Author: Webmaster

Hi all

Under the current Covid rules we are able to have coaching sessions at the field.

Brian has offered to arrange a couple of sessions two or three weeks apart if people are interested. First thoughts are to do this early evenings to take advantage of the improving evenings. This is not set in stone and daytimes may be arranged if there is any demand.

Please reply to this email if this is something that may be of interest.
Are there particular subjects that you would want to cover?

If there is some interest I’ll speak to Brain and we’ll sort out some details.

Thanks

John

The rounds will be shot on Saturday afternoons between 1.30pm and 4.30pm.

The scores on these days will be eligible scores for your Outdoor Classifications, 3rd Class, 2nd Class, 1st class and Bowman.

The proposed rounds are:

		Club shoots
Sat	08 May 2021	National rounds
Sat	22 May 2021	American
Sat	05 June 2021	Long Metrics
Sat	19 June 2021	WA 900
Sat	03 July 2021	Western Rounds
Sat	17 July 2021	St George/Albion/Windsor
Sat	07 August 2021	Half WA
Sat	21 August 2021	Long Metric
Sat	04 September 2021	Short Metric/Club champs??
Sat	18 September 2021	WA70/50

I attach details of the rounds, distances, number of arrows etc.

I hope you can come out to play over the summer.

Look forward to seeing you.

Shoot straight

John

Archery rounds.pdf

Hi all

We’re counting down the days to Monday and we can get out to shoot at the field.

It is important that we follow the guidelines that are put in place by AGB and ultimately UK Government; the ability to shoot as an organised sport is a concession and we don’t want that concession to be withdrawn.

So… if you want to shoot:

1. Book your slot on the club website https://member.clophillac.co.uk/?login. If you have forgotten how to do this please let me know and I can provide a refresher.
2. If you look at the booking system and just decide to head to the field as it is empty, please book the slot
3. Face coverings are not required while outside on the field
4. Use the sanitizer in the small brown shed if moving bosses
5. The club house is to remain closed, unless there is a first aid emergency or equipment is needed – then if in the clubhouse please wear a face covering
6. At the moment, it is one archer per boss or a family group/bubble (this may change so watch this space)
7. We need a discussion with the Village Hall re toilets, so at this time they remain out of bounds

Spring Ladder

The ladder is up and running again, the same format as last year.
If you entered last year your details have been copied across to the new spring ladder, including your closing handicap.
You will notice that the ladder has been inverted!
All names are currently greyed out and you will need to click the join this ladder button.
The ladder is in the same place on the website as lat year, ie go to the field booking page and click "competitions"
Format is the same:

• 80cm target face
• 30m
• 36 arrows
• shot in a "set" system, one set is 6 arrows and the handicap applied to each set. 2 points for a set win.
• you don’t need to worry about the handicaps etc, all you need to do is challenge your opponent, when the challenge is accepted shoot your round of 36 arrows, enter your scores into the handy scoring matrix and the ladder does the rest.
• if you need refresher of the rules and can’t find it in your archived emails please let me know.

The ladder worked well last year and kept some good interest going, please let’s do the same this year.

Hope to see you at the field.

Shoot straight

John

Hi all

Its been a while since I’ve sent something round to you all – hooray I hear you say!

As you’re no doubt aware the Boris’ Roadmap allows us to start shooting again from 29 March.

The preliminary schedule for recommencement is …….

1. Monday 29 March – we will open the field through the booking system (booking system allows you to book two weeks in advance)
2. The 2nd April to 4 April is Easter weekend – plenty of opportunity for members to shoot.
3. Saturday 10 April – field party
4. We will restart the ladder, again over 30m on 80cm target face. The plan is to re-boot the ladder and details will follow.
5. No organised rounds yet (apart from the ladder) – although nothing to stop informal rounds being shot. With regards to Outdoor Classifications (3rd Class, 2nd Class, 1st Class & Bowman) are concerned, we believe that we should be able to have the equivalent of "Target Days" but we are researching the details so watch this space.

