YAA newsletter

Spring 2010


AGM 2010

The Annual General Meeting of the Yorkshire Archery Association will be held at Barnsley Archery Club on the 13th of March 2010. The meeting is scheduled to start at 10:30 AM.

Papers have been issued to club secretaries.

YAA-affiliated clubs are invited to send one or more representatives, and individual YAA affiliated archers are welcome to attend.

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.

 The Grand Northern Archery Meeting will be hosted by the YAA at Wetherby on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th of July.
 The Five Counties juniors match consists of various Bristol rounds on Saturday 2nd of October.
 The Five Counties seniors match is a York/Hereford on Sunday 3rd of October.
 The Indoor will be hosted by The Wakefield Archers on Sunday 21st of November.

The YAA invites clubs who are interested in hosting the Five Counties shoots to contact the county secretary, Dave Phillips, for more details.

Yorkshire's first FITA clout

There are quite a few types of archery that have never been shot in Yorkshire. This winter we could have given Ski Archery its debut, if only the Met Office had forecast the snow in enough time. One look at the typical Yorkshire archer rules out Run Archery, though.

But one form of archery will make its first appearance in the county this year. This summer, Yorkshire will be enjoying its first-ever open FITA clout tournament, courtesy of Archers of East Riding. We've always had a strong GNAS clout scene, of course, but have never played host to the metric version.

There are many similarities between the two forms of clout. Each uses five-zone scoring and those five zones have the same colours as a standard archery target. Three dozen arrows are shot in a single round, and six dozen in a double. The rules are largely the same.

But there are some interesting differences. The scoring zones in FITA clout are each 1.5 metres wide, significantly larger than those of GNAS clout. In particular, the radius of the gold (the clout) is 1.5 metres (4 feet 3 inches) in FITA clout, compared to 18 inches in GNAS clout. This makes for fewer misses and increases the possibility of scoring a six-clout end.

FITA clout has for many years lacked the awards that are available for GNAS clout. But thanks to good work by Andrew Neal and others, there is now a Metric Tassel Award and a Metric Six-Clout Badge. Archers at the AER shoot will be able to claim these.

FITA's clout rules don't recognise junior categories and bow types other than recurve and compound, but tournament organisers are free to recognise such categories. The AER shoot will recognise longbow and barebow, and will recognise the standard GNAS junior categories.

In GNAS clout, distance depends on gender and age. In FITA clout, it also depends on bow type. With the additional junior categories, the distances at the AER shoot will be:

Senior recurve,
barebow and longbow		Senior compoundJunior girls all bowsJunior boys all bows
Gents 165mGents 185mU18 110mU18 125m
Ladies 125mLadies 165mU16 90mU16 110m
U13 75mU14 90m
U12 75m

Archers of East Riding will be holding their FITA clout on the 29th of May 2010 at Hutton Cranswick Sports Field, Rotsea Lane, Hutton Cranswick, Driffield YO25 9QA. By all accounts this is an impressive venue. Hot and cold food and drinks will be available throughout the day.

 Details and entry form

Now we just need someone to organise an Australian clout - 10-zone scoring, staggered shooting lines, and flags marking each colour zone!

(Thanks to Mark Hayes for information in this article.)

Dani the Egghead

The archery challengers, featuring Danielle Brown, have finally appeared on the BBC's Eggheads programme. This programme can be viewed on BBC iPlayer at the web address below:
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qmc07/Eggheads_Series_10_Episode_138/

Ted Mallet

It is with great sadness and regret that we have to report the death of our club President Mr Ted Mallett on Saturday the 2nd of January following a lengthy illness.

Ted had been involved in archery since 1972 when he joined Ebor Archers, the Civil Service Club in York, where he shot until 1977. He then joined the Glaxo Club after moving to Barnard Castle with his work. In 1980 when Ted and family moved to Harrogate he became a member of St George's. In his time with us he served the club in several different capacities as a committee member as well as always taking a keen interest in County, Regional and National matters. From 1994 to 2000 Ted was the Flight and Clout Representative on the Yorkshire Archery Association and the Northern Counties Archery Society Committees. He also organised the National Flight and Clout Championships for 5 years.

In 1995 he was asked by the President of FITA to chair a committee to review the rules of Flight Archery along with Ike Hancock of America and Lance Goodall of the Bowmen of Adel. The subsequently updated rules, which included recognition of the English Longbow and the American Flat Bow, were presented to, accepted and passed at the 1997 FITA Congress.

