The Bowmen of Adel- news

The weather was a surefire way to get large numbers of the club out shooting. Earlybirds were setting the first targets out at 10am and the last target was struck down at 5pm. The team werein evidence making sure tat their sight marks were correct for Selby next weekend.

Chantry Longbow Western 10th May

Three BoA longbowmen took part in the two-way Western round at Chantry, Rotherham. It was a glorious day which caught most of the archers out and there were some very red faces. But not from embarassment, as there was some fine scoring. The highlight of the competition being the shoot-out for best gold won by a near perfect gold.

David Aikin and DOC both won £1 in the inner gold sweep. Lis won most golds in the ladies competition and Lis & DOC won the Jack & Jill for highest scoring couple. So three medals to add to the clubs tally for our 60th anniversay year.

Postal 7th May

The dry run of shooting a postal for the Sundial trophy certainly paid off with more than enough archers taking part to fill all the team places. There was no problem in reaching the division target scores- somthing which we did not achieve in the indoor postals.

The competition proved too much of an attraction for Chairman Alastair who hadn't picked up a bow for many months with little effect on his scoring ability. Even Pete turned up and spent most of the time adjusting his sight marks.

Although the day didn't promise a very fine day the weather seemed to improve throughout the morning and members who had turned up to help in numbers were quickly stripping off the extra layers of clothing that they had prudently put on.

And what an excellent turn out of people wanting to have a go at archery. Some had obviously tried it out before on holiday and were quickly piercing the gold. In a couple sessions we ran out of take-down bows and had to resort to the green stick bows. This didn't seem to put off any of the punters who all seemed to have a temendous time. And the Treasurer was pleased by the bag of cash whcih the President took riound to his house after the event.

Icicle and Sundial

There was some confusion about the starting time which was allegedly 2pm, 2.30pm or 2.45pm. Not that this was of any concern to the footballers who continued to play until 3pm. So we set up the field on the corner of the cricket field and proceeded to shoot a BoA metric. 50metres at a large face and 30metres at an 80cm face..

Most of the morning's rain had spent itself and we were treated with some sunshine just when we were having tea an Christmas cake (did anyone check the sell by date?).

The Sundial was won by Chip and the Icicle by him as well. The full results were:

        Sundial                                        Icicle
Ist      Chip   72-12-590                           Chip   36-6-291
2nd    John   71- 6-555                            John   35-3-283
3rd     Guy   72- 6-550                            Guy   36-4-271
4th     Paul   72-4-516                             DOC   35-3-259
5th     DOC   71-7-512                           Paul   36-3-250

The team celebrated the last day of indoor training by holding an impromtu competition at The Forum. They first shot a dozen at Portsmouth traffic light faces; then a dozen at Vegas faces; ten at a black and white Worcester face; and finally "round-the-clock" on a darts face with one final arrow to get a bulls eye.

Chip & DOC were neck-and-neck after the first round. After the Vegas, DOC showed his better nerve and experience and inched five points ahead. But slowly and surely his foe chipped his way back into contention so that at the darts DOC's lead was only two points. This was quickly smashed by Chip gaining 11 points to DOC's 7.

DOC's only chance was on the last arrow- wouild he hold his nerve.There were fifty points at stake. Chip shot first and his arrow refused to enter the centre. 50 points for a Bullseye, or 25 points riding on one arrow- victory was within DOC's grasp.

Despite the awful weather intrepid Adel archers were out shooting in Morley and Harrogate.The

three Davids made up the Bowmen of Adel team at Morley but were pushed into second place by some Lancastrians. Meanwhile, longstanding barebow archer Nick was squeezed into second place at the county clout championships. Bob (supported by Sara and Lis) kept the scores despite some atrocious addition on the score cards.

Many thanks to all those who turned out to help set up the longbow field and the Have-a-Go (the latter taking £90). Amy did a stirling job of selling raffle tickets (with Thomas from Aire Valley- together they collected £90 - which is a lot of tickets). Only Cedric, David A. Lis and DOC were left standing at 5.30 and had to clear the field, load the two vans and then put all the equipment away. More help needed- don't wait to be asked!

Work party - 12th April

Many thanks to those who turned up for the working party- Cedric, David, DOC, Guy, Paul & Som got to grips with making five new stands, refurbishing and desplintering the rest, putting up the red noticeboard for training notices and having a general tidy up and cup of tea.

Still to do- fixing the lighting to make it safe (and working in the store). Taking the traffic lights to the tip. Unsticking the door to the Pavilion, marking out the field.

First Sunday Shoot - 6th April
The best of the day was in the morning when John was out coaching. By the afternoon the weather was drawing in and by the time targets were set out again it was starting to snow. Still, three rounds were shot and several other enjoyed a wintery shoot, the targets being lost in flurries of snow at times. With temperatures dropping to 3 degrees it was back into the pavilion for a cup of hot coffee and Jaffa cakes.

The 2008 outdoor season has got off to an early start with Chip & Pin appearing nightly on the cricket field. Apparently, Mrs Pin thinks he is upstairs doing the decorating. They were joined by Lis and DOC on Thursday evening shooting on the top field within the football railings towards the mound. Just as well as there were early sightings of cricketers playing in the nets. Lis & DOC claim to have shot the first outdoor rounds of the season - a Warwick. The scores were undisclosed.

