1st June – The last cog in the gearbox

On 1st June 2011, our final longbow founder member Steve Gamble has now switched over to shoot the rest of the season in a Belvoir Archers shirt – welcome on board Steve.

The 2011 Nottinghamshire County Team Gents Longbow Selection – A story in 4 Chapters.

With the power base of Nottinghamshire County gentleman longbow archers having shifted this year to our club, this is the saga of how the 5 contenders did battle over 4 tournaments to fight for the right to shoot for the county at the Tri Counties FITA shoot and the Thorsby challenge where a York round would be shot. The 5 members of the club contesting the places available are

Mark Charlish, Steve Gamble, Bryan Haynes, Martin Jones and Dave Seymour

Chapter 1 – Gone With the Wind

This tournament took place on Sunday 22 May at Moderns Rugby Ground where Wilford Bowmen were hosting the shoot. On arrival at the ground 2 things were immediately obvious. The strong blustery wind meant that any hopes of a high score were soon dismissed and secondly Steve had forgotten to put on his Belvoir Shirt. Well actually he had not as technically he was still destined to shoot for another club for the next 2 shoots. Talk about the odd one out!

Well the shoot started and 2.5 dozen arrows later it was abandoned due to the conditions having got worse. Two of our tents were “uprooted” and ended up in the second tent line. It could have been worse and was for one poor individual who was last seen chasing their tent across the rugby pitch before attempting a tackle just before the car park.

Scores at the time the shoot was abandoned stood which was a little unfortunate for Mark who didn’t shoot the last 6 arrows as he was hanging on to one of the tents which made nocking a tad tricky.

Ahh well it could not be as windy next week at Welbeck!

Meanwhile, Sue came 2nd overall place and 1st Notts Lady

Chapter 2 – The Grinch Shoots Longbow

Sunday May 29 saw our intrepid band journey to a tournament hosted by Welbeck archers. The wind was not as strong as the week before but it was still to play a major part affecting all our scores. Add to that the slight incline to the field which always seem to throw your sight marks out and it made for an interesting shoot. We all managed to get through the shoot despite the occasional shower but nobody shot to their classification, although Steve (still clad in a foreign shirt) narrowly missed attaining his.

It would be fair to say that Bryan (The Grinch) in particular had a stinker of a shoot and Martin only just managed to pip him at the post by 1 point. However as more and more worms packed their bags and moved to safer ground Bryan’s spirits plummeted almost as fast as his arrows. He has subsequently tried to pass off his bad form as some sort of incorrect wrist position but we all know the real reason … far too many jodhpur clad horse riders crossing his line of sight behind the target – get back in your bubble!.

Meanwhile, Sue managed to secure her Black Rose with a score of 909, 3rd lady and 2nd Notts Lady Recurve.

This was also a Notts v Leicestershire shoot, the Gents won the Longbow with Steve Gamble having a good shoot, and Sue was part of the Notts Ladies Recurve Team who also beat Leicestershire.

 30th May – Welbeck Double 70m Fita

Despite all the warnings from Dave and Steve, Bryan and Martin took their bows out to shoot a metric Double 70m FITA (Dave and Steve keep saying that Longbows are designed for Imperial Distances and they do not work properly at Metric, we can only take advice and guidance from these two Master Bowman !!)

The morning was cold, wet and windy , the afternoon wet and calmer. The Grinch had gone to bed the night before and got up with a new happy life, put the bow in the right place in the hand, ignored the jodpuhrs and got on with the shoot. His mojo came back and shot well. Bryan came 1st Gents long bow, leaving Martin behind in 2nd place by 115 points. The day was marred the following morning by Martin discovering that his bow had cracked – may be Dave and Steve were right – longbows don’t do Metric.

15th May – LAOFAC York Round

Bryan and Sue went over to LAOFAC for the second time this year, this time to shoot a York Round. Again, another good days shooting, with Sue adding 96 points on her PB for the Hereford round, missing a bowman by 9 points, but she did win the 1st Class Handicap Group. The score was worthy of a Black Rose, but unfortunately, it was not a Rose Status Shoot. Bryan came 3rd Gents Longbow.

8th May – Sherwood Archers – 1st County League / Oregon shoot

Another sunny day, and the first day of the downward spiral for Bryan. Belvoir Archers put out their longbow team for the first time in the league with Bryan and Martin shooting for the honour of the club. (The previous years Longbow handicap trophy was missing at the awards ceremony last year and was awarded to Bingham LCAC, but the two members who won it, Bryan and Martin, now shoot for Belvoir. The trophy has been locked away in Bingham’s trophy cabinet, lets see if we can move it to Belvoir this year).

Sue had a good day, coming second lady. Martin pipped Bryan by 1 point, coming 4th Gent Longbow, Bryan 5th.

 1st May – Keddlestone National Round

Bryan and Sue went to Keddlestone Hall to shoot a National round. It was a sunny but windy day. Sue had an outstanding day, coming 3rd overall lady, missing 2nd place by 2 points! Bryan also came 3rd Gent Longbow.

 24th April – LAOFAC Albion round

A good days shooting was had by all, Bryan in a Belvoir Shirt, Sue in a Sherwood Shirt and Steve in a Bingham Shirt. The round was a handicap Albion round and the weather conditions were good. Scratch scores were not counted, only handicap, with the Albion and Windsor rounds counting for all. Bryan had 3rd Place handicap (a scratch PB increase of 53 points ), and Steve 4th Place. Sue put 104 on her scratch score.

 24th April – Silverspool – St George Round

On the 24 April Belvoir Archers member Steve Gamble travelled to Spalding to take part in Silver Spoon Bowmen’s St George tournament. A well-run shoot as always at this club, but only two longbows on the line and the other one was a lady (not uncommon at Lincolnshire target shoots).

A cool breezy day made shooting tricky but even Steve’s put in a respectable 306 score. The shoot ran so smoothly that the organisers put in a coffee break and an extra long lunch break instead of going for an early finish!