A brief history of archery in

As far as is known the first archery club in the area was the Swansea Archery Club. This was formed after a demonstration at the University of Wales playing fields organised by the CCPR on 14^th May 1955. Here met John Roach and Ken Gower who along with Garrit Watson decided to form a club. This was it’s existence for 3 years. It came to an end mainly because most of the members were students and they left because of postings etc and also a lack of an indoor range was the main reason. However, the three founder members continued in archery in an informal way until June 1959 when an article in the Evening Post asked anyone interested in archery to contact Brian Maquire. On a June evening members of the Gower Bowmen were surprised to see two archers complete with gear (although heavily over bowed) approaching the shooting ground. Ken and Garrit received a hearty welcome and more so when we informed them that John Roach would also join them. The Gower Bowmen’s inaugural meeting was held in Brian Maquire’s caravan home at Blackpill in March 1959 when the club was officially formed.

The next committee meeting was held on January 30^th 1960 at Blackpill. It was decided to hold indoor shooting at the Glanmor Club each Tuesday night.

5^th April 1960

K Slater resigned as secretary and Ken Gower was elected in his place. At the end of the year or beginning of 1961 Brian Maquire left due to a posting in England . At an undated meeting it was decided to change the name of the club to “The Bowmen of Gower” in order to avoid confusion with “Gwent Bowmen”. The secretaryship again changed hands and Brian Dale took over the office.

1961

No record of meeting. A number of club members shot in the Newport Archery Championships.

1962

There are no official records available for this year and these notes are taken from past notes and jottings. During this period we were fortunate in obtaining the use of the Smelters Arms, Trewyddfa Rd, Morriston for the club HQ. Within these premises the long room was used for indoor shooting. Due to it only being 15yds long by 12ft wide this was totally inadequate but the club had many hilarious evenings there.

Ken Gower recalled one evening when in the long room John Roach shooting and Ken consuming a pint of the best mild. The arrow John shot at the target to our surprise rebounded from the target coming directly towards us and stuck in the wood work alongside Kens right ear. How this seemingly impossible thing occurred will forever remain a mystery as subsequent inquests failed to find an answer.

The Christmas morning darts match against the resident darts team was an annual event. Our bows V their darts and would have convulsed a television audience, what with the fiddled scores etc.

We obtain permission to use the field above “The Smelt” for practice shooting but it was very rough and over grown. If all the lost wooden arrows took root the field would now be well forested. After efforts to cut the grass with scythes, sickles, shears and eventual burning we had to quit due to a builder buying the site. We were then offered the use of the rugby field by Mr Charlie Ellis at a rental of 2/6p per week which he frequently returned to us. It was here on Charlies field that we held our first shoot to which we invited other clubs. Two members Ken recalls were Doug Davies and John Jenkins. Ken recalls this first shoot was a novelty and clout shoot. They had a fair attendance but it was windy and unpleasant and due to the slope of the ground at the end of the shoot archers thought their left legs seemed longer than the right leg. The practice field was down on the bank of the river Tawe near Llansamlet on a farm belonging to a relative of Bert Saunders. It was a boggy area infested by a myriad of mosquito’s, midges and hosts of other nasty insects. Eventually through the efforts of Bert Saunders and the assistance of Alderman Andrew Morgan we were able to get the permanent use of our present field at the King George VI playing fields.

1963

1964 AGM 13^th May

Same officials re-elected. In this year through the efforts of our PR officer, Bert Saunders, we were presented with the TWW Challenge Trophy Shield by TWW to be competed for by archers in the TWW area.

Nick Hansford, one of our club members competed in the Tokyo paraplegic Olympics where he took second place. He presented the Tokyo Archery Society with ta miniature gonfalon of the club badge.

The TWW shield competed for in our first annual tournament was won by Doug Davies of Graig. The event was opened by Cllr Fred Shail, Major of Swansea. We decided to make the event as colourful as possible with a marquee, heraldic shields etc and the success of the event was assured by the presence of over 1000 spectators as reported the Evening Post. The Hereford was won by Mrs Dennis Whitman.

1965

This year Mrs Joan Roach presented the company with our gonfalon which was dedicated and kept in Llangyfelach Church . This year our club chaplain Rev Brian Evason and his wife Margaret were made our first life members on his departure to another parish.

The lady paramount for our ’65 tournament was Mrs Andrew Morgan JP and the shoot was opened by Alderman Andrew Morgan through who’s efforts on our behalf was instrumental in obtaining our present shooting ground and who became a very good friend and patron. At our annual dinner they were made life members and presented with an illuminated scroll confirming this. Also, Mrs Joan Roach was made a honorary member in appreciation of the gonfalon.

