George’s Newsletter – September 2017
The Sherwood Meeting of the British Longbow Society took place on our field on the second Saturday in September.This annual event , hosted by our club, attracts longbow archers from surrounding counties. They maintain the tradition of two-way shooting popular in Victorian times. Gentlemen shot the York round [100/80/60 yds] and ladies shot the Double National round [60/50 yds ]. We were lucky with the weather and had an enjoyable shoot. The next day we welcomed members of The Wakefield Archers to Southwell for our annual challenge match for the SpeakTrophy. The winning club claims the honour of being the home of Robin Hood, either Sherwood Forest or Barnsdale Forest at Wakefield. Our team had a decisive win to keep Robin in Sherwood for another year. No doubt The Wakefield Archers will be keen to win him back next year! Our team consisted of Stephen Lamb and Martyn Smith[recurve], Jenny Bryan and Ashley Buckland [compound] and Carrie and Andy Mortimore[longbow].The standard of the shooting was very high and our archers broke several club,county and regional records. On the following Sunday we held our Club Outdoor Championships, and once again we were lucky with the weather-just one short shower.We shot the Western round[60/50 yds for seniors] with shorter rounds for the juniors.Our champions on the day were Stephen Lamb and Serena Lamb [recurve], Lee Waterfield and Susan Stankovic[compound] , Richard Gentle and Carrie Mortimore [longbow] and Fred Kirkham [barebow]. Junior champions were Oliver Salmon[recurve] and Joanna Bennett and Reece Buckland [longbow]. The trophy for the best handicap score was won by Jason Millard and Reece Buckland took the wooden spoon for the worst white. Shooting on the following weekend at Bowmen of Glen in Leicestershire, Jenny Bryan came 2nd in the Double 720 on the Saturday, and won her age group on the Sunday. A very successful month for our members!