A diminished team, led by our esteemed (if frequently waterlogged) President, Dr Christie, headed for the wilderness north of Birmingham for this, the first really big shoot of the outdoor season. An early departure from various southern places on Friday night was complicated and delayed by, respectively, HM Royal Navy, London traffic and the flight plans of the Royal household. After their eventual departures, Chris, Ian and David all stayed at David's hospitable parents house during the weekend, converting the kitchen/dining room to a small, if well equipped, temporary archery workshop. That last minute preparation is essential, after all.

Saturday opened with relatively clear skies, bright sunshine and only the lightest of breezes on the shooting field. Despite the bright start, it was soon discovered that due to a slight oversight on the part of a certain ex-captain from Cambridge University, Ian was faced with the prospect of shooting with half of his arrows fletched with left-handed spinwings, and half with right handed. Thankfully, Ian was able to borrow some spare ACEs from Matt Hyland, who just happened to have an entire set going spare correctly spined, if a bit short!

While the weather remained pleasant, the shooting did not go entirely to plan, confirming that a complete lack of practice and tuning time is not the way to approach a serious shoot! The first few arrows at each distance proved useful in gaining sightmarks, but less productive in scoring terms. With an early lead amongst the team on lunchtime, Ian was confident enough to wager the usual pint of beer on the results of the short metric justly rewarding such overconfidence, Dave remembered how to shoot, and claimed that particular prize.

Saturday night heralded the usual take-away food and pub routine, with the inevitable post mortem taking second place to gossip and salacious rumour, with varying degrees of good natured abuse. Thankfully, Dave wasn't able to get his hands on anyone's mobile phone long enough to send provocative text messages.

Sunday opened equally (painfully?) early, although with overcast skies, and the threat (from time to time) of rain. Fortunately, it remained dry, although the breeze picked up slightly as the day wore on. All of the team survived the day, with Ian improving on Saturday's long metric results by nearly fifty points. Fatigue and poor shooting at 50m left him struggling for Bowman level, however, and despite shooting better later in the day, a solid but unspectacular 30m was not enough to reach that threshold. Dave and Chris were both slightly down on their Saturday scores, with Chris electing to use the short metric predominantly as a practice round!

During the course of the shoot, the temptation of the Quicks and Bowsports tents was too much, and more new toys were bought including a team pop-a-bivvy, leading to protracted discussion on how best to customise its rather drab appearance!

On a more serious note, the shoot had high and low points in the compound discipline; Sunday morning saw a potentially serious accident avoided only by good luck, when one of the competitor's peep sights exploded on release, with the resulting shrapnel striking Rich Wilkins from Loughborough across the left eye. After initial confusion on the part of the organisers, and a lengthy delay in getting first aid, the newly elected GNAS President took Rich away to get professional medical help, which thankfully confirmed that no permanent damage had been done. On a much happier note, Chris White shot brilliantly to achieve the first 1400 FITA in this country, dropping only two points under pressure at 30m.

Following on from the success of our more northern members at the Kate Kennedy shoot in St Andrews the weekend before, the lack of silverwear was unfortunate, but with many of the top names in the UK present, it was perhaps unsurprising! Despite the relatively low scores, each of the team enjoyed the weekend; with more practice and hard work in the weeks to come, it should form a solid basis for a good season to come before and after Dave escapes on to the high seas!