1967

No further information available until 1967 when Ruth and Norman Atkinson presented the club with a silver Rose Bowl, designated to be the Ruth Atkinson Rose Bowl for the Hereford round. For this and other services to the club they were also made life members.

1968

Mr George Rees of Llanelli was made Hon Treasurer a man of artistic ability who was instrumental in obtaining for us our Company seal. At the annual dinner held at the Pines in Treboeth, Mr Wynford Vaughan Thomas was our guest of honour who entertained us with a very humorous after dinner speech.

1969

In the spring of this year Mr Cliff Francombe MB , Champion of Essex and National coach joined our company. A very successful demonstration and public shooting was held at Penrice pageant.

1970

Viv Rees joined us in May. At the AGM Mr G Rees resigned as Secretary and the dual office of sec/treasurer was taken on by John Roach. At the annual tournament Doug Davies won the challenge trophy shield for the sixth time.

At a social evening a cup was presented to our Company by Mrs Andrew Morgan in memory of Alderman Andrew Morgan our very good friend and patron who has been greatly missed. Mr & Mrs Llew Exall also presented a cup to be awarded to the best junior of the year. The first winner was Ian Keevill.

1971

This spring preparations were made for the first City of Swansea tournament – the premier award, the City of Swansea Challenge Trophy shield was presented to us by Mr Richard Keevill the parks superintendent who has been of indispensable support and assistance to our Company and whose friendship we have received for many years.

The TWW trophy was now awarded to the best Welsh archer. For the first time in seven years Doug Davies of Graig lost the shield which was won by D. E. Phillips of Pembroke, Doug second and John Jenkins of Graig third.

The first winner of the City of Swansea shield was S Wickham of Kingston-on-Thames . Ruth Atkinson Rose bowl went to Mrs E Culliman of Caerleon.

In September we accepted an invitation from Cliff Francombe’s old club “Greys of Essex” to attend a shoot in our honour at their ground. We also took with us Marley John of Neath and Port Talbot Archers, four other members and our wives and girlfriends. We received a great reception and they entertained us on the Saturday evening leading to a really enjoyable weekend.

1972

This started with a very saddening opening to the season with the news of the death of our good friend Llew Exall who is greatly missed by all sportsmen at the King George VI playing fields and especially our Company. In April more depressing news. Cliff Francombe has serious injuries whilst helping at a motorway accident. Also one of our juniors Peter Leach was killed in a motor accident.

At our annual tournament the Lady paramount was Mrs Heywood Gibson an unforgettable occasion for her as apparently this is not done in the USA . One of the competitors in the Hereford was British ladies champion GMB Lynn Thomas of Cardiff who unfortunately had to finish early due to an international training commitment.

On Sunday 28^th June 1972 we held our second city of Swansea tournament. It was unfortunately a very wet start and many members packed in before lunch but later it did clear up. This shoot had the largest number of entries to date with Lynn Thomas in attendance.

This was also the first appearance of the City of Swansea trophy shield presented to us by Mr Richard Keevil who is our patron and is the parks superintendent. He has been an enormous help to our club and is a life member.

In September of this year club members attended the first annual Tournament of Neath and Port Talbot archers at Baglan and this was greatly enjoyed by all present.

Early this season Heywood Gibson and his two sons joined our Company. He was the American manager of ALCOA, Waunarlwydd and they were surprised we shot more than fifty yards as they had been shooting on indoor lanes. This month also saw us at a social evening at Velindre Sports Club. Heywood Gibson and his family sent their apologies but he had a sudden recall to the USA and ad to leave the following day.

1973

In May we held our 10^th annual tournament. Lady paramount was Mrs John Allison.

In August we took part in the pageant Ostreme ’73 held at Oystermouth Castle and presented a medieval costume novelty shoot. On the previous evening a very successful archery darts match was held with Susan Allit scoring 140 to the delight of the crowd.

In September Grays of Essex came down and we enjoyed a shoot and we entertained them at the Velindre club.

1974

In March of this year we held our annual dinner at the Blue Anchor, Penclawdd and invited our friends at Neath and Port Talbot Archers to join us. Ken Gower presented Marley John with plaques of both our club badges. Amongst those present were our life members Rev Brian and Margaret Evason and our present Chaplain Rev Haydn Moses.

In May, Viv Rees and Marley John went to Malta to shoot in an international shoot where Viv beat K Lasonen of Finland (European Champion) in an indoor shoot and won a beautiful silver goblet. Tony Lewis of Cardiff was second in the outdoor event.

