Gordano Valley Archers

2010

 

News to follow!

 

2009

 

December

 

Grand Western Junior Postal League 2009/10

We have the results ofthe Grand Western Junior Postal League 2009/10 as of the end of November (2 months competed so far).

U18

Category	Place	Name	Total score	Total points
U18 Girls Recurve - Division 2	1st	Emily Taylor	495	20
U18 Boys Recurve - Divison 1	5th	Chris Maines	583	13
U18 Boys Recurve - Divison 2	4th	Kristian Banks	455	13
U18 Boys Recurve - Divison 3	1st	Callum Day	436	19

U16

Category	Place	Name	Total score	Total points
U16 Girls Recurve - Division 1	1st	Chessie Crook	518	17
	2nd	Rushda Booley	491	15
U16 Girls Recurve - Division 2	3rd	Laura Myers	422	15
U16 Boys Recuve - Division 2	3rd	Hayden Read	475	17

U14

Category	Place	Name	Total score	Total points
U14 Girls Recurve	3rd	Katie Myers	301	15
	5th	Haseenah Booley	223	10
U14 Boys Recurve - Division 3	4th	Alex Day	229	13
U14 Boys Recurve - Division 4	1st	Daniel Jackson	218	19

U12 and U10

Category	Place	Name	Total score	Total points
U12 Girls Recurve - Division 2	1st	Amy Jackson	139	19
	3rd	Thaakirah Booley	115	14
U10 Girls Recurve	1st	Haajir Booley	292	20
	2nd	Freya Andow	113	16
U10 Boys Recurve - Divison 1	4th	Matthew Cross	278	11
U10 Boys Recurve - Division 2	2nd	Yusuf Booely	219	17

Clubs overall

	Place	Club	Total score	Total points
U18 Div2	1st	Gordano Valley Archers	2032	19
U16 Div2	3rd	Gordano Valley Archers	1617	17
U14	3rd	Gordano Valley Archers	971	16
U10	1st	Gordano Valley Archers	902	20

Well done to all our juniors for achieving these positions, and keep handing in your Frostbite scores each month!

Christmas Fun Shoot, 20 December
On Sunday we had a Xmas fun shoot organised by Tim, in which archers took part in barebow 'archery darts' and our first ever attempt at clout shooting!

Individual challenge 1st place Karl Day, 2nd place Nicky Solomon, 3rd place Mike Solomon
Team challenge #1 Tim Mustin-Twells & Mike Solomon
Team challenge #2 Paul Maines & Nicky Solomon
Clout Shoot-off between Paul Maines and Steve Harper resulted in Steve at 1st place

November

A golden Sunday for the Solomons!
On Sunday 22nd November, both Nicky and Mike Solomon scored a 'golden end' (6 arrows in the bullseye) in an indoor Portsmouth shoot! Well done both. They are not the only ones to have achieved this - the week later, on Sunday 29th, Mark Renouf also achieved the same feat. Good shooting!

International archers
We have heard that one of our favourite Kiwi club members, Sean Robins, recently won the Manawatu Archer Club Senior Handicap trophy! Well done Sean, keep up the good work!

Committee changes
We are delighted to announce that our new Welfare Officer is Becky Day, and that Tim Mustin-Twells has taken up the position of Match Secretary.

Somerset County Junior Indoor Championships
On Sunday 15th November a team of 3 GVA juniors travelled down to Crewkerne with coaches Paul and Purdy, to compete in the Somerset Indoor Championships. Despite having a team of only 3, Gordano managed to walk away with 3 golds, 2 Lady Paramount's prizes, and a 2nd place for the club trophy (1st place went to Danesfield). More details on the competitions page and photos in the gallery.

October

Can I note that the position of Treasurer has been changed to Catherine Cage. Thank you Catherine for taking up the post.

On October 25th we held our first ever barebow "Azincourt shoot". For details about the event and to see the results, have a look at the competitions section of the website. There are also some new photographs from the event in our gallery.

September

Annual General Meeting

On Sunday 27th September we held the club AGM. A few changes have been made to the committee - I would like to welcome the following members to the rank of the GVA committee: Amanda Willshire (treasurer), Mark Renouf (equipment officer), Kevin Roberts (social secretary), , Kris Robins (match secretary) and Chessie Crook (junior rep). Thank you all for taking on the responsibility that these positions entail.

