Spring 2009
2009 YAA AGM
The date of the YAA AGM has been changed (brought forward by one week) from the date previously published. The time for the start of the AGM has also been brought forward to the morning. Invitations, agenda and minutes of the previous AGM will be issued to all clubs nearer to the date.
The AGM will now be held on Saturday 7 March 2009 at Barnsley Archery Club, starting at 10:30 AM.
The YAA Indoor Championships will be held the following day, Sunday 8 March 2009 at QEGS Wakefield.
2009 NCAS AGM
The AGM of the Northern Counties Archery Society will take place in Wetherby on the 21st of March. The meeting will start at 10:30 AM, rather than the usual afternoon start time.
The meeting will take place at the Adult Education Centre on Audby Lane, Wetherby.
YAA shoots
Entry forms for the 2009 YAA shoots have been sent out to all club secretaries, and are available to download from the YAA website. The dates and places of the shoots are:
| YAA Indoor championships | Sunday March 8th | QEGS Wakefield | (Entry form removed) |
| YAA Field championships | Saturday April 18th | High Melton, Mexborough | (Entry form removed) |
| YAA Clout Championships | Sunday April 19th | Apperley Bridge, Bradford | (Entry form removed) |
| YAA Single FITA | Saturday June 6th | Grange Park, Wetherby | (Entry form removed) |
| YAA Senior & Junior Championships | Sunday June 7th | Grange Park, Wetherby | (Entry form removed) |
| NCAS/YAA Double FITA | Saturday July 4th & Sunday 5th | Grange Park, Wetherby | (Entry form removed) |
| YAA Longbow Championships | Saturday August 8th | Cross Hills, Keighley | (Entry form removed) |
This year, the Field Championships and the Clout Championships fall on the same weekend. The Field Championships will be shot at Dearne Valley on Saturday the 18th of April and the Clout Championships will be shot at Bronte on Sunday the 19th of April. Usually the two shoots are well separated, but the date of the Field Championships is now linked to Easter, which has moved them together this year.
This is an ideal opportunity for the adventurous! A weekend consisting of two types of archery that most archers in the county don't shoot regularly or haven't even tried. If you fancy broadening your archery in 2009, this is the perfect weekend to do so.
| The newsletter editor apologises for the absence of any marmalised arrows belonging to David Nordoff. Normal service will be resumed as soon as he starts shooting at the same tournaments as me again. |
Cedric Abbot receives Yorkshire Award
Cedric Abbot of the Bowmen of Adel has become the latest recipient of the new Yorkshire Award. The Yorkshire Award is intended as recognition of individuals and couples who have performed outstanding service to their clubs over many years - and there can be few better exemplars than Cedric.
The award was presented by Jim Routledge, Vice President of the YAA, at the Bowmen of Adel Indoor Open Tournament on Sunday the 4th of January 2009. The citation from club secretary Nick Beeson reads:
The Bowmen of Adel would like to nominate Cedric Abbott, of our club, for the Yorkshire award.
Cedric has been an active member of our club since the mid-seventies. At low times, it has seemed as if he was the only active member. During that time he has filled just about every committee post in the constitution, and several more besides. He is currently the Equipment Officer, and it is hard to imagine a suitable replacement; certainly no one could equal his dedication and energy, burrowing away behind the scenes.
Many will have come across Cedric as the immaculately dressed Field Captain at the club's open tournaments; at every tournament he will also have almost single-handedly set out the field the evening before. For our indoors, it is Cedric who transports all the bosses to Quarry House. When we have beginners' courses, who is ever-present, advising archers and mending equipment as it gets used - Cedric. When we had to erect a fence to protect our indigenous hockey players, who was first to start designing, purchasing and building - Cedric. Who provides all the Danish pastries at club events - Cedric. Who is the only diplomat who can manage our tricky relations with our host association - Cedric. And sometimes he actually shoots.
This may give the impression that our club members are lazy and leave everything up to him. This is only partly true, and it would take a braver man than I to tell Cedric that he is not needed and should take a rest. But a more caring, honest and upright ambassador for archery could never be found. We recommend him to the County.
Cedric Abbot (right) receives the Yorkshire Award from Jim Routledge (left). Club President Bob Key (centre) looks on.
The Yorkshire Award
Do you have a person or couple like Cedric in your club? If so, please consider nominating them for the Yorkshire Award.
