News

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.