YAA newsletter
Winter 2009
John Gilroy - recognition of service
John Gilroy was presented with commemorative glassware at the Barnsley Albion on the 27th of September, in recognition of his great service as a judge over many years. John retired from judging earlier this year, and this has given him a chance to pick his bow up again. He stormed back into the trophies, winning a box of chocolates for most reds!
John was Lord Patron of the tournament, the first time he's been Lord P in over 30 years of archery.
The decanter was presented to John by YAA Vice President Christine Morgan. Christine made the following citation:
As Vice President of the Yorkshire Archery Association, I have been asked to make a presentation on their behalf to John Gilroy, our Lord Patron for today.
This is to thank him for his contribution to judging. In 2002 he became a County Judge. In 2003 he achieved Regional Judge level. In 2007 he became a National Judge.
He has been a good ambassador for Yorkshire, supporting many clubs and tournaments for many years and was the recipient of the Yorkshire Sword in 2004.
We give him our good wishes for the future.
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WARNING Goats at the other end of the field may be larger than they appear |
Hosting NCAS 2010 shoots
It's Yorkshire's turn to arrange the hosting of the Northern Counties target shoots - the Grand Northern, the Five Counties and the Indoor Championships. The YAA invites clubs who are interested in hosting these shoots in 2010 to contact the county secretary, Dave Phillips.
The Yorkshire Sword
Nominations are now being invited for the award of the Yorkshire Sword.
The Yorkshire Sword is awarded annually to the YAA-affiliated archer who, in the opinion of the Clubs and Committee Members of the Association, has made the greatest service to archery in Yorkshire in the previous year.
Please consider making a nomination for service performed during 2009.
All nominations must include a citation and must be received in writing by the County Secretary no later than the 31st of December 2009.
(Document removed)
Dave Phillips
Performing Rights Society
Several archery organisations have received letters from the Performing Rights Society threatening to prosecute people who are using music without a PRS licence.
If you receive similar contact, please be aware that archery clubs are only required to buy a PRS licence if they're playing music for which the rights are owned by an organisation affiliated to the PRS. The burden of proof is on the PRS - archery clubs don't have to prove anything, and the law recognises that it's impossible to prove a negative.
Misuse of secretary contact details
Recently I received a marketing letter from a company that makes badges. The letter contained a leaflet showing photos of several archery badges. It was addressed to me as a club secretary. Several other club secretaries have received similar letters.
I haven't put my address on any website, nor have I had previous contact with this company. So the only place that this company is likely to have obtained this information from is a list of club secretary details - either the YAA list or the NCAS list. Most likely, a recipient of this list passed on the details, probably meaning well.
Please be aware that the list of club secretary details is provided in confidence, and its contents must not be used for commercial purposes.
As is stated on the YAA list: "This information is strictly for the use of promoting archery within the Yorkshire area and should not be copied, distributed or used for any other purpose without the permission of each person listed."
Tim Mason
GNAS Chairmanship - Nick Beeson to stand
Nick Beeson, secretary of the Bowmen of Adel and the YAA's Juniors Officer, has declared his intention to stand for the post of Chairman of the GNAS/Archery GB when Lynne Evans steps down at the next AGM. The text of Nick's declaration has been posted on the YAA website:
GNAS Chairmanship - Nick Beeson's declaration
Dani retains World Para-Archery title
Danielle Brown of Aire Valley Archers retained her Women's Compound world title at the 2010 World Para-Archery Championships, which were held in Nymburk, in the Czech Republic, in August. She was the most successful archer of the championships, winning two gold medals and setting three new world records.
She squeaked past Chieko Kamiya of Japan in the quarter finals by 111 points to 110. In the semi final, she beat GBR team mate Pippa Britton by 115 points to 105. She met another GBR team mate, Mel Clarke, in the final, which she won by 114 points to 107.
Dani set new Compound Open Women world records for the FITA round and the 60 metre distance.
Dani, Mel and Pippa won the team gold for Great Britain, setting a Compound Team Women record for the FITA round.
Aire Valley Archers - new indoor venue
Aire Valley Archers have moved their indoor venue to South Craven School in Cross Hills, between Keighley and Skipton. This is the same venue as their Open Western.
AVA's Christmas Cracker shoot will be held at South Craven on the 6th of December. The entry form is now available from the YAA website and Aire Valley's website:
(Entry form removed)
Club changes
Seven new clubs have affiliated to the YAA. Two are new sections of an existing club, and the others are new clubs started by existing YAA archers. We welcome:
 | All Abilities Archery | Hull | |
| All Abilities Archery Juniors | Hull | |
| All Abilities Archery Disabled | Hull | |
| Archers of Armthorpe | Doncaster | |
| Archers of East Riding | Driffield | |
| East Park Junior Archers | Hull | |
| East Park Disabled Archers | Hull |
We have lost our school club - St Bede's Archery Club (Bradford) has not reaffiliated.
