Ledbury Archery Club

…The Hills are alive with the sound of twang-thudding…

New Year’s Day saw Ledbury play host to the Annual County Winter Clout.

A good turnout on a fine morning gave us an enjoyable start to the year and we had a barbie in the barn afterwards too.

December 17th saw our annual Yuletide fun shoot and barbie.

Gordon came up trumps again with his creation of Santa’s grotto, where some evil elves were trying to steal the presents and it was up to us to clout the elves without hitting Santa in the centre. With 5 points for an elf and -10 for Santa, some people did manage a positive score.

Then we did festive targets where once again, every target had some negative score points to be missed.

With conditions very crisp underfoot, we managed to avoid frostbite then we retired to the barn for a welcome barbie over the open brazier. Rachel’s hot punch was a welcome taste too.

Last Thursday, Steph got a gold!

Big deal, you say…

But she got the centre X

Still not impressed?

This was at 100 yds.

Awesome!

…shame about the other 5 arrows 🙂

This week we had our 2nd annual shoot to remember the tragic passing last year of keen clouter, Geoff.

Two way clout at 125m, categories split into wooden arrow shooters and synthetics.

Ultimate winner was Mark on barebow, Chard got the longbow.

Francis, Dan, George and Martin got the other podium bragging rights.

The championships had been postponed from mid (heatwave) August and we were all looking forward to
an end of summer season shoot. Putley looked resplendent as we welcomed archers from across the
county. The tent line was in full force given the forecast but the predicted bad weather didn’t arrive which
is just as well because Ledbury Archers were busy shooting up a storm of their own!

At the end of a long day we collapsed into the barn for mugs of tea and other yummy refreshments
(thanks Lydia) whilst we waited for the results. There were gold medals in the National and Bristol rounds
for Chard (longbow), Pat (longbow) and Graham S (recurve).

In the junior championship Bristol rounds there were wins for Joe B (u18 recurve), Josh (u16 barebow)
and Kara (u12 barebow) in her first ever competition; that’s three junior county champions. It’s brilliant
that we have young archers on the line and we’ll be following their progress.

In the senior championship, a Hereford round, there were silver medals for Caroline (recurve) and Mark
N (barebow). Championship gold medals were awarded to Dan C (barebow), Steph (barebow), Mark
B(longbow) and Rachel (longbow).

A fitting end to the competitive outdoor season, our little club continues to be a force in Herefordshire
and now boasts seven county champions.

Thanks to all those who made it all run smoothly, Mark and Graham for leading field crew duties and
Lydia for manning the urn and everyone else for being there and shooting so well. Go team Ledbury!

Bank Holiday Weekend was the time for the AGM, Fun Shoot and picnic.

After retreating from the hail of arrows at the last shoot, the King and Sir Slashalot returned with a band of barbarian mercenaries, let by Hagrid.

After seeing off the hoard, our intrepid archers did an apple shoot followed by the Pigeon Eliminator over lunch.

Bling honours went to Sarah, Dan and Gordon aka The Pigeon Butcher of Putley.

Many thanks to all involved in organising and especially Gordon and Pete for their artwork.

31st July saw a very small group from Ledbury attend Bromyard’s Aubrey Ison Memorial Shoot. The round was a WA70 – six dozen arrows at 70 metres. The Archery GB dress code does not apply to this shoot as Hawaiian shirts are the order of the day. We were quite soberly attired!

After a very hot afternoon, Francis was third in gents compound, Mark won the gents barebow and Rachel the ladies longbow and bronze on handicap adjusted score.

On a scorching hot day when any sane person would be indoors watching the Wimbledon Finals with a cool Pimms, an intrepid bunch of archers headed to Luctonians (Hereford Company of Bowmen) to shoot Albion and Windsor rounds.

Amidst the smell of burning human flesh, Ledbury archers battled on and brought home the bling.

Dan C and Caroline won golds in the Albion (barebow and ladies recurve).

Francis and Chard won gold in the Windsor (recurve and longbow).

Graham S won the short Windsor.

This month’s clout used figures made by Gordon and Pete as targets. 10 points for a hit, 2 for a near miss.

Francis opened the session with an impressive head shot to Sir Slashalot. Pete was unimpressed and casually slotted the tip of the sword. The knight took a fair bit of damage but Robert managed to make sure the king did not skulk off the battlefield unscathed.