Anchor Bowmen Archery Club News

We’ve got lots of things going on this Autumn at Anchor Bowmen…

Apart from the last few shooting days before the outdoor season completes, the club is also running a number of Taster sessions to give anyone a chance to have a go archery in a safe and relaxed atmosphere. We’re also
starting a new beginner’s course in November that will run for 5 weeks until early December.

On top of the funding we received for Longbow making equipment there is to be another longbow making course in late November. The last two were greatly received by those taking up the challenge and made their own “proper” English Longbow!

See the attached flyer for more details of our “goings on”.

ABAC will once again be helping raise funds for Treetops Hospice at their “Colour Rush and Family Fun Day” which is being held at Elvaston Castle Country Park, Derby on Sun 11th September (11am – 5pm).
You don’t have to take part in the Colour Rush run itself, just come along and join the spectacle…and maybe try your hand at “shooting a few golds” too.

For more details see this link:

http://www.treetopshospice.org.uk/events/colour-rush/

Anchor Bowmen Archery Club were asked for the third year
in a row to open our ‘Have-A-Go’ stall in support of the Treetops Hospice Great
Easter Egg Hunt. The club accepted the invitation from our adopted
charity knowing it was being held on Easter Saturday.

As usual we had plenty of volunteers put their
names forward to support this very worthy course fully well knowing we had to
be at the Asterdale Sports Ground for 7:30am to load up the van which for the
first time being supplied and driven by Jake Evans. This saved us the usual
logistical nightmare of trying to fit the equipment into our cars. The
only downside was that the ground was boggy so we had to carry the equipment
from the containers to the van in the car park. Through a combination of manpower
and the mower we got the eight bosses, stands, quivers, arrows, safety lines,
safety signs, perimeter poles, bracers, finger tabs etc.

We got to Treetops Hospice and went about setting
up our safe location. We placed the poles and roped off and area to ensure we
operated within a safe environment, setup the stall and bosses and got this all
achieved by 08:45am. 15 minutes ahead of schedule – game on !

Volunteers (left to right); Andy, Meg, Nick, Derrick,
Roger, Elliott, Scott, Anthony, Chris, Terry, Pat, Anne, Gary, Mo, Dave and
Jake.

The day went well even though it was colder and
wetter than previous years. We maintained a steady flow of customers in between
the rain showers. The club volunteers always ensured they had a smile on their
faces at all times or it could have been the coffee and hob-nobs that Meg had
supplied. This year we pinned hand-made paper Easter Eggs (made by Meg
and her mum) on the targets and when a have-a-goer hit one of these paper eggs
they would win a chocolate Easter Egg donated by Nick.

We had another Personal Best year making £212.00
for the hospice. We charged the same as previous years, £2 per 6 arrows, so
taking into account the weather we did really well. As we looked around
the stalls we did have a steady flow of people compared to other activities
that we are available on the day.

A big personal thank you to our sainted volunteers
who never fail to deliver when asked to whatever the weather, time or location.

Great Job Done ! Thank You

Mo (Membership Secretary)

Following a request made my Treetops
Hospice (Risley) after last years’ success, we were asked back again to
setup our ‘Have A Go Archery’ stall for their Easter Egg Hunt.

As last year, it was an early start
on Easter Saturday meeting at the Asterdale for 8am to load up our cars,
Tony was dragged out of bed to take the bosses in his pick-up. The
downside was we had a fair amount of rain over the week and
we may have left some ruts on the Asterdale ground (hopefully no-one will notice).
We made our way over to Treetops via a slight detour but we won’t
mention that. The team unloaded and setup in record time after a number
of debates due to Treetops
also being water-logged but we found somewhere safe to setup our stall.

After a slow start our stall soon got busy with people of all ages wanting a go at archery, we made
£210 which is up from last years’ £174. We were
charging £2 per 6 arrows so you can calculate we saw 105 people but the
reality is we did give a few people free goes so the team actually saw
more customers than the final figures indicate.
The ground was muddy and the weather was cloudy and cold but the team
remained motivated for the 5 hours we spent raising money for the
charity.

I would
like to extend my thanks to all our volunteers on behalf
of ABAC and Treetops Hospice.

Mo Hussain, Membership Secretary