Autumn Have-a-Go

On Saturday 2nd September we ran our second have-a-go this year, the first taking place prior to the summer beginners’ programme.

That first have-a-go a slightly delayed AGB initiative – Start Archery Week, something the club has participated in during previous years. As has become the norm a donation bucket was displayed. We did however on both occasions this year run a raffle, the prize being a place on the beginner programme.

Both of this year’s have-a-go’s were blessed with good weather and so were the participants were able to see Colquite in all it’s glory; the helpers were great too, and as one of the organiser I would like to express my thanks to all who attended and as well as those within the club who helped to advertise the event via Socials and word of mouth.

The events and subsequent Beginners Courses have to the club funds and part of this will be allocated to beginner training equipment, especially arrows which take a beating. The ‘Snake’ bows obtained by Rob a season or two ago proved their worth, their suitability for have-a-go events cannot be surpassed being easy to use, dual-handed and low poundage. As usual it is always great to see our Juniors helping out and this is a great learning opportunity for all involved. Any formal feedback received by the club will obviously be forwarded on where applicable.

The club was able to set up a some equipment aimed at the under 8’s and this was well attended and provided a lot of fun. This is definitely a feature in future have-a-go’s.

The intention of running the have-a-go sessions just prior to beginner programmes is to boost the attendance and although a lot of interest is expressed this year specifically, this hasn’t necessarily translated into attendees however with a more robust approach to managing interest and contacting people regularly by phone prior to commencement its hoped the club can ensure the courses are fully booked, however the club also appreciates that with the current cost of living crisis disposable income is a commodity in short supply.

As a rule the beginner programmes on Sunday afternoons and although they have been successful the lack of flex makes it difficult for some people to attend, so the club is looking at the possibility of a programme to run at the Show Ground whereby we may facilitate those unable to do daytime training, once agreed further detail will follow.

So to end – thank you on behalf of the club to all those guest who attended and to the helpers that helped to make the day a success. As for 2024, we are hoping to repeat this year’s schedule of programmes, certainly offer two have-a-go’s, and maybe even one prior to the spring programme though tis is all very much – weather dependant.

Winter Postal Leagues

We shoot two different rounds over winter, which are entered into postal leagues against other clubs around the region (DCAS league) and country (Selby League).

Indoors we shoot the Portsmouth round, which is 5 dozen arrows on a 60cm target face at 20yds. To fill the teams, we need a minimum of 6 recurve, 3 compound, 4 longbow, & 3 junior (1 may be compound).

Outdoors we shoot the Frostbite round, which is 3 dozen arrows on an 80cm target face at 30m. To fill the teams, we need a minimum of 6 recurve, 2 compound, and 4 longbow scores (although for DCAS, we need a total of 9 senior scores which can include up to 3 compound), and 3 juniors, 1 of which can be compound.

This is not just a competitive league, but a reason for us to get together as a club and shoot at the same time. We will be shooting the Frostbites on the first Sunday of every month and the Portsmouths in the first week of each month. There are quite a few members who shoot more than one discipline so they can shoot their second (and third) rounds at another time in the month.

We will be lighting the BBQ after shooting the Frostbite so please feel free to bring something to throw on after we shoot (bacon sarnies are especially suitable after a cold morning shooting 😉).

Don’t forget, we are shooting indoors at Trebudannon on Wednesdays and Fridays with sessions starting at 4:30pm and 6:30pm.

You will still need to book to shoot for both the Frostbite and the indoor sessions.

Shoot What You Like Knockout Tournament

Since we came back from lockdown and have been lucky enough to shoot again, it has been fantastic to see so many of our members taking advantage of the booking slots available and shooting at different times throughout the week. The down side of this is that we don’t see so much of each other any more. You may have seen that the guidelines have recently been relaxed a little to allow two people from different households to shoot on the same target (maintaining social distance of course). To celebrate this we’ve been trying to come up with a way to get people back to shooting socially again.