In 1999 Ted was awarded the Yorkshire Sword for his services to archery in promoting Flight and Clout shooting. He also played a part in introducing the Tassel Award Scheme for clout - the idea was conceived and developed by Ray Chaplin of Ebor Archers who asked Ted as County and Regional Representative to take it through Committee. Having seen the scheme accepted he was initially responsible for administering it, starting it on the road to the great success it is today.

Ted's main achievements were in Flight Archery where he was the winner of 14 British Flight titles and records, winner of 6 Northern Counties Flight titles and records and winner of 16 various Yorkshire Flight titles and records. Perhaps his crowning achievement was in 1984 when he shot in the United States Flight Championships in California and won the 25kg Flight Class with a distance of 940 yds 1 ft 10 in. which was verified as a World Record shot by an amateur.

During his time with St George's, Ted was always approachable and friendly, always ready to help and encourage and constantly had the wellbeing of the club and its members at heart. Throughout his illness he maintained his interest in archery and was the ideal candidate for Club President. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him, even those whose feathers he ruffled from time to time for he always spoke his mind.

Our condolences and deepest sympathies are extended to Ted's wife Rita and his family.


Bill Spencer
St George's Archery Club, Harrogate

Monica Thorley

Monica Thorley, the wife of the late George Thorley, died on the 25th January 2010. Both George and Monica dedicated themselves to archery and served the sport in coaching, administration and in George's case as a respected bowyer. Monica served as Treasurer of the Burton Constable Company of Bowmen for over twenty five years alongside George, who was the Secretary. For many years both were actively involved with the YAA Committee and Monica kept a keen eye on the paperwork that is involved in committee and administrative positions.

For over twenty years the GNAS National Flight Championships and the Yorkshire Northern Flight Championships along with the GNAS National Clout Championships were looked after by the Thorleys, George organising and Monica looking after the paperwork.

Looking through my paperwork of the Flight results during the 1970's, I find that Monica was on numerous occasions the Ladies Flight Champion at County, Regional and National level and when she didn't come first she was usually in second place. A new record for the ladies was established at the National Championships in 1975 when Monica shot a distance of 426yds 2ft 5inches - this was beaten in 1979 by a much younger lady. During her time as a target archer Monica shot well with both a recurve bow and latterly a longbow until retiring from active shooting about fifteen years ago when arthritis in the wrists caused problems with her shooting.

Monica is survived by her son Alan and daughter Allison and their families.

Freddie Fairfield

Indoor shooting at Aire Valley Archers

Recently we invited any member of GNAS to shoot with Aire Valley Archers. Unfortunately due to a misunderstanding by the schools we have missed a couple of weekends, to the frustration of many archers. When archers attended for the Saturday afternoon shoot from 2-5pm, they have found the facility locked.

The problem has now been resolved and access to the facility will be from 2pm (and not before).

For those interested, the mix up was due to us running a beginners course before Christmas. The times for this were 11am-2pm. Hence we had the venue from 11am-5pm. Due to a change of staff at the school, they were unaware that the course had finished and had still been opening the venue at 11am, but when no one turned up assumed the archery was cancelled and hence locked back up. As can be appreciated, they can not leave the building open for security reasons. As stated earlier, this situation has now been resolved.

 Details of shooting times and venue

Duncan Brown
Aire Valley Archers

Points from the January committee meeting

Key Items from YAA Committee Meeting held on Saturday 16 January 2010 at Barnsley Archery Club.
There were 18 members present with 6 apologies.

Dates of future committee meetings:

Hon Secretary - The Future of the Role from 2010

The post of YAA Hon Secretary will become vacant at the 2010 AGM when the current post holder resigns, as he has already indicated.

The YAA Committee has agreed that the role of the YAA Hon Secretary has grown considerably over the last decade, and that it is now appropriate to review the activities undertaken by the secretary, and where appropriate divide the role and create new job titles, whilst still maintaining the size of the existing Committee structure.

The potential scope of the new roles is detailed here under each job title. Obviously these roles may need to be reviewed and re-adjusted after the first year of operation.

At the end of the three role descriptions there is a list of activities that do not naturally fall within any of the three roles, but which have been developed over the last few years. It may well be decided that these roles fit easily within one of the other Committee Officer Roles, or be tagged onto a General Committee volunteer, or even accepted by one of the new post holders.

The YAA Committee will put forward proposals to the 2010 AGM to change the defined Committee Structure to accommodate these new roles.

If any YAA member is interested in taking on any of these roles please let one of the YAA Committee know, or if you wish to discuss any of the roles, please contact the present YAA Secretary.