Our eleventh annual tournament was very successful where Viv Rees won the TWW Challenge Trophy shield. The first time since Doug Davies of Graig Bowmen failed to win it since it’s inception. Marley John was second. Ann Jenkins won the Ruth Atkinson Rose Bowl. The City of Swansea Challenge shield was won by Jim Farrer of Derby – a regular at our tournaments. Lady Paramount was Mrs T R Davies, wife of Cllr T R Davies. Chairman of the parks department.

On the Saturday before Christmas we had the unfortunate duty of attending the funeral of one of our very liked and respected members Dave Thomas. A reserved and quiet man with a sense of humour, whose presence has been missed especially at our committee meetings and social gatherings.

1975

Our annual tournament was held on the now customary Spring Bank Holiday 25^th May. Again it was very well attended.

I (Ken Gower) attended the preparation and opening of the shoot but was unable to stay as I was taken ill.

9^th October we received a letter from Jorge Murillo, Champion of Costa Rica and central America requesting information and expressing a desire to join our Company. He stayed with us for a year and we enjoyed his company whilst shooting with us.

That brings us to the end of the history that is available to Gareth Seymour in March 2007. The above were the recollections of Ken Gower who remained a stalwart of the club until his death in the 1980’s.

The following few paragraphs will try and highlight moments from the clubs history until Gareth restarts a diary in 2002. If you were a club member in the past and want to add any comments please let Gareth know.

1976

1977

1978

Whitsun half term sees Gareth Seymour joining the club. This was after Gareth and his father whilst walking past the playing field on a Tuesday afternoon saw John Roach at practice. As Wynford Seymour ran Swansea Fencing club a discussion took place about minority sports and their promotion. That evening was a “beginners night” so Gareth started the beginners course. Also on the beginners course was Kevin Parkin who would later take on the role of tournament officer and organise a number of very successful City of Swansea tournaments with entries reaching 120 archers. Other members during the year included Ken Gower, Pat Inman (Nee Hewitt), Ed Inman, Bert Thomas, Viv Rees

1979

1980

1981

This summer members of the archery and shooting club of Mannheim came over to Swansea on a weekend visit. A reception was held at the Mansion house of the Friday evening with an archery tournament held at the club ground on the Saturday. A FITA round was shot so as not to confuse the German club or give us an unfair advantage had it been a York. The club also organised a day trip around the Gower coast.

1982

Viv Rees’ niece, Judith joined the club. Judith soon reached a good standard taking a number of trophies during her last year as a junior. Over the next few years Judith has a number of succesful shoots whilst away at college. Judith comes 3^rd in the Surrey outdoor Championships (1987) achieving her 1100 FITA star (recurve) and only being beaten by the British ladies Champion and the British junior girl Champion shooting as a senior.

1983

A number of club members spend a long weekend in Mannheim shooting against the club and have an enjoyable day trip taking in the surrounding area. Gareth Seymour, Paul Jones, Viv Rees, John and Joan Roach were a few of the members who went.

1984

The year of the Los Angeles Olympics. Club member Ernie Arnold made the British team for the Paralympics which were held in Stoke Mandeville and New York..

1985

1986

1987

1988

Another Olympic year and Ernie Arnold again makes the British team to compete in the Paralympics in Seoul .

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

Unfortunately 1995 saw the last City of Swansea tournament. Despite the Council supporting the tournament we organised in their name they had confronted us with a charge of £500 for the use of the playing fields. This would have meant running at a substantial loss and a cheaper alternative was to use the Llandarcy playing fields. Dave Rees organised a lorry to transport the bosses and the day was enjoyed by all who entered.

1996

The Council again wanted £500 for the use of the playing fields and although Llandarcy was a possibility the logistics and extra work required to hold it there meant the tournament was not held.

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

Early 2002 a meeting is called and hosted by Dave Rees to discuss the clubs position. The club had spent the last couple of winters at Trallwn community centre but with only a handful shooting during the winter of 2000/2001 and no improvement in club numbers in oct 2001 an indoor venue was not rented. The meeting basically handed the reigns over to Gareth Seymour. Gareth arranges use of the gym at Swansea Institute, Townhill Rd. A beginners course is advertised within the college with 10 members of staff taking the course. The gym is free therefore a big advantage. Viv Rees and Dave Rees help with the coaching. Peter Ball is the only guy who sticks at it and during the outdoor season a couple of other beginners come and go.

2003

We are back at the SIHE gym (20yards 4 targets). Peter Ball is still shooting from the staff beginners course with the others falling by the wayside. Adrian Jones returns to the club after about 20 years away from the sport. Adrian has publicised the beginners course with Louisa Parry, Spencer Martin and Andrea all working at County Hall starting the course. Let’s hope they have the success and enjoyment from the sport that us archers know about. January 28th sees an extraordinary meeting being held. Now the club has a few more members the following posts are taken….

