Well, what a day that was! SGB turned out in force, well the Northern contingent all turned out to shoot and judge!

 Set up was on the afternoon before in the pouring rainÖ as usual!

 Sunday dawned bright and a little breezy. Jo and Hamish just beat John and Mel to the Castle (much to Melís astonishment because she thought we would be there for another 20 mins after them!) at 8:45am. After decanting our equipment on the field we set up in prime position, i.e. the middle of the shooting line! In dribs and drabs the rest of the competitors turn up and we are ready to shoot for just after 10amÖ There was one problem, the toilets werenít open because there was no castle staff around and after some frantic phoning and name-dropping (Hamishís dad is the Area Manager for the NTS) we got someone in to open them up at 10:30! The queue was built up quite quickly then!

 For the flight it was just Jo and Kev shooting for SGB.

Mel wanted to conserve her energy for the clout as that would be her last shoot before the Sproglette arrives (I think that name is going to stick as a nickname now!) John was judging and Hamishís bow is too heavy for the distance available. In the Ladies Recurve section it was a head-to-head of Jo against Ann Ward of Ayr for the SAA Trophy, which Ann won. But to make up for it Jo got the shiny new Northern Area Trophy, while James Laing walked off with both the SAA trophy and the new Northern Area trophy for the Gents Recurve. At the end of both ends, Bill McKay, Ruth and Mike Williams and one other who I canít remember (Someone will be bound to tell me!) shot whistling arrows. The juniors present enjoyed that! I think most of the rest of us did too!

Video of Whistling Arrows.  [Right click and select 'Save Target As' - be warned, it's 2.2Mb - Webmaster]

After measuring the Flight and lunch we got down to shooting the Clout. John got out of his judging jacket and shirt, put on his SGB top and began to set-up his compound. Only to find that he had left his quiver at home and didnít have his release aid with him, so he couldnít shoot and get a tassel badge. Hamish was a little upset because that reduced the competition for him but it meant that his Imperial Clout record for the club was safe for another year! So back went on the judging jacket and shirt. Mel decided that she was going to shoot so that she could retain her Northern Area Trophy and have a go at getting the SAA trophy too, but it wasnít to happen. Ann Ward took that home as wellÖ Jo got a new PB, on hits. And Mel took back her trophy.

All in all a good day, even though the juniors kept tripping over their own arrows when they werenít paying attention! Iím so knackered after the weekend that I canít remember much more after that so I think Iíd better finish now...

Johanna Bathgate
El Presidente!

WebMaster - See some pictures from this event here.