The 3 new roles proposed are:

The activities to be undertaken by each of these 3 roles are detailed below.

The Secretary (also perhaps known as Hon Secretary).

Activities will spread across the full year, though not always at full capacity throughout. Where possible some indication of time frame or work load is indicated.

  1. To be recognised as the formal County Secretary, and to be the point of contact for all correspondence to the County from such as GNAS, NCAS, Clubs, archers, the public and other interested bodies.
  2. To deal with all County correspondence to and from the County. Prepare "Correspondence List" for each Committee Meeting (approx 150 letters and emails received in 2009).
  3. Maintain and update the database of YAA Clubs and Secretaries, complying with the data protection policy of the County. Maintain liaison with Treasurer and Minutes Secretary to ensure all 3 have a common database of Club Secretaries.
  4. Maintain and update the Terms of Office of Committee Members to be presented and updated at the AGM each year.
  5. Point of contact and information from people wishing to start archery clubs within the county, and supporting them through the process.
  6. Manage annual process for the Yorkshire Sword, to include issuing nomination forms to clubs and committee, receiving nominations and issuing and receiving back of vote forms. Prepare, print and arrange presentation of certificates and lapel pins. Maintain stocks of lapel badges (predominantly 1 January to 1 April).
  7. Manage process for the Award of Merit and Yorkshire Award as nominations may be received. Prepare certificates as required. Manage stocks of each Award (3 occasions in last 3 years).
  8. To prepare and issue the Agenda for Committee Meetings.
  9. To receive draft Committee Meeting minutes from Minutes Secretary and issue to Committee Members (most e-mail, some paper copies required).
  10. To prepare and issue the Agenda, Invitation letter and papers to clubs and committee for the AGM. Issue the minutes of the previous AGM, as received from the Minutes Secretary.
  11. Maintain up to date County Constitution. Prepare changes for AGM Agenda (changes planned for Constitution in 2010, but none in 2008/9). Issue revised copies to clubs if changed at AGM.
  12. Present Secretary's annual report to AGM.
  13. Receive any suggestions from clubs/archers for discussion at YAA AGM. Deadline for receipt 31 January (cannot remember ever receiving any!).
  14. Maintain the register of YAA representatives to NCAS Committee (3 persons), and notify NCAS Secretary of changes (if necessary) after each AGM.
  15. YAA Secretary has a permanent seat on the NCAS Committee (4 meetings each year). Acceptable to arrange a substitute for these meetings.
  16. Take notes of NCAS Committee meetings to feed back to YAA Committee. Acceptable to arrange one of other NCAS reps to do this at each/all meetings.
  17. Propose YAA Committee Meeting dates for following 12 months. Usually same weekends allocated each year. Ensure venue is booked and refreshments arranged.
  18. Point of contact for public enquiries about contacts with local clubs (currently 3 or 4 per month).
  19. Maintain a system to record the stationery/postage/telephone calls etc undertaken on YAA duties, to enable reclaim via YAA Treasurer.
  20. Maintain County Association history archive, covering minutes, agendas, newsletters, correspondence etc.

The Minutes Secretary

  1. To take notes of proceedings at YAA Committee Meetings and prepare draft minutes to be passed onto Secretary for issue to Committee Members.
  2. To take notes of proceedings at YAA AGM and prepare minutes. Draft minutes to pass to Secretary.
  3. Prepare précis of Committee Meetings and AGM from formal minutes, to pass on to PRO for web and Newsletter.
  4. Maintain a system to record the stationery/postage/telephone calls etc undertaken on YAA duties, to enable reclaim via YAA Treasurer.

The Team Co-ordinator (to also incorporate the previous ad-hoc Team Manager)

This refers to the Senior and Junior Target Teams only for the 5 Counties matches in October and any Junior Representative match held in any year. The involvement with the Clout Team is in issuing representative medals and bars only.

The details below focus mainly on the activities associated with the 5 Counties, which is an annual event and which effectively commence with the receipt of submission forms in July/August and finish towards the end of October with the issue of Clout medals and bars. A much shorter sequence of events is required for any ad-hoc junior representative match, but would follow a similar pattern and theme.

