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Congratulations to Gordano Valley Archers.

More than 300 people watched as Club Chairman Paul Maines and his son, Christopher, accepted the award from double Olympic silver and bronze medallist Steve Backley at the Bristol Marriott hotel.

Paul said: “This is one of the proudest moments I have experienced in sport. This award is a testament to all the hard work undertaken by everyone in the club and would not have been possible without the support of Wesport and Archery GB.”

So what clinched it for the club? The award citation said: “Gordano Valley Archers have been working tirelessly over the last 12 months to raise the profile of their sport. They have increased the number of people taking part in archery in both the club, within schools and in various community settings across the West of England.”

The club introduced an equipment loan scheme to help new members and the idea has paid dividends with membership up 15 per cent in the last 12 months. It has also been working with more than 40 primary schools, as well as supporting the University of the West of England to establish a new club.

Phoebe Pine, who narrowly missed out on selection for the Paralympics in Rio after making it to the final para-archery shoot-off, will be travelling to Brazil after all to help prepare for her Tokyo Games bid in 2020.

She will fly out to Rio on September 13, 2016 for a week after being selected as part of the Paralympic Inspiration Programme in which a select band of athletes thought to have the potential to be picked for the next Games in four years’ time are given the chance to sample the whole experience and atmosphere.

At the GWAS Council meeting in October 2015, a grant of £3000 per county was agreed, for the purchase of timing systems for each of the constituent counties.  The new systems will be a benefit to both the sport and the archers in the region, who compete in county tournaments where they are used.

Held in Terni in the province of Umbria, Italy. The competition was shot over a week around the largest waterfall in Europe at 165m and involved over 250 archers. Originally created as a drainage system for a Malaria infested swamp, the falls are now dammed to create electricity but, during the championships the water was once again allowed to cascade dramatically through the gourge……  read more