© Companions of the Longbow

A Webmaster Retires by Mark

If you’re reading this news update you’re probably already aware that the Companions of the Longbow site has moved from the .co.uk site to the .com site.  Unfortunately a computer virus on my computer has hastened a decision by me to stand down as the webmaster.  Fear not though, because until my move to New Zealand sometime this year, I’ll still be setting Challenges and writing up some of the shoot reports for the new .com website.

I’d like to thanks everyone who’s contributed to the .co.uk website over the last three years (many of which has been ported over here) and as soon as I’ve managed to untangle the Members Area of the .co.uk website it’ll hopefully be reproduced here.

It just leaves me to say good luck to the new web master(s), Jenni and Andrew, and say, the webmaster is dead, long live the webmaster!

P.S. The webadmin@companionsofthelongbow.co.uk e-mail (along with all the other .co.uk e-mails) may be taken down after the dissolution of the current committee, so if you want to contact me, that’s Mark, you can do via marktustian@hotmail.com .  For everything webmaster related please contact the new webmaster at Webmaster@companionsofthelongbow.com

Companions Challenge by Mark

This week’s Companions Challenge was inspired by what’s soon becoming an old stalwart of Companions Challenges, the 1938 Errol Flynn film The Adventures of Robin Hood.

The scene from The Adventures of Robin Hood is part of a montage where the evil Normans are being absolutely beastly to a poor serving maid at the local tavern.  A Norman guard is wrestling the poor maid into giving him a kiss (and more) when Robin Hood shoots an arrow into a Norman guard’s back (presumably it’s Robin Hood doing the shooting though because we never see the archer). The shot is quite a the trick shot however because before hitting the hapless Norman the arrow manages to pass through the flame of candle, thus in the wake of arrow’s passage through the air, the flame is extinguished.  So that’s the Challenge, shooting out candle flames.

But how do we get such a challenge in a field that’s seems to have a force nine gale blowing through it even on a calm day?  The answer is the Dummy Candle Target Mark 1.  A broom handle is set up with white masking tape wrapped around it to make it look a bit candle like.  On top of the post some Plumber’s Mate is splodged to hold the part of the target that’s now named the Dummy Flame.  Dummy Flame?  Well some miniature Christmas baubles (the yellow’ish ones of course) are then pressed into the Plumber’s Mate to create a flame target that’s about the size of a thumbnail.  So now we’ve got a Dummy Candle Target Mark 1, so what’s the challenge?

The Challenge is to actually have three attempts, with two arrows per archer per attempt, to shoot out two candle flames at fifteen paces.  To spice things up the Challenge was presented as a game between two impromptu teams (the English and the Welsh) and each team had two “lit” candles each.  During the game, which consists of three rounds, each archer had two arrows to shoot out the flames on their candles.

If a team shot out both candles before the other team they’d win the game and complete the Challenge because the Challenge is to shoot out both candles in a single round.  Any variation of candles shot out in a round (one to one team or one to each team for example) would indicate whether the game was a win or a draw, but remember, for the Challenge to be a success both candles must be shot out in a single round.  So how did the teams do?

Round one saw an early lead taken by the English team with one of the first archers shooting.  Ian showed how it was done with his second arrow neatly taking out one of the flames, but unfortunately that was the only target hit for the first round.  One nil to the English for the first round and the Challenge remained uncompleted (because both of a teams candles must be extinguished in a round for the Challenge to be a success).

The second round saw plenty of hits (i.e. broom handle hits) but sadly no flames were taken out.  The second round ended in a draw and the Challenge seemed close to failure unless more archers starting hitting flames in the final round.

The final round saw a resurgent Welsh team clinch victory over the English thanks to Dave A. (a.k.a. Deadly Dave) taking out both of the Welsh’s candles at his time at the shooting line.  Not only did this  win the game for the Welsh team but also completed the Challenge and earn Dave A. this week’s Prize of Dubious Worth – a survival blanket (apt because it was blooming freezing that Saturday).

The Challenges return next week with possibly another shot inspired by The Adventures of Robin Hood.  Find out how we do next week.

Archers in play

The force 9 gale candle

Deadly Dave with his prize of Dubious worth

Events Roll Call

In the newsletter we asked if you could indicated which events you will be able to attend and which you will not.  We would ask that you complete this form and return it to a committee member as soon as possible.  In order to organise things properly it is important to have the information.

Our first event is nearly upon us, Have a Go at Roves farm and we need to make sure that we have sufficient cover on the Sunday and the Monday.