Archery, medieval style.

NEWS

Archived from Tuesday 11th March 2008

© Companions of the Longbow

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Companions Trophy

 

We’re now at the half way stage in the Companions Trophy as we’re at Week 13.  This week the competition comprised of shooting at a deer target from 20 yards, 40 yards and 60 yards with points being scored dependant on the distance and the kill/wound zones on the deer.

 

Double congratulations go to Jenni who got 1st place and also managed to go up a rank to Riding Forester 1st Rank and qualify for the final week 27 competition.  Also congratulations to Mark who also qualified by going up to Riding Forester 1st Rank.

 

Find who else might have qualified after the webmasters two week Easter break!

Companions of the Longbow Grand Feast

 

Below is a copy of the ticket for our second anniversary Grand Feast.  Rather than restate the obvious, I’ll just let you read it!  If you’re interested please let Jenni (Treasurer, a.k.a. Keeper of the Purse) know (treasurer@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk)

If you’d like to we’re also asking for volunteers to entertain (can you juggle, play an instrument or tell a medieval joke?).  Plus for those who painted banners for last year and took them away please bring them back so we can decorate the hall.

We’ve got a raffle going again too and we’ve already had a number of raffle prizes donated as follows;

Dave A. has promised of 6 of his special arrows, Jen G. has bits of archery stuff, Rob and Tess have a stuffed deer with target written all over it(!), Jen A. has a framed signed drawing, Mark has some medieval themed DVDs, Jane has six handmade general cards with a medieval \archery theme and Bob has a bottle of Moniack Mead.

Tickets go on sale from next Saturday with only 35 places available.  Partners and friends are most welcome but we’re expecting to sell out!  If you’re unable to pick up tickets contact Bob (president@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk) and he’ll will reserve tickets for members.

 

Edward Longshanks—The Return

 

After the Companions got beaten by the archers at Crick earlier this year it was thought only polite to ask for a rematch on the Companions field.  We’ve therefore received the following communiqué from Edward Longshanks;

 

Sir,

  

An offer of a rematch has landed upon me, for the day and date of Sunday April the 20th 2008. 

  

I have discussed with my "Victorious Bowmen" the suggestion, and after some initial jeering and jocularity, it has been agreed that a number of shooters will happily address your challenge and meet out a "Vicious Humiliation" the like of which has never been seen.

  

The team being fielded on the day will be shooting under the title of " Dexter Nothus"

  

Yours

  

Longshank

 

So, the date is Sunday 20th April 2008 at Roves Farm for the rematch.

 

Companions of the Longbow AGM—12th April 2008 2.30pm Cold Harbour Pub

 

What follows is a copy of the e-mail we should all have received from Andrew about the next Companions AGM;

 

Hello Companions

 

The annual AGM is fast approaching and it is time to prepare.  The AGM will be held 12th April 2008 at 2:30 in the Cold Harbour meeting room.

 

Motions for vote by the members:

 

At the AGM the membership has the opportunity vote on motions affecting the club. You are invited to submit any motions to me for inclusion in the agenda.  Please submit any motion you may have directly to me chairman@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk (Andrew’s private e-mail address replaced with the public one for this news update) by the 28th March 2008 so that it can be included in the AGM agenda.  By default any motion that is covered by the constitution does not need a vote.  The motion will be detailed to the members and the committee will advise why a vote is not required.

 

The committee has a number of motions that will require membership vote so if you can attend the AGM you will be able to participate in the decision making process.

 

Election of the committee members.

 

The committee members today are as follows:

Andrew Smith                        Chairman

Jenni Gerrard                          Keeper of the purse (Treasurer)

Helen Toms                            Companions Scribe (Secretary)

Mark Tustian                          Safety Officer / Webmaster

Adriano Gentilcore               Social Committee Member

Stuart Murray                         Armourer

Jane Bannister                        Publicity Committee Member

 

All of the above members are standing again for the roles that they currently occupy.