Dave Phillips
Points from the September committee meeting
Key Items from YAA Committee Meeting held 19 September 2009 at Barnsley Archery Club.
There were 12 members present with 11 apologies.
Martyn Spence reported that we have enjoyed strong income from the summer tournaments, and income is up on last year. The only notable expenditures not related to the tournaments were some grants to judges and archers.
Kath Fitzpatrick reported that two new County Coaches have qualified - Mary Hannan of Cobra Archers and Grahame Cotterill of Phoenix Bowmen.
Kath Fitzpatrick and Martin Holtby are nearing the completion of their IAPS (Introduction to Appraisals in Sport) training as assessors.
Karen Winsett reported that Amanda Bartram passed her assessment as a judge.
It was agreed that Christine Morgan would present John Gilroy with commemorative glassware in respect of his service as a judge.
Martin Holtby reported that many clubs are concerned about the revised GNAS child protection policy, and not many have formally adopted it.
Michelle Kiddy reported that Dearne Valley has expressed interest in hosting the 2010 Field Championships.
Ann Shooter submitted a report on the longbow championships, and stated that after nine years she is stepping down as organiser.
Mark Hayes confirmed the 18th of April as the date for the Clout Championships. A suitable venue has been identified, and the host club is finalising arrangements. Mark is looking for venues to host a FITA clout.
The arrangements for the NCAS Five Counties matches were discussed. This year saw a tie on handicap in one category. The committee resolved that for future years, if any two archers tie with average handicap, the higher archer will be determined by comparing scores for submitted rounds which match.
Yorkshire is to host the 2010 NCAS target shoots. An offer has been received from a club that is interested in hosting all three shoots. A meeting between the club and some YAA officers will be held to discuss this.
The policy for grant support was amended slightly to say that the state of the YAA's finances at the time of the grant request would be considered, and to remove a condition.
Nick Beeson informed the meeting that he proposes to stand for the role of GNAS Chairman at the 2010 GNAS AGM.
Michael Ward described his role on the Membership Services Steering Group.
Andrew Neal said that he had been inundated with claims for county records after the claims process was published on the website, and that processing them would take some time.
Michael Ward is going to run the NCAS Postal Portsmouth League for 2009/2010. He would also like to run a YAA Postal League.
Martyn Spence decided some time ago to step down as Treasurer at the next YAA AGM. Dave Phillips has decided to step down as Secretary at the next AGM.
Next meeting to be held on the 16th of January 2010.
Dates for YAA squads 2009-2010
All squads will take place at Barnsley Archery Club's indoor venue at Holgate Sports College, Shaw Lane. Sessions will start at 10:00 AM and run till 4:00 PM.
We are still taking applications for new squad members:
| junior development for those newer junior archers keen to improve; |
| youth performance for those more experienced archers keen to progress; |
| senior for existing and aspiring MB and GMB archers who need support to either reach their goals or maintain levels of performance. Please note, senior squad archers must have achieved at least one Bowman score this year. |
| Junior Development | Youth Performance | Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday 24th October 2009 | Saturday 14th November 2009 | Saturday 28th November 2009 |
| Squads Christmas fun shoot & ***party*** Saturday 19th December 2009 | ||
| Saturday 30th January 2010 | Saturday 23rd January 2010 | Sunday 31st January 2010 |
| Saturday 6th March 2010 | Saturday 6th February 2010 | Sunday 28th February 2010 |
(Note change of date for the first Senior Squad meeting.)
If you wish to apply for a place on a YAA squad, download the application form below, complete it and return it:
YAA squads 2009-2010 application form (Word format)
Kath Fitzpatrick
County Coaching Officer
Two new County Coaches
Two YAA coaches passed their assessment as County Coaches on the 9th of August 2009 at Lilleshall. Mary Hannan of Cobra Archers and Grahame Cotterill of Phoenix Bowmen qualified after 18 months of work tutored by Kath Fitzpatrick. Congratulations to Mary, Grahame and Kath.
Level 1 Coach course
I am told that the new Level 1 course is unlikely to come on line before April and that there might be a significant price increase when the course is contracted out. I already have two people on the waiting list for another Level 1 course. If we have sufficient interest I could register another course this year and start it in the New Year. We need a minimum of eight to be cost effective (maximum of 12). Cost will be about £150 because of fee increases to headquarters etc.
