2017 EFAA Best Club of the Year
At the EFAA AGM recently, Kings Forest we’re presented with the 2017 Best Club of the Year trophy. A big thankyou to all members that entered the various National shoots that made this possible. Well done all!
Bill Garton
It is with great sadness that Kings Forest Bowmen have to announce that Bill Garton passed away early this week. Bill was one of the longest serving members of the club and until his illness he regularly shot around the courses more than a couple of times a week and also at Classifications. When arriving at the club you would always get asked “Going around then?“ Considering he was in his eighties, where did he get that energy?
Bill was known at the club for not only his shooting but also as an engineer. Anybody that had a problem with a bow would seek Bill’s expertise and advice. How many times he made bits at home to get members out of trouble, never expecting anything other than a thank you. But more than that he was Kings Forest’s gentleman archer, a past Vice President and President of the club. In my early years at the club all new members were started off by Bill and his great friend Buzz Powell, how lucky we were to have members with there skill and knowledge. He was always there with a helping hand at work days and with general maintenance during the year, putting most members to shame.
I will always remember Bill as a great archer, good friend and when I took over as Club Chairman, a good sounding block and confidant, but most of all I will remember him as a true Gentleman.
Rest in Peace Bill.
CHRISTMAS SHOOT 2016
Thank you to all who turned up for the KFB Christmas Shoot on the 4th December! We hope you had a great day shooting, and that you enjoyed the sunny weather we ordered especially. Thanks to the Harvey’s for the wonderful food, and to all those who helped with organising the day and clearing up after. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!!!
Ray Blyth
It is with great sadness that we learned that our dear friend and long time KFB club member Ray Blyth passed away at the end of September. Our deepest condolences and thoughts go out to his family, friends and work colleagues at this difficult time.
A gentleman, a good friend, funny, cheeky (in a good leg pulling way), a one-of-a-kind character well liked by all who met him and approachable to any new members joining the club. A hard grafter at our work days there is no doubt, one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. If you had a marquee to put up or take down our Ray was the man to have by your side. A shed to paint or target faces to paste, chairs to put out or collect, all done without complaint. Ray made those jobs a pleasure to do, as he was the best of company. He was always willing to show a longbow noob how to tie a bowyers knot, and then patiently again when it came undone half way through a classification. And always done with a smile and possibly a little well deserved ribbing.
As anyone who met him at the club knew, Ray had a passion for English longbows and anything associated with them. From his Mary Rose style leather arm guard, to one of Bela’s hand-made quivers that he was so proud of, even his traditional woolly tassel, he loved and appreciated them all.
Ray could make his own bows from a variety of woods including yew, oak, maple, ash, even bamboo (and sometimes all five at once), though he admitted he struggled to tame the beast within the wood. Ray tried a few times to make a lighter poundage bow to help save his shoulders and to make shooting a little easier. After toiling away for a few months he would arrive at the club with the most beautifully finished 55lb at 25” bow that would loosen your shoe laces and lift your feet off the grass when you shot it! Bless him, he would shoot the beast for a while and then order another multi wood stave from one of his secret suppliers to try once again. Another winter project maybe. He would make his own arrows, labelled simply “Ray”, they were self nocked with horn inserts, fletched red and white for the most part, whipped for extra strength so perhaps they’d survive being shot from one of his ‘vertical ballistae’. He became very proficient at finding them (and other archers arrows too) after parking them in the forest for a few days. Ray, our woody arrow diviner!
Ray was famous for turning up at the club late in the day, just as the last of the club members were leaving, even with rain and dark skies rapidly approaching. This was “Ray Time”. White course was his favourite because it nearly always had animal faces out. By the time he was finished it would have been well past dusk. But that mattered not-a-jot to Ray. He’d spend time in the forest shooting his beloved longbow. He also greatly enjoyed shooting on the range, trying to get his arrows out to the 80 yard boss, watching the arrows arc up and out like they were meant to do. Ray was a true English longbow archer through and through, right down to his toes.
And one of the most admirable qualities about our Ray? He would smile and shrug his shoulders no matter how his shooting went that day, just happy that he was there with his mates shooting his longbow, and he’d come back the next time full of enthusiasm.
How we wish we’d said yes now Ray, instead of heading home to a hot dinner and warm slippers, we wish we’d said yes, and come out to shoot with you on White course at dusk, just a few more times. One arrow per target to make things a bit quicker ‘cos we can hardly see in the fading light, some leg pulling about the near misses, and preserving the target faces for the poor compounders who hadn’t yet seen the Light. Then for laughs, we’d try and hit some fallen pine cones at unknown distances just for practice, and to just enjoy the fact that we were out shooting in the forest with our longbows.