Andrew Tizard Varcoe stays on as Chairman and takes on the additional post of Child protection officer.

Back down the field and the shed is still standing !! James Armstrong who shot with the club whilst at Swansea Uni in the late 80’s rejoins the club and shoots throughout the summer. Gareth Seymour enters the Llantarnum mixed Hereford in April and it’s his first competition for about 8 years and the first for a club member for almost as many. A slightly below average first dozen turns out to be not so bad in the windy conditions and Gareth is just off the leader board. Second dozen and Gareth is on the board in third and stays there reaching second place by lunchtime. The lack of shooting all day takes its toll with Gareth sliding down to 5th by the end of the day. He wins the 2nd class medal but hands it back believing he should have put 1st class on the form. Greg Barry is then awarded the medal. Gareth jokes with long time friend Greg that if he knew Greg was having the medal he wouldn’t have handed it back ( probably to get Greg back for the tube of KY jelly, supplied by Greg that Gareth won at a raffle years before). Later in the summer Gareth takes second place in the Glamorgan outdoor championship. Lacking the stamina to take first place again !! Gareth enters 7 competitions that season showing other clubs that the Bowmen of Gower are still up and running.

Indoor season starts and we are back to Swansea Institute. Viv and Dave Rees are finding it hard to attend club due to other commitments

2004

Outdoor

The outdoor season starts a bit early with Wynford and Gareth taking a trip up to Pentref for their “Introduction to field archery” day. Both enjoy the setting and the different challenges field archery brings. The summer passes with the benefit of being able to shoot indoors at Townhill when it rains with this being done a number of times. No one shoots in competition until October when Mark Mullaney and Gareth Seymour enter a field shoot hosted by Dinefwr Archers near Llandeilo. Both lost an arrow at the same target in the afternoon… the joys of field archery. Due to the weather on the Saturday the course is halved on the Sunday so all targets are shot twice. Neither archer shoots well and are beaten by a junior shooting a longbow ! Gareth enjoys getting new members started throughout the year despite finding less time to shoot himself. Andrew Tizard-Varcoe becomes a National judge later in the year.

September and it’s back to Townhill on the usual Weds 6.30pm slot. Viv’s humour and talent at coaching is again missed due to family commitments and we wish Mr and Mrs Rees a speedy recovery. December 1st sees the club holding an indoor championship. First time for a good few years. Results as follows with the seniors shooting a Portsmouth .

2005

January sees Gareth Seymour getting loads of phone calls from prospective members with about 14 lined up for January and Feb but most don’t show. January also saw the restart of the annual dinner at T&G’s at the Mumbles.

Andrew T-V is still getting to grips with his longbow and is kept busy judging at competitions. Mike Toms starts the course in February and Wayne Beard starts again after a 30year gap although he does not stay long. Jon Stone, a student at Swansea Uni also starts along with Alistair, a friend of Marks. Unfortunately work commitments in Bristol hinders his progress.

Club membership is currently… Gareth S. Adrian Jones , Daniel Jones, Louisa Parry, Mark Mullaney, Andrew T-V, Dave Rees, Viv Rees, Mike Toms , Spencer Martin , Sarah Tompson, Sonia Harries, Christian Mansel, James Armstrong , Wynford Thomas and Jon Stone. New members this year Include Sharon Bevan, Michael Eddyshaw, Tony Pain and Neil Collier.

Adrian keeps track of members scores with most shooting a Portsmouth every Wednesday. A club website is put together and members can access their scores on line with pretty graphs showing their progress available monthly.

2006

January and the year starts with the club continuing its indoor season at Townhill, again the club has been lucky with access to a cheap venue. Father and son Andy and Jason Price are the first new members of 2006 with attendance around 12-15 members shooting on a Wednesday evening. January also sees the launch of the new club polo shirts in time for the Glamorgan indoor Championships. Januarys highlight is Christian having a Robin Hood shot indoors…. Trouble is they were club arrows J. The presentation dinner was held on Feb 1st again at G&T’s in the Mumbles with 23 members past and present booked in. Additional awards are ..Handicap winner Neil Collier and born again Archer award Spencer Thomas for restarting after a 30 odd year gap.

February starts with the Glamorgan indoor Championships. After a couple of cancellation 6 members make the trip to the Llandaff City Bowmen ground for the 18m FITA top club scorer on the day was Adrian with 458pts but a good competition debut was made by Tony Pain with 446pts. Adrian also pushes the clubs Portsmouth record upto 545pts on the 25th Feb.

