The 44th GWAS Indoor Championships are being held at the Hutton Moor Leisure Centre, Weston-super-Mare on Sunday 18th February 2018. This is a Record Status event, shooting a FITA 18 with two details, with assembly at 10:15 am and 2:00 pm.
The date for the Championships has been changed to early in the new year following a decision by the GWAS Council.
Despite a very low attendance this year at the Battle of Britain WRS WA 1440 shoot, an impressive total of £113 was raised for the Royal Air Forces Association, due to the generous donations from Somerset archers, and those who purchased raffle tickets on the day. Somerset County Archery Association expresses their thanks to everyone involved in organising and participating in this event.
More information on the Royal Air Forces Association can be found here.
Grand Western Archery Society now has five new county level coaches, four in Somerset and one in Devon & Cornwall. Luke Messinger (D&C), Martin Hutchings, Andrew Rees, Jane Rees and Lizzy Rees (Somerset) all successfully completed the County Coaching Course in a very speedy eight months, remarkable considering the course can often take up to 18 months to complete. Additionally, Somerset archer Rob Morgan has one more module to complete and he will be number six on the list of passed candidates, a great success for the region!
The course was led by international medal winning field archer and National Coach Trish Lovell and her sidekick Ted Essex, both of whom guided the candidates through their six essays, eight linked coaching sessions, equipment seminars and specialist archery talks. Each candidate bought something new and interesting to the course, notably the specialist talk subjects: working with disabled archers (Jane), archery and biomechanics (Luke), nutrition, diabetes and archery (Lizzy), coaching and cognitive biases (Andrew) and archery development in scouting (Martin).
Grand Western is a region which has historically had a low number of County Coaches, so to soon have six of them is real progress for coaching in the region. The newly qualified County Coaches can now work throughout the region to help other develop the skills of both L1 and L2 coaches, as well as regional archers, hurrah!
If you’d like any information regarding coaching within your local area of Grand Western, please do not hesitate to contact your Regional Coaching Officer via the website.
All GWAS Counties have agreed to a new format for the 2017 Senior Inter-County match
the format will now be as follows:
Round WA 1440(on layered foam Bosses)
New team composition
6 Gents Recurve 4 Ladies Recurve
4 Gents Compound 3 Ladies Compound
3 Gents Longbow 3 ladies Longbow
1 Gents Barebow 1 Ladies Barebow
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dawson lived first at Allan Bank, Grasmere, but the climate did not suit his youngest daughter’s health, so about 1849 the family moved to Pitminster, a little village just outside Taunton. It was here that Mr. Dawson’s taste for archery was developed, he never gained much distinction as an archer but he played a large part in the foundation of the Grand Western Archery Meeting, the first of which was held which held at Bishops Hull (just outside Taunton) in 1861. Other Grand Western Meetings were held at Salisbury in 1862, Weymouth in 1863 and at Exeter in 1864; there was no Meeting in 1865 due to the Grand National Archery Meeting being held in Clifton but a Meeting was held in Weymouth in 1866. There was no Meeting held in 1867 and by 1868 both of the Dawson daughters were married and Mr. Dawson had left the area so Mr. Walrond took over the organising of the GWAM and continued to do so until 1914 – he died in June 1917. The original Grand Western Prize Badges were very probably organised by Thomas Dawson, he was friends with a Taunton silversmith – John Goodman (whose youngest son was named Thomas Dawson Goodman) – and samples of these early badges have Goodman’s mark, an interlinked ‘J’ and ‘G’.
Above is a picture of a Champions Badge, it would have had a bar hanging from the bottom with the meeting venue engraved on the front and the year on the back – the 1998 booklet produced for the 125th GWAM suggests that this dates from 1868 but there is a picture of the Reverend Hare wearing the badge with four bars, 1861, 62, 63 & 64, (it could, of course, been retrospective) but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Champions badge was retained when the Prize Badges were stopped – because they were too similar to the Grand National Archery Meeting prize badges.
