Report by Nev Wilson

This being the second Open Shoot the Avalon diehard’s Chris Lovelock Dennis Tyler, Nev Wilson,( relieved by Ian Rhodes) and John Davison started to arrive on a nice sunny day at base camp (Avalon Shooting Ground) as early as 8 o’clock Friday morning the 26th June to lay and prepare the course, there were some necessary jobs that needed to be done to put on this yearly premier event. It was fully booked up a full two weeks before the shoot was to take place. Chris & Sue Cox turned up with a trailer full of food and water. Chris Lovelock with his GPS and Theodolite, The rest of us turned up expecting to put in a full days work as 40 3d’s had to be sighted and pegged in one day. Which is no mean feat by anyone’s standard.
Then the same thing for another nice sunny day Saturday 27th June, all assembled at 8.00 am each to their own task, everyone with a job to do and getting on with it. As soon as the food and tea was made, grab a bun and a slurp of tea, heads down and off to work.
The Contestants started to arrive things began to liven up. Registration was completed quite efficiently by Cliff Nash and his merry men (and women).Tea and Sandwiches were provided and eloquently served by Richard Draper and Rose Nash cooked by Sue and Chris Cox then promptly consumed by the ravenous hoards. The announcements were made and the shoot began on a single blast of the new Klaxon Horn which had been provided by John Davison and wired up by Nev Wilson. Unfortunately nobody heard the brand new klaxon because it was masked by the trees and the sound did not reach the outer limits of the ground. But the day was saved by Richard Draper who had provided the Marshals Nev Wilson, John Davison, Paul Rowland, and Andrew Hall with Super two way radios which he had loaned (with the threat of death if he did not return them intact) from his Employer. Base contacted the four Marshals who started the Shoot from strategic positions around the course so the first day had started with a slight hic up, but by the end of the day when the shoot had finished all was well
John Davison had set up a Speed Shoot. It consisted of twelve 3ds placed strategically in a depression in the ground which meant all 3ds had a safety overshoot This started at 6 pm price 20p a go, as many arrows you could shoot in 45 seconds, 20 points kill, 15 points wound and was supposed to be over in an hour but proved so popular with people coming back time after time to have another go which meant it did not close till after 9 pm.This proved to be such a success other clubs are considering including it in their two day shoots. There were going to be prizes for six categories but only 3 classes had participants. Therefore the Results were Senior Male winner Oliver Hatton Senior Female Lorraine Potts Cub Jordan Andrews. The prizes were to be awarded at the medal ceremony.

 

 

 

Oliver Hatton Senior Male Score 140

Lorraine Potts Senior Lady Score 100

Jordan Andrews Cub Score 96

That was day one over. Then all back to the tents to watch the thunder storms (someone was out in the middle of the field photographing the Lightning strikes (rather him than me!)
Sunday 28th June started bright sunny and cheerful after a night of Thunder & Lightning and lessons learned from the previous day on the method of starting, some announcements were made about arrows having names on them (30 years we have managed to run this organisation with no problems what so ever) now there is a new regime at the top it is a major issue and disqualification for not having a name on a arrow I ask you! (What is happing to the principle of having fun doing Archery?)

 Editors note. Sadly as the association has grown we have an increasing responsibility as organisers to safety. The purpose of named arrows is simply to identify the origin of the shot quickly. It is not as important as to whose arrow but essential to know where it was shot from. A call to registration can quickly confirm what group the archer was in and the most likely origin of the shot, we do not have ready access to NFAS membership numbers nor do we know everyone’s own insignia. Once the origin of the shot is confirmed it will then allow any adjustments to the course to ensure any overshoot is posing no threat to other archers.

 Chris Lovelock had made a few changes to the previous day’s course to confuse and make Archers think about it. A change round in catering staff Yvonne Mercer took over from Richard Draper and Guy Mercer took over from Paul Rowland on Marshalling. When asked for comments on the enjoyment factor that the weekend had provided there was a very positive response, the majority of people said they had had a good time.

The only negative response was when John Davison went to collect the camping fees someone objected to paying (£3 per night) saying they thought the camping was free (in these days when nothing is free, why do Archers think they are a special breed and think toilets (£195) and somewhere to put your tent can be provided free at Avalon yet everywhere else they camp they have to pay?)Income from Camping(£151) cost to Avalon for camping £44

Editors note: We are disappointed to learn that there was some objection to camping fees. Avalon have always charged fees, in an attempt to recover the cost of the toilet hire, hired to provide campers with some reasonable sanitation. The first three years we simply asked for contributions, the most ever realised was £37.00. As the cost of toilet hire as escalated from below £100 to now £200 we have little choice but to collect a nominal fee for camping to try and cover these costs. Nev quite rightly notes that even when we collect fees there is still a direct cost to the club for the toilets. It may be worth noting that we are not officially allowed to use the field nor woods for any camping, we take the risk of upsetting the Landlord simply because it is a nice place to stay and is certainly easier for archers. Since camping is costing us money there is no motivation to allow this to continue particularly when there are complaints about having to pay.

After the shoot finish the contestants were asked to bring in the 3ds to pick up points around the course, for Guy and his merry gang of volunteer’s (Chris Lovelock, John Davison, Yvonne Mercer, and Simon) to collect and store away for next time. The medal ceremony took place with the following results: