Cloth of Gold Shoot 14^th May 2006

Report by Nev Wilson

The day started dull but the promise of a dry day. The Cloth of Gold organisation moved into top gear. Final preparations were completed on the Saturday. As we no longer have a Captain of Archers responsible for Shoot safety the Chairman and Secretary now take responsibility for this task. So first thing Sunday morning a few minor snags had to be ironed out, a couple paths had to be diverted to make things safe, the croc had to be repositioned, and a few loose ends tied up.  The usual Security Bob and Rose Goss camped to keep an eye on the equipment. Quite a few stalls had set up around the camp area with gear for sale, I thought I had turned into the wrong gate and was at the car boot sale. 

This years shoot was to be a 36 3d game round consisting of thee sections of twelve targets each. The three Course Officers Dave Piercy, Norman Bird, and Brian Boon had one section each. Targets 4 to 15 were in the capable hands of Dave Piercy and his Saturday Club helpers Dave, Alan, and Lionel. Norman Birds section Targets 25 to 36 assisted by Nev Wilson and John Davison. Brian Boons Targets 16 to 24 and 1 to 3 with help from Mo Gibbons and Wally Robson mainly, was a little fragmented because it was in two sections, but one major achievement had to be the moving of the Elephants 8ft by 8ft backstop 200 yards from one end of the course to the other, just the two Senior Members (Wally and Brian) moved it on their own Unfortunately Brian had to be in Scotland on the day of the shoot. So did not see the final result but reports from the shooting attendance were very complimentary indeed. Dave’s main features were his Striking Orange Snake (Lobby’s creation), a Falcon in the forked tree and his one shot mutant Rats. Norman’s star targets had to be the Skunk, a Feeding Buck and the Caribou. 

I heard very little negative comment on the course except that the overhead canopy shooting the 2d Bear was too low for light Longbows and that it was a bit twiggy in parts, lets face it we do shoot in woods I would say that’s where you expect to find twigs sometimes. Lucy Holderness broke her longbow after three targets and had to finish the course shooting a borrowed recurve from Clive Freemantle who had to retire with a bad back. 

Thanks have to go to the wonderful catering staff, Stan Seymour, Shirley Seymour, Val Bartrop, and Lesley Burton-Brown. Thanks again to Tony for the water. All the helpers who put up the camp got the cooking and toilet equipment down to the camp area Thanks to the car parking staff. Bryan Piper for getting the registration and results sorted, and getting the 127 that turned up from an initial 134 that booked in, out to start on time. A good Shoot was had by all. Hope to see you all at the Master Hunter Shoot in September.