Worshipful Company of Fletchers Autumn Competition

On the 18th September 2019 we were pleased to be able to welcome to Noak Hill Archers the Worshipful Company of Fletchers for their Autumn competition and fun day out.

We were again pleased to welcome the merry band of visitors for the September competition and challenge ably organised by Lesley Agutter.

Dennis Oates and the field archers had been working hard on the field course all throughout the summer and had set a challenging field course of fun targets and targets that would test the resolve of the archers both beginner and experienced. The team had incorporated a number of scene shots and predator and prey shots which tested the aim and set the bar high but was compensated by the handicapping system designed by Dennis and The Mathematics Department at NASA have developed.

So the day started with introductions and a welcome to all the guests and they were all either setting up their own bows (the more experienced archers) or being kitted out with the club bows and arrows and then split into groups and paired up with a couple of the Noak Hill Archers.

We had a good number of Noak Hill Archers to assist in the practice session including a current GB archer Sarah Bettles who is competing at the highest level and aspiring to represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, we also had one the clubs up and coming juniors Andrew Lock who has been at the club for 3 years when he took up archery with (his dad) and has progressed quickly to be county champion and to represent the county twice in the last year.

With this level of support and coaching plus the many other experienced archers we were able to help them start to hit the targets and then hit the higher scores ready for when the points were counted.

It is fair to say the standard even from the novice archers was very good and it was not long before all archers were hitting the mark and getting ready to score for the looming competition round.

We were blessed with glorious weather given we were in mid September.

After lunch which was cooked and prepared by the wonderful ladies in the clubhouse, the competition was restarted and the serious archery seemed to kick in as the expressions changed to show all the archers wanted the coveted award and title of the champion archer for the day.

We had 4 groups all starting from different points across the field course for the afternoon session and the challenging field course.

It was clear from the discussions that were being had across the groups that they were enjoying the course layout and while challenging this was also really enjoyable and again added to the fierce competition and game faces for all archers as their competitive sides all took over.

Competition was fierce but fun and there was many examples of the practice session paying off and even the novice archers were hitting the mark from the fiendishly challenging course set by Dennis and the field archery team

Personally i really enjoyed the day and the company of the Fletchers archers which was complemented by the weather, the food and the challenging course and we all look forward to seeing you again in the Spring 2020.

Well done to all the archers and well done to the winners on the day: