Saturday 6th April the club held the second day of our first Beginners Course of 2019 in the Long Barn at Putley. Weather wise we had been spoilt on the first day of the course, and although there was bright sunshine temperatures were noticeably down, reminding us all that we were only in the first week of April…

Archers are generally a hardy lot and as there was more shooting this week than last, at least there was acivity to keep warm. We were pleased to have Dave Gemmel, our Herefordshire County Coaching Officer, join us for the day in a largely observational capacity (although he did step in and provide assistance on the line when requested).

The shooting was completed by all the archers on the line simultaneously in order to give a flavour of what could be experienced when at an indoor competition, or shooting at Tarrington. Following this, course completion certificates were handed out and medals awarded to Steph, Lyndon and Graham for their success in the mini competition.

Thanks go to Peter, James and Katy for running another successful course, and Chris Brown for carrying out ‘running repairs’ to arrows as the course progressed. Thanks are also due to Robert for his organisational and administrative duties in putting the course together. We are pleased to say that 7 new archers have become members of our club and we all welcome Lyndon, Steph, Mike, Simon, Dorrie, Graham and Caroline, and will provide all the help and support that we can.

Sunday 7th April saw club members from across the County assemble as Ledbury Archery Club hosted the first of the HAA “Summer” Competitions (although there were groans from the competitors at this title as temperatures barely crept out of single digits).

A fine mornings shooting was had by all, with the ‘base’ competition being a Long Metric III, but a variety of distances up to 90m were shot – depending on age & ability. Whilst medals were a bit thin on the ground for Ledbury’s competitors, congratulations do go out to Jamie, Jan and Justin for winning in their categories. LAC will also be hosting the next county competition on Sunday 5th May (more details to follow) and we hope for even more success then. In the meantime I will be changing my name to John, Jeremy or Jeffrey as it seems we can only win gold if your name starts with a “J”! On that note, fingers crossed that James will also be entering the competition in May!

Mark Beaumont – Chairman, Ledbury Archery Club.