Last weekend was a committee meeting so your friendly neighbourhood webmaster was unable to attend last Saturday’s shoot.  Therefore the bulk of this week’s news is written with grateful thanks by Jenni.

Saturday Shoot Report by Jenni

Sun, wind, rain, hail and sleet – just another ‘normal’ Saturday at Roves then. There was no retinue game this week as Mark wasn’t available but next week (Saturday 29th Nov) will see the final game and the long-awaited unmasking of the Sheriff’s Men so we hope to see as many of you as possible for the exciting finale to this competition! Of course I’m hoping that the Bowyers don’t manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at the last minute ... “COME ON THE BOWYERS!”.

 We were happy to welcome a couple of potential new recruits for a quick introductory session. Frank last shot a longbow some 40 years ago and his son Mark has only tried recurve shooting at CentreParcs but under Le Chat’s instruction it wasn’t long before they were managing to get some arrows in or at least close to the hay bales as the rest of us did some warming up under Andy TB’s captaincy. They left determined to enrol on Bob’s next beginners course at New College in January.

Following on in Le Chat’s series of ‘different shooting methods/styles’ (unfortunately I completely forgot to write about the chaotic results of our attempts at left-handed shooting 2 weeks ago!), this week saw the archers attempting to shoot in a variety of Japanese styles. There was much enjoyment of Le Chat’s demonstrations of each style before we attempted it as you might imagine from some of the pictures ... Fundamentally each ‘stance’ involved an element of what can most accurately be described as squatting and bringing the bow down from an elevated position. According to Le Chat, the stances have their origins in martial arts so it wasn’t long before each archer’s shot was being accompanied by suitable Japanese-sounding noises. This somewhat inevitably led to the naming of the shooting style as ‘Banzai’ or even ‘Bonsai’ ... It was all very entertaining although I don’t think we’ll be winning any accuracy prizes using this method any time soon – check out the variety of angles of the arrows shot at wolfie.

The second trophy game involved shooting at wolfie but with a crucial difference: the aim was to miss wolfie whilst getting as close to him as possible. Again each archer had 6 arrows for 3 rounds of shooting and at the end of each round archers removed their worst arrows leaving the 1 closest arrow AND any that were embedded in poor wolfie. To count as a ‘nearest arrow’ the arrow had to be in the hay bales and not on the ground. As there were 9 archers the closest arrow to wolfie (without being in him) was worth 9pts, the next nearest 8pts and so on. However any arrows that hit wolfie counted for MINUS 1pt each. Any arrows that hit the animal but bounced off didn’t count (luckily, eh Alina?!). Apparently it’s hard to undo years of training to shoot a target as a lot of arrows managed to hit rather than miss the ‘target’ and if there was a group ‘unkindness to animals’ prize then I’m sorry to report that the TB family would have won it hands down! And Ade would probably have got the individual prize for his very impressive inner kill shot! Below is the results table for this game >>

NB Andy TB and Jenni G have already ‘qualified’ and therefore cannot take any point-scoring positions in the 2nd game.

So the day’s game winners were Alex and Kirin, but as Alex had to leave early and therefore missed the 2nd game Kirin automatically wins the 2 bonus points – Congratulations!

The updated Trophy league table can be seen in the Members Area. Further congratulations go to Ian who has been promoted to Riding Forester this week and is now qualified for the Final. Anna has also been promoted to join  the ranks of the Foot Foresters and Kirin has become an Under Forester.

Christmas Party at Roves Farm Friday 12th December by Jenni & Ade

An invitation to the club’s Christmas party has been sent out to all members today but it’s also included here to remind you. Please send your replies to Ade at social@companionsofthelongbow.com as soon as possible but by 8th of December at the absolute latest so that we can sort out the catering etc. We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

To all the archers of the group 'Companions of the Longbow!' I bring felicitations and salutations from the king!

His majesty is pleased with your efforts this year and wishes to reward you.  However the king is short on funds as the ransom on that French blaggard Sir Guy 'Le Chat' Gisbourne was not large as he had hoped. It seems the French did not want him back either and gave the King a few groats for his bed and board.

To this end the King has organised a feast and merriment to be held on the Twelfth of December, in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Eight. It shall involve eating, drinking, demonstration of archery skill both indoors and out, and a lottery with prizes.  However due to the burden of housing Le Chat, the King will levy a charge of one week’s shoot fees on each reveller, whether they demonstrate their skill with the bow or not.

Also the King may provide pond water and steeped leaves, but those who wish to imbibe the ales of this land would have to supply their own brews.

We the Captains of the Companions of the Longbow, doeth hereby request your attendance at this event and if you send word to my good self, I will add your name to the scroll of attendance.  At this event, if you clothe yourself in garb of the season, this would not go amiss!

With regards and salutations for your good health!

Adriano

Court Jester

In summary:

When: Friday 12th December 2008
Where: Roves Farm Visitors Centre
Guests are welcome
Cost: £4.00 per person (whether they shoot or not)
Food and soft drinks are included, if you wish to drink alcohol you will need to bring your own.

There will be archery inside the hall, and Mark has kindly offered to take a group down to the field to shoot fire arrows - subject to the weather.