Regards
Grahame Cotterill
Course Manager
grahamecotterill at hotmail.com
01422 201350
07796 640563
YAA Longbow Championships 2009
We were back at South Craven School for the third year running, and for anyone who hasn’t shot there, the setting is beautiful, especially on a nice sunny day.
Keith Morrison had managed to acquire the marquee once again, only this year it gave us shelter from the sunshine not the driving rain. Keith told me there wouldn’t be a charge for the marquee...
Forty four archers attended and shooting started on time. The ladies line was down in numbers so there were only two targets for the Double National, but the gentlemen were up to six targets.
Sherry and cake were served after two dozen in the morning and again in the afternoon. A nice leisurely lunch was enjoyed by all.
This year we had two new judges with us. Trish and Sam soon relaxed into the spirit of longbow archery and I hoped they enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed theirs. Well done ladies!
My thanks go out to Aire Valley Archers who made it all possible and to the field party who marked it all out on the Friday and set it all up on the Saturday. As usual so much work was done by so few.
Thank you to David Aikin for being our Lord Patron and to Freddie Fairfield who once again helped me to get the results out quickly.
On a personal note I have to thank Marge Young, Keith Morrison and my Keith for taking control on the day, Tom Powell and Alisha Bell for organising the raffle. This enabled me to shoot for the first time in years - I had forgotten what a great shoot this is.
All the Results and Photographs are on the YAA website.
Adrian Hayes shot a new record for the York round.
I have decided to step down as organiser, no problems with the shoot itself, just need time to catch up with other things.
I would like to thank everyone for their support over the last nine years.
YAA Longbow Championships 2009 results
Ann Shooter
Winter Field Archery League
Shaun Duggan is running a virtual archery league for field archers, which will collect scores on marked FITA 24 rounds shot during the winter months.
The League got off to a good start, with 39 archers participating. The first results were posted on the 25th of October.
Full details can be downloaded from the YAA website. We will be posting regular updates on the League throughout the winter.
Introduction and rules
Calendar of events
Score submission form
WFAL - results at 25 October 2009
Ascham Silver Arrow
Sherry louts of the female variety were out in force at Barnsley Archery Club for the Ascham Silver Arrow on the 12th of September. This shoot is named after Roger Ascham, author of a famous Elizabethan text on archery, and is the ladies' equivalent of the Antient Scorton Arrow.
19 archers shot, and enjoyed glorious conditions.
Denise Almond of Bronte Archers won the Arrow, hitting the centre spot shortly after lunch.
Photos from the Ascham Silver Arrow 2009
5 Counties Juniors Match 2009
For the second year running, the 5 Counties Juniors Match had to be abandoned part-way through because of foul weather. The wind and rain was so strong that many thought the match should not have even started. In the event it did start, but was cut short at 7.5 dozen.
Yorkshire's juniors put in a respectable performance, but without many trophies to show for it.
The Boys Longbow team won the YMCA Trophy, and Christopher Holmes won the Boys Longbow category to lift the Phil Evans Cup.
Rebecca Smith won the Bristol 3 for Girls Recurve, and many other YAA juniors finished in the medals.
Fingers crossed for better weather next year.
NCAS Five Counties Juniors Match 2009 results
5 Counties Seniors Match 2009 Report
On arriving at the venue on Sunday morning (18th October) the team (and me) were all grateful that the weather promised to be significantly kinder to the Seniors than it had been to the Juniors on the previous day. That being said, there was a fair share of rain during the day and a tricky wind which was challenging for all archers.
There was a number of archers new to the team on the day with Bev Detoeuf, Linda Oliver, Denise Singleton, Mark Farrow, Alan Bennett and Mick Arnall all representing the county for the first time in their respective disciplines. Of course there was also Adrian Hayes adding to his collection of representative medals by shooting his longbow (I’m not sure if that is a full set for him). Even with so many new members the team spirit was very high with the white rose of the Yorkshire encampments on both the Ladies and Gents lines highly visible. In spite of debutant nerves in a few instances, the team performed extremely well achieving a high level of success and the roll of honour is long. I would also like to personally thank all the Yorkshire team who worked very hard to make it such a success for Yorkshire and also made the job of team manager an easy one. I was particularly appreciative of the loan of shelter when I broke my brolly.
