four of the six rounds, with our team consisting of Tony Carter, Luke Pennell and Michelle Hall at the Evesham FITA 18 and our own 25m FITA round and Tony, Clive Freeman and Michelle at the Redditch Stafford and Droitwich Worcester rounds.

For the final two rounds at Wyre Forest and Evesham, we had only two compound archers (Tony and Michelle), but since each team is allowed to drop the score from their lowest scoring round, we had already won the trophy going into the final round at Evesham, having scored 49 out of a maximum 50 points. This meant that whatever our score, even our closest rivals, Evesham, could not catch us.

Our recurve team which was made up of various Stourbridge archers over the course of the season (Steve Lines, Alyson Smith, Peter Langmaid, Colin Stratton, Andy Pennell and Roger Hanson) also did well to take third place in the Recurve Garrington Cup – it has been a long time since Stourbridge has reached such heights in this competition.

As well as our Garrington Cup success, Stourbridge archers also picked up a number of other awards during the course of the indoor season.


"Team Stourbridge" Indoor Season

The season started with our own Worcester competition held at Perryfields on 7 November 2010. Forty archers attended from as far afield as Cheltenham and North Staffordshire including 12 Club members. Despite some pretty cold temperatures (inside the hall, rather than out!), a number of Stourbridge archers came away with awards.

Luke Pennell matched the joint winners of the Gents’ Compound to take the Junior Compound Trophy with a score of 299! Colin Stratton did really well to take the second place award in the Gents’ Recurve and Steve Lines was awarded an E Class Medal. Alyson Smith took the second place award in the Ladies’ Recurve and Michelle Hall was second in the Ladies’ Compound. Stourbridge held the monopoly on Longbow competitors with Brian Webster, Keith Raybould and Arvon Hutchinson vying for the honours; Brian coming out on top to take first place in this category.

The first round of the Garrington Cup was the 18m FITA Tournament at Evesham on 14 November 2010, where "Team Stourbridge" shot alongside some of the top ranked archers in the country, some of whom were fresh from their Commonwealth Games success in Delhi. This was a World Record Status tournament and in this elite company, Tony Carter and Luke Pennell did extremely well to win the Compound Team Trophy and Luke also took the Junior Boys’ Compound Trophy.

Our next trip to the Redditch Stafford was not so successful. On a miserable November day when we were in the grips of the “big freeze”, we did not even manage a raffle win! The only glimmer of light from a miserable afternoon was that our combined compound team score was enough to gain 10 points towards the Garrington Cup.

The next indoor competition, Droitwich’s Double Worcester, caused a bit of confusion in that most of us didn’t realise we needed to shoot both morning and afternoon sessions to qualify for most of the awards. However, we still managed to come away with a couple of medals, despite at least one of us being a bit the worse for wear from the night before!

In January, Stourbridge hosted a round of the Garrington Cup at the Harry Mitchell Centre in Smethwick. This was a FITA 25 and was very well attended with over 60 competitors taking part. The event was well supported by Club members with 16 Stourbridge archers competing, including both Becky Simonds and Colin Dewis taking part in their first open tournament.

Tony took second place in the Gents’ Compound, being beaten only by Jon Nott (ranked UK No 16); Luke won the Junior Compound; Keith Raybould took first place in the Gents’ Longbow, narrowly beating arch rival Brian Webster; Colin Stratton was awarded a D Class Medal in the Gents’ Recurve; Alyson a D Class Medal in the Ladies’ Recurve and Dave Johnson an E Class Medal in the Gents’ Compound – well done, Dave!

Peter Langmaid was our sole representative at the County of Warwick and West Midlands Indoor Championships held at the Harry Mitchell Centre at the end of January. Peter did very well to finish a creditable 9th out of 22 competitors in the Men’s Recurve – well done, Peter!