Below left is a picture of a Gentlemen’s Prize Badge from the very first Grand Western Meeting – this was reproduced on a smaller scale in a limited edition of 125 in 1998 to celebrate the 125th holding of the GWAM. The badge next to it is the Ladies Champion badge – this one dates from the 1864 GWAM so would have been won by Sophia Dawson, the hallmarks show it was assayed in Exeter in 1863/64 and has two of John Goodman’s marks (one as silversmith and one as the gilder). The final badge is actually a lesser award – this one was awarded in 1866 for 5th Gross Score and was won by Miss L. Butt of the Queen’s Royal St. Leonards Archers who was to become Sophia Dawson’s sister-in-law.
The Dawsons were members of the West Somerset Archery Society which was based in Batts Park, Taunton (now a housing estate!) The Dawson’s elder daughter, Sophia, was three times Championess of the West (1863, 1864 & 1866) and married William Butt who was the Secretary of the Royal Toxophilite Society (1865 – 72 & 1875 – 77). Thomas Dawson became a member of the Royal Toxophilite Society in 1864 and in 1867 issued (anonymously) a book (printed in Taunton) titled ‘A History of the Royal Toxophilite Society’ and in 1870 produced an enlarged edition. He was also a member of the ‘Queen’s Royal St. Leonard’s Archers’ and arranged for silver badges to be made for them by John Goodman (a receipt is in Hastings Museum and Art Gallery). Sophia Butt died in 1908 and her obituary in the ‘Archer’s Register’ (1909) was written by Henry Walrond, the 9th Marques de Vallado (a Spanish title bestowed on Humphrey Walrond by King Philip IV of Spain in 1653).
It was a very exciting day at Buckingham Palace with the day dawning bright and full of sunshine, although a bit on the cold side. When I arrived at the Palace I was met by a Page who had been assigned to me for the day to make sure I had everything I needed and was in the right place at the right time.
He escorted me upstairs to the dining room where all the recipients were gathered. We were shown a rehearsal of what we had to do when the time came to step forward to receive our honour. It was explained to us at this point that we would receive our honour from Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. This was particularly poignant for me as my interest in sport was ignited, as a seven year old, when I went to watch The Princess Royal compete in a cross-country competition in Hampshire.
When I received my MBE from The Princess Royal she asked me how hard the training was for archery and what it entailed. She was quite surprised by the range of different types of training we did. She then expressed her desire, as an IOC member, to see Para Archers competing along side able-bodied archers at the Olympics.
It is occasions like these that make all the hard work worthwhile. Staying motivated to compete is always hard but its the quest to achieve a new personal best and to shoot a great score in a major competition that drives me forward. I think that the memories of being on the historic GB 1-2-3 podium in Rio that reminds me why I’m sat on the line, freezing cold and shooting in very strong winds.
Following on from my success in Rio I have become a trustee of TS5C. I’m passionate about promoting sport in Somerset and this charity gives financial assistance to young people who live or go to school in Somerset and who have potential to become Olympians and Paralympians in the future. This is incredibly important because of the rural nature of the county. This means that travel costs to competitions are much higher than those who live in urban areas. I’m incredibly proud to be associated with this small charity and I love meeting the next generation of elite athletes.
My advice to archers wishing to improve is to train and compete as often as possible. Each time you train or compete have a goal in mind whether that be a score in competition or a point to focus on when in training. Change these goals for each session so it makes training more enjoyable. But the most important thing is to enjoy what you are doing. I love going to competitions because I get to see my archery family. I may only see them once a year at the same competition but I’m greeted like it was only yesterday that we last saw each other. Don’t be afraid to talk to other archers, they are a mine of useful information, and are happy to share this with you.
The classification system provides a structure for para archery competition, grouping athletes by impairment to create the most level playing field possible. World Archery’s classification handbook includes practical advice for classifiers, which may also be useful for athletes, coaches and support personnel.
The handbook can be downloaded from the World Archery Website by clicking here Para Handbook
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[end-div][end-div]19 year old Phoebe Pine, has recently been confirmed on the Archery GB World Class Programme, as a member of Team GB.
In response to some questions, Phoebe has kindly shared a few insights into what got her interested in the sport, and what inspires and drives her to succeed.
What got you interested in archery?