The trophies from the Club Championships were also awarded. Photos and details will follow shortly.

To read the Chairman's review of 2009, please follow this link.

Club Championships

A total of 23 GVA archers competed in this year's club championship shoot; 12 senior gents, 2 senior ladies, 5 junior gents and 2 junior ladies. It was a fun day full of competitive shooting, with rounds of York, Hereford, Bristol 2 - Bristol 5 (Burntwood), and disciplines of freestyle recurve, barebow recurve and longbow.

The winners of the day were:

Mark Renouf - Overall Club Champion (Gents) and Senior Gents champion
Tim Mustin-Twells - Longbow Senior Gents Champion
Becky Day - Overall Club Champion (Ladies) and Senior Ladies Champion
Emily Taylor - Junior Ladies Champion
Chris Maines - Junior Gents Champion
Ethan Mustin-Twell - Burntwood Champion

To see the full results, click here

Somerset Interclub shoot,

On September 6th a team of 16 Gordano Valley Archers members travelled to Danesfield to compete in the Somerset Interclub competition. Although many archers went just for the experiance of shooting in a different atmosphere, we actually walked away with a significant number of prizes - some of which were a total surprise to the archer! Our members managed to compete in 3 of the 4 disciplines - recurve, longbow, barebow.

There were a number of individual medals won and I would like to congratulate the following:

Mark Renouf - Senior Gents Recurve Champion
Robert Sapsford - Senior Gents Barebow Champion

Nicky Solomon - Senior Ladies - Bronze (Title was won by Lynne Evans - ex England and Olympian archer!)

Emily Taylor - Junior Girls FITA Recurve - Silver
Chessie Crook - Junior Ladies Short FITA Champion

Ethan Mustin-Twell - Junior Tiny FITA Barebow Champion

Two other prizes were taken as well:

Nicky Solomon - Best Gold for Senior Ladies

Callum Day - Worst White for Junior Boys

I am also pleased to let members know that an official communiqué has been received from Danesfield to inform us that the Team Award (Mark Renouf, Nicky Solomon and Paul Maines) was won by the Gordano Valley Archers - not bad for our first entry into the competition! Plus a number of raffle prizes were bagged by the GVA. I guess next year we will be a known quantity! This is very impressive for a club that is new to competitions - 4 gold medals, 1 bronze, 2 extra prizes, and the Team Award.

There are a few photos from the shoot taken by the Danesfield photographer. These can be viewed on the following website - http://www.bowmenofdanesfield.co.uk . NB: If viewed from a computer in a workplace that uses website filters, this site will be blocked. We are not sure of the reason for this and apologise on their behalf.

Well done everybody that took the time out to enter - these were: Tim, Robert, Mark, Emily, Karl, Chessie, Paul, Nick, Ethan, Dave, Kev, Becky, Alex, Callum, Mike and Nicky. For those who were unable to make the day perhaps you would like to enter next year. It was a good day and I think enjoyed by all.

August

Handicaps
Well done to the following archers who have improved their handicaps in recent months: John Banham, Chessie Crook, Becky Day, Alex Day, Libby Donald, Vikki Giles, Helen Horsley, Mark Renouf, Kris Robins.

Currently our top ten handicaps stand as:
Mike Solomon – 42
Paul Maines, Tim Mustin-Twells, Dave Nicholson – 43
Mark Renouf – 44
Nick Purdy – 49
Kev Roberts – 51
Chris Maines, Nicky Slomon – 53
Stuart Bishop - 54

Classifications
Well done to the following archers who have achieved a new classification recently:
2nd class: Emily Taylor
3rd class: Richard Atkinson, George Burns, Steve Harper, Chris Maines, Dave Rigby, Kris Robins

A calendar of events has been added for this year and next year. More will be added to next year's calendar in the future. Please feel free to download 2009 dates here and 2010 dates here. A copy will also be displayed in the new club house.