Eleven Club members took part in the Wyre Forest Portsmouth on 13 February 2011, including Becky and Colin Dewis who were obviously acquiring a taste for competition! Saints & Sinners seemed to almost have a monopoly on the trophies and medals, but we did manage to pick up a third place medal in the Ladies’ Compound (despite my having a miss, resulting in a shredded arrow with an end that resembled the top of a leek, having ricocheted off the Emergency Exit sign!), a Gents Compound B Class Medal (Tony) and second and third place medals for Gents’ Longbow (Brian and Keith respectively).

Only three Stourbridge archers took part in the WMAS & CWAA Indoor Championships at Evesham on 6 March 2011. This was another World Record Status FITA 18 with some of the top ranked UK archers taking part.

I was both highly honoured, but also extremely nervous to be sharing a boss with Nicky Hunt who I knew was one of our top lady compound archers and a multiple Commonwealth Gold Medal Winner. However, this was further compounded (excuse the pun!) when I learned that not only was she the UK No 1, but she was also the World No 1 ranked Lady Compound archer! Fortunately for me, Nicky was classed as a visitor and so was not eligible for either the West Midlands or County of Worcester awards which allowed me to come away with the third place medals for both.

Alyson, Steve and Michelle at BromyardOur final outing of the indoor season was to Bromyard for their annual "D’s and Downs" competition on 20 March 2011. Seven Stourbridge archers took part including Steve Lines and Colin Dewis, but it really was a case of “Girl Power” with five of the Stourbridge ladies competing (Alison, Becky, Lisa - competing in her first open competition, Michelle and Olwyn). Everyone acquitted themselves well including both Becky and Lisa who had not shot on a Worcester target face before. Both Steve and Alyson came away with third place medals (for Gents’ and Ladies’ Recurve respectively) and I won the Ladies’ Compound Trophy and also moved up to a C Class; my score at Bromyard being my third C class score in succession, having shot my first two in the preceding two weeks.

No doubt we are all now looking forward to the better weather (fingers crossed!) and shooting outside – bring on the summer competitions!

Michelle


Worcester Summer Cup

This is an inter-club competition for County of Worcestershire Clubs for the summer season. Over the summer months, there are seven nominated open tournaments and archers who shoot at these events can submit their scores to their Club Team Manager. Unlike the Garrington Cup which is based on “made / straight” scores, the Worcester Summer Cup is handicap adjusted and with quite a few of our newer members having dipped their toes into the water, if we can get a good turnout at the nominated tournaments, we might be in with a chance!

Please speak to our Away Shoots Officer, Dave Johnson, if you are interested in taking part in competitions and he can let you know what is coming up.


GNAS Clothing Rule

The GNAS have relaxed their clothing rule for competitions and it is no longer necessary to wear green and white or registered shooting colours. (I can hear many of the ladies breathing a sigh of relief, as I am sure green is not the colour of choice for many of us!) However, a certain standard of dress is still expected – see the Autumn edition of your Archery UK magazine or the GNAS website for a full explanation.


Somers Club

As some of you may have seen, the Somers Club have warned that they are going to be tightening up on membership cards, although when we went in last week, the main door with swipe card entry was wedged open, so that any Tom, Dick or Harry could get in! If you use the Club (or intend to), now may be the time to check your membership and make sure you have a current swipe card.

If you haven't yet tried the facilities, they stock a good selection of real ales including guest beers and the price of a pint is very reasonable (or so I am told, as I always seem to be the designated driver!)

Michelle

Addendum: A list of SCOA members has now been forwarded to Somers, at their request, and subsequent agreement by our committee. Please note that it is a requirement that one adult member per family, is also a member of Somers.


Handicap Improvement Trophy

Congratulations to Olwyn Wall and Tom Woodhouse who were the joint winners of the Club’s 2010 Handicap Improvement Trophy. Both Olwyn and Tom managed to improve their handicaps by a massive 14 points. A number of other Club members also made significant improvements to their handicaps during the course of the year – well done everyone!


