To start with we only accepted bookings from our own members. This is because we have limited numbers in the hall at Ludgvan due to the COVID restrictions, and we wanted to see what the attendance was like from club members first. We are finding we often have some spaces to spare, so we are opening up to visitors from other local clubs. We will still be giving priority to our own members, so we will accept bookings from non-members from the Friday morning for sessions on the following Sunday and Monday.

Details of our procedures for COVID-secure shooting are here. In summary, please arrive early, wait outside the hall until asked to come in, wear a face mask at all times unless you are actually shooting, and the range captain will tell you the rest. You will also need to bring your own target face and pins.

With the current lockdown ending on Wednesday, and Cornwall lucky enough to be in Tier 1 afterwards, it means we can start shooting again. We will start on Sunday 6th December, and will follow the same times and COVID rules to be sure of keeping everyone as safe as possible. ArcheryGB have recently released guidance to clubs with different levels of precautions for each Tier in the system. Naturally the higher the Tier in a given area, the tighter the restrictions are. The system we have in place already meets the Tier 1 requirements, so we are good to carry on as we were.

Well, indoor shooting didn’t last very long! We have been going for a few weeks now with our new system at Ludgvan and it has been working well. However, the government have said earlier this afternoon that there will be a 4-week lockdown across England starting on Thursday 5th November. All non-essential businesses will need to close. We are sure this will include indoor archery, so we will stop shooting for the duration of the lockdown. We hope we will be able to start again in early December, but we will review it at the time.

Until, then, do stay safe everyone.

ArcheryGB recently issued guidelines for returning to outdoor shooting that comply with the current government advice. It involves wider spacing of targets, designated people to put up and take down targets, a Field Captain who doesn’t shoot who will take the register and enforce the social distancing, a booking system on this website, several new lengths of rope marked out with the required distancing and more besides.

We had a trial run yesterday (Tuesday 9th) which was successful, apart from the fact we are all now a long way from being archery-fit and the new bosses are really hard!

The guidelines have been sent to all club members by email. If you are a member and haven’t seen the email then let me or Fi know and we can go through it. Booking in advance is essential.

Sorry, but we can’t accommodate visitors from other clubs at the moment, nor can we run beginners’ courses. We will, of course, be keeping an eye on the guidelines as they change over time and will adapt what we do accordingly. We look forward to welcoming some new archers as soon as we are able to.

For now, though, it is great to be back out shooting!

It will come as no surprise to anyone that archery activities have been suspended for a while. We normally start the outdoor season at the start of April, and whilst it would be easier to keep a distance from each other outdoors than indoors, the current government order is not go out unless necessary. Much as we love our archery, nobody would argue that it is necessary. We will be monitoring and following government advice and will not restart until the restrictions are relaxed. Even then it may be necessary to observe social distancing rules for a time. This makes it impossible to run any beginners’ courses as we have to get close to people to do any instruction.

We’ll be back when we can. Until then, please respect the advice to stay at home as much as possible, and feel free to get in touch if you are interested in joining us when the time comes.

For may years we have done a series of clout shoots through the summer season. They are only at 100yards rather than the usual maximum of 180yards. This is all we can fit in our field, but it is a nice way to spend an evening as an alternative to the standard targets. The relatively short distance put it within reach of everyone, regardless of bow weight.

So, what’s a ‘clout’, anyway? The term comes from an old variant of the word “cloth”, and refers to a small flag which is placed in the ground. We aim to land our arrows in the ground as close to the flag as possible, and scores are awarded accordingly. A whole round is three dozen arrows, shot in ends of six.

This summer, weather permitting, we shall hold a clout on a Tuesday once a month at Hayle Rugby Club, on the following dates:

24th April
22nd May
26th June *edit: changed from the 19th as a few people are away at Dunster Week*
24th July
21st August
18th September

We aim to start at 5:30pm and will do a double round if the light holds out long enough.

Archers from other clubs are very welcome to come and join us for these events. Please note, though, that because this is a shared sports field we don’t allow all-carbon arrows to be used, for the simple reason they are hard to find with a metal detector. Wooden arrows are OK, mainly because they fly slower so tend to stick up in the ground and are easier to find.

In our news a while ago we reported that we had been awarded a grant from Sport England to cover the cost of replacing large amount of ageing equipment. As is usually the case with grant applications, we didn’t get the full amount we applied for. Hayle Town Council has a certain amount of funds available for community projects, and they generously decided to grant us £500.

This will help greatly towards buying some of the equipment we need, and we are grateful to the council for the support.