You’ll be greatly missed Ray, R.I.P our “Brother from another Mother”
UKIFAC 2016
On the 2nd and 3rd of July we held the UKIFAC at Kings Forest Bowmen with over 170 archers from all over the British Isles taking part. It was great to see all the different nation shirts milling and mixing around the front of the club hut, the archers enjoying the wonderful food and drinks from the hard working ladies behind the counter (not forgetting Gary the washer-upper). Thankfully the weather was on our side this time, with two days of dry and (mostly) sunny shooting weather. Congratulations to all the trophy and medal winners, not forgetting the record breakers!
A big thank you to everyone for all their help preparing for the shoot, and for all their hard work during and after the competition. Very much appreciated indeed!
And last but by no means least, thank you to all those who travelled from far and wide to be with us, it was great to see you all once again and we hope you all enjoyed your time here at Kings Forest. We’re looking forward to next year and a trip to Northern Ireland, where we hope to see you all again!
SUFFOLK SHOW 2016
KFB once again were present at the show as part of the Suffolk Sport Village. Despite the gloomy weather we had a very busy couple of days with lots of people coming to have a try at archery. Thanks to all for the hard work and long hours. Some pic’s are now up in the gallery.
NFAS 40 3D MAY SHOOT 2016
Thank you to all those who turned out for the NFAS 40 3D shoot on Sunday 22nd May, it was great to see you all. Luckily the weather held and it was a fine day right to the end. A big thanks to those hard workers who helped lay out the course, those who wrangled the 3D animals to their positions and back, those who wrangled the archers to their positions and back, to the wonderful crew behind the counter for feeding us so very well all day, and to the rakers for finding lost arrows. Thank you all! There’s a small selection of pic’s up in the gallery now.
CHRISTMAS SHOOT 2015
Thanks to all those who came to our Christmas Shoot on the 6th December. We hope you all had a good day out and and it was great seeing everyone. Though a bit cloudy and grey, it stayed dry throughout the day thankfully. Once again thankyou to Helin, Tash and family for the yummy breakfast and superb turkey and stuffing lunch! As always thanks to all those who lent a hand with the preparations that made it all possible. Some images from the day are now up in the gallery. Hope to see you all again next year.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2015
On the 12th and 13th of September we held the National Championships here at KFB. Amazingly the weather was in our favour and the sun was out for most of the weekend. A great turnout from far and wide provided some excellent company to shoot with, and well done to those who came to shoot in their first Nationals. As usual the catering was superb, definitely something to look forward to at the end of a round. A big thanks to the Harvey family for all their hard work, long hours, and smiles while feeding the troops. Very very much appreciated indeed. As always, thankyou to all those who gave up their time to help organize and prepare and who came to help set up on the Friday, those who helped throughout the weekend, and who stayed behind to clear up on the Sunday. Thanks also to those who kindly donated prizes and who bought tickets for the raffle draw, which helped raise a tidy sum for Steve Partridge’s Field Archery Tour Fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support.
WORK DAY 2015
The committee and the other members of the club would very much like to thank those who turned up for the Work Day on 4th July. No sitting on the beach eating ice-cream for these hardy souls, oh no! Despite the scorching hot weather this small crew managed to scratch off some of the items on Stan’s long list of things ‘to do’. A big thanks goes to the head chef for making us an excellent and tasty lunch (not to mention the breakfast doughnuts), very much appreciated. Special thanks go to Keith who sadly hasn’t shot with us for a long while, and the extreme cylist and jetwash specialist known as Steve who’s not even a member, for giving up their days to come and work with us in the woods. Once again, thankyou all!
EFAA Bowhunter Championships 2015
On June 27th and 28th we held the Bowhunter Championships at the club. With blazing hot sunshine on the first day, and mostly rain on the second, it cleared just in time for the medal ceremony. The work of setting out the course started some weeks ago, and a lot of time and hard work helped make it a very challenging and fun course to shoot. Thanks to all those who helped with the preparation and setup, to those who marshalled and hunted lost arrows (bless you!), and to those who stayed behind to help tidy away all the gear after the shoot was over. Once again a very big thanks to the Harvey family, along with the ever smiling Ms. Pinches, who had two extremely long days catering for us archers, in a roasting hot kitchen. Thank you all!
EFAA Spring Shoot 2015
Well done to all those who attended the EFAA Spring Shoot at Panther Bowhunters on the 2nd and 3rd of May, near Chelmsford. A large turnout and at times challenging weather, made for a superb shoot amongst the bluebells. A big thankyou to Panthers for putting on such a memorable competition. The scores from that weekend are now up on our Results page. The gallery has also been updated with some images from the shoot and more can be found on the Panther Bowhunter website.
