Rayleigh Town archer and Level 1 coach Simon Harding has been selected to shoot for Great Britain in the European Horseback Archery Grand Prix competition taking place in Grunwald, Poland in April 2015. Simon (together with his horse Thistle) has recently enjoyed great success in competition, contributing to Team GB's silver medal in stage 3 of the 2014 European Grand Prix in September, and placing 3rd overall in the BHAA Championships in Oct. For more information see http://www.horsebackarchery.info/ Congratulations to Simon on his selection, and the very best of luck out in Poland.
The annual Ken Gray Memorial shoot took place at Mayflower Archers on 7th February. The shoot is intended for new junior archers in their first years of shooting to give experience of competition archery in a friendly environment.
This year saw another full entry for the Portsmouth round with representatives from around the county. Winning this year’s shoot was the junior team from West Essex Bowmen, with Rayleigh Town Juniors in second place and Mayflower Juniors in third place. Our congratulations to the West Essex Junior team.
The shoot concluded with its ever popular balloon popping session.
Our thanks to Neal and Lesley Howell who took over the organisation of this shoot for the first time as tournament stalwart Alex Purser stepped down.
Paul Clarke (seen here talking to Mick Pearce) completed the final section of his Regional Judging assessment by actually turning up at the SCAS Judges Conference in Stevenage.
He had already passed the field and written assessments earlier in the year and just needed this to be promoted to Regional judge which means Paul can take charge of UK record Status shoots.
This means Essex now have two National judges, two Regional judges, three County judges and three Candidates - all of whom can be contacted through the Judges page.
Some of you might know that Tom has not been well recently and during this enforced rest his mind has wandered to the subject of Longbows.
The article attached is Tom's experience over many years and covers such topics as purchasing your first longbow, what arrows you need for your longbow and how to shoot it.
I would have been glad of this advice when I bought mine last year.
Roy joined Holdens Archers and very quickly established himself as a valued member of the club and took up the position of Records Officer for many years and a spell of 4 years as Chairman, which had to be relinquished through ill health.
As a qualified Archery Leader, he was involved not only with training new members with the club, but also took on the responsibility of training archery to those interested in taking up archery at Brentwood School, assisted by other qualified leaders from Holdens Archers and took training very seriously but with good humour, always organising a fun shoot at the end of term. He was also present at Open Days.
When Roy moved to Colchester, he would travel to Brentwood, sometimes 3 times a week to fulfil his commitments to the club. With a round trip of 60 miles, such was his dedication. He was made Honorary Member of Holdens and presented with a trophy shield as a mark of the high regard in which he was held by his fellow archers.
His interest in archery was proven when he wrote a tale for the now defunct “Essex Bowman”. Fourteen episodes were penned under the pen name Hob, only revealing himself at the last episode. The story involved the adventures of the fictitious Club named “Little Frumpington Archers” with headquarters in the local pub the Pig & Whistle. As a knowledgeable man, he was also devised and acted as Quizmaster at a number of quiz nights to raise revenue for the club.
Other interests were many & varied; he was a member of the “Guild of Essex Craftsman”, specialising in making miniature models. Also interested in ancient castles, he visited numerous throughout England. He was also a volunteer driver, taking disabled persons to their medical appointments
He finally had to give up archery as he was no longer able to drive and his health deteriorated. He was admitted to Tendring Nursing Home, where he was taken good care until he finally succumbed to his illness, which he bore with great fortitude and with his usual good humour.
Roy will be sadly missed by all who knew him at Holdens and all the archers in the clubs in Essex who knew him through tournaments and his writing in the “Essex Bowmen”.
Louis Gladwell (Club President) & Alan Goodsman (Club Secretary) Holdens Archers