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KIWI shoot, Sunday 2nd August

This was a sad day for the club when we said goodbye to two of our favourite archers, Kris and Sean Robins. Kris (pictured, centre with crown) and Sean only joined the club in October 2008 but in that time managed to inject a lot of fun and energy into the club. Sunday afternoons will not be the same without them but particularly Kris who remained with us throughout (Sean had to return to New Zealand earlier in the year but returned to take Kris home). Her bubbly personality and immense energy entertained everyone; her aim was to make everyone laugh and she managed this with ease. We will all miss her!

The evening before Kris' last shoot, to say a sad farewell, some members agreed to take Kris and Sean to a medieval feast at Caldicot Castle and to mark the event even dressed up. Typically our Chairman went as Henry VIII!

Both New Zealanders marked the occasion by introducing the KIWI shoot into the club calendar. Shooting 2 dozens arrows at 3 separate distances (age and ability related) the prize for the winner in each category was a badge of New Zealand presented by Kris and Sean.

The day was a mixture of fun and sadness but ended on a high note when all the winners had to “kiss” Kris in the traditional Maori way – touching noses. Even the losers joined in so we were are winners in the end.

To mark this special farewell both Kris and Sean were made Life Members of the club. We wish Kris and Sean all the best for the future although we do not think it will be long before Kris comes home. The club sweepstake has the latest she will return to England is before Christmas.

 

July

The records section of the website has been updated with many new personal and club records, thanks to Nicky and Mike’s hard work in checking old score sheets, and because we have recently shot some new rounds. Congratulations to all! Particular congratulations go to the following archers for achieving club records: Mike Solomon, Mark Renouf (2 new records), Ethan Mustin-Twells, Libby Donald, Emily Taylor (2 new records), Paul Maines (2 new records), Dave Nicholson (longbow), Robert Sapsford (barebow) and Karl Day.

I have decided to colour new updated scores in red to make them stand out. I hope this helps you identify your recent achievements. Some handicaps have also improved recently - check the stats section of the website to see.

On June 21st many archers competed at the GVA's first club knockout championship. For details and results, please see the competition section of the site.

Due to thoroughly unfriendly weather, we had to call off the club BBQ on 5th July. However, the American round beforehand did go ahead - albeit with several interruptions as we sheltered from the rain. All who shot achieved a personal record for the round as it was the first time we shot an American (don't worry, we won't make a habit of it..) and some will have club records. Well done to all for persevering with the shoot despite the rain, wind and cold!

May

Congratulations and thank you to all those who contributed towards the Somerset Frostbite league. We earned a well deserved 2nd placein our first season, with Bath in the top position.

Well done also to Chessie Crook, our youngest Junior Lady, who is now not only the first of her category ever to have shot at 80y, but is now also the first to reach 100y. This is currently the furthest distance we shoot on our range and this is a huge achievement for Chessie, especially considering she has been shooting for less than a year. Both Chessie (U16s) and also Nicky Solomon (Ladies) have also achieved club records by shooting the Long Western round, for the first time in our club history!

Well done to the following for achieving classifications: Mike Solomon - 1st class, Paul Maines - 1st class (reclassified) , Karl Day - 3rd Class , Emily Taylor - 3rd class (reclassified)

Several archers have now improved their handicaps - check the updated stats section for more info! Several club records have als been achieved recently, including:

Paul Maines (355 New National)
Mike Solomon (214 New Warwick)
Nicky Solomon (290 Long National & 405 Long Western)
Chessie Crook (219 Long national & 326 Long Western Under 16's)

May

Congratulations to all the following who have achieved classification…. Chessie Crook - Junior Bowman, Becky Day - 3rd Class, Mark Renouf - 2nd Class, Kevin Roberts - 3rd Class, Ethan Mustin-Twells - 3rd class

Many now have their first official handicaps, well done to all. Most improved handicap so far… Annual event with an award going to the most improved handicap. This is something which will be submitted to Archery GB who provide the award. Apparently, if it is not worn during club shoots, the members can choose a suitable forfeit. Now, if only Paul would win this :-) Top 3 to date are: Stuart Bishop - 23, Mark Ranoulf - 15, Karl Day - 10

February

It is hoped that GVA will host an "open" archery competition later this year. Planning has started with more details to follow.