Christmas Fun Shoot 2014
On Sunday 7th December we held our Christmas novelty shoot and despite the cold damp December weather there was a good turn out, with over fifty archers attending. Thanks to all those who came along to shoot with us. As always a big thank you to Helin, Tash and family for the excellent hot food and drinks, served all day, including their awesome turkey and stuffing rolls! Helin and the crew were at the club very early along with Stan, Dave & Dan, to get everything ready for breakfast. It really makes such a difference especially on a grey wintery day. Thankyou also to those who made us the wonderful cakes and buns, they went down a treat, very much appreciated! To those who gave up their time to help organise and setup the shoot, from making the target faces, to coming up with the devious scoring, those in the office silently doing admin (hope your throat is better soon Christine), to setting out the tinsel and lights, to standing inline in the supermarket to buy the prizes, right down to brushing the carpet and staying behind to help tidy away the chairs and tables at the end. Thankyou all.
NFAS Shoot October 2014
On Sunday 26th October we held our second NFAS shoot of 2014, with 36 Unmarked 3D targets, the event being another great success for the club. A big thanks for all the work put in by Tony and Dan, who laid out a course that tested the very best of the 86 archers who took part. Once again there was excellent catering from Helin, Tash and family, for which we’re most grateful. Their fine food brought many great compliments from those attending. Thanks go also to those who helped with admin, setup and packing up over the weekend, very much appreciated. There was also a very well supported raffle in aid of cancer charities which raised £135 for this worthy cause. All in all, a day that everyone at the club can be proud of.
EFAA World Championships, Yankton, USA
Congratulations to Alec and Dan on their performance at the World Champs in Yankton USA. Alec retained his BBC veteran title in a close contest throughout the week. Dan finished sixth in the adult FU division, shooting a max 560 on the animal round and a PB of 554 Hunter on the final day. Both were part of the England team which came away with Bronze medals in the Team of Nations event. Very well done, good shooting fellas.
Len Long
It’s with great sadness that we heard of the passing of Len Long. One of the ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ gang, he’d been a valuable and respected member of Kings Forest Bowmen for a number of years. Sincere condolences to his family and friends. RIP Len.
Work Day 2014
On Saturday 28th June we had our work day. Thanks to everyone for coming and giving up their time to help out. Lots of jobs both big and small were completed before the heavens opened up and the deluge began. All your hard work is very much appreciated. There are now images up in the gallery.
EFAA Bowhunter Championships 2014
On June 7th and 8th Whitemark Bowmen was the venue for this years Bowhunter Championships, the first time back there in 8 years. The courses were set around their usual range and along the woodland next to the golf course amongst the dreaded rhododendrons. Two days of enjoyable but very challenging shooting were had, even with the wet start on the first day. A big thank you to Whitemark Bowmen for all their hard work in putting on the shoot and for taking care of us all. A quick summary is on the Results page above, full results can be found on the official EFAA site.
EFAA Spring Championships 2014
On May 3rd and 4th we held the Spring Championships here at Wordwell. Beautiful weather, superb catering and a good turn out made for a very memorable and successful weekend. Thanks to all the competitors for coming and being such excellent company, many driving a long way to get here. Thankyou to Rosie and Christine for their patience and hard work keeping us all organised and on track. A big thanks to the lovely ladies for their marvelous catering and to those who manned the counter over the weekend. Service with a smile even at the end of two long days. And as always, thanks to all those who gave up their time to come and help set up on Friday, those who helped throughout the weekend whether big job or small, and who stayed behind to clear up on the Sunday, some of whom weren’t even shooting at the weekend. Very much appreciated. A quick summary is on the Results page above, full results can be found on the official EFAA site.
World Indoor Mail Match 2014
After a very enjoyable indoor season held at Stowupland sports hall on Thursday evenings during the autumn and winter, the results have now been posted on the IFAA website. Here’s a quick roundup and well done to all who took part.
Alec James VMBB(C) 1st 811 54x
Ron Potter VMBU 1st 891 103x
Dan Rae AMFU 3rd 900 165x
Barry Rampling AMFU 10th 898 123x
Carol Fowles AFBH(R) 7th 682 16x
Steve Sweet AMBH(R) 5th 765 24x
NFAS Shoot March 23rd 2014
On March 23rd we held an NFAS Unmarked 3D shoot, which was a great success, with many comments on how well the course was laid. A great deal of hard work by a few people, well done all and thank you. The catering as always a legend, thanks GIRLS.
During 2013 Kings Forest Bowmen and the EFAA were raising money for cancer charities, the total sum raised was over £1000.
Christmas Fun Shoot 2012
We had a good crisp winters day for the shoot, it was great to walk around the woods and hear laughter everywhere, a real fun shoot. Thanks to Steve for the great targets he drew for us to shoot at, many hours of work to see us bang holes in them, most of the time in the wrong place (chimney pot). A massive thank you to Helena and Tash and crew, who provided us all with excellent hot food all day, the turkey rolls were superb. Also a lot of work went into the sausage rolls, mince pies and cakes, thanks to all concerned. Thanks to members who kindly donated prizes for the draw. WELL DONE EVERYONE FROM THE COMMITTEE.
