Gwynedd Bowmen on the road again
June 1st 2005 and Gwynedd Bowmen set off for their first "Have a Go" of the season. The venue RAF Valley, the occasion "Family Day", the weather "Typical of Anglesey in November".
Arrived at RAF Valley at 08:45 collected relevant passes for vehicles and personnel from the guardroom and were escorted to our site in convoy. The site had been prearranged in terms of safe overshoot etc. in accordance with the clubs Code of Practice and Risk Assessment but it was our fist opportunity to view it for ourselves.
First impression was good as we were adjacent to the burgers (essential part of the planning procedure), bags of overshoot and all public movement areas in plain sight. Decisions as to the layout were hastily made and setting up commenced, out came the backstop netting which was fixed to it’s frame which was pulled into a vertical position with the net horizontal and about 4 metres off the ground, yes it was like Anglesey in November all right with the wind blowing a force 5 straight across the airfield with copious quantities of precipitation and our net trying to qualify for the flying display due later in the day.
After a quick panic sufficient ropes and pegs were found to anchor the frame and beat the net into submission so out came the bosses, 4 of them all 120cm foam, which were lashed together into a solid wall and securely anchored directly on the ground (another sail trying to qualify for the flying display).
After that it was all downhill, one of our gazebos was erected in the shelter of our new trailer to keep bows (and us) dry, bows were set up arrows sorted into sets of 5 (we shoot metric half dozens at Have a Go’s) and most importantly the kettle came to the boil. At 10:00 we received a visit from the camp Safety Officer to check that we were happy with our site etc. and to check that we did actually follow our Code of Practice. At 10:10 he announced that all was well and disappeared to find somewhere dry to inspect.
Our next visitor was the paymaster who presented us with a cheque for our agreed fee for the day (the Have a Go being free to all and sundry). The next visit was from the OC for the event who announced that due to the weather the Red Arrows had cancelled along with the Spitfire, Helicopter Flights and the Flying Display (our net and bosses were now even more determined to have a go at their own flying display). Karl "lets look on the bright side" Houston pointed out that at least the back stop netting was getting a long overdue wash, Val was smiling as she had received money, I was happy that we had passed the Safety Officers inspection, Stuart was relieved the net had not blown away and Dai was happy to be outside instead of in the classroom.
Despite the wind and rain our first customers arrived at 10:30 and by 11:30 the wind had dropped slightly, the rain had all but stopped and the message had clearly got round that we were in business as we had a constant stream of would be archers for the next 5 hours. We lost count of the numbers but estimate between 250 and 300 during the day aged from 5 to 95 with a higher than normal percentage of the fair sex amongst them and many of whom requested further information about our sport with a significant number asking about our own beginners courses. All in all it was a successful and enjoyable day, we were able to promote Archery and Gwynedd Bowmen whilst putting a substantial sum into the clubs coffers and providing entertainment for many. At 16:30 we decided to call it a day and set about taking everything down and packing the trailer ready for the next one, the OC for the day paid another visit to say thank you which was nice, especially when Val informed him that the only RED ARROWS flying at RAF Valley on the day were ours.
Stephen Rowe - Gwynedd Bowmen