Seven South Wansdyke Archers made the visit to Bath Archers and competed in their Albion Tournament. The sun shone and wind was relatively calm. Raffle prize were won and some medals too! Clair Crook, Janet Ross and Jake Appleton took home silver medals in the ladies Compound, ladies recurve and gentlemen’s barebow respectively. The team comprising Simon Whittle, Clair Crook and Clive Jarrett were also runner’s up, but unfortunately no medal was presented.
From left to right:
Jake Appleton, Simon Whittle, Clive Jarrett, David Aldridge, Janet Ross, Andrea Whittle, Clair Crook.
Congratulations to our medallist’s in our April Handicap Competition. 8 archers competed shooting Warwick rounds, ranging from a Long Warwick to a Warwick 30. For the second time this season the gold medal went to Cody Adams, the silvers went to Sharon Adams and the bronze to last months winner Mike Solomon. The current handicap cup table stands thus:
Our second Handicap Competition of the season, an indoor Portsmouth round, took place last night. Another large entry with 18 archers taking part. The gold medal went to Mike Solomon, silver to Tom Salter and bronze to Karen Emery. Congratulations! Full results can be found on our website (https://southwansdykearchers.co.uk/competitions).
Congratulations to the medallist at our first Handicap Competition of the Season. The gold medal went to Cody Adams, silver to Jo Backstrom and bronze to Paul Speer. In all 17 archers competed, with 8 archers performing better than their handicap. It was great to see so many competing. The full results can be seen on our results page (https://southwansdykearchers.co.uk/competitions).
On Sunday 21st January the club hosted their annual awards at Pratten’s Sports and Social club. Presenting the awards was Club Chairman Andy Young.
Left: Ian Garforth received Handicap Cup from Chairman, Andy Young.
ArcheryGB has introduced a new handicap and classification system this year and 24 members received their new classification badges signifying their competence in the field of archery at a minimum as an “Archer 3rd class”. Five members attained the highest classification that the club can award, “Bowman 1st class”, namely Andy Young, Clair Crook, Clive Jarrett, David Aldridge and Janet Ross. For our members who are new to archery several progression badges were presented demonstrating their continued development. Receiving their first badges were senior Barebow archer Izzy Randell and Junior Riley Edgell.
Junior and Senior awards for greatest improvement over the year went to Parker Edgell and Jake Appleton respectively.
Age group trophies were awarded for the best average score per arrow over the course of the season. U12 – Dylan Appleton, U14 – Elliot Crisp, U16 Cody Adams and U18 Harriet Crook.
The Senior Chairman’s Cup for best average top three Frostbite scores for the recurve discipline went to Clive Jarrett with an average score of 332 out of a possible 360. Junior Chairman’s cup was awarded to Elliot Crisp for highest progression for junior recurve archer and the Junior Barebow award, similarly for highest junior barebow progression went to Amelie Ball.
The 2023 ladies Clout champion went to Andrea Whittle and Men’s Clout Champion was retained by Andy Young. For the first time a junior trophy was awarded in this category, with the award going to Elliot Crisp.
Right: Andrea Whittle receives Clout Trophy
Throughout the year the club holds handicap competitions. 6 events took place in 2023 and the Handicap Cup was presented for most accumulated points over the season. 1st place was compound archer, Ian Garforth with 10 points and runner up, recurve archer Andrea Whittle 9 points.
Our inaugural ladder competition had a dramatic last day with Clive Jarret reaching the top of the ladder following a one arrow shoot off (nearest the middle) against opponent David Aldridge. The top compound archer on the ladder was Clair Crook and top barebow archer was Katie Beale. All received a gold medal.
The award for most scores submitted again went to Andrea Whittle (Ladies) and Clive Jarret (Mens) in the senior section. In the junior section a new winner in Elliot Crisp.
The Coaches trophy was presented to Clair Crook for her continued support to the coaching of all club members, instigation of a Boost Archery course and attaining her Level 2 coaching award (and commencing level 3).
Left: Clair Crook receives the Coaches Award
To finish, the Graham Billam Member’s Choice Cup, voted for by members, went to Simon Whittle.
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.
The club had 5 archers competing at the Battle of Britain Tournament on behalf of the Royal Air Force Association held at Burnham Company of Archers on Sunday 10th September. Similar to the Bath Hereford the day started wet, with a downpour during the first end of archery, this change to hot sunny weather come the afternoon. The round was a WA 1440, with arrows shot at 90m, 70m, 50m and 30m for the men and 70m, 60m, 50m and 30m for the ladies. Janet Ross was recurve ladies runner up and Andrea Whittle recurve ladies third place. Clair Crook was ladies compound runner up. The men faired less will in the individual recurve placings, but Clive Jarret and Janet Ross won the recurve pairs trophy and the team of Janet Ross, Clive Jarrett and Simon Whittle won the recurve team trophy.
The club supported the community at both the Writhlington Flower Show and the Writhlington Fun Day this summer. Thank you to all the volunteers. The club was well supported, many members of the public had a go and shot for gold. Among them were our community policing and fire service, with Fire service manager Bobby Welch showing the way to Firefighter Liam, who was at a distinct disadvantage in full firefighting gear (helmet and respirator)! Not to be outdone Community Officer Join Hardy also shot well.
Left to right: Fire Service Manager Bobby Welch, Community Support Officer Jon Hardy and Firefighter Liam Paterson, as well as our own chairman Andy Young
