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Last November the clout stalwarts at Abbey Bowmen (Herts) held their inaugral Wand Shoot - to the mystification of many target archers.
To explain: Shooting the Wand is a traditional longbow pursuit, where the assembled archers would shoot at a Wand (usually a stick in the ground) at an undetermined distance. The competition would end when the Wand was hit - which could be in moments, by one of the first arrows, or after hours of frustration.
Hardly a viable round for a day's shooting?
We formalised the event into a 'round' of 6 dozen arrows at a 6" wide wand at either 120 or 140 yards, with a 5 foot circumference at the base to record near misses. In 2009 we were gratified to welcome 25 intrepid archers, most of whom were longbows, but all lured to the shoot on the promise of free tea, cake, coffee, pastries, donuts and a fun day out.
What none of us expected was that our guests found the round so compelling that they asked to continue shooting after the 6 dozen arrows we had declared to be the round.
After such a successful day we decided to do it again this year, chose the same relative day, the second Sunday in November, and set about publicising it. Making all the details and photos from last year public seemed like a good start, so we set up a dedicated website, took lots of entry forms to clouts during the year and waited to see if it would prove popular.
In short, it did.
Perhaps it was the free refreshments on offer?
The prospect of a relaxing day in good company?
Word of mouth?
Who knows, but this year we had entries from 55 archers representing 20 different clubs. So no pressure then!
The weather on the day started misty but it cleared by the time we held assembly and it seemed entirely right to be observing two minutes silence at 11 o’clock in respect for Remembrance Sunday in a mist field bedecked with flags.
Despite rain moving in later in the day it all seemed to go very well (especially the donuts, which disappeared before lunch), everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, new friends were made and much fun was had – even if hits on the Wands were as elusive as the previous year.
3,744 arrows shot, hits - 48 Wands and 158 rings. It really is not as easy as it sounds!
All those that managed to hit the Wand were awarded a special prize, a fairy cake resembling a wand in the grass. Medals for the top three in each class were awarded by the Abbey Chairman, Maggie Johnston, before everyone went home happy - then it poured.
Never mind, we got off lightly, but a brief thankyou to all the people that helped make the day a sucucess and especially those who stayed to clear up. (Also thanks to M Johnston and M McGovern for taking photos).
We hope even more archers will join us on 13th November 2011 for a thoroughly enjoyable day at the end of the out door season.
I think we are going to need more cake.......
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Abbey Wand Shoot 2009 Abbey Wand Shoot Nov.2010 Abbey Wand Shoot 2011 Abbey Wand Shoot 2012 Abbey Wand Shoot 2013
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