 

To be nominated for election to the committee must have their application submitted to me chairman@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk by 28th March 2008.  All nominations must include the name of person nominating and the name of the second who is supporting that nomination. The nominator and the second must e-mail me individually stating their nomination. In addition, the nomination should also include the position for which the nominee wishes to be elected.  The Valid positions are, Chairman, treasurer, Secretary or general committee member.  Only these positions will be valid for the election process.

 

Currently there are 7 committee members and the constitution states that there are 8.  So today there is a vacancy on the committee for a General Committee member.

 

Anyone being nominated must acknowledge and be willing to work within the guidance of the constitution.  The key points to note are as follows:

 

1.       The promotion of the skill and use of the medieval longbow.

2.       The aim of buying land exclusively for the use of the club

3.       The committee is made up of 8 people of which 5 shall represent a quorum.

4.       The Chairman will manage the process required to run the committee

5.       The committee has the power to make decisions on behalf of and for the good of the club

6.       The club has a non elected president

7.       The club is run for the benefit of its members, the use of the medieval longbow and associated history within the realms of health and safety for its members.

8.       The club is not a re-enactment society and the members will decide whether to participate in re-enactment events

9.       The club is all inclusive and the committee will engage in events where all members will benefit, directly or indirectly.

10.   All funds, monies and equipment are the property of the club

11.   In event of dissolution the assets will be sold and split equally between English heritage and National Trust

12.   Committee members are elected annually

13.   The committee can be dissolved by 2/3 majority of the membership

 

Proceedings:

 

The proceedings for the AGM will be as follows:

 

1.       The meeting will be brought to order     Chairman

2.       Chairman report                                           Chairman

3.       Treasurer report                                           Keeper of the Purse

4.       Dissolution of the Committee                  President

5.       Election of Chairman                                 President

6.       Election of Committee                               Chairman

7.       Motions for vote by the members           Chairman

8.       AOB                                                                Chairman

9.       Close                                                               Chairman

 

I look forward to your attendance at the AGM.

 

Kind regards,

Andrew Smith

Chairman

Companions Challenge

 

This week’s Challenge was a fairly simple one.  Take a purse of gold (or old coins), hang it on a string, set the shooting line at 20 yards and give each archer three arrows to cut through the string, make the purse drop and win the prize.

 

Of course field points aren’t that great at cutting string so instead part of the string was replaced with a strand of dried spaghetti.  Hit the string with a field point and you’d be unlikely to make the purse drop.  Hit the piece of dried spaghetti and you’d get the job done.  Simple.

 

The Challenge would be a success if one of our archers could “cut the string”.  So how did we do?

 

Well, surprisingly well.  Anna hit the string proper before getting the spaghetti with her third arrow.  Alina “cut the string” with her second arrow.  Well done though to Jeff, Dave A. and Jen who all “cut the string” with their first arrow.

 

Because we had a Prize of Dubious Worth and three potential winners we had to have a shoot-off.  One arrow on a standard FITA target at 20 yards with the winner being the archer closest to the bulls-eye.

 

After some amazing shooting with the purse, the winning arrow … well you can see how they did by looking at the picture to the right.  How were they so good and then so bad?!?  (Rubbish!)

 

This week’s winner of the Prize of Dubious Worth was Jen with her arrow being closest to the bulls-eye.  Congratulations!

And Finally

 

The webmaster is away for Easter and so the next update will be around the 1st April 2008.  We’ve got the next round of Membership renewals going on and so to keep our records up to date we need to ask for new membership forms to be filled out.  If the webmaster gets round to it a downloadable version of the membership form will be available in the Members Area, maybe even at the next update.  Until then you can request a membership form from Helen via secretary@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk.

 

As always … got a suggestion for the club?  Send it to suggestions@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk or send them direct to any of the committee members e-mail address (see Contact Us page for these).

 

 Take care all and remember not to eat too much chocolate over Easter ...