In addition to the archery, there will be a quiz and a raffle.  We are looking for prizes so if you have an object of worth that would be a good prize, we would be grateful for the donation.

We would appreciate if you could come in festive fancy dress, or medieval garb, or a mixture of the two, but your coming to join in is the most important thing! Bear in mind that even with the barn’s space heaters it could be a little cold so dress appropriately!

In order to help us with the catering, please can you let me know if you are coming by the Monday 8th of December, but as soon as possible would be really great. If you require a vegetarian menu please mention this.

Send your replies, and offers of prizes, to social@companionsofthelongbow.com
Best regards

Adriano Gentilcore

Christmas Party—Fire Arrows by Mark

For those who don’t know, when we don’t run the Retinue League we run something we call the Companions Challenges in its place.  This is where by we attempt one off shots inspired by history, film, television, books or legend (members can check past ones out in the Members Area under the sneakily titled heading of “Companions Challenges”).

It’s just for fun but the archer who completes the “best” shot wins a “Prize of Dubious Worth” which can be quite random as the worth of the prize is very much dependant on the person who wins it.  The worst prize given away so far is I think the set of plastic shower curtain rings although they’re not all as bad as that (most aren’t far off though!)

So the Christmas party is a good chance to have a Fire Arrow Challenge that will revolve around some long distance fire arrow clout shooting.  Remember if you are interested in the fire arrows bit of the party here’s instructions on how to make one also in the Members Area (make as many as you want but you’ll need at least one!)

Archery Room 101 by Mark

Through popular demand there’ll be a return of Archery Room 101 in 2009.  It’s actually currently planned for Saturday 10th January 2009 so start getting your stuff ready.

Don’t know what Archery Room 101 is?  Well basically it’s a chance for you to bring along an item that is or represents something you dislike intensely.  You’ll be asked to present your item and your case for why we should collectively shoot the said item to bits.  Last time we had such things as Christmas tat (ceramic Father Christmas’ et all) Warfarin tablets and a computer.  So if you’ve any unwanted Christmas presents this year…

Plantagenets Charity Shoot Competition Sunday 4th January by Jenni

For the 2nd year the Companions are invited to take part in the competition held by the Plantagenets at a farm in Norton near Gloucester. [I’ll try and post directions up at some point! - Mark] The format is quite similar to that of our own President’s Shoot and is an enjoyable if usually cold and muddy event. A small charge is made (I think it was £3 last year if memory serves) and all the money raised is donated to charity. Last year the Companions did quite well so we have a reputation to uphold – put the date in your diary! We will put more details up (eg start time) when we have them.

And Finally ...

Next week is the final game of the 5th Retinue League.  In addition to the final Retinue Points those present on the day will get a chance to nominate who they think is;

(1)     The sheriff’s man working as part of the three mercenaries.

(2)     The sheriff’s man working as part of their own retinue.

(3)     The two sheriff’s men working as part of the other two retinues.

Remember we have three teams and one set of mercenaries.  In each team there’s one member who’s been acting as a sheriff’s man (or woman) and has been actively trying to make sure your team loses.  Similarly one of the three mercenaries is also a sheriff’s man and has been doing the same. 

How the team’s choice will decide the three mini-competitions;

(1)     The Mercenary Game where the mercenaries must shoot well enough not to be picked as the mercenary sheriff’s man!  The mercenary with the highest number of votes will be “lynched” and he loses.  The mercenary with the lowest number of votes gets a pension from the sheriff and wins!  Which of three mercenaries do you think has been the sheriff’s man all along?

(2)     The Sheriff’s Men’s game where sheriff’s man (or woman!) who is part of the third (and last) placed retinue wins.  At the moment the sheriff’s man in the Fletchers team is on for the win!  Someone’s got to come last in this league so take heart that the sheriff’s man who has worked so hard to make sure that happens will win the Sheriff’s Man competition.  Remember, no one is above suspicion, included Retinue Captains.

(3)     The Sheriff’s Men’s game where the mercenary sheriff’s man must remain undetected until the end!  Possibly the hardest game to win, the sheriff’s man working as a mercenary must not get “lynched” i.e. one of the other two mercenaries must get more votes than them.  We had at least one clear favourite so far (le Chat) but is this too obvious, or is this a double bluff?  Has the mercenary sheriff’s man been silently working away undetected?  At the bottom of the Retinue League page in the Members Area is a brief synopsis of each mercenary’s performance for each week.  If you’re undecided have a look.

 Sheriff’s men; please do not reveal who you are until I give you permission!  This is because there is one final game to play…

Based on the possible four correct answers from above (sheriff’s man from each of the three teams and the mercenary sheriff’s man) each team will get a chance to nominate a “champion” archer to shoot for bonus points.  For each answer the chosen retinue champion will get one arrow per correct answer to shoot at a target and score bonus Retinue Points.  This means that there are potentially four arrows per team up for grabs.  I will be revealing how many answers were correct for each team but will not be revealing each team’s answers.  This will mean that a team could still potentially choose a sheriff’s man as their champion in the final game.  It’s therefore a clear advantage for teams not to let on with the other teams as to who they’ve picked!