Philip and David have just completed their Level 1 Coach qualifications - congratulations to both of them!
Lots of changes have happened at this Local Community Peterborough Archery Club. Our all-inclusive, community ethos, gives us a unique appeal to everyone.
We run regular free taster sessions and beginners courses at a nominal charge. Our coaching team is now able to offer regular advice and help during our club meetings and we are just about to offer “Beyond Beginners” BOOST archery sessions for all our members who wish to improve techniques or discover some useful hints and tips from our dedicated coaching team. All run by Robyn Searle a competent Level 1 coach who has just returned from 3 years and university and despite her youth has been coaching in excess of 5 years, and shooting since she was 6 years old. Alongside her Dad, mentor, Level 2 coach and proud father she is hoping to get some of our archers out and about in the county at competitions and shoots! Look out for our purple shirts!!!
Contact Di Searle – Dianne.searle91@gmail.com for more details.
Friday 30th June saw our end of month shoot take on a playful twist. Our Level One coaches, Philip and David, designed and developed a game of Battleships. This involved the bosses being divided into quarters and then the archers were given their battleship targets to pin on wherever they thought they would be most tricky for their opponent to hit and sink! There was then a single mine placed in the centre, if all boats are sunk the first archer to shoot and hit the mine gets an explosive win. Then the shooting begun and the various tactics were put on trial, although one archer did try to place all their opponents targets on top of each other so he could destroy them all at once!
Much hilarity and shouts of “You sunk my battleship” ensued as the archers chose who to shoot against in the first round. Juniors against seniors and recurve against compound, the battleships, aircraft carriers and assorted vessels had small enough targets that it was tricky to work out if you’d hit your opponent’s ship before scoring even for the most skilled archers at 20metres.
By the end of the first round we had one boss that had to have a shoot off, closest to the mine wins. Our two archers Tom and Roy had an excited audience and as Tom missed Roy managed to hit the centre first go. Much cheering and excitement as then we had a winner’s boss and the losers all paired up to have another try.
The four winners who squared off for the final battle were Richie, Hannah, David and Roy. Hannah gave a good fight for the females and the juniors, but ultimately our compound archer Richie took the title of overall winner. Oliver was our juniors at 10metres overall winner, but Rayon put up a great battle. At the end, certificates and sweets were handed out to the winners and the most spectacular miss was awarded to Tom who took his certificate and sweets in great humour.
Invictus Bowmen have regular monthly shoots where we try and challenge our members with new rounds and new possibilities. Everyone had a great time at Battleships and a few who couldn’t make it have already requested a rematch.
Invictus Bowmen run regular free taster sessions at The Focus Community Centre, Peterborough, and provide all the equipment for everyone to have a go. If you think you may be interested contact Di Searle, club secretary, to book your taster: Dianne.searle91@gmail.com / 01354 659063
Sunday 7th August 2016 & the Cambridgeshire County Archery team made their way to the Inter County Trophy shoot hosted by Bedfordshire. The team was made up of 11 archers shooting a mix of Recurve and Longbow with 9 archers making their County debut. The match consisted of age appropriate rounds of the York/Hereford/Bristol variety so it was going to be a long day. The sky was looking quite dull and grey on the journey down but this soon gave way to some splendid sunshine and the match was shot in some really warm conditions. Unfortunately, this was accompanied by a strong tail wind with stronger gusts at times which made shooting conditions very tough for all.
The team was made welcome by our hosts and the efforts of the host Team Manager and his support team were very much appreciated – a friendly and pleasant match. The shoot got under way at 9:30am with all the archers finding it difficult dealing with the windy conditions. Some managed to handle this better than others, but by the end of the first 6 dozen the scores seemed pretty well matched although Cambridgeshire were probably slightly ahead.
The match resumed after lunch with all archers continuing to battle with the wind despite the shorter distances.
The match finished around 5pm and it had been a long hot hard days’ shooting. Despite the challenging conditions Isabel Lee (Recurve), Harry Tapp (Recurve) and Stuart Gemmell (Longbow) all managed a Bowman score – well done indeed!
The Team Managers then looked at matching up the teams on a ‘like for like’ basis and, having agreed the teams, started to work out the match result. The Longbows came out on top 779 versus 746 & Recurves also won 4490 versus 3897.
So the Team result was a 5269 to 4643 win to Cambridgeshire and they retained the Silver Salver last won in 2014 (match not held in 2015).
Fantastic effort by the Team and a remarkable effort for those making their debut.
On the 28th March Cambridgeshire’s Longbow team took part in the annual Inter County Double Portsmouth Match against Essex. The match was hosted by Rayleigh Archery Club & the venue was the sports hall at Deanes school, Thundersley, Essex.
Despite it being Easter Sunday, team members had a very early start to the day to get to the venue for assembly at 9am.
The team arrived in good time and spirits, and we were warmly welcomed by our hosts with a mug of tea & biscuits. The team appeared very relaxed and this included the three making their County debut. Essex also had three debutants. The format for the match was slightly different to previous years in that the best six scores from eight from each of the two rounds counted towards the team total.
Left to right: Colin Cracknell, Dave Slack, Phillipe Masters, Drew Clarke, Stewart Reader, Tom Hartley, James Bridges, Shaun JacobsCould this be the year for that long awaited Cambs victory? There did not appear to be any nerves from the team and the Team Manager was quietly confident, a view he shared with the team.
The first round was shot in just over 1½ hours with Essex ahead by the small margin of 144 points. Not a massive lead and, with digging a little deeper, surely a shortfall Cambs could make up.
Following a short break for hot cross buns, cakes & more tea the second round was soon underway.
After another 1½ hours the second round was over. Our hosts provided a very nice buffet lunch whilst the scores were checked and validated.
Both teams put in some impressive end totals that would not look out of place on a recurve scoresheet. There was even a 10,10,10 end although that was on an Essex scoresheet. There were a number of 10,10,9’s, 10,10, 8’s & 10,9,9’s from Cambs.
Howeer this was not to be enough. Cambs could not quite dig deep enough to overcome the round 1 deficit & also lost round 2 by a further 176 points. The team result was a win for Essex by a total of 320 points.
Final combined scores: Cambridgeshire 4897 - Essex 5217
The result was closer than in previous years, even allowing for the revised format, & I believe Essex were surprised at how low the margin of victory was.
Congratulations to the team for putting in such a valiant effort and in particular to the debutants for their contribution.
The results for the Netherhall Archers World Archery Weekend, held on the 13th and 14th June 2015, which includes the Cambridgeshire Archery Association's Outdoor Championship, can be found here
On the 14th February Cambridgeshire’s Longbow team took part in the annual double Portsmouth competition against Essex. Ramsey Ravens, a new Cambridgeshire club, hosted the competition this year. The venue was the sports hall at Abbey school, Ramsey.
The morning was chilly and damp, however bacon rolls, tea and coffee soon cheered every one up. The judge for the morning was Richard Custance. Unfortunately, after the first session we were 224 points down to Essex. We had a combined score of 2640 to Essex’s 2864. However, James Bridges had an excellent first session shooting a 514; his personal best.
After a 15-minute break the second round started. Cambridgeshire shot well during the second round, but unfortunately this was not enough. Essex finished the second round scoring 2968, to our 2690. James Bridges had another excellent round shooting another personal best of 516.
The team comprised of:
Shaun Jacobs
Drew Clarke
Phil Masters
Jason Curtis
James Bridges
Nick Rayns
James Fletcher
Final combined scores: Cambridgeshire 5330 - Essex 5832