THE YORKSHIRE AWARD is a prestigious award where clubs can nominate individuals or couples who, in the eyes of their club, deserve recognition for services to that particular club.
There is no set deadline for submission of nominations.
If you think someone in your club deserves such recognition, please download the nomination form from the website, complete it, and send it to the county secretary.
Yorkshire Award Nomination and Citation Form
Barnsley charity shoot
Barnsley Archery Club are planning to hold a charity Open Western shoot on 1st March 2009!
All proceeds from the shoot will be donated to Cancer Research and the Macmillan Trust. These are two very hardworking charities who deserve all the support they can get. Cancer is becoming an all too common disease which touches too many people and can wreck the lives of sufferers and those of family members. I am sure most of you reading this will know someone who has been affected.
As most Yorkshire archers are already aware Barnsley Archery Club had one of its members diagnosed with cancer early in 2008 and he spent most of the year battling against both the disease and the treatment. Without the work of Cancer Research and the support of the Macmillan Trust, as well as the support of fellow archers, the year could have been far more difficult than it was. Iain is currently in remission and in addition to his personal thanks, as a club we would like to thank everyone who has passed on messages of support and good wishes.
As a thank you to all (although if the weather isn't kind, participating archers may not appreciate the thanks) we would like to host an open Western tournament at Barnsley Archery Club for all to enjoy.
The proposal was put forward by our junior club representative Rachael Smith. It has the unanimous support of the club and we would like to ask for the support of the wider Yorkshire archery community. The intention is to award medals for winners in individual categories plus engraved mementos for winning team members (Recurve, Compound, Longbow and Junior mixed). More importantly hot food will be available at the lunchtime break in addition to the usual breakfast butties produced by Barnsley Catering Corps. There will also be somewhere guaranteed to be warm and dry for the raffle and presentations at the end of the day. The entry fee will be a minimum donation amount of around £5 per archer, but everyone is invited to donate whatever they wish. Donations of other support and for any extra special raffle prizes would also be gratefully accepted. Full details and entry forms are available from the YAA website.
We appreciate that this is very early in the outdoor season, in fact before it really starts, but at least it will give everyone the opportunity to escape the indoor rounds briefly. We would hope that as many of you as possible would support the day and come along to join in the fun. Please feel free to pass on the invitation to others either from your club or not who would otherwise not see it.
Finally - we really do mean this as a THANK YOU!
Gwen Smith, Barnsley Archery Club
Joe Fairburn raises over £600 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance
Joe Fairburn (aged 7) of the Bowmen of Adel shot at the Junior National Indoor Archery Championships on Saturday 6th December and came 3rd in the Under 9s Junior Gentlemen Recurve category. He shot a round of 159 which, to be honest wasn't his best (but then again not his worst!). The most important thing is however, that thanks to kind and generous people Joe has raised in excess of £500 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Charity, and with gift aid the figure will be in excess of £600. Special mention has to go to the various archery clubs across the region who supported Joe with donations totalling over £200, as well as individual archers from a plethora of clubs.
Joe and I would like to thank everyone who donated to this worthwhile cause.
Colin Fairburn
Tom Musgrove awarded the Jack Flinton Helping Hand trophy
Tom Musgrove was presented with the Jack Flinton Helping Hand Award at the National Coaching Conference, which took place from the 7th to the 9th of November 2008. The award of this annual trophy to Tom was announced at this year's Archery GB AGM following nomination by the YAA.
Tom's archery career began in 1954 with Harvester Archers in Doncaster. In 1956 he started to coach and rapidly progressed to a Regional and then National (now known as Senior) coach.
Tom has worked within the sport as a coach education tutor in Yorkshire and the East Midlands and as a coach, most notably working with the National Youth Squad. Tom is also largely responsible for the development of the Archery GB Leaders coaching award. In the early 1990s he was the first person to complete the Sports Coaching degree from the National Coaching Foundation (now sports coach UK).
Tom continues to work with archers of all standards from beginner to international level, and also happens to be a national table tennis coach! Kath Fitzpatrick, Archery GB Senior Coach and Northern Counties Regional Coaching Organiser said "I don't believe you could find anyone more committed to archery coaching than Tom - he still has a great enthusiasm for coaching and a thirst for learning to this day, he is a truly inspirational and a worthy recipient of this award."
New home for YAA Coaching
Barnsley Archery Club has obtained a new indoor facility - the sports hall at Holgate Sports College, the school next door to the ground. They haven't quite secured the services of the guy with the keys to the heating controls, but otherwise it's a spectacular scoop.
