“an abundant supply of good things of a specified kind” or NAC history worth knowing about.
The Pete Kenny Memorial Shoot
On 9th February 2013 Northampton Archery Club held it’s first Pete Kenny Memorial Shoot (a Worcester Round) at John Ashby Sports Hall at Moulton College, Northampton. Paul Barratt tells us about Pete –
“Pete Kenny came down to the casuals rugby club on the last week of a beginners course at the end of 1994 and said he wanted to take up archery, he said he had done his health and safety in the army and because he had shot guns he was used to saftey, as he looked around he saw some longbows on the ground and said that was what he wanted to shoot and could he try one out, I explained that it was around 85# to 95# and would be very hard to pull, but he wanted to try it so he picked up 3 arrows and shot at the beginners target which was at 30 yards and an 80cm face, his first arrow hit red at 6’o clock and his next 2 hit gold,
Pete Bond and I looked at each other but said nothing, we all withdrew the arrows and shot again, this time Pete hit 3 gold’s, then he asked to shoot at the 60 yards target and we said OK , we watched as he shot 1 arrow in the red at 6 and 2 in the gold, now this was a 122cm face but at 60 yards and he was pulling a very heavy bow, after pulling the arrows he shot again and put all 3 arrows in the gold, and as he went and pulled his arrows Pete Bond and I talked about this and decided we would let him join as he was perfectly safe, competent at shooting and listened to what we said. So he joined the club and went from strength to strength over the next year shooting many competitions in our club and others.
He then joined Liberty archers and started field archery whilst still shooting at NAC, after about a year he began getting chest pains and went to casualty at NGH but was told it was not cardiac related and to go home. Shortly after that he had more pains and went to hospital but was discharged again. After leaving the hospital he went fishing and sat against a tree where he had a heart attack and died. Although we only knew him for a couple of years or so he had a big impact on those that knew him. ”
Northamptonshire County Archery Society.
In October 2000 NCAS celebrated its 50th Anniversary. Pete Bond, one of our founder members, kindly showed us a copy of the programme for the event. There is a lot of really interesting information about NAC, it’s archers and other members in the programme; along with history about archery in the county – all compiled by the late David Clarke of Duston Bowmen. Take a look at this fascinating insight our sport locally.