As you can see from #1 above – we will still need to use the booking system, if anyone needs reminding of how this works please let me know.

Re #3 – the field has been left to its own devices for some time and it needs a bit of TLC. We will have a field party on 10 April in line with any restrictions that are in place – details will follow.

If anyone has any marvelous ideas on rounds/shoots/competitions etc please let us know.

Let’s kick off the new outdoor season with positive intent – it will be great to see you up at the field.

So ………. Huzzah

Shoot straight

John

Dear all

While we haven’t heard directly from AGB yet the Government guidance is specific – Archery Ranges will be closed during the lockdown announced last night.

It’s time to get out those stretchy bands and pick up your bow for those lovely bow drills, keep up that bow strength for the time when we can all get out again and shoot.

For those of you looking for archery related content, there is plenty on YouTube – either to watch the pros and see how its done, or form and practice tips (I thoroughly recommend https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeKaminskiArchery)

We will seek to keep you updated of any changes either here or on the WhatsApp group. If there is anyone out there not on the WhatsApp group and would like to be, please reply with your number and I will add you.

Please do not use the field until further notice.

I normally sign these off with "shoot straight" but that doesn’t seem appropriate today.

John

Hi all

The government guidelines and the latest communication from AGB makes it clear that we can still use the field.

Our current restrictions of the booking system and one archer per boss (or family bubble) is compliant.

Merry Christmas

Clophill AC committee

Dear all

Happy New AGB Year.

1 October is the start of the new shooting year.
Thank you all for rejoining and supporting Clophill AC during these strange times.

The field

As you are all aware, the field remains open during the winter months and the booking system still applies – any queries regarding this, please let us know.

The combination on the gate will be updated shortly – keep an eye on your emails for a new number over the coming days/weeks.

Winter competition

It is likely that we’ll set-up a new winter ladder (shooting a different round, maybe a half Portsmouth). Again keep an eye out for this and let’s keep the interest going.

We will also have the "proper" winter postal frostbite competition, again details will follow.

Indoors

There is no update on indoors yet, the Alameda School have advised that they are revisiting the position at the end of this month. The national Government position seems to be tightening up so don’t hold your breath – but we will of course keep you informed.

AGM

An announcement on what we are doing about the AGM will be coming out soon – I know you all can’t wait for this event but please be patient.
If anyone would like to participate in the running of the club and join the committee please reply here or speak to one of the Committee.

Suggestions

If there are any bright ideas about what we can do outdoors over the winter please make yourself heard.
THere are a few of us shooting "under lights" when it gets a little dark of an evening. Mark A forwarded a link on WhatsApp of a rechargeable light that a few of us are using..

Archery GB membership

We are starting to see AGB membership emails coming through .
Please give it a week or so and if you haven’t received anything please let me know.

Please look out for future communication either here or by the WhatsApp groups.
Anyone not in the WhatsApp group, but would like to be – please drop me a line with your mobile number.

That’s all for now

Shoot straight.

John

I have had a further response from the Alameda Middle School regarding the Alameda Sports Hall.

All hirers of the hall have been advised that:

A decision has been made to further delay a return to indoor lettings at Alameda and Alameda Sports Hall, until at least 26th October, (our half term 26th to 30th October). I am sure you all understand that Alameda’s current priorities lie with the safety, well-being and education, of our staff and pupils. We will review the position on lettings at the end of October, in light of our progress and the guidance prevailing at the time.

The committee has been reviewing the position, both with the availability of the hall and the restrictions placed on indoor shooting by AGB. Matters are moving quickly with the Government today announcing further restrictions and we would expect that AGB will be forced to consider their guidance as a result.

We will continue to monitor the position and consider whether there might be an opportunity for indoor shooting towards the end of this year, or in the beginning of next year.

If any of the club members know of anywhere we could shoot indoors in the short term, please let us know.