Congratulations to the following for achieving new classifications: Nick Purdy - 2nd Class, Mark Renouf - 3rd class, Stuart Bishop - 3rd class

We have not done to bad in the frostbite postal competition, as of December we were in second place but with a host of clubs breathing down our necks. Results have now been entered for January and February. Jan's results may see us knocked from second spot, but hopefully we have picked that up with the February results. March is the last month of this postal competition, so we need to post a good score for March. So far, several different archers have contributed to the good results posted so far, so thanks to: Paul, Tim, Purdy, Nicky, Wendy, Mike, Chessie, Dave and Mark. This competition will start again in October this year and is open to all archers who have a recorded handicap by that date. I am hoping that we will be able to enter at least 2 teams if not more.

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2008

December

On December 28th we held the Ironman Challenge, a contest consisting of 6 or 7 dozen arrows at 30m to be shot no matter what the weather is like, preferably with silly items of clothing. Some brave and hardy souls braved subzero temperatures and an early start to compete in GVA's first official "open" tournament. Medals will be awarded to the highest overall scoring archers of each classification.

A really big thank you to Karl and Becky Day who helped set up/take down and agreed to perform the important roles of Field Captain and Judge respectively, and we were also ably supported by Richard and John. Also a big thanks to Purdy who also helped with setting up / taking down and did a lot of running around on the day and agreeing to be the official photographer. Finally - a big thank you to Tim for organising the event.

- - - - -

The GVA Christmas meal will be taking place on.... Friday December 5th, 7.30 at The Albion, Portishead. To all those who have expressed an interest, please confirm your attendance this Sunday. A £5-00 deposit per person (non refundable) is required to book your place. Please provide deposit to Wendy. She will also have copies of the menu available to indicate your selection. Children under 18 are welcomed by the Albion, but need to have vacated the premises by 22:00 hrs to comply with the Albion's licensing terms. Hope you can make it.

November

GVA is currently 4th in the frostbite league (see October news) out of 13 teams, after first round of shooting. Congrats to all who have made the effort.

October

Classification news: Tim Mustin-Twells has now achieved first class, congratulations!

FROSTBITE LEAGUE: The club has entered the frostbite postal league for this winter and need members to shoot once per month to be able to enter this league. We need a minimum of 4 hardy souls to shoot before the beginners course. This is 3 dozen arrows at 30 yards. The top 4 scores (2 unadjusted and 2 handicap) are entered into the league table. If we get 8 people we can enter an a + b team.

This should really be an any weather shoot as it is for the hardy folk amongst us. The proposal is to meet at 9am, set up and shoot prior to the beginners course. Going forward, this shoot will be on the first Sunday of the month (this at least gives us time to re-organise should it be really bad weather). I suggest warm clothes, boots and waterproof's for this weekend as early indications are for light rain :-) This is open to all full members of the club of any age.

Early notice of xmas fun shoot: It has been proposed to do an archery darts competition in December with an American lunch. This would be on Sunday December 21st. More details to follow soon.

August

NB: The 2008 club championships will be held on September 14th. The contest will start at 11am (make sure you arrive promptly to help set up the range) and will consist of a full 12 dozen arrows. The shoot will be followed by a barbeque, the winners will be announced on the day, and trophies will be handed out at the AGM on Sunday 28 September. I hope the majority of our members wil be able to make it to the shoot, it should be a great day!

July

Congratulations to Dave Nicholson for winning a first visitors medal for a National round at Exeter on 04/05/08!

June

In the past month or so, several new records have been achieved. Asterixed * scores are also new club records. Congratulations go to the following archers:

Nicky Solomon (round: Short Junior National - score 263) (round: Bristol III - score 795*) (round: Short Warwick - score 394*)
Emily Taylor (round: National - score 254)
Paul Maines (round: York - score 580*) (round: New Western - score 396*) (round: New Warwick - score 189*)
Tim Mustin-Twells (round: FITA70 - score 401*)

January

Tuesday 1 January saw our archers not only taking the chance to shooting outdoors to regain their classifications, but also competeting in our club championships. See our competitions page for more details of the event.