March 1st sees Adrian pushing the record upto 552pts and on the 15th to 556pts where it was to stay until the next indoor season. The indoor national postal league 05/06 comes to an end with the "A Team" coming joint 1st winning 4 out of 5 matches but they lost out on the title on aggregate score. The "B Team" won 5 out of 5 winning their division so well done to both teams.

April and Adrian starts the outdoor comp season with the mixed Hereford at Llantarnam. A tricky wind keeps the score down to 995pts but still not bad for his first Hereford .

May see’s another new arrival, the new storage container. At long last the old shed is made redundant and the container is located behind the shooting line. As with all things that come flat packed assembly wasn’t quite straight forward and trying to lift up that big metal roof onto the walls was certainly interesting.

June. As if to defy being knocked down the old shed took on a wasps nest so it will see another summer out. The first comp of the month is the 2 day FITA star at Pembrey. Adrian Jones , Andy Price and Gareth Seymour attended on the Sunday with Adrian being top scorer with 970. June 18th was the Neath Archers open.. a York round and a hot day… what could be better. Ade was 6th on 825, Rob 8th 710, Gareth 9th on 637 and Andy 10th on 602. Sounds good with 3 in the top 10 but there were only 10 gents recurve !! Daniel Jones picked up second place in the Bristol 2 with 878 leaving 3rd to Jason Price with 670.

The afternoon National was well attended by club members with 4 gents entered and Spencer Thomas took 1st place on 482 and Brendan 3rd on 434. Michael Eddyshaw took 2nd in the juniors and this was his first competition. All clubs members looked resplendent in the club colours.

July saw the Glamorgan outdoor champs hosted by Blandy-Jenkins at Llanharan. Some light rain broke up to give a hot afternoon. A well organised shoot with Adrian taking 2nd place in Glamorgan with 858. Andy Price and Sharon Bevan shot the National with both of them taking 1st place medals.

July finished with the club outdoor champs on the 30th An excellent attendance and good weather lead to a very enjoyable day. Everyone shot a National and the beginners shot 6doz at 20yds. The shoot was followed by a BBQ on the field with Wynford and Gareth slaving over the hot coals. Results as follows….

August. Well the hot weather came to an end and August turned into a soggy month. Throughout the summer Adrian had got his Bowman classification and there had been good progress by a number of the new members such as Andy Price, Rob Lowe and Keith Williams .

September saw a short break in the middle of the month prior to the indoor season starting. The outdoor postal came to an end with the best position achieved a 3rd place by the A team. Better luck next year.

	No. of Rounds		Wins		Loses		Score	Points
DIVISION 5
PILGRIM A		5	5	0		8559		15
MERIDEN B		5	4	1		7872		13
BOWMEN OF GOWER A		5	2	3		7821		9
BRAMPTON/WYTON A		5	2	3		6347		9
ISLE OF MAN		5	1	4		5354		7
SAVILE		5	1	4		5042		7

DIVISION 10
BLACK STAG A		5	5	0		7619		15
HINXWORTH B		5	4	1		7563		13
NEWHAVEN A		5	2	3		7177		9
RUTLAND B		5	2	3		6473		9
BOWMEN OF GOWER B		5	1	4		6886		7
LEEK B		5	1	4		6666		7

DIVISION 14
BEVERLEY TARGET A		5	5	0		6273		15
ARCHERS OF TEME B		5	4	1		6028		13
BOWMEN OF GOWER C		5	3	2		4322		11
DERWENT B		5	2	3		5235		9
LLANTARNAM C		5	1	4		2452		7
BYE		0	0	5		0		0

October . We are back at the Townhill gym. Adrian and Gareth have also started their Level 1 coaches course funded by a grant from the Council’s Community Chest. The course finishes with 2 assessments one in December and one March 2007 so Adrian and Gareth should be qualified by April 2007. Once again we start the indoor postal postal league with 2 senior teams and a junior team. Unfortunately Jason Price has taken early retirement and with Ian Bishop still having problems with a broken arm it looks like the junior team will not be very competitive. Still the postal starts well for the seniors with both teams winning their first match.

November sees victory again for both senior teams in the postal comp and some archers putting in plenty of good scores at club especially newbie Keith Williams .

December brings the highlight of the indoor season… the club indoor champs. Talk about getting it right on the night… Rob Lowe stops fiddling with his bow and shoots a new club record score of 583 to take the title leaving Adrian to second place. The shoot is also used for the postal and another win for both teams. Results are as follows

Ladies. 1st Chloe Barker 451 2nd Dawn Bishop 400 3rd Sharon Bevan 397 medal

December 10th sees a number of members shoot at Newport . That’s the first half of the indoor season complete and the end of another year. What scores will 2007 bring ? Can Adrian get his indoor record back ? Was Robs 583 a “flash in the pan” ? We will have to wait and see.

