To mark the end of the outdoor season we normally do a short competition of some sort. This year we decided to do a Warwick based on the system we use in our Open Handicap Portsmouth, where archers shoot half a round, we work out handicap allowances from those scores, then everyone shoots a whole round and we add the allowances. Prizes go to the people who improve the most, and not necessarily to the person with the highest score.

We have done pretty well with the weather this summer, but our luck ran out on Saturday! It was drizzling as we put the targets up, then it started coming at us sideways from the targets straight into our faces. Despite this, twelve hardy souls kept going and shot through the rain. We even had a barbecue in the middle, huddled under a gazebo between two containers!

Hardy though we are, we did decide that a whole Warwick after the food was a bit much, so did 1 dozen arrows at each distance instead. Our little event was won by our youngest member, Charlotte Badcock, who gets herself a shield trophy to take home.

A lot of us found it instructive, e.g. “if you can shoot in that you can shoot in anything”, “we must be all mad”, “I need new waterproofs”…