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HEA’s July beginners course, running over three consecutive Saturday mornings, began in the usual way with instruction on range safety before the course attendees started shooting barebow (without sights) at 10 yards.

In week two the trainee archers learned how to shoot freestyle (using sights) and they also got the chance to try clout archery where the archers shoot longer distance at a peg (or “clout”) in the ground rather than at targets.

The third and final session saw a return to target archery as the beginners competed in a mini tournament – 3 dozen arrows at 20 yards – for chocolate prizes. Despite rain threatening to stop play midway through, the trainees opted to carry on and finish the round.

Following the presentation of prizes, the beginners enjoyed the always popular burst-the-balloons free-for-all, following which they received their course certificates. A good time was had by all.

The first outdoor beginners course of the year started on Saturday 15th April 2023 with sixteen would-be archers signed up for the course which ran over three successive Saturday mornings

Following the usual format, the course attendees were first instructed in range safety before beginning to shoot barebow (not using sights) at 10 yards, progressing to freestyle shooting (with sights) in week two.

In the third and final session the trainee archers competed in a mini tournament, shooting in the bowstyle of their choice (with or without sights) at a distance of 20 yards, for chocolate prizes, before receiving their course certificates. A good time was had by all.

The end of indoor shooting as part of HEA’s 2022 / 23 winter season was marked by an end-of-season tournament on 12th April which was both open and handicapped at the same time. The round was a Portsmouth – five dozen arrows at 20 yards.

HEA members competed under three categories in the open tournament: Recurve, Barebow and Compound. Pictured below receiving their trophies and 1st place medals from Chairman Mike are Graham in the Recurve category, Angela for Barebow and Alex for Compound.

Alex and Angela were also well placed in the handicap tournament taking 3rd place and 2nd place respectively, but it was Elijah, shooting recurve, who took 1st place and was presented with the Chairman’s Shield.

The final trophies of the evening were Most Improved Senior and Most Improved Junior. These are awarded to those archers in each age group who have improved their handicap the most over the winter season.

This time, the winners of the Most Improved Archer trophies were Alex for the seniors, with a handicap improvement of 9 points, and Aiden (pictured) for the juniors, with an improvement of 11 points.

Very well done to all our medal and trophy winners!

Starting on 14th January, the first beginners course of the year ran over four consecutive Saturday morning sessions in the gym at Formby High School. The course commenced with instruction in range safety before the trainees began shooting barebow (without sights) at 10 yards.

In the second and third sessions the beginners learned how to shoot freestyle (with sights) and progressed to shooting at 15 yards. They also had the opportunity to shoot with stabilising long rods attached to their training bows.

In the final session the trainees competed in a handicap tournament (3 dozen arrows at 15 yards) in the bowstyle of their choice (with or without sights) for chocolate prizes.

Following the always popular burst-the-balloons free-for-all, the course attendees – eleven in all including 2 juniors – received their course certificates qualifying them to apply to any Archery GB-affiliated club. Well done to everyone!

The HEA Christmas get-together on 10th December 2022 at the Left Bank in Formby was a great way to spend a Saturday evening.

Club members and their spouses or significant others enjoyed the good food and the good company with a Christmas raffle thrown in for good measure. A cracking good time was had by all!

There was a modest attendance at HEA’s 2022 Halloween Fun Shoot on the evening of Wednesday 26th October, but that didn’t stop club members from having a good time shooting holes in a variety of Halloween-themed pictures. As usual, the scoring system was entirely random and the prizes were chocolates, plus pumpkins of different sizes.

In 3rd place, pictured here receiving a chocolate orange and fun-size pumpkin from the club’s Tournaments Organiser Jimmy, was Jim B. In 2nd place, receiving a different chocolate prize and a somewhat heftier pumpkin, was Ralph.

No-one was more surprised than Jimmy when the random scoring put him in 1st place, so there was nothing for it but for Jimmy to award himself the biggest pumpkin!

The club members rounded off the evening with a friendly game of “darchery”.

On Wednesday 19th October club Chairman Mike and Treasurer Ralph took on the happy task of visiting HEA’s longest-standing member Eric at his home to present him with a certificate awarding him the title of Honorary President of HEA in recognition of his many years of service to the club. Although he has now retired from shooting, Eric spent many years as a committee member and Records Officer and has always been a guiding hand at the club.

Eric is pictured here receiving his framed certificate from Mike and we also take this opportunity for a brief look back at Eric’s time as an active HEA member, keeping careful note of archers’ scores during a tournament and enjoying shooting a round on D range.

Husband and wife Les and Ange had a very successful weekend at HEA’s 2022 end-of-season clout which took place on 22nd and 23rd October.

Club members shot 3 dozen arrows, in heats, at clouts set at 140m or 100m. Competing on both the Saturday and the Sunday, the couple were awarded medals for the highest scores at their respective distances on both days.

Shooting at her chosen distance of 100m, Ange achieved the highest overall score of the weekend and took the coveted Ken Harris trophy. Not to be outdone, Les demonstrated pinpoint accuracy over 140m when he shot an arrow through the flag. Very well done to both!

HEA’s August beginners course started off a little smaller than usual and finished even smaller with two trainees having to drop out due to covid. Hopefully they will pick up the course again once they are able.

Assisting on his first beginners course since completing his session coach training in July was Jimmy who helped coach the course attendees along with coach Mike.

Over the course of the three Saturday sessions the trainee archers learned about range safety, barebow archery and freestyle archery (with sights) as well as getting an opportunity to try out some clout archery (shooting longer range at a peg placed in the ground).

During week 3 the remaining course attendees competed in a mini tournament and, happily, they all came away with an edible prize!

Following the tournament, the trainees participated in the customary burst-the-balloons free-for-all before being presented with their course certificates.

The first outdoor course of the year finished on Saturday 31st May with 12 trainee archers completing the course, including 4 juniors. The course covered the usual basics of range safety, barebow archery and freestyle archery (with sights) and included a spot of clout archery in week two.

Shooting at a distance of 10 yards in week one, the beginners progressed to 20 yards in week three when they competed in a mini tournament for chocolate prizes, shooting in the bowstyle of their choice (with or without sights).

The session was rounded off by an opportunity to shoot at balloons (always a great crowd pleaser) followed by the presentation of course certificates.

Well done to all our course attendees!

HEA’s first beginners course of the year was scheduled to run over four Saturday morning sessions at Formby High School’s gym but storm damage meant that the last session had to be moved to a Wednesday evening in the school’s sports hall, where the trainees shot alongside club members.

Over the first three sessions, the course attendees learned how to shoot barebow (without sights) at a distance of 10 yards, progressing to instruction in freestyle archery (using sights) at 15 yards.

In the fourth session, the trainees split into teams to take part in a mini tournament competing for chocolate prizes. The trainees shot two dozen arrows at 20 yards in the bowstyle of their choice (barebow or freestyle).

The session was rounded off with the traditional burst-the-balloons free-for-all and the presentation of course certificates.

A good time was had by all.