Report on the Archery Competition held on 1 September 2026

The archery evening went ahead on the 1^st September having been well organized as ever by our Sports Officer, Darren Kellet.

Thirteen intrepid would-be archery champions from both 41 Club and Round Table turned up at the Scarborough Archers Club field in Osgodby and were welcomed by half a dozen club members who had kindly given up their evening in an effort to train us to hit the targets with at least some of our arrows. 

Before being let loose with a bow, we were each equipped with a leather arm guard to protect us against possible injury from the bow string. In reality, there may have been more chance of us injurying each other had the staff not insisted on a highly disciplined approach on when we were permitted to shoot our arrows, reinforced with a loud whistle.

After a couple of practice rounds, half the would-be archery champions were selected to try and achieve at least a half decent score shooting at the targets which at Darren’s express request had been placed further away than in previous years making scoring even more difficult than before. The other half were dispatched into the nearby woods to shoot arrows at poor defenceless dummy animals.

After a short break to eat chocolate muffins to fortify us, the two groups then switched over. By this time the light was already fading especially in the woods which didn’t make things any easier (well, that’s my excuse anyway…).

It was really good fun and if the club members had not let slip that they usually shot arrows over about the three times the distance that we had attempted, we would have all felt quite proud of ourselves.

The overall match was won by Mark from Round Table, with Darren in second place, and Richard Kirby the third medal winner. Following an informal awards ceremony, we all adjourned to the Poachers Barn for a well-deserved pint and a packet of crisps.

Simon Lockley

Chairman

41 Club