2007

January and the clubs up and running after the holiday period and it doesn’t take long for some decent scores to be handed over to records officer Adrian Jones .

February is the month of the Glamorgan Indoor Championships attended by Andy Price, Keith Williams and Spencer Thomas. Andy missed 3^rd by 10pts. We also hold the presentation dinner at the start of Feb at the West Cross Inn. Basically its a choice of turkey, beef or chicken roast as the main course and the food was excellent. Presentation of awards rounded off the night for the 32 that attended and the obligatory group shot of the winners was taken.

Rob Lowe, Chloe Barker, Sharon Bevan, Charlotte Jones, Adrian Jones and Daniel Jones

March sees Gareth Seymour heading to Pentref on a very wet day for the Glamorgan Field Championships. Despite his low score he somehow manages to take 2^nd place in Glamorgan and was 6^th out of 9 recurves overall. The sports council of Wales award the club a grant of £816 towards the cost of setting up a field course at Three Crosses. Adrian pushes his Portsmouth PB upto 577 which is looking good for taking the record off Rob before the outdoor season starts in April.

April sees some decent weather and the outdoor season gets under way. Forms are sent off for the outdoor postal. The field course starts to take shape and 8 targets are set out for the next couple of months and hopefully the full 12 targets will be in place by mid summer. Adrian and Gareth shoot at the mixed Herefords in Llantarnam Adrian gets 1004pts and Gareth 838pts

May and the rain starts. The postal kicks off. The A team shoot against Crawley, the B's against Pilgrim B and lucky old C's get a bye. The shoot sees success for A's and a loss for the B's by 11pts.

June starts with the FITA Star event at Pembrey. Only Andy Price and Gareth Seymour attended neither putting in very good scores. On the postal front the A team beat West Windsor, the B's beat Burton Joyce but the C's loose to Bridlington C. The Neath archers shoot is held on the 17th with 9 archers from the club taking part. Medal winners were...

Gents National 1st Keith Williams, 2nd Steve Moss and 3rd Spencer Thomas. Ladies National Dawn Bishop 3rd Junior national Ian Bishop 1st.

July. Its been a wet summer and July is the month for the GAA outdoor Champs. This was hosted by Cambria with only Keith Williams and Andy Price attending. The postal shoot results in wins for all 3 teams. A's beat Windsor Forest, B's beat Leek B and C's beat Archers of Raunds. Blandy Jenkins host their open York and it turns out to be a very wet morning. The torrential rain delays the start of the shoot but does ease as the day goes on.

August. The postal continues with some club members also entering other competitions. Over the Bank holiday weekend Gareth, Brendan, Keith and Andy Price attend the Carmarthen Archers field shoot. The weather was good and all members shot OK with Keith having the best score.

September starts with Pentref hosting a test event for the 2008 World field Championships. Gareth gets a place to shoot with Saturday at Pentref being his first full unmarked round. Gareths shooting companions for the day were British Junior squad member Chris Wells and Slovenian Ivan Muznik. Gareth scored a respectable 245 a few points more than he hoped for. Sundays event was held at St Fagans with the course laid out to provide access for spectators. The weekend was a great success and the experience for the organisers and volunteers will be built upon for the World Championship. This was also the last outdoor postal shoot and the series finished with the A team being joint 1st losing on total points scored but the B team held on to take the top spot in their division. C team came third in division 16 having lost 2 matches.

October sees the club move back to the gym at Townhill. A few members have fallen by the wayside over the last few months. A good number of enquiries from beginners sees Gareth booking the gym for an extra night. Out of 10 enquiries 5 turn up and none complete the course 2 due to health problems. Brendan's son Nial joins us so that's one more junior.

November is the start of the postal league and both teams win their first matches. Adrian has also setup a league within the club using the handicap system. The handicap system works well with a couple of lower scoring archers just beating the better archers and quite often there is only a few points in it. The S. Wales winter field archery league is also restarted and the club hold the first round on Nov. 11th. Although a fun shoot it does give the club members some experience of holding a competition. Loads of food is laid on and the water was always on the boil for a cuppa. 26 archers joined the 5 club members who shot with a good number of those present being in the National top 10 for their disciplines. All archers enjoyed the day with even some internationals being caught out on one or two targets. The club even made a profit. Long time friend of the club Tony Lewis of Gwent praised the club for including a map of the course the first he had seen in many years of shooting. Kevin Parkin even came along to check out what was happening, his first visit to the club for a good number of years. Unfortunately John and Joan Roach could not make it on the day due to transport problems.

