A happy end to a perfect day. Sylvia (our judge), Pam (chair lady) and Robyn (Lady Paramount).
Despite several abandoned attempts at holding an outdoor competition this year because of bad weather, Sunday 12th August proved to be a fantastic day for NAC’s 2nd Annual Open Nationals Tournament at Sywell Range. Over 40 archers took part on a beautifully sunny day and a splendid time was had by all; with several club and county records being broken or set. Along with all the hard work by many NAC members, our thanks go to Sylvia Underlin, our judge for the day, and Chris Mason of NCAS and WOAC for his advisory role in setting up the range. Not least of all we thank the archers from far and wide who attended and took part on this memorable day.
The Results from our Open on 12th August can be found here.
The Entry Form is now available for this years Northamptonshire County & Open Outdoor Championships held on Sunday 9th September, and once again hosted by Wellingborough Open Archery Club.
Record StatusYork, Hereford, Bristol I-V and also Record StatusNational Rounds in the afternoon.
Not only did David and Heather enjoy this year’s holiday in the lovely area of Shropshire, but they also competed in the famous Wenlock Olympian Games Archery Tournament. These Games, the inspiration behind today’s modern day Olympics, were started 160 years ago by William Penny Brookes and his motto was “I want every grade of man to take part in my Olympian Games”. But ladies only had one race – “the old ladies race“, which they raced for one pound of tea. Did Heather get a 1lb of tea? Of course not – she is not old! (Phew – think I got out of that one.)
The BBC TV programme, Country File, this week featured Much Wenlock; and explained more about the Games, focusing on Archery. The show indulged in some name dropping that I would be proud to drop into conversations on the world of toxophily. Alison Williamson comes from Shropshire, and is the only person to have won medals at both the Wenlock Games and the Olympics. She won a bronze at the 2004 Athens Games, and also represents GB at the London Games. We wish her and the team all the best. Alice Cotton and Amanda Slack who shot (and won) at Wenlock this year, also appeared on the show. If you would like to catch up with this week’s Country File click here. You have only a few days left to watch.
Heather and David may not have won any medals, but I am quite sure we are all proud of them for entering the Olympian Games this year.
Pam
An unruly archer receives admonishment from a familiar judge
Footnotes – Wenlock and Mandeville London 2012 Archery mascot pin badges are still available from John Lewis (online) and other reputable outlets.
Please share your archery holiday stories on the web-site by contacting David and Heather.
Our have-a-go at Hollowell was abandoned at the last minute after disaster struck on Friday 6th July. We had the volunteers, all the Club’s equipment had been checked, arrows were fletched and gazebo marked up for easy erection. The crew arrived and everything went together, but you can’t account for the British weather. There had there been torrential rain, and even so it should still have happened. But – after all the hard work wind struck (again), destroying the whole set-up. Thanks to all who helped – NAC soldiers on. (Further write-up later from Leigh).
Rockingham’s Steam Transport and Family Show was cancelled due to ground conditions after this year’s persistent inclement weather. NAC had hoped to be there to put on our Have-a-Go. However the club had also been approached by our county’s Archery GB rep. to provide a similar input at Wootton’s “Walk in the Park” on the same day, Saturday 30th June. The cancellation at Rockingham, several phone calls and some swift re-arranging by our now flexible club, meant that it would could oblige the request for Wootton. A miserable wet start to Saturday morning greeted our volunteers arriving at 8am to prepare our range. The rain thankfully was short lived and apart from a further downpour towards the end of the day, the event went very well with crowds of potential archers having-a-go. A remarkable number of our club members came along to help – and a splendid time was had by all. Thanks to all who supported us and also to Ronnie for the photo.