The activities associated with this role:

  1. Prepare and issue the "Score Submission" forms each year to clubs and archers. Copies also to post on web via PRO.
  2. Collate submissions immediately following the deadline of 31 August. If insufficient scores are submitted, liaise with the Chairman and Junior Officers and other interested parties to generate additional submissions.
  3. Select teams from submissions as dictated by county criteria.
  4. Notify all archers of their success in selection or not (10 day deadline from 31 August).
  5. Provide Team Members with joining instructions. The Secretary should receive these from the relevant County Organiser towards the end of August. May need to chase these up!
  6. Notify County Organiser of selected team.
  7. Maintain and update the database to log, year on year, team members and the issue of representative medals and bars.
  8. Order the representative medals and bars to be engraved by Martin Holtby. Arrange delivery before the first weekend in October. Martin normally keeps adequate stocks for one year. Restock Martin ready for the following year. On receipt of the engraved items they will have to be assembled and rings added.
  9. Act as Team Manager for both the Senior and Junior Teams at the 5 Counties weekend. It is acceptable to arrange for a replacement or deputy to act on one or both days.
  10. Arrange to present representative medals and bars to Team Members on the day at the 5 Counties shoot.
  11. Print a certificate for each junior to detail the occasions on which they have represented Yorkshire during the year.
  12. Arrange with Treasurer what system is to be used to pay expenses. It is usual to collect expense claims on the day and then notify the Treasurer, who will issue cheques as appropriate.
  13. Obtain Results Sheet from County Organiser and forward to Team Members, County Committee and PRO for website.
  14. Maintain stocks of representative medals and bars and notify Treasurer of use of stocks each year before December.
  15. Liaise with responsible party (currently Andrew Neal, whilst he is also the NCAS Clout Tournament Organiser) to identify the YAA Clout Team at the NCAS Clout, 1st weekend in September. This is not a pre-selected County Team. Update database and have medals engraved and post out to recipients.

Ad-Hoc Activities which do not easily fit within any of the above three roles.

  1. Maintain stocks of YAA Memorabilia, lapel badges, blazer badges and baseball caps. To Treasurer?
  2. Advertise and arrange sale of these items. To Treasurer?
  3. Update and issue the YAA Events Calendar each year (December usually). To PRO?
  4. Receive requests, collate requests, maintain register of the sale of YAA Bosses each year (Advertise in March-ish, requests from 1 April, collection of bosses at July Double FITA weekend). To Treasurer?
  5. On receipt of updated list of County Records, prepare and print and arrange presentation of Record Certificates. (usually presented at YAA Indoors, updated throughout year, presently printed January-ish). To ?
  6. Certificates to prepare and print and arrange presentation for Top Ranked Junior in National Rankings, Junior Team at National Championships and JAWS Winner. To Juniors Officer?
  7. Retain stocks of old unused Tournament Trophies until re-allocated to alternative shoots. To ?

Dave Phillips

Publicise your club's beginners courses

One of the most frequent requests we receive at the YAA is for information about beginners courses. We can rarely answer, though, since we don't have details of which clubs are running beginners courses and when they're running them.

The YAA would like to include details of beginners courses on its website. If you would like your beginners course to be publicised, please contact me via yaa@phoenixbowmen.co.uk.

Please advise on:
 the location
 the days of the week on which sessions will be held
 the times at which sessions will be held
 the total cost of the course.

Once I have a few responses, I'll create a new page on the YAA website giving details of beginners courses. From what I've seen at my own club, demand is down quite a lot from previous years, so the publicity could make the difference between your course being cancelled or being worthwhile to run.

Tim Mason

Dearne Valley on the move

Dearne Valley Archery Club has lost the use of its field course at High Melton College. This means that their Easter Weekend shoot - a Combined FITA 24 shot over two days - must now be postponed till September. This is a real shame, as this shoot is one of the year's highlights for archers from all over the country.

For the last few years the YAA Field Championships have taken place at High Melton on the Saturday following the DVAC Easter Weekend. These must now also be postponed till the Autumn, but a date has not been fixed yet.

Below is the announcement from Albert Kiddy, Chairman of Dearne Valley Archery Club:

It is with regret that Dearne Valley Archery Club must announce that this year's Easter shoot will not take place on the advertised dates, 4th and 5th April 2010, and will be rescheduled to 4th and 5th September 2010 (Saturday and Sunday).
Due to circumstances beyond our control it is no longer viable for the club to shoot at our current venue, High Melton College, Doncaster.
Another venue has already been identified. However, there is not sufficient time before Easter to complete a new course.
The DVAC Easter shoot will continue as normal in 2011.
Dearne Valley Archery Club would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused due to this change, and thank everyone for your continued support.

First aid training for archers

I will be running a first aid training course at Barnsley Archery Club on Sunday the 16th of May. Cost will be £25 per person, including materials and certification. Any surplus will be donated to YAA squads funding. If you'd like to join the course, please contact me to register your interest.


