Even as the night draw in Archery continues and South Wansdyke Archery Club and its members have been busy. Not in chronological order, but we must first congratulate our archers who competed in the Somerset County Indoor Championships at Hutton Moor Leisure Centre, Weston-Super-Mare on the 12th November. A special mention must go to Dylan Appleton who was crowned Under 12 Recurve County Champion. This was Dylan’s first archery tournament. An excellent result! Clair Crook was Compound Ladies runner up, Clive Jarret placed 8th in the Recurve Men and Jake Appleton was 12th in the Barebow Men’s competition. Following on from his Somerset County success Dylan Appleton back this up with a silver medal at the Wansdyke District Scout Archery Tournament.
Dylan Appleton – U12 Somerset Recurve Champion
The annual SWAC Clout competition took place on Saturday 21st October at Farrington Golf Club. Archers were shooting distances of 180, 140 and 100 yards towards to flag target in the ground. Guests came from Bitton Archers and Coastal Archers for some friendly competition. Elliot Crisp won the Junior category, with the senior medals going to Sharon Adams (SWAC), Lisa Fayers (Coastal) and Rob Fayers (Coastal) at 100, 140 and 180 yards respectively. Presentations were held in the club house with dinner and the overall team trophy, SWAC v Guests, went to our Guests.
Internal competition continued into September with the final outdoor handicap of the season
Gold – Ian Garforth 1422
Silver – David Aldridge 1413
Bronze – Simon Whittle 1405
September also saw the conclusion of our inaugural Ladder Competition. It was a tense finish for the recurve archers with Clive Jarrett claiming the top of the ladder on the final day of shooting. The match between Clive and David Aldridge was tied at 5-5, thus requiring a single arrow shoot off, nearest the middle won! Our leading compound archer was Clair Crook and our highest Barebow archer was Katie Beale.
Finally, September and October saw new archers learning the ropes. We had 11 beginners complete the 6 week course, over consecutive Saturday mornings. Completion of the course, not only a source of pride learning a new skill, but has lead to new members joining the club. If you are interested in archery, the club will be hosting another beginners course in March/April 2024. Keep an eye on our website for details.