Archery, medieval style.

NEWS

Archived from Tuesday 23rd October 2007

© Companions of the Longbow

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Companions Challenge

 

So far we’ve failed two Challenges and succeeded in three, so this weeks Challenge could see us take a healthy four to two lead.  Devised by Dave A. it’s been titled “Horse Archery Without A Horse”; this basically consists of a course that runs parallel to the target and for which the archer (on his horse) would moved parallel to the target shooting one arrow per designated section (it’s a horse archer’s training exercise).  As the horse archer progresses each shot becomes more difficult as the target starts in front of the archer, then to the side and finally behind.  We don’t have horses(!) and so this challenge will be conducted at a measured walk, in itself difficult because foot archers normally shoot while stood still and not strolling along with their centre of balance off kilter!

And Finally...

 

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).  Our Suggestions box will be up and ready to use as soon as we’ve got use of the Roundel field again.

Archery “Room 101” & Range Captain Qualifications—Final Reminder

 

Final reminder!  Because it’ll be half term at the New College next week is now the date for Range Captain qualifications and Archery “Room 101”.  Archery “Room 101” is the chance to bring something along that you hate and get everyone to shoot it to bits.  Full and franks reasons as to why you hate the object may convince archers whether to be accurate or not … no live animals or people please.

 

The range captain qualification is basically broken down into the following rules;

 

(1) There are six places open.

(2) Previous range captains will get first dibs on re-qualification however if a previous range captain does not want to re-qualify this year an open spot will become available (more than likely).

(3) Those who wish to become a range captain can put themselves forward for qualification on the day.

(4) If you’re interested in becoming a range captain you’ll have to sign up to the Companions of the Longbow safety case.  This document can be requested at any time by all members but if you want a copy now e-mail Mark at webadmin@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk and I’ll send you a copy.

(5) To stop range captains getting rusty there’ll be a greater chance for all captains to have a go at setting up and running their own ranges.  There may even be a requirement to run a range a regularly intervals just to ensure everyone remains up to speed.

A course was set up as per the diagram (right).  For a target three playing cards were fixed in place (see picture on main News page) and the three sections marked out at least 15 paces from the target.  Each archer walked at a continuous and sustained pace along the line and shot one arrow per section.  If an archer could not nock and shoot an arrow by the time they had finished walking a section they lost that section’s shot and must continue to the next section.  Due to the difficulty for the purpose of the Challenge it was deemed a success if there is at least one hit on a playing card per four archers taking part.  So how did we do?

Well, thanks to Jeff we can call this Challenge another success.  We thought originally that no-one had hit anything but on closer inspection one of his arrows managed a tiny nibble for one of the playing cards and thanks to the fact that there was only four archers shooting that’s a completed challenge!  So that’s four successes to two failures and the Prize of Dubious Worth went to Jeff – this week a set of pocket allen keys.  Well done Jeff!

 

Next week’s Challenge is a repeat of Companions Challenge Number 5 The Sword of Sherwood – a challenge involving shooting an arrow through an arrow slit.