East Durham Archers
Northern Counties Archery Society
7th March 2023 - and Dene Academy's After School Archery Club is underway!
Planning alongside Rebecca Porritt, Head of P.E. at the academy started in late November 2022 and here we are on Tuesday 7th March 2023 with the first archery lessons delivered and thoroughly enjoyed by sixteen of Dene Academy's pupils as well as a gaggle of volunteers from East Durham Archers supporting Mike Cusson, an experienced coach from Durham City Archers who has very kindly helped our club and the academy by delivering the lessons until Coach Joe is well enough to return to East Durham Archers and take the reins again.
First lesson covered the number 1 priority in archery - safety and the rules of the range. There was still time to experience real archery for the first time. Children & volunteers had a great time and can now look forward to Tuesday afternoon's club as the children's journey into the world of archery, continues.
The after school club will soon be a registered 'satellite' club of East Durham Archers with affiliation to Archery GB and with each pupil enjoying the benefits of membership of DNAA, NCAS and Archery GB.
2023 Indoor Novice County Championship.
Saturday 4th March 2023
A packed Harton Sports Centre, twenty 60cm targets and 55 archers put on quite a show once the 'sighters' were over and the real shooting began.
The indoor Novice County Championship sponsored by Merlin Archery (thanks Merlin!) was a friendly tournament with non stop smiles from the fifty five novice archers shooting their very best.
Whitburn Archers were our hosts, the venue was Harton Sports Centre and it was clear that a lot of planning and great management of the event was what made the day such a success.
We had a collection of county and regional coaches whose cheerful manner made the shoot a real pleasure for all.
The tournament was a Portsmouth, 20 ends with three arrows per end and the 55 archers divided into three 'details' resulted in a smooth and trouble free shoot over two and a half hours that passed very quickly.
Our club was represented by no less than five archers:
David, Michael, Sam (senior) as well as Sam (jnr) and Joseph (jnr)
Two of our team mates came home with a medal and they are 10 year old Sam and 11 year old Joseph, pictured receiving their medals from Durham & Northumberland Archery Association Chair, Tracey Leverett.
Our Fun Shoot - Wednesday 8th February
We're a target shooting club, which is as much fun as it is a challenge.
But, every second Wednesday of the month the targets and scoring changes to something completely different!
Out went those coloured circles..
This month our targets were... FRUIT & VEG! This was a large paper target - no fruit or veg were hurt in this part of the shooting.
With eight teams, each shooting at their own target bearing a mixture of fruit & veg, after each team member had shot two arrows the scores were added up and the lowest scoring team were out!
After six rounds we were down to the two finalist teams and each team's target was a solitary but very three dimensional apple!
In the style of a penalty shoot out the winner was declared after their competitors missed their apple with their final shot.
This was a fun shoot alright - hilarious - but still so competitive!
The DNAA Coaching Session for Juniors 20/11/22
This training session, delivered by DNAA, attracted young archers from clubs across Durham & Northumberland. There were attendees from as far away as Berwick and Thirsk for what turned out to be a coaching session that was also tremendous fun!
EDA archer Joseph was probably the least camera shy so he's seen in these photos improving his skills and making new friends too. A great day!
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Awards for Jeff, Sam & Seb on Club night and photos from DNAA's coaching session for juniors
(click the arrows to move through the photos. Hover for info)
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Snapshots from the Club's 'Scored Rounds' night, October 2022.
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Seb Goes Red!
Presented by our Club Captain, Billy Charters, and after only four months coaching and practise since completing his East Durham Archers beginner's course, ten years old Seb has earned the first of many such awards that he may choose to strive for. They are a statement of an archer's skill - The Red Feathers badge, which marks Seb's archery skills at six metres. The other 'feathers' badge is the gold, marking the archer's achievements at eight metres.
The gold and red 'feathers' badges.
Gold is next for Seb, the challenge is greater - eight metres, our Club Captain doesn't think it'll be long before we'll need to update this report!
Red and Gold feather awards mark the achievement of shooting skills across different distances and different knowledge sets. These are designed for beginners under 12 years old and some disabled new archers.
The 'Arrow' awards are for beginners over the age of 12. Beginners will be tested on archery scores, skill development and knowledge. Different coloured awards are available depending on the distance to be shot: 10m, 14m, 18m, 22m and 26m. The awards are of the same design but depending on the distance, the arrow's shaft and its point are coloured white, black, blue, red or gold - reflecting the coloured scoring bands on an archery target. Many archers adorn their quiver or sports bag with these awards.
A gold arrow badge - the top beginner's award badge.
Robin Hood Visits East Durham Archers (apparently?)
It was approaching the end of an normal club night at East Durham Archers, one or two had started packing away their kit and then we became aware of an outstanding (but expensive) shot from East Durham Archer Chris Sharpe!
Not so much Sharpe-shooting as Sniper!
The evidence is in the photos, Chris was shooting recurve from 20 yards and bearing in mind that he completed his beginners course just three weeks previously, after five arrows the grouping was looking very nice indeed.
Chris then loosed off number six and nonchalantly said "oh! I think I've hit one of my arrows...."
He certainly had! For non-archers this is known in the world of archery as a 'Robin Hood' (really) and many archers may go years and never see one, much less shoot one!
Chris, who drives ambulances for the NHS is clearly used to getting places in a hurry... but three weeks!!!? Our club members are delighted for him!