Meanwhile the squad continues to meet on Friday evenings at HASSRA Leeds AC at The Forum in Quarry House. DOC has now dusted down his recurve and Jean is busily telling him all the bad habits he has acquired from having shot mostly longbow for five years. DOC says he means to gain a place in the team at Selby.

Anyone interest in shooting at Selby on 18th May should contact Som who is putting in a club entry.

The 2008 championships returned to Dearne Valley after being held more locally at Rigwelter in 2006. Lis and David O'Carroll were only BoA archers to take part and thoroughly enjoyed their return to field archery. Unfortunately, this was not translated into medals. Full results on YAA website.

Pandamonium - 30th March 2008
The Pandamonium tournament went ahead on Sunday at Adel, without a hitch despite the last minute transfer to Bedquilts. Cedric and David had marked out the Bedquilts shooting area on Friday afternoon having been told by DOC of the change of venue 5 minutes after they had arrived to start work. On Sunday morning the main task was simply setting out the range.

Nick arrived at 9am to find Stephen Richmond (football secretary) and his young daughter, preparing food. It turned out that the football matches that had been rescheduled to that day had been two cup semi-finals rather than ordinary league matches, and had to be played before the finals; the food was to make it a special occasion for footballers. Pandas soon arrived, along with David Aikin, and many hands made light work of setting up. Fencing off the area was a right pain, as there had been heavy rain in the night and most of the perimeter was in huge puddles.. All was set up well in advance, along with a gazebo to shelter the sherry.

As the archers arrived, they smelt the bacon and sausages being cooked for the footballers, and managed to consume all the supplies that Stephen had laid on. Shame! Shooting started slightly late, as the Judge had not arrived. A panda took over as Field Captain – at assembly, the only instruction given out was “The next sherry is after 2 dozen”. Longbowmen! Conditions were bright but with a strong breeze.

I left them to it, and returned at 4 to find they had finished shooting. Again, entrants and pandas meant that take down and storage were carried out quickly. There had been no problems during the day, and all finished happily. There was no interference from footballers, who were all well behaved as guests of Adel.

Panda were extremely grateful, and felt a grand day had been had by all. All in all, it could have been a lot worse.

The Easter weather forecast was spot on as we woke up to a layer of crunchy snow on the ground. By eleven o'clock the roads were clear but the snow persisted on the cricket field at Adel and a blustery wind was blowing from the West. Nevertheless the turn-out was good with a cross section of old die hards and keen newbies taking tea cosies

to the field.

The sun blessed us with some warmth with Pin doing his hard man act by shooting in shirt sleeves (with his padded jacket hidden on the pavilion balcony). The scores were down on last month totalling 1355 - not too surprising given the weather conditions. Places in the team were hotly contested with 4th and 5th place being decided on hits. The team was: BB 304; Chip 299; JA 260; Big Al 246; and DOC 246. BB took the Icicle and Jonathon the Iciclette with 206. Paul was just pipped for a place in the team by three points with Guy at 232 supported by Cedric. Chip congratulates DOC on winning smartest tea cosie contest.

19 members took part in the end of season club championships and we had a club record for a new archer shooting in compound. No the record wasn't that we had a new compound archer shooting in the indoor competition but that he successfully made the transformation from shooting at playing cards to scoring 559 on a 3-spot face. In recurve Phyl Abbott won the ladies with 474 and Bob Key won the Gents with 574.

In longbow Lis O'Carroll scored 329 and David Hood 401. In junior recurve we had four entries. Helena Beeson won the ladies and Jonathan Hill the gents.

The President handed out the trophies to the correct members as well as handing out achievement badges. Full winners results on the results page.

Everyone took away something- including happy memories of an enjoyable afternoon, the speediest striking down of the range and a tea that broke all Government healthy eating guidelines. HAPPY EASTER!

Six members made it to the first squad training session. Jean Clarkson has agreed to take our aspiring team squad in her hands with the aim of getting us prepared for the summer season. There are still places on the squad - just talk to Som.

What a beautiful morning greeted the six members who trod through the light frost that clung to the patch of grass still in the shadow of the pavillion. Bob managed to bring all his arrows and various strings which he then proceeded to disentangle. The rest of us just put up our bows with whatever was in our box. Bob pronounced that Spring was upon us and sallied forth into the sun before it nipped behind the clouds - not that there were any clouds to talk about.

The team manged to accumulate 1387 points (15 poinits above the threshold for division 19) despite not having any sunglasses.

Scores were: Big Bob 306; Chip 301; Doc 282; Paul 263 and Furface 235. David A broke at least four nocks as he released muttering that they were relatively new- we estimate they were used in the ark and had gotten brittle.

All 22 longbow archers had a thoroughly good time at Keighley despite a freezing cold sports hall. BoA was represented By Lis, Bruce and two Davids. Airedale Longbow League.

First Frostbite of 2008 - 12thJanuary 2008

Bob managed to bring the Icicle back and this was duly awarded to Som who had won the December Icicle. It was then taken away from him and put back on the counter. President David had arrived without bow or arrows to wish everyone well. He had a note from from his Mum to say he couldn't shoot outside and in any case he was off to Keighley for the Airedale shoot. Neither excuses were accepted.

Bob got the plonker award for forgetting to bring his arrows. Everyone else had managed to bring all their equipment and assemble it correctly. With darkening skies the shooting commenced. The final outcome was a load of cold but satisfied archers and a winner in Bob with 320.Other scores were: John 271;Som 245;Phyl 221; Paul 214; Jonathan C 191; David A 185 and Cedric 140.