Category: General Club News

as the name suggests news about the club

The NAC At The Hollowell Steam Rally of 2014

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For many years now the NAC have promoted the sport of archery by attending at the Hollowell Steam Rally and encouraging members of the public to “Have a Go” at shooting bows and arrows within a safe environment under guidance. This years event took place over the weekend of 5th and 6th July and we started by gathering at Sywell to load the equipment during the Friday and to take it all to Hollowell where we spent several hours erecting fences, safety netting and gazebos etc in readiness for the 9.00 am start on the Saturday morning. Low and behold the weather was wet overnight and rain was still falling as we got ourselves ready for the rush. Unfortunately the rush didn’t start until much later as the weather improved somewhat after lunch. In just a couple of hours or so the weather improved so much we had a beautiful afternoon and evening where there was a lovely party atmosphere around the site. The rewards on the Saturday was low because of the slow start but with an improving forecast we were expecting much better on the Sunday. As expected we were all delighted as the public started to come into our tent before we were ready for them. This trickle later turned into a very busy day where the weather was kind to us and volunteers were joining us throughout the day which allowed us to take adequate breaks from the shooting line and other jobs and to take a look around the event for ourselves.

At around 5.00 pm we started the process of taking everything down and packing it into two trailers which were stored overnight allowing us all to go home for our roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and a well earned rest.On the Monday morning other volunteers joined us at Sywell to replace our equipment into our storage container until the next time. Although this event is at times hard work it is a most enjoyable weekend and it’s so rewarding to see so many happy faces and to get so many inquiries into how to go about joining our club. These event bring a lot of interest as well as some additional revenue which is much needed to help us with our costs. On another point and just for information we can now see how many members of the public visit our website on an average basis. If I was to say we get 112 “hits” a day, how many of us would have thought there is that much interest around in archery and apart from that we also get comments on how good and navigable our website really is..This is just the sought of thing that makes the job so worth it. So thanks to all who do so much for the NAC and a special thank you to all the members and NON members alike who gave their time and effort to support us throughout the period from Friday morning to Monday lunchtime.

IanP

NAC Secretary

NAC Web-site gets a refresh

The Northampton Archery Club Web-site is receiving a refresh and over the coming weeks we will be looking at several improvements. That doesn’t mean to say that massive changes are taking place, the club is anxious to keep the general navigation as it is, simply because ….. there’s nothing wrong with it. Work is already ongoing with the site’s header and this will get a further refresh very shortly. In addition club clothing can now be ordered directly online from the shop page and an online record claim form was added yesterday here . This will enable archers to make claims easier where there is a direct link to tournament results on a web page.Other changes include the addition of record pages for Flatbows, which originally were included on the Longbow pages. Records for flatbow will be transferred across in the near future. Comments on the changes will be most welcome and can be sent to our Web Officer who’s e-mail link can be found on our contacts page.

Annual General Meeting

NAC’s AGM was held last night (27th May 2014) at Carlsberg Social Club, Northampton. There was a good turnout by members and the meeting proceeded at a fair pace. Reports were received from the committee and elections of officers then held. Our thanks sincerely go to those who both were re-elected and those that stood down; and in particular Pam Joseph, our chairperson who retired last night. Pam was at the helm for the last two years and her enthusiasm has been an example to us all. Sarah Fowler-Jardine now takes over. The work put in by committee members we know can be both very time consuming and at times quite stressful, but all this work is done out of passion for NAC. It was indeed unfortunate that due to commitments elsewhere  the committee lost some members, but the new team will forge on with taking the Club forwards. The list of the new committee members can be found on our Committee and Contacts page.

Outdoor Season Events for the N.A.C.

To all members,

Recently you should have received an e-mail explaining that Dave Quemby has passed the baton to David Major, Paul Hyde and Neville de Sousa.

These three members volunteered to look after our shooting events with the full  blessing of the present committee.

They report to the committee as and when there is a need, but they are trusted to take the pressure away from committee members and to work along with the Sywell committee directly when organizing outdoor events at our Sywell venue.

They have already informed the membership of the date for the Pope Young competition and for those who wish to shoot there normal distances they are perfectly entitled to do so.

Anyone wishing to take part in the Pope Young Competition just has to let it be known on the day to the organizers. Believe me this is an even that is fun and anyone can take part.The Pope Young will be placed on our calender page along with other events as and when they are confirmed. So please check regularly for any additions, (you will be notified by e-mail as well)

Please give your support to our three volunteers who will do everything they can to give us an eventful outdoor season. These three require our support and not criticism, just like any responsible position they too have to go through a learning curve plus they may wish to put a “twist” to some of our events.

We as a committee take this opportunity to thank Dave Quemby for all the time and effort he has put into making our events so enjoyable. Dave (as some may not know) holds many titles within the club competitions, just look at the website to see just how good he is. He is passing over the responsibility of arranging our events so that he can once again give full concentration to his shooting as I’m sure he will continue to proudly represent the NAC at future competitions around the county.  I’m sure I can speak for all of our members, thank you Dave for what you have done, and what you may achieve in the future for yourself and the NAC.

Many thanks

IanP for NAC Committee.