Gwynedd Bowmen 2nd Indoor Competition
Sunday 20th March 2005 - Amlwch Leisure Centre
The tournament started with the arrival of the "Saturday Crew" at 1500hrs to set up ready for the crack of dawn start on Sunday. By 1600hrs and with a minimum of fuss the nets were in place, bosses and stands set up and shooting and waiting lines marked out, everything was ready to go. Bearing in mind what was happening at the Millennium Stadium this was no mean feat.
Sunday morning arrived and on entering the hall at 0825hrs I found one of our Judges already there and raring to go. Dimensions, boss and target placements were checked and found to be in order and the tournament field signed off as ready to go without the need for any adjustments. Competitors all arrived in plenty of time and the event kicked off with sighters exactly on time at 0930hrs. Thanks to the excellent cooperation of Mike Evans and Dave Thomas, our two judges, the first session went off without incident and finished slightly ahead of schedule which, as time is critical, was a very welcome event.
Faces were changed ready for the second session in very short order with everything ready to go with 20 minutes to spare and sighters again commencing on schedule at 1230hrs. Despite a few problems with additional packing required to prevent high speed arrows from compound archers hitting stand legs and thanks to excellent support from the "field crew" and our judges Session 2 finished ahead of schedule with "three cheers for the Target Captains" ringing out at 1520hrs.
By the time I had received all of the signed score sheets from the competitors our able crew had cleared all of our equipment from the hall and as I left to join Val and work out the final results the trailer was very nearly loaded.
Everyone adjourned to "The Trees" for a welcome pint, a wind down, the results and of course the raffle. Score sheets were checked, results formulated, raffle drawn and awards presented in double quick time with the whole event finishing at 1605hrs which if not some sort of record certainly highlights Gwynedd Bowmen's organisational abilities as being up there with the best.
Entirely based upon comments from visiting archers the second running of our "Anglesey Stafford" must undoubtedly go down in the annals of the club as a resounding success. Comments which I may add were heartily endorsed by all of the club members who attended the shoot as either competitors or helpers or indeed both. From a personal perspective I was extremely pleased with the tournament, any problems which arose during the day were handled in a timely and professional manner, our visitors were welcomed with open arms and there were more than enough members present to ensure that no one had to stay "on duty" for the whole day. At the end of the day the motley crew had another drink and a bit more unwinding having put on a tournament of which they can be justly proud and which apart from being most enjoyable for all concerned added a 3 figure sum to the clubs coffers.
A HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO EVERYONE INVOLVED at times like this it is a pleasure to be your Chairman.