World Championships Argentina 2012
Kings came back from Argentina with 3 world champions, Tony Smith VMBHR, Rosie Potter VFBU and Alec James VMBBC. Ron Potter won a Bronze medal in VMBU. Daniel Rae shot 5 super scores and only dropped 2 points on the animal round.
Success At The National Championships 2012
The EFAA National Championships were held at March Hare Archers on the 8th & 9th September, Kings had 17 members shooting and were the largest club, out of the 120 competitors
Congratulations to, Natasja, Karen and Charlie Pinches, Claire Bonney, Tony Smith, Phil Smith, Richard Brown, Alec James and Stan Wilding who all became National Champions. Claire Bonney, Peter Wynn, Charlie Pinches and Gary Harvey won the mixed team award for the club. Several club members shot personal best scores ,which resulted in a successful event for the club.
Open Spring Shoot 2012
The club has had another successful tournament result with 18 members attending the Open Spring Shoot last weekend. The shoot was hosted by White Mark Bowmen at Wooburn Common, Bucks.
Gary Harvey (UL), Ron Potter (BU), Rosie Potter (BL), Charlie, Karen and Natasja Pinches (all BBC), Claire Bonney (BHR) and Tony Smith (HS) all won their divisions. Alec James (BBC) and Dan Rae (BHR) were second and Richard Brown (LB) came third.
We also took the team trophy for the second year running with Gary, Rosie, Alec and Charlie out scoring teams from Panther, Black Eagle and White Mark.
Full results can be found on the E.F.A.A. web page.
World Indoor Mail Match
A TRIP INTO THE WORLD OF THE INDOOR MAIL MATCH.
This year a few of us intrepid archers from Kings Forest decided we would enter the World indoor Mail Match to make the indoor winter evenings more interesting.
It was the first time we had shot regularly indoors in the winter and so hired the SportsHall at (nearby and central to all) Stowupland for two hours on Thursday nights. Two hours proved to be plenty of time to set up, shoot twelve ends and take everything away again.
The faces were duly pasted and the dates set for the ‘proper’ rounds, the other nights were used as practise. We had to get three lots of scores in, one at beginning of February, March and April and the final results would be announced on 15th April. Alec took charge of sending in the scores to Australia each month. The results were posted on the I.F.A.A. web page each month.
On official shoot nights the shooting was done on the whistle, double scoring used and X’s marked like a mini indoor championships, one archer chose a five spot face.
Our first venture into the W.I.M.M proved to be quite successful with Alec James VMBBC and myself VFBL gaining the World titles, Alec beating two other Vets .Ron Potter VMBU and Claire Bonney AFBBR, shooting in her first World competition, took second places. Andrew Hood AMBBR and Pete Wynn AMFSC were a credible fourth. Gary Harvey AMFU, Dan Rae and Dave Abrey AMBU all finished about half way down their large groups.
Unfortunately Mac Robertson had to retire due to injury. Not bad for a first attempt.
7/11/11 – Remembering Zelda
The end of October brought to Kings Forest the sad news that Zelda Smith had passed away after a battle with the ‘Big C’. Around forty archers from local clubs helped fill the church for her funeral at West Row, nr Mildenhall where she once lived.
Zelda had been a member of Kings forest Bowmen for about 30 years and was one of the original members along with Dot southgate and Buzz Powell
Zelda will be missed by all her fellow club mates and all who shot with her during her long time in field archery.
R.I.P. Zelda, may you now be pain free.
5/05/11 – Archery Results
Over the weekend fifteen members of Kings Forest Bowmen from Wordwell took part in the English Field Archery Associations first two day tournament of the year. The Open Spring Shoot was hosted by Panther Bowhunters, held on two courses set in the woods at West Hanningfield, Chelmsford.
Seventy five archers from clubs all over the country took part in this annual event.
They shot a Hunter round on Saturday and a Marked Forester round on Sunday on a different course each day consisting of 28 targets set at distances between 10 and 70 yards.
Ten of the fifteen came away with awards, Charlie, Karen and Natasja Pinches all came first in the Barebow Compound division, with Alec James taking second place to Charlie.
Ron Potter, Bowhunter Unlimited, and Dan Rae, Freestyle Recurve, also came second, with Rosie Potter, Bowhunter Recurve taking second place over Chris Smith. Claire Bonney was third in the Barebow Recurve division.
Kings Forest then went on to win the Team competition beating hosts Panther by over 500 points. The team consisted of Ron Potter, Dan Rae, Charlie Pinches and Alec James.
If anyone is interested in taking up field archery and would like to have a go, please contact Alec James 07860 166321 or via the link on the English Field Archery Assoc. web site.