I first became interested in archery after the 2012 games, around about the time of the Olympics. I was on holiday with my family and tried archery then, something in my head clicked when I shot and it just felt natural and right. I immediately wanted to carry on shooting and didn’t want the session to finish. As soon as I got home my family and I found a local club for me to join and that’s what started things off really.
What have been your first impressions of the World Class Programme?
Having been a part of the Paralympic Academy for GB since it first started I know how the system works. I’m used to the amount of training involved and the arrows volumes, transitioning to the World Class Programme hasn’t given me any surprises really. The only big difference is I train away from home for two days a week now, where as before I would have been training away from home maybe every month or so. My training regime means I shoot 4-5 times a week anyway so I was used to having to train a lot before, but there’s just more travelling involved now. I am really proud to be a part of such an amazing team and be surrounded by experienced and knowledgeable people who can help guide me on my journey. It means a lot to me that Archery GB have the belief in me to enable me to join the team.
How did it feel when you put on a Team GB shirt for the first time?
I was 17 years old when I put my first GB shirt on, I couldn’t really put words to how I felt and the pride I felt. I had worked so hard to be selected to compete in Holland and I performed well during my selection event – I’m proud to have earned my shirt from the dedication I put into my sport and the hard work I did leading up to selection.
How do you keep motivated when training?
It can be hard sometimes, to train if the weather is bad or if I’m really not feeling it but to keep myself motivated I just remind myself of everything I want to achieve in the sport and how, in order to do that, I need to work hard. I need to put the time and dedication into it. I admit to having days where I wake up and I don’t want to shoot but everyone has those days, if you’re truly motivated to achieve your dream though you fight through it, which is what I do.
What is your biggest source of inspiration to perform?
My biggest source of inspiration to shoot is my mum, I know she’s really proud of me and I want to make her proud since she’s been through so much with me especially through the rough periods caused by my disability. She’s the one person I love the most in the world and I want her to be there to see me win that medal at Tokyo.
Who is your biggest supporter and encourages you the most?
I don’t really have a ‘supporter’; I have more of a team behind me. My family support me a lot in what I do like my parents drive me to training every week as I’m still learning to drive, my dad takes me to training locally when he’s home from work and mum does the best she can for me as well. My friends support me in that I have my own mini cheer squad behind me and my best friend will text me every time I’m about to head to a shoot, wishing me well. I get a lot of encouragement from a lot of places.
Phoebe is now travelling to Telford twice per week for her GB training sessions, in addition to her training in Gloucester at Deer Park Archers and is preparing for the World Championships, which are being held in Beijing in September. Her ultimate goal is to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Phoebe hopes to join Worcester University in October to study Sports and Exercise Science and we wish her the very best in all her endeavours.
Helen, of Andover Archers, is both an archery coach and experienced tournament organiser who has attended the Dunster Archery Week since the early 1990’s, a very popular archer on the shooting line entering every event except the Field and Clout.
In 2005 she offered to help manage recording of the scoring, and has done so each year since, taking a weeks annual leave to attend the Dunster Event, at her own expense. In the last two years Helen has taken on even more duties as the office guardian and is an invaluable asset to the organising team, and the event is now dependent on her organisational skills and enthusiasm for the sport.
Over the years Helen has helped to develop the scoring system, suggesting several changes to the “Dunster Computer Program” which have been incorporated and make it much easier to use.
It was therefore a great pleasure to be able to recognise and honour the significant contribution Helen has made to the Region, which considering she is from Hampshire is even more remarkable.
The annual event is organised by the Devizes Lions Club, as part of their Sports Coaching Weekend held at Nursteed School Devizes in April 2017. The event encourages local school children, aged 8 – 13 years old, to try over nineteen different sports that they might not get the chance to experience.
The Lions Club of Devizes has organised the event for the past 29 years, and Devizes Bowmen have supported the event for over 10 years.
Archery is always a very popular activity and involves over 15 Devizes Bowmen members, who give up their time to offer one to one coaching of the children, through 8 one hour coaching sessions over two days. The Archery event concludes with a team balloon bursting competition on the Sunday.
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