This has become the new home of YAA Coaching. Squads and training will be run at this venue.
Gwen Smith has kindly provided directions to the venue:
Enter the school via the first entrance on Shaw Lane (will be before the rugby club entrance for those turning into Shaw Lane from Dodworth Rd/M1 junction 37) - if you were facing the school it would be the one on the right.
Turn right towards the caretaker's house and the right hand edge of the main school building.
At the end of the school building turn left between the school building and caretaker's house and follow the roadway round to the back of the school.
The sports hall and gym is in front of you to the left.
Parking is either in front of the building or at the side of the sports hall (if you take the side be aware that there is a short bank to the playground parking area).
The entrance doorway is at the front of the building.
Once inside, the sports hall is in front of you with the gym to the right. Please wear appropriate footwear for a gym floor.
Precis of January 2009 Committee meeting
Key Items from YAA Committee Meeting held 17 January 2009 at Barnsley Archery Club.
There were 18 members present with 5 apologies.
Concern raised at YAA clubs not affiliating before GNAS deadline of 31 October 2008, possibly 20 clubs involved at that time. Only a single club not re-affiliated this year, Archery Academy. Two other clubs only sent in re-affiliations during January 2009. To write to GNAS to clarify position.
Financial surplus of approx £1800 expected to be announced at AGM, subject to validation process.
Concern raised that YAA left 5 Counties before results and presentations completed. Agreed to remind and request that all archers remain to completion of presentations.
10 new bosses to be purchased for outdoor weekends. Agreed to purchase Egertec bosses.
Discussed contributory grants to YAA archers, judges and coaches when attending events abroad & representing country. Also for coaches and judges attending regional conferences. Agreed each application will be considered on merit by committee. Statement will be published via website & newsletter.
YAA now have a School Club registered through the County. St Bede's School in Bradford.
Agreed to register YAA with West, North & East Yorkshire County Sports Partnerships. Already registered with South Yorkshire.
The nomination of Mick Fitzpatrick for the YAA Award of Merit was discussed. The Committee approved the award to Mick.
Single nomination received for Yorkshire Sword for 2008 - Michael Ward. This was ratified by Committee. As single nomination, no requirement to submit to clubs for vote.
Our Patron Paul Evans, Master of the Armouries at Leeds, has resigned from his post. Agreed not to seek an alternative Patron, and to operate without such a role.
The retirement from Judging and from the Committee by John Gilroy was discussed. Thanks were expressed for the work John has done over a number of years. He will be greatly missed from both judging and the committee.
The next meeting will be 7 March 2009, after the close of the AGM.
PLEASE ALL NOTE. AGM will be held at Barnsley Archery Club on Saturday 7 March, START TIME 10:30am.
YAA contributions to costs
YAA members (archers, judges or coaches etc) may apply for a contributory grant towards the cost of expenses incurred attending events abroad where the member is representing their country, and where funding support is not being provided from other sources.
YAA judges and coaches may apply for a contributory grant towards the cost of expenses incurred attending conferences (within the region or nationally), where funding support is not being provided from other sources.
Applications to be submitted in writing through the County Treasurer, Judge Liaison Officer or County Coaching Organiser.
There is no limit to the number of applications which may be submitted and all applications will be considered on merit by the YAA Committee.
Dave Phillips
Judging news
John Gilroy has resigned as a GNAS judge. Events around the approval of a new ground left him feeling that he had no other option. He says "I gave it a lot of thought, but I could not resolve the issue of other people getting involved that had nothing to do with what I was trying to do to get the club shooting safely." It'll seem strange not to have Gilly around - he was always firm but fair, and up for a laugh. He'll remain secretary of Hull Kingston Archers and will remain active as a field archer, especially at NFAS shoots.
Carl Morgan of Barnsley AC has become the county's latest candidate judge. A lot of us have always thought he looked like a judge for some reason, and now he's actually becoming one! Karen Winsett, Judge Liaison Officer, would like to hear from anyone else who is interested in becoming a judge. Contact her by phone on 01924 264125, or by email at karen.winsett at salvationarmy.org.uk.
Failures to reaffiliate, and late reaffiliations
Every year there are some clubs that are late with their reaffiliations. Sorry to say, 2008 saw a bumper crop of such clubs - around 20. The subscription paperwork and payments should have been returned by the end of September 2008, but several didn't send these until much later - January 2009 in two cases.
