The Airedale Longbow League

END OF SUMMER SHOOT Western round

The Autumn Equinox is upon us again and the days are shortening at both ends, but for Airedale longbow archers this was an ideal time to hold a wake for the summer just passed. As the archers arrived at the old St.Ives archery range they were greeted by the horses already in their winter overcoats and the whistling of a Sparrowhawk waiting to swoop on any exhausted longbowman should he or she falter in this challenge.

But as the sun broke through the clouds the mood became cheerier and the true spirit of fraternity amongst longbowmen was once again apparent. Few questions were asked about the need for six sighters as we knew the answer was "Because..." . Well it was a GNAS shoot and that's what happens. The arrows were soon flying and there were few excuses on such a fine autumn day. Perhaps some archers were distracted by the gentle cackling of the wildfowl on the lake or the sound of grass being torn by the horses from the adjacent meadow. Arrows got microscopically closer to the centre of the gold and by lunchtime it was announced that someone had pierced something called the inner gold -  a distant country for many of us. Clearly we were going to have to do some serious shooting in the afternoon.

Robert was clearly determined to keep the entire luncheon, that Aire Valley Archers had provided, for himself, and called us to shoot at the wonky wand. But Ann pleaded a severe bout of hunger pains on behalf of all assembled and Robert was left to look after the wand as everyone else formed an orderly queue by the food tent.

Slowly we emerged dragging our feet to shoot at the wand and after two elimination rounds only Lewis Mitchell could pierce the ever narrowing band of the wand. [see photographs]

And so to 50 yards- who could possibly miss? Well dear reader I have to report that many achieved this distinction whilst others managed to get one, two and even three arrows into the gold. And so, as the rain clouds threatened to dump their contents on this fine green field, the shooting came to its conclusion. Bows were unbraced and carefully stowed in their bags. Mental notes were made to remember to re-serve strings and re-glue points.

The scores were collected and the team scores calculated by David and Robert using only paper and pencil. The raffle prizes were distributed and the results announced:

First Team:              Aire Valley Archers
First Lady:                Ann Shooter
First Gentleman:    Lewis Mitchell

A vote of thanks was given to Robert and Aire Valley Archers for their hospitality and good food and it was agreed by all that we should all meet again at the same time and place next year.

See the photographs page for pictures and results page for full results.

DOC 22.9.07


FINAL INDOOR SHOOT- SATURDAY 10th MARCH 2007

The grand finale of the league was held as usual at Aire Valley Archers. Everybody arrived on time signifying this was something special. Everyone had the chance to improve on their previous scores and their overall position in the league as only the best scores counted and poorer scores could be discarded.

Bowmen of Adel had secured an unassailable position in the team event despite having missed  the February match when only two archers made up the team - but with the discard rule this did not affect their position. The individual competition for men was a different matter with at least five contenders and for the ladies a fight for second and third places was on the cards.

                                                    Renee presents team trophy to BoA team

The archers chose their targets at random and it was clear from the start that matters were being taken seriously as the inner ten was penetrated during sighters. Longbow being what it is, there where whoops of joy followed by dark mutterings of grief  as targets were inspected and scores recorded.  Even though scores for each dozen were recorded on the results board and it was clear that Robert Powell and David Hood were challenging each other for the honours of the day, it needed a computer to work out who would be the outright winner of the league and with a press of a key the computer revealed that two points separated the top three scorers with the tie for second and third place being decided by the score on the final day.
Full results on the results page.


THE RULES
The rules of the league have now been finalised and can be found on the rules page. Click the link on the left of this page.

2006/07 INDOOR LEAGUE
The league is now in its third month.

Clubs had the option of shooting at the Christmas Cracker or on the previous Saturday.

The best scores were:

Gents:  Bruce Knights      397            Adel               
Ladies: Ann Shooter        385            White Rose
Juniors: Thomas Powell   280          Aire Valley

The January shoot was on 13th January  with 21 taking part. The best scores were:

Gents: Barry Lydon           414            Aire Valley
Ladies: Ann Shooter        388            White Rose
Juniors:  Matthew Bladen 227           White Rose                     

Full results on the results page.

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