December the 12th is the club indoor championship and will also be used for the postal and league matches. The club champions for the year are..

2008

First highlight of the year was the presentation evening in February. A change of format see's the formality of a sit down meal changed for a buffet. The venue was the Dylan Thomas Theatre with the food being plentiful but a few problems with the draught beer. Everyone enjoyed the night and the awards were presented by Glamorgan chairman Mike Garrow.

March starts with the GAA field champs and Gareth and Andy Price enjoy a dry day at Pentref for a change. Andy takes 2nd place in Glamorgan (recurve). The club also starts another beginners course with 3 juniors and 3 seniors starting. By the end of the course in May Sarah Morgan (jnr), Alex Morgan (jnr), Russel Davidson and Ashley Morgan join the club.

Gareth and Andy attend field shoots at Dinefwr and Pentref and then the first major outdoor shoot is the Pembrey FITA Star in June. Gareth shoots on the Saturday and Andy Price and Rob Lowe shoot on the Sunday. Rob gets his 1000 star with a score of 1027. The weather was great all weekend and there were a few who got a bit burnt by the sun both days. Rob's good shooting form suffers a knock back when his 2month old limbs snap at the Neath shoot also damaging the riser. He uses his old limbs plus a borrowed Hoyt GM riser for the rest of the summer until his replacement limbs arrive.

Andy price are regular attendees at field shoots over the summer months and a few members attend a number of target shoots as well. At the Glamorgan outdoor Champs at Blandy-Jenkins its "nip and tuck" all day between Adrian and Gareth for 2nd and 3rd place. Gareth starts the last dozen of the York 2pts ahead of Adrian in 2nd place being Mike Roach but a poor dozen off Gareth and an excellent 100 dozen for Adrian sees Adrian taking second and Gareth third.

The clubs postal teams do not do quite so well as previous years with the A's having to average a good score of 575 for the short metric to be in with a shout. The summer is a bit of a wash out affecting scores and attendance especially in August.

With the World Field Championships being held at Pentref in September the club opens it's field course for the Australian team to practice over the August bank holiday weekend. The Australians find it a lot different over here with steeper slopes, more enclosed targets with the trees and undergrowth making estimation more difficult and of course the rain.

Due to the lack of space at Townhill and the fact that there are 18 names down on the beginners course waiting list Gareth sets out to find a new indoor venue.All community leisure centres charge the council imposed rate and the club books the gym at Pentrehafod School for the end of September until Christmas. The 2.5hrs session cats £89 with 15mins free to setup/packway. We do have the first night free as a trial run to satisfy the manager and the H&S officer. The club expects to make a loss but by inviting members of other clubs to join us and the number of prospective members a gamble has to be take. The first beginners course gets under way with 2 ladies and 5 gents plus one new member joins us on a Saturday. All 7 beginners join the GNAS at the end of the course and one more starts at the end of November, Ian Parkhouse and its expected Ian will join at the end of the course. Unfortunately a couple of club members disappear so numbers are not as good as hoped. The first half sees an average of 14 club members, a couple of Uni students and the beginners. The club still use the Townhill gym on Saturdays.

With Mike and Jan Dunce joining us from Cymric and 3 new members, Alun Ryan, Jo Hudson and Jason Watkins shooting barebow means that the indoor will have a barebow category at the indoor champs. This looks good for increasing the number of club members at field shoots in the coming year.

The club indoor champs is held on Dec 9th. Rob Lowe retains the gents title for the 3rd time, 2nd was Peter Thomas and 3rd Keith Williams. Ladies champ was barebow archer Jo Hudson. Gents BB Alun Ryan and Junior bow champion was William Wadsworth-Davies. Tim Holmes was the only longbow archer therefore taking the title. 15 archers shot with a few members missing.

John Roach is admitted to hospital late November after a bad angina attack. By Dec 17th he is waiting for a triple or quadruple heart bypass and the members wish him a speedy recovery ready for the clubs 50th year.

Gareth obtains a £900 grant off the council for new beginners equipment, 2 targets and a 10m backstop net so all looks good for 2009 on the equipment front. Gareth has enquiries from a family of 4 and 1 other ex University student to start shooting with us in the New Year and all have their own kit. With a full beginners course lined up for January the future is looking bright.