Like a lot of clubs, we’ve missed out on running our annual open tournament this year, but that doesn’t stop us from running something within our own club. We have come up with something that, as far as I’m aware, we’ve never tried before: a knockout tournament. Unlike most tournaments, this won’t be restricted by round or age group. This will be run using the handicap system to make it a fair and level playing field for everyone. What that means is that the competitors can shoot whatever round they like from a York down to a Short Junior Warwick and the allowance granted by the handicap system will make the scores comparable. The only rules are that you must have a handicap before you shoot your matches and the matches must be shot at the same time as your opponent. There will be a time limit on how long you have to shoot the matches, eg. The first match must be shot within 3 weeks of the draw, etc. But that will all be announced as we go along. 

For now, if you would like to take part in the first ever Bowmen of Wadebridge Shoot What You Like (BOWSWYL) Knockout Tournament, please register with me by email (robwilliams01@gmail.com) stating your name and bowstyle. If you shoot more than one bowstyle you can enter once for each style if you like.

If you don’t know your handicap or don’t know how to get one, please get in touch with me and I can explain.

Rob.

2020 Tournament Cancelled

It is with regret that we have taken the decision to cancel our tournaments for this year.

As you may be aware, we had planned to hold a UK Record Status Double WA70m on Saturday 4th July as well as our usual Mixed Herefords tournament on Sunday 5th, however the restrictions that we have had to put in place to maintain social distancing mean that this is no longer possible.

It is our intention to mirror this year’s plans in 2021 on the weekend of 3rd & 4th July and if time and restrictions allow, we may hold a fun event later this year.

Summer Postals

Every year we enter teams into the Selby League summer postal tournament. Usually this is shot as Short Metrics for recurve archers and Nationals for longbows. This year, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the rounds have been changed to enable them to be shot without moving distances.

We have entered 2 recurve teams (team A will be the top 3 scores and team B will be the next best 3 scores) and a longbow team (best 2 longbow scores). The round for both recurve and longbow will be a Metric 122-50, which is 6 dozen arrows at 50m on a 122cm face.

The target currently at 70m (lane 7) will be moved to 50m for the week from 25-31 May. Please get your round shot in this week and submit scores to John Tizzard as usual.

Not everyone is going to be able to shoot all the time at the moment so it is important that we get as many scores in as possible, even if you don’t think yours will make the team – you may be pleasantly surprised!

Returning to Shooting

Further to Archery GB issuing guidance for clubs to re-open on Wednesday 13th May, the committee has now taken the decision to re-open the outdoor range from Monday 18th May with certain restriction and regulations in place. Please click here for the full information on how we will be managing the return to shooting through Covid-19.

January Portsmouth Postals

Well done to everyone who entered scores for the January Portsmouth Postals. The teams this month were:

Longbow
Bob Arnold 375
Roger Davis 372
John Tizzard 273

Recurve A
Rob Williams 574
Bryn Phillips 563
Richard Jones 544

Recurve B
John Tizzard 528
Hedley Omant 524
Bob Arnold 521

January Frostbite

Well done to everyone who came along to shoot the January Frostbite. The teams this month were:

British Archer
A
Rob Williams 322
Richard Jones 290
Bob Arnold 283
B
Tristan Young (U16) 279
John Tizzard 270
Hedley Omant 268

DCAS
A
Matt Suttherland 337
Rob Williams 322
Richard Jones 290
B
Adam George 333
Bob Arnold 283
Tristan Young (U16) 279

2018 Open Tournament

The 2018 Open Tournament was held on Sunday 1st July. In true B.O.W. style, we may have been in the middle of a heatwave, but that did not stop us from laying on the traditional morning downpour! Senior ladies and gents all shot Herefords, while juniors shot the appropriate Bristol rounds for their age group. Continue reading

Archery GB Big Weekend

Archery GB’s Big Weekend is a national initiative to increase awareness of archery within local communities. We ran a single day session at our club ground at Colquite, giving everybody in the Wadebridge / Bodmin / Camelford area the opportunity to come and have a go at archery. The day proved very popular, especially among the younger aspiring archers. We also took the opportunity as a club to test out our skills in the various disciplines, with longbow archers trying their hand with a compound bow and even some brave recurve archers foregoing their sights and having a go at the more instinctive styles. Continue reading