In the document "Memorandum and Articles of Association and the Laws of the Grand National Archery Society", Article 15 of the Schedule states:
(a) All subscriptions shall become due on 1st October.
(b) A club whose members have not paid the appropriate subscription by 31st October in any year shall cease to be an Associated Club and shall not be eligible for re-admission as an Associated Club before 1st October in the succeeding year. Where the club can show good reason for its default, the Board may waive suspension on payment of the subscriptions in arrears and of any such re-admission fee as the Board may determine.
If a club falls foul of this, its members will be unaffiliated (despite having paid their affiliation fees to the club) and uninsured. The club will also be unaffiliated and uninsured.
Some leeway has usually been given in the past, but we have had indications that the GNAS/Archery GB is going to enforce these laws more strictly in future. The YAA will also be more strict about enforcing these laws. Clubs and their members should ensure that the paperwork and payment is returned in good time. It really isn't difficult to get this right.
301st Scorton Arrow
The Society of Archers will hold its Antient Silver Arrow shoot on the 16th of May 2009 at the Bowmen of St Mary's in Hull. Guy Hair of the Bowmen of St Mary's became Captain of the Arrow at the 300th Silver Arrow shoot in 2008, and so is the host this year.
See the Society of Archers' website for more information: www.scortonarrow.com
60th Scorton Gold Tournament
The Company of Scorton Archers will hold their 60th Scorton Gold Tournament on the 19th of July 2009. An Albion round for seniors and Windsor rounds for juniors will be shot at Brompton-on-Swale Sports Field.
For details, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to:
Mrs L Farrow, Oak House, Heron Court, Scotton, Catterick Garrison, North Yorks, DL9 3NX
Club changes
Circle Archers of Hull have closed after 21 years. The club was experiencing increasing difficulties with the owners of their ground. Eventually they decided that since the Bowmen of St Mary's were just across the road and had a more stable relationship with the owners of their ground, Circle's members may as well join St Mary's. The club was laid to rest with a party in late 2008. It's a real shame to lose such a good club, but at least they've swelled the ranks of another good club.
Archery Academy is closing. AA was founded as part of an Asians Against Drugs initiative, and provided sporting opportunities to youths in and around Dewsbury and Batley. Its members remain active as archers.
Burton Agnes has also closed.
St Bede's is a new school club in Bradford, our first school club for some years.
Mark Croker has started a new club, East Park Archers, in Hull.
Huddersfield UAC needs kit and venue
Huddersfield University Archery Club was brought back to life in 2008. Initially they used the venue and club equipment of another club, although getting to the venue was a long slog. Now this other club has closed down and has given its kit to someone else.
Huddersfield UAC is getting hardly any support from the University and the Students Union. The lack of kit means they face difficulties in building up their numbers to a level where they'd get more cooperation.
If you have any suitable kit that can be donated to them or sold to them for a reasonable price, or you know of a suitable venue in the Huddersfield area, or you have any helpful ideas for them, please email them at hudsarchery at hotmail.co.uk.
Under 8s in your club
There are some conflicting stories about having children under 8 shooting at clubs. There's a widespread belief (repeated on the YAA website until recently) that the GNAS insurance cover sets a minimum age of 8 years. This is not the case - no minimum age is specified by the GNAS, nor by the insurers.
But if children younger than 8 years shoot at a club, the law requires the club to register with Social Services. The club will then be liable to inspection by Social Services at any time. Please be aware of this legal requirement if you accept under 8s as members.
Judges expenses form
The Judges Confirmation and Expense Form was designed following comments made by a number of judges.
The tournament organiser or club secretary should send the form to the judge well in advance of the event. The judge should return the confirmation of attendance and expected expenses, so matters can be settled in advance of the event.
To prevent double booking of Judges, the Judges Confirmation and Expense Form includes a tear off slip to send to Karen Winsett, the Judges Liaison Officer, when the booking has been confirmed. The form can be downloaded as a Word document from the YAA website:
Judges confirmation and expense form (Word format)
Alternatively, write to Dave Phillips or phone him for a copy.
Many thanks for your anticipated support.
Contact
Newsletter produced by Tim Mason on behalf of the Yorkshire Archery Association.
The next newsletter will be produced towards the end of April 2009. If you have anything you'd like to be included, please contact me via yaa@phoenixbowmen.co.uk or 07986 185882.
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