Special congratulations go to Denise Burgess, who set a club record in the ladies under 18 category for a Junior Warwick and to Simon Hall, a returner to the sport, who having just completed the beginners' course, bought himself an intermediate bow, shot it outdoors for the first time and scored a second class National.

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2007

To read the Chairman's review of 2007, please follow this link: 2007 review

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2006

September

Many thanks to all those who helped with and took part in our second club championship tournament, which was held on 6 August. It was a very successful day, enjoyed by all. We would like to thank those members of the club who worked so hard to make the championship happen, and everyone who has worked hard throughout the years to make the club such a success. Special thanks go to Paul Maines, Nick Purdy, Ginnene Pegg and Dave Nicholson. Thank you for all your hard work.

January

Sunday 1 January saw our hardy souls shooting outdoors on the first available occasion to regain their classifications. We were very lucky with the weather, which was mild, still and sunny. Everyone who was attempting a classification score succeeded. Special congratulations go to Denise Burgess, who set a club record in the ladies under 18 category for a Junior Warwick and to Simon Hall, a returner to the sport, who having just completed the beginners' course, bought himself an intermediate bow, shot it outdoors for the first time and scored a second class National. Those of us who could make it came back for another go on 2 January, again obtaining the classification scores we needed. This time Denise set a new club record for the ladies under 18 Junior National.

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2005

This, our first full year, has proved to be eventful and most of all very successful. Many clubs would envy the progress we have made and envy us the bright future we appear to have.

During the year our members have earned the following GNAS classifications: 1st class - Emily Pegg. 2nd class - Nick Purdy, Chris Maines, Max Nicholson, Amy Pegg, Emily Pegg, Paul Maines. 3rd class - Nick Purdy, Chris Maines, Amy Pegg, Emily Pegg, Max Nicholson, Huge Johnston, Ashlee Hopkins. E (indoor) class - Sheena McCullagh.

The following AAS awards were also earned: Red badge - Emily Pegg, Amy Pegg. Blue badge - Chris Maines, Denise Burgess, Amy Pegg, Emily Pegg, Sam Pearson. White badge - Chris Maines, Denise Burgess, Amy Pegg, Emily Pegg, Sam Pearson, Hannah Porter, Daniel Porter.

Such achievement within a club (and particularly in its first year) is remarkable. Congratulations to all those who have obtained these standards. Let's see who can join them in 2006.The success of the club can also be measured in how often we have been asked to hold exhibitions and have a go sessions. All have added to the growing name of the GVA.

The spirit within the club is fantastic and this was never more evident than at our First Club Championship held in August this year. It was a great day out, good shooting and good food. Thank go to everyone for that day, not just the archers but the parents and grandparents who came to support and help. The sense of a family club was very clear to see.

Finally we would like to thank those members of the club who work on behalf of us all to make the club a success and enable us all to shoot., namely to Paul Maines, Sheena McCullagh, Ginnene Pegg, Nick Purdy, Dave Nicholson and Ashlee Hopkins. Thank you for all your hard work which has helped the club achieve its position today. Good shooting in 2006 everyone.

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2004

Sunday 14 November 2004 saw the birth of a new archery club in North Somerset. Four of the five founding members were present to try out the equipment before starting the after-school beginners' courses.

Due to various technical hitches (like the stands hadn't been assembled), we only had time to shoot a four dozen round and even then shot the last dozen or so with the headlights of one of our cars providing 'flood lighting'. This didn't affect the two who had previously shot at Exmouth Archers' Lunatic shoot, but had a disastrous affect on the scores of the other two present! Still, we all had a good time and, as we were all shooting in different classes, managed to bag a club record each (OK, only by default).

The honour of being the first person to shoot an arrow in the club went to Christopher Maines (under 14s). The first ever gold (sighters) was claimed by Sheena McCullagh, who went on to shoot the first scoring gold as well in the first end. The award for first to land in the woodwork went to Paul Maines (back leg), followed within seconds by Sheena McCullagh. The best gold of the day went jointly to Paul Maines (hole was marked) and then, several ends later, by John McCullagh, who put his arrow in exactly the same hole (we're now thinking of calling him Robin)!

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