2009

John is making good progress after his heart surgery and he is fit enough to make the presentation dinner on January 30th at the West Cross Inn. Numbers were slightly down on the expected and aroun 28 members attended. One face from the past was Vince West who has rejoined the club after a 18yr break. Lets hope he finds his old form for the summer season. Unfortunately a few winners were among those absent at the dinner so an additional award ceremony was held at Pentrehafod. At the end of the presentation Gareth thanked Joan for looking after John as sometimes the carer is overlooked with the attention going to the patient. Joan received a bouquet of flowers as a thank you.

January also saw the next beginners course with 8 starting and a few more enquiries via email.

The AGM is held in April at Swansea Met Uni on Townhill rd and there is a good attendance. The committe for 09-10 will be..

President John Roach, Chairman Andrew Tizard-Varcoe, Secretary Gareth Seymour, Equipment officer Brendan Kelleher, CPO Andrew Tizard-Varcoe, Records officer Adrian Jones and William Wadsworth-Davies is Junior Rep.

The outdoor season also starts in April and the club welcomes a number of beginners onto courses throughout the summer. Unfortunately quite a few of the beginners who bought kit early in the year have wandered off. It never fails to amaze how people can spend a few hundred pounds on kit and then stop shooting weeks afterwards. This means attendance is lower than expected throughout the summer. A number of members attend both target and field comps throughout the summer. The medal tally is as follow..

Keith Williams. two 1sts both for Herefords, 1 at neath Archers and 1 at the GAA champs.

Neil Smith 2nd in the Blandy Jenkins Hereford and a 1st at the Llandaff Nationals

Dace O'Carroll L/B a 1st on the National at Neath archers open and 2nd on the York at the GAA champs.

Lis O'Carroll L/B 1st on the National at Neath, 1st on the Hereford at the GAA and 1st visitor at the Welsh Field.

The outdoor postal scores dropped later in the summer due to lack of scores and the teams finish as follows..

A’s were unlucky having won 4 out of 5 matches but finishing second on accumulative score.

September sees us back at Pentrehafod for the winter. We start with 4 beginners Mahmoud, Dave, Michelle and Anthony. Michell has shot before and it her partner Alex used to be a club member so he rejoins. We are also joined by an ex member of Southgate Roger Gammon. Roger last shot around 1990 and is keen to restart. All the beginners complete the course but Anthony does not continue. Nigel is the only beginner in November and we are also joined by a face from a long time ago... Paul Gray. paul shot with Merthyr Bowmen whilst a junior and then with us whilst studying at Swansea Uni from 1988-1991. He stopped shooting around 1992 and Gareth unexpectedly hears from him in late November. Paul is welcomed into the club and his style looks no different after an 18yr break.

DIVISION 6
BLACK STAG A	5	4	1	8280	13
BOWMEN OF GOWER A	5	4	1	8259	13
REDDITCH	5	4	1	8188	13
WINDSOR FOREST	5	2	3	7475	9
CRAWLEY	5	1	4	6636	7
WEST WINDSOR	2	0	5	3161	2

DIVISION 11
BOWMEN OF GOWER B	5	4	1	7217	13
CLOPHILL B	5	3	2	6039	11
PILGRIM B	5	3	2	5904	11
BURTON JOYCE	5	2	3	6471	9
MONKLANDS B	5	2	3	5434	9
LEEK B	5	1	4	6399	7

DIVISION 16
NEWHAVEN B	5	4	1	5474	13
BRIDLINGTON C	5	4	1	5266	13
BOWMEN OF GOWER C	5	3	2	5155	11
EBOR B	5	3	2	4284	11
ARCHERS OF RAUNDS B	5	1	4	3420	7
BYE	0	0	5	0	0

DIVISION 4
HINXWORTH B	5	4	1	8463	13
BOWMEN OF GOWER A	5	4	1	8385	13
SPELTHORNE	5	3	2	8263	11
BOWMEN OF LYME	5	2	3	8277	9
PURITON GOLD A	5	2	3	5034	9
SOUTH MOORLANDS	5	0	5	4453	5

DIVISION 13
GRAVESEND B	5	4	1	6945	13
BOWMEN OF GOWER B	5	3	2	6907	11
MONKLANDS B	5	3	2	6855	11
NEWHAVEN A	5	3	2	6709	11
LLANTARNAM JUNIORS	5	1	4	3482	7
CRAWLEY	5	1	3	2723	7

DIVISION 19
BOWMEN OF GOWER C	5	5	0	5441	15
ARCHERS OF TEME B	5	3	2	5049	11
BEVERLEY TARGET B	5	3	2	4424	11
SUTTON	5	2	3	3389	9
LALEHAM B	5	1	4	2082	7
BYE	0	0	4	0	0

A brief history of archery in Swansea and The Bowmen of Gower

5th April 1960