Finally the list of Yorkshire successes:
| Yorkshire Sword | Compound Team 1st place | |
| Durham Lamp Trophy | Highest Lady Recurve Team | |
| Cumbria Trophy | Highest Lady Compound Team | |
| Cumbria Trophy | Highest Gent Compound Team | |
| Gus Moses Horn Trophy | Recurve Match Yorkshire v Durham & Northumberland | |
| 1st Lady Recurve | Amy Oliver | |
| 1st Gent Compound | Mick Arnall |
NCAS Five Counties Seniors Match 2009 results
Gwen Smith, YAA Seniors team manager
Clubmark
The GNAS/Archery GB is encouraging clubs to seek Clubmark accreditation. Clubmark is a national cross-sport standards scheme that each sport can adopt and adapt. Clubmark is intended to demonstrate that a club provides a safe and equitable environment for all, especially children. Clubmark is increasingly required by providers of grant funding, and helps a club to be taken more seriously by local government, county sports partnerships and other organisations.
Promoters of Clubmark often say that it just consists of demonstrating good practice, but in reality developing practices and procedures that comply with the Clubmark requirements usually takes a lot of work.
There are some red flags for any club thinking of seeking Clubmark accreditation. The GNAS introduced its version of Clubmark in 2006, yet out of over 1100 clubs in England and Wales, only 21 have achieved Clubmark, and two of those were through county sports partnerships rather than the GNAS. This two percent uptake in three years suggests that (as with the recent child protection policy and the UK Coaching Framework) the GNAS has paid little attention to achievability within the realities of a typical archery club.
Despite the caveats, it's worth your while to read the Clubmark documents, pick out the best ideas and implement those. Then after seeing how that goes, decide whether to go all-in for Clubmark.
Helen George of Killingworth Archers is our Regional Clubmark Officer. She'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
The archery-specific Clubmark documentation can be downloaded from the GNAS website.
Showdown at the Scorton Corrall
In response to the George Clooney movie "The Men who Stare At Goats", Yorkshire archery has produced its own epic drama: "The Judge Who Stares At A Goat And Thinks...Blimey, It's Bigger Than Me!"
Postal strikes - an archery solution
Archery has a significant dependence on the postal service. Tournament entries are nearly always sent by post. Subscription forms are sent by post. The printed version of this newsletter was sent by post. So archers will be adversely affected by the postal dispute.
But archery can step into the breach! An arrow is a good device for carrying a letter, or even a small parcel, a fair distance. We can set up a national grid of archers, spaced about 100 yards apart. When an archer is handed a letter, he can affix it to an arrow and shoot it at the archer who is in the general direction of the destination address. That archer can then shoot it on again, thus getting the letter to its destination in a relay. Arrows will circulate, so archers should rarely run out, though they may not always have the optimum spine or arrow length.
There is a risk of running out of archers though, if too many manage to hit what (or who) they're aiming at. So we'll need reserves to take over from the deceased and clear the backlog.
We'll need approximately 16 million archers, plus another few million to replace casualties. This is many times more than the total number of archers on the planet, so please get cracking with beginners courses.
Are you covered to shoot?
With the conclusion of the annual GNAS club membership renewal process a significant number of Yorkshire clubs appear not to have submitted their forms and all members of the following clubs need to take action to ensure that they can continue to shoot and that they are covered by the GNAS shooting insurance.
According to the GNAS Rules: "... a club which has not paid its associated members subscription by 31st October in any year shall cease to be an associated club and shall not be eligible for readmission as an associated club before 1st October in the succeeding year."
Current list of unaffiliated clubs
We recommend that members of clubs who have not returned their annual subscriptions approach their club management committees without delay to determine the status of their membership.
With the disruption to postal services it is possible that renewal forms have been delayed in the post and if that is the case, the club secretary must inform the YAA Treasurer without delay so that GNAS office can be informed. This will avoid any possibility of suspension of membership.
Martyn Spence
YAA Treasurer
York Archers Society 1st Worcester Competition
York Archers Society will be holding its first indoor tournament, a Worcester round, at what a thoroughly partial informant describes as "probably the best venue in the world".
Morning and afternoon sessions will take place at Sandburn Hall on Scotchman Lane, Flaxton, York, on Sunday the 27th of December.
(Entry form removed)
Roles of County Secretary and Treasurer
The YAA Treasurer and Secretary have both announced their intention not to seek re-election to their posts at the AGM in March 2010. The YAA Committee have agreed to publicise these vacancies now, to enable YAA members who may wish to put their names forward, to make their interest known. It also provides time for anyone interested to ask questions about the roles. Nominations can be made any time up to the point of the vote during the AGM.
To assist in this process, Job Descriptions for these two roles have been published on the website. Additional Job Descriptions to cover all Committee roles will be added to the website subsequently.
If you have an interest in doing either of these roles, or for that matter any of the other roles, please contact any member of the current committee.
Description of the role of County Secretary
Description of the role of County Treasurer
Dave Phillips
YAA Secretary
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
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 January 2010. 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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