Regards
Grahame Cotterill

 01422 201350
 07796 640563

Joe Fairburn - Under 9s National Indoor Champion

Joe Fairburn of the Bowmen of Adel shot a personal best of 332 in the Portsmouth to take the under 9 title at the Junior National Indoor Championships at Lilleshall on the 6th of December 2009.

As in the outdoor championships it came down to a straight head-to-head with his usual adversary from the south of England. After a shaky first 9 arrows, Joe composed himself and shot his best ever dozen arrows in the Portsmouth, scoring 84 to get himself back on track. From then on he never looked back, running out eventual winner by 45 points.

Colin Fairburn

Richard Breese - FITA International Judge Candidate

Richard Breese recently attended a FITA Judge Seminar in Weisbaden, Germany and was successful in passing the assessment. He is therefore now accredited as FITA International Judge Candidate in addition to his previous accreditation as EMAU Continental Judge.

Richard says: "This should in no way be detrimental to my performance and availability to judge at YAA tournaments and indeed I very much look forward to being able to bring further experiences and knowledge to bear at our local archery fields for the benefit of all."

Congratulations to Richard on this great achievement!

Coaching news

YAA had intended to offer a L2 coach course starting in February. However, the course is currently under review by National Coaching Committee and significant changes may result. I am reluctant to start a course when the final format might be unknown or change mid-course, especially the assessment format which is proving almost impossible for many people to fulfil.
If you would like to progress to Level 2 please send your name, club, GNAS number, address, email and telephone number to me and I will send you the application pack so that once we have clarity on the course and assessment formats we can make a start.
Please note that applicants must be qualified at L1 and have received their certificates; evidence will be required of this, which also acts as evidence of current CRB unless L1 was achieved three years ago and you have not yet renewed.
Similarly, the L2 update process for current Coaches is far more onerous than was intended and I have asked NCC to consider a revision of this to match the changes to L2, also removing what appears to be re-assessing Coaches on elements they have already passed. If you do wish to update and can fulfil the requirements, which includes an online questionnaire / test and a portfolio of over 20 pages, then please contact GNAS office for an application pack, which costs £10 and provides the required paperwork on CD.

YAA Coaching is planning a series of CPD events which will provide a stepping stone for L1 coaches in moving towards L2, and a refresher for L2 coaches. Each will also provide CPD points to support renewal. Details and booking procedures will be advertised shortly. This will include sessions on compound bows, coaching juniors, coaching disabled archers, observation skills, bow set up and tuning. All sessions will be delivered by qualified YAA Coaches. Details and booking procedures will be advertised shortly. Bookings will be coordinated through Andy Arnold on behalf of the YAA coaching group, providing Andy with a great development opportunity to gain valuable experience to contribute to his Senior Coach training programme!


Kath Fitzpatrick
County Coaching Officer

The Antient Scorton Silver Arrow 2010

Captain Mark Farrow and Lieutenant Peter Aikman have asked me to wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year and hope to have the pleasure of your company on Saturday 22nd May 2010 at Bedale High School, Fitzalan Road, Bedale, North Yorkshire, DL8 2EQ.

Entry Forms, Advertising Poster, Location Map, etc are now available on-line at:
 www.scortonarrow.com

Whilst visiting the web site, be sure to check out the newly released British Pathe News Reel Archive for film footage of the 1926 Competition at Settle and also the 1964 Tournament at Harrogate, where you can see Ben Hird (Captain 1900) in action.
On behalf of all members, I would like to thank Marc Grady for letting me know about the release of the British Pathe News Reel Archives, which are really good to see.
What a modern wonder that we can look back to our event filmed 84 years ago - truly remarkable. You can enjoy them by visiting:
 Scorton Arrow photo gallery

Kind regards,
Philip Rolls
Website Editor, The Society of Archers


PS: Reminder of Rule 26. All Gentlemen taking Luncheon with the Captain and Lieutenant shall wear a Jacket or Blazer and Tie or Cravat. Note also that following Luncheon, all guests who have NOT shot in the Competition will be required to vacate the dining room whilst the Annual General Meeting takes place.

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.

If you want particular judges, please write their names on the slip that is to be sent to Karen.

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 2010. If you have anything you'd like to be included, please contact me via yaa@phoenixbowmen.co.uk.


©2006-2012 Yorkshire Archery Association
Please report any problems with this site to the Webmaster.
Accessibility statement