Not being blessed with our own shooting ground and resident Groundsman the 2005 Anglesey American started on Friday night with laying out the shooting field. An easy task you would think when using a Rugby pitch but a quick check on the existing layout proved that statement wrong with the pitch some 3' out of square at 40yds. Triangulation was called for and the layout done from scratch. Again a relatively simple task except half of the crew had never heard of yards, feet and inches and the other half had not heard of the 3,4,5 triangle. After some rudimentary teaching of basic maths and a compromise of distances in yards and target spacings in metres the ground was pegged out, diagonals checked for accuracy, peg positions marked and pegs removed ready for the final setup on Sunday morning.
Sunday arrived with bright sunshine and a cloudless sky, the weather forecast said rain was due later in the day so offerings were made to the rain gods with a request for after 5 o'clock please. Our stalwart crew arrived and by 0900hrs the field was a hive of activity with lines going down, bosses, stands and flags going up and distance markers being hammered into the ground. Mike Evans our Senior Judge for the day arrived nice and early as usual and after checking our layout announced that we were an inch and a half short at 60yds. ( The accuracy of his tape was called into question as we are never that far out ). Sighs of relief were heard from the crew and we all visibly relaxed, the tents and gazebo's were all erected, the Rugby Club had finally opened up their clubhouse so loo's and electrickery were available, competitors were arriving, Laptop and printer were connected, the sun was still shining and the kettle was on. Time to sit down with a cup of coffee and relax for a few minutes chat with old friends and a quick walkabout to meet new ones. No last minute dramas arose, the Chairman's welcome address and the Judges briefing took place on time and sighters were shot on schedule at 1100hrs.
The first surprise of the day followed the sighters, lost arrows all over the field. Hasty searches with the trusty metal detectors located about half of them, the remainder being left to the next end. (It appeared we were in for a long day). Sights were adjusted and shooting started in earnest, lo and behold at the end of the first half dozen we had even more arrows to find and we could not blame the longbows who were scoring mostly greens but in typical fashion were sticking up for all to see. To be fair to our visiting archers it was a breezy day for Anglesey which may constitute a very windy day for those who reside in sheltered areas away from the coast.
First dozen scores were collected and the Leader Board was on view as the archers returned from their third half dozen, shooting started to settle down and the number of missing arrows reduced with the final ones being found during the distance change to 50 yards.
The Leader Board was updated after each dozen and at the end of each distance which showed close competition in many of the classes. The remainder of the competition went off without incident with three cheers for the target captains ringing out at around 1530hrs. The field was cleared in record time, results were ready 20 minutes after the last arrow being shot and everyone adjourned to the clubhouse for a well earned pint, the awards and of course the raffle. At which point the promised rain arrived so our offerings to the rain gods had paid off with fine weather for the shooting.
By 1645hrs it was all over, Awards presented, Raffle drawn, Speeches heard and praises received. From comments received from visiting archers it was clear that Gwynedd Bowmen had once again managed to put on a well organised and successful shoot which may even have managed to put a few coppers into the clubs coffers. (I should point out that this is not the intention of our shoots as provided we break even we are happy).
Being Chairman it falls upon me to stand up and speak on the Club's behalf to welcome one and all to our competitions and to address everyone at the awards ceremonies from which I may wrongly be given credit for the work of others. Whilst I do get closely involved with the organisation of competitions the lions share of the work both pre and post competition falls fully on the shoulders of Val Bamber who clearly deserves the lions share of the praise.
We are ably assisted by the same small group of club members at each competition who also deserve their fair share of praise as without them the club could not put on a successful event. For the 2005 Anglesey American Stuart Innes, Dai Jones, Gareth Wilkins, Wayne and Karl Houston, Phil and Mathew Hill, Egrin and David Huskisson and Dick Salisbury deserve a special mention both for their assistance during the day and setting up on the Friday night, sincere thanks to you all. My thanks also go to Nigel Mathers for his assistance with setting up, acting as our Lord Paramount on the day and for the kind words in recognition of the work done by your committee during his closing address at the end of the awards ceremony.
Thanks once again to you all, and apologies if I have missed anyone from the list of helpers.
Steve Rowe
Chairman
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