South Wansdyke Archery Club saw a busy month with the beautiful August weather for our two hundred and fifty two progression awards.

Newer members Phil Beale and Andy Hamblin attained twenty and thirty yards awards shooting barebow. Dean Broadway continued his great progress attaining his forty yard award, also shooting barebow. Phil’s success continued into September where he achieved the necessary score at forty yards as well.

The club had representation at the 133rd Writhlington Flower Show, to provide visitors with the chance to Have-A-Go. The team of coaches saw a steady stream of people willing to give archery a go, with most shots hitting the target, followed by a general sense of achievement.

Competitively, several members competed in the Bath Hereford 2022. A Hereford shoot is six dozen arrows at eighty yards, four dozen at sixty yards and two dozen at fifty yards. Clive Jarrett was runner up in the Gentlemen Recurve category, winning The President’s Cup and the silver medal, missing out on first place by seventeen points. Andy Young placed fourth.

In the junior ladies recurve, Sophie Young won the Red Shield and the gold medal with a score of 1,058, this was tied highest score of the day in all recurve categories, including senior men. As we moved into the latter end of the summer, the club had four representatives at the Great Western Archer Society Intercounties event. Clair Crook (Ladies Compound), Sophie Young (Ladies Recurve), Janet Ross (Ladies Recurve) and Clive Jarrett (Mens Recurve). The shoot was held at Exmouth Archers, between Somerset, Dorset & Wiltshire, Devon & Cornwall and Gloucestershire. Our four archers helped Somerset place second with 24,323 points. The winners were Devon & Cornwall with 25,944.

This autumn saw a return to indoor archery and the clubs attempts to retain its senior and junior indoor county league trophies. The club hosted a head to head Clout shoot with Bitton Archers, a fun shoot at Halloween and the introduction of eight new archers through our regular beginners course.