Durham City Archers

On September the 12th we are having a special competition within the club to celebrate the end of the outdoor season. The competition will be an American round (2.5Doz @60, 50, & 40 yards) with a shorter American for juniors, assembly at 12:30 and sighters at 1pm. Anyone who comes earlier can get some practice ends in and help the field party out with the bosses. Please get your Warwick or other scores in to Greg ASAP so he can calculate your handicap.

There will be Prizes on the day depending on entries, and we will also be presenting classification badges to all archers who have submitted relevant scores to the records officer for qualification.

Speak to either Lloyd, Paul, or Julie if you have any questions.

Later that evening we will be gathering again at the Old Mill in Metalbridge (just off the A1 at Durham Services) for food and ale in copious amounts.  MAP HERE

We have provisionally booked a table for 20 people at 8pm so we need to know as soon as possible if you wish to attend so please speak to Dee or Lloyd and reserve your place.

The menu and info about the Old Mill can be found HERE

Please have a look at the menu if you are attending and let us know what you want so we can pre-order the food.

That time of year has come around yet again, and I’m writing to let you know the shooting fees for the Grand National Archery Society are now due to be paid. The deadline for this payment is 10^th September, 2009. Money should be paid to Dave Johnston. The amounts are as follows

Juniors £23.50
Adults £40.00

If the money for your GNAS fees has been paid this year please check with either Christine McGowan, Dee Kennedy or Dave Johnston to see if any further payment is due.

I would like to take this opportunity to tell everyone that the club will be officially starting its indoor season on the 11^th September. Would all archers please remember that indoors, the club only shoots on a Friday evening from 6.30pm till 9.00pm and Saturday from 11.00am till 3.00pm, not on Tuesday evening. When shooting indoors, three arrows are shot at each end, not six an end as is done when shooting outdoors. Compound Archers are only to shoot on triple spot faces (the ones with three separate target faces in a vertical line) pinned onto one of our thicker straw bosses. This is to prolong the life of the bosses, target stands, and your arrows.

On behalf of everyone from the Club I would like to congratulate two of our members who have been selected to shoot for the County this year:

Mike McGowan
and
Julie Ryan

Congratulations both of you, and good luck!

Click the picture for a link to the article.

Nice one Linda, Davy and Julie!

In the news again? yes indeed:

The Morpeth Herald no less.

Ok folks, the coaching squad have had and idea, and the idea is this:

We are going to start shooting regular rounds outdoors and recording scores for all members who want to take part with a view to getting a classification for every member who wants one.

The way the scheme works is, if you make 3 scores on a recognised round of a certain standard or above, you can apply for a classification which comes with a cool little badge you can stick on your quiver.

We have found the shortest and therefore most convenient round to shoot for the basic classifications, and it is a Warwick (and Short /Junior Warwick) and it’s only 4 dozen arrows at relatively short distances (40/50/60 yards) depending on which one you shoot.

We have already started this process on Saturday and have a good few classification scores already and will hopefully be having more on a regular basis until everyone who wants to gets the badge they are after.

3rd Class Badge

If you want more info on the classifications click here or feel free to ask Paul, Greg, Julie or Lloyd.

Good luck, and good shooting everyone

A Message from our Treasurer:

“I feel I ought to congratulate all archery club members who gave up their valuable shooting time to coach recent learners. They converted 90% of the learners into fully fledged members. Well done guys.”

So well done to our coaches and welcome to our new members

A grand day was had by all, so many thanks to Alex and the guys at Bowmen of Backworth for organising a great shoot.

Congratulations to:

Mike McGowan (again) for taking a double first place in both the American and Easter Egg rounds.

Lloyd Pattison for 2nd place in the Easter Egg.

Will archers please note the following points to keep in mind during the outdoor season.

• Six arrows are to be shot at a time.
• Care must be taken to ensure that if six arrows are shot, six arrows must be collected from the target; this is not just for the benefit of the archer, it is a requirement of the Grand National Archery Society and the insurance.  We must find all ‘missing’* arrows as the field is a shared ground.
• All archers are required to help look for ‘missing’ arrows as a common courtesy to other members of the club. Members must keep in mind if it was their arrows that were ‘missing’, they would want everyone to help with the search.
• Everyone must adjust their sights for shooting outdoors. If you are not sure of how to correctly adjust your sights please ask for assistance.

I would like to take the opportunity to explain that Durham City Archers will begin the outdoor season on Tuesday 14^th April, weather permitting. This means that we will be shooting outdoors from this date, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The indoor venue ( i.e the hall), is not an option during the outdoor season apart from the use of the toilets. The school has agreed to allow us to use the indoor venue on a Friday or a Saturday if the weather is inclement. This will be a group decision that will be made at the beginning of the session; it is not up to the individual archer. The hall is not available for us to use on a Tuesday evening. See you on the shooting field and I wish you all the best of luck!

*’missing’ refers to an arrow that has missed the target and landed on the ground or in the ‘green’ as you may hear it being referred to.

We went. We saw. We Conquered.

Congratulations to:

Deirdre Kennedy – Winner – Ladies Recurve.

Lloyd Pattison – Winner – Gents Compound.

Go us!

Congratulations to the DCA team today, cracking results:

Lloyd Pattison – 2nd Gents Compound

Mike Mcgowan – 3rd Gents Compound

Julie Ryan – 3rd Ladies Compound (first comp entry with a compound bow)

Catherine Lowden – 3rd Ladies Recurve

Congratulations also to Andrew Frankish and Anne Todd who managed to make new county records and take first place in Gents Compound and Ladies Longbow respectively.