At present there is little else we can do as a club regarding indoor shooting. We are extremely lucky to have the field and we can all shoot ( to different degrees of accuracy). As the nights draw in it may place more stress on the booking slots over the weekends so we ask that you only book if you know you’re going to shoot, rather than book a slot and cancel at short notice (there will be unavoidable cancellations at short notice, but please be considerate to your fellow archers).

Dave M is entering the club into a Frostbite Postal league and we can continue with the current ladder – again if anyone would like to suggest anything different then please let us know.

I’ll continue to keep you updated.

Shoot straight

John

Morning all,

It has been brought to my attention that I haven’t sent one of these round for a while …. so, what’s been happening?

1. The field remains open

The field has been getting some good use during the summer, the booking system has worked wonderfully (Sarah – thank you).
If you have not used the field and the booking system has passed you by, please drop me a line and I’ll resend the information.

There is plenty of hand sanitiser at the field. If new faces are required, again let one of the committee know or reply here.

We haven’t updated our guidance for field use to the most recent AGB guidance and we have more space between bosses than we strictly need – the decision was taken to keep matters as they are as it was working well. The field is getting some good use but it is unusual for a session to be full. If anyone has a different experience and you are not able to shoot when you want to we can have a re-think – please let me know.

2. The Clophill outdoor ladder

For those of you that have wanted to pit your skills against other club members the ladder has been a great success. It is open to all and has a handicap system so that you can shoot against all bow types and experience. We have 27 archers on the ladder, if you would like to join and can’t find the relevant information please drop me a line. Again, thanks to Sarah for her online wizardry that has made the ladder so friendly to use.

We understand that it is not perfect, but it has been great to get the club shooting and has pulled the club together in these difficult times. Thanks Rob K for coming up with the original idea and all the instructions etc and generally driving it forward.

3. How can we make it better?

If anyone out there has any ideas to make our club even better – please let us know.

4. Indoor season

I know this is something that many of you have been thinking about, unfortunately I have no news on this score yet.

We hire the hall from the Alameda Middle School. When the school summer term broke up in July there was much uncertainty regarding how and if they would make the hall available for outside groups. The school should be back this week and I will be contacting Sara (the booking person at the school) to find out where they stand.

Assuming we can get back into the hall we (as a committee) need to consider all the AGB guidance on shooting indoors. While there is some guidance it is patchy and we are hoping for more clarification. We will then need to consider how best to adapt and implement the guidance. It is likely that we will need to limit numbers in the hall at any one time and a booking system will be likely.

As soon as we have any update I will let you know.

In the meantime – the field is open for use 24/7 (subject to booking and daylight).

5. Club finances

We have been unable to run beginners courses or run the two outdoor tournaments. Other than subs these are our main/only sources of income. The good news is that the club has reserves and the bank account remains healthy. Fingers crossed for the next outdoor season so we can run both beginners courses and the tournaments.

The club is fortunate to be in the current position, we are solvent and we can shoot!

6. Communications

The WhatsApp remains up and running and the ladder group has been particularly busy. If you are not in the group and would like to jpoin, please let me know and provde a mobile phone number.

If you have comments you can private message (if you don’t want to share with all) any of the committee on the WhatsApp group or email here – the inbox is monitored and we will answer you.

7. Renewasl and subs

You will have seen Debbie’s email regarding renewing membership of the Club. I hope most of you will carry on shooting with us, if you are not renewing, thank you for supporting the club over the last 12 months and you are more than welcome to come back in the future.

Please renew your membership as soon as possible, I need to send the rejoining list to AGB for the start of the new season on 1 October and it takes a bit of time and effort to collate – your cooperation on this is appreciated. If you are not renewing, please drop a line to let us know so we can keep tabs on the renewal process.

8, Club equipement (bow loans)

You will have seen the email/whatsapp message from Martin regarding returning/keeping hold of the equipment. If you have not seen the messages please let me know by replying here and I’ll put you in touch with Martin.

9. Any other business

If there is anything you want to know, or suggestions for the club going forward please let us know.
If there is anything I’ve forgotten, then I apologise and I will follow up as necessary.

Watch this space for updates on the indoor season.

As always, shoot straight.

John