Clive becomes a Judge

After about 20 years of competitive shooting, Clive Freeman has decided to hang up his quiver and become a Candidate Judge. Clive will be shadowing established Judges during the course of this season, before becoming fully fledged.

Of course, Clive will still be a regular down at the field and will still be competing in the odd Club competition to keep his hand in.

We wish him every success with this new chapter in his archery career.


Coaching

Alan Brown, Roger Hanson and Margaret Hanson have just become Level 1 coaches, passing their assessments last weekend.

Our beginners' courses this year will take place from the first week in May until the middle of June. We have had a slow response from people taking up places, so if you know anyone who is interested, please see Maggie.


Indoor Venue

Our indoor sessions on Friday evenings at Perryfields have not been well attended of late and in the light of this and complaints regarding the sub-zero temperatures and lack of light, we have been exploring alternative venues. We are attempting to book another venue at Waseley Hills High School in Rubery, which is warm, light, has adequate parking, toilets, storage facilities, and easy access from Junction 4 of the M5 Motorway. We will keep you informed on progress.

Just a quick reminder, the Indoor at Perryfields has now finished for this Winter.


Record Officer’s Report / New Club Records

The following members have shot new Club Records during the last couple of months:-
Tony Carter - Long National - 614; FITA 70 - 647
Luke Pennell – FITA 18 - 573.
Michelle Hall – Long Warwick - 352; Vegas / FITA 18 - 529.


"Frostbite" Postal League / Indoor Postal

It was pleasing to see such a good turnout at the last “Frostbite” postal on 13 March 2011. Bob Graham has not yet received results from our opponents, but they will be posted in the clubhouse when available.

Thanks to all those who have braved the elements during the winter months to shoot the “Frostbite” rounds.


Dates for your Diary

22 May 2011 – Hagley National (Club)
19 June 2011 - Breakfast Shoot (Club)
3 July 2011 – Club Champs (Club)
10 July 2011 – Rat’s Ashes (Open)
14 August 2011 – Albion (Open)
4 September 2011 – Sheriff’s Western (Open)
September 2011 – All-Comers Warwick (handicap adjusted) (Club)
September 2011 - Derek Peacock Memorial Longbow Shoot
October 2011 - AGM
6 November 2011 – Annual Worcester (Open)
8 January 2012 – Annual FITA 25m (Open)


Glade Magazine 70M Internet Archery League

The Glade 70 Metre Internet Archery League is a new type of competition that enables individuals and teams of archers to judge how they are progressing, both locally and internationally. Details of this competition will be posted in the Clubhouse if you are interested. Might be good to have a go?


Housekeeping

30 April - 1.00 pm - Tidy-up day. Please try to come along if you can - many hands make light work. We need to clean the clubhouse, check the equipment, and do any other odd jobs. Your help would be much appreciated.


Raffle Prizes

Clive has run out of raffle prizes, so if you have any unwanted gifts, or would just like to donate something, PLEASE see Clive (usually found drinking coffee in the clubhouse!)


Air Ambulance

Jo Horner is looking for books in good condition to raise funds for the Air Ambulance. If you have anything suitable, please let Jo know and she will collect your contribution from the Clubhouse. Last year, she (with others at work) managed to raise over £1,600, so it's well worth while.


Team Pennell

Congratulations to Luke who has secured a place on the GB Junior Training Squad for the next 2 years. This was good news as it came only a few days after his win at the GNAS Indoor British Championships where he finished higher than all of the GB Team.

The next big step will be competing for a Team spot at the trials at the end of April. May be difficult this year but with the training that he is putting in he should get a place on the team next year if this year does not work out.

Andy Pennell


Limbs for Sale

KAP Evolution II, 68", 36lbs Universal limb fittings. If you are interested, please see Bob and offer him £30.00.


Thoughts from the shooting line:

Well, after that mammoth newsletter, we're too frazzled!!

Thanks to Michelle for all her efforts in helping us with this edition, and collating all the facts.

 

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