Written by the wonderful Jim himself, who is now a handsome 82, and provided by him and Linda Sutherland of the STAFAA, what follows is his article published in “Archery International” (now defunct) from 1983 - I do hope that you enjoy reading it as much as we did. On a personal note, I would just like to wish Jim all the very best of health as I know that, of late, he has been a bit poorly - get well soon lovely man - Hels x “In Britain today leisure and recreation have become a growth industry. To those dedicated to the expansion of archery it can offer them a springboard to propel the above the narrow horizons as delineated by rules, regulations and edicts. With a “come one come all” approach in mind a new archery centre was opened three years ago in Beecraigs Country Park. This park is just one in a nationwide chain where the public can enjoy the countryside and indulge in outdoor activity, learning perhaps about natural history or wildlife, or just relaxing far from the stress and strain of the life. The Countryside Act (Scotland) of 1967 set the ball rolling, but the origins began in the late 19th century America where the national conscience was stirred by the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” Pictured right - Plan of Beecraigs Country Park https://www.caingram.info/ Scotland/Pic_htm/ beecraigs_country_park.htm 51
“This catalyst, for he truly was an agent of change, was a rugged individualist named John Muir. His chosen wilderness was the breath-taking Yosemite Valley, under attack, as were so many remote areas then, by get-rich-quick spoilers, stripping the land bare of lumber and minerals. Muir was no armchair conservationist, he was an outdoorsman of exceptional calibre, seen to have climbed rock routes which the same chagrined witnesses had written off as impossible in climbing journals of the time. His fiery protests and his crusading sprit attracted many famous names. President Roosevelt, (a descendant of the old Border archer, the outlaw Murray of the ancient ballads), and the great philanthropist Rockefeller, brought political and financial pressures to bear, paving the way for new legislation to halt the wreckers. Muir helped outline the plans for Americas National Parks system and the measures necessary to preserve the nation’s natural heritages for the future generations. He earned the sobriquet of The Father of Conservation, but in Scotland, where he was born few knew of his fame. Today his name is commemorated by the John Muir Country Park, a 675 hectare area of coastal land near Dunbar, the little East Lothian town where he was raised, until he emigrated to America. Muir might have approved, just a little, of the vision and the foresight which went into the planning and development of the Beecraigs complex, incorporating a seven activity programme within the 321 hectare park, where public already had access through red deer farm, trout farm, plus signposted nature trails, outlook points, barbeque sites, bridle paths and an exercise training course. Beecraigs is set high in the Bathgate Hills some two miles from the old town of Linlithgow. Cockeroy Hill, the highest point on the northern boundary, gives scenic views of much of Central Scotland, where within ones hours drive of Beecraigs, some four and one quarter million people live and work. Highland mountains, often snow capped, lie to the north, with soft sounding Gaelic names which suit them well, such as Stobinian, Stuc-a-Chrion, Ben Voirlich and Ben More. The whole of this country was well acquainted with archery in bygone times, Roger Ascham and other partisan authors notwithstanding to the contrary. In the flat plains of the Forth Valley, which runs east to west, Edward I used a sledgehammer to crack a walnut, as it were, bringing the immense forces here to subjugate a small nation whose total population was not much larger than the army he led. Old Merlin, in the 6th century, had predicted Edward’s coming as “Le Roi Coveteous”, altogether too mild a description for that paranoic Plantagenet. In happier days Mary, Queen of Scots, shot prettily at the butts set on the Peel, a grassy area adjoining Linlithgow Palace. In the town of Linlithgow in 1570 there also occurred the assassination of the Regent Murray. This was done with a hackbut ball, but the killer James Hamilton, who went on to become a professional hitman, had originally opted for a bow, laying it aside when sources claimed the Regent wore concealed armour. 52
When Beecraigs activity programme was at the blueprint stage the Palace bow butts were recalled, and permanent butts were incorporated into the layout. The programme encompassed seven activities, canoeing, sailing and fly fishing on Beecraigs Loch, with rock climbing in an old basalt quarry on the south boundary, orienteering and field archery in the forested sections and target archery on a specially constructed range, for virtually all the level grassed areas comprise the deer paddocks or the main campsite. The Park Manager, Peter Sutherland and the outdoor Pursuits Range, Alec Cargill, realise the convenience of having all the activities take place within the park limits and purpose that introductory sessions should be offered to Colleges, Schools, youth groups, and the general public. Fees were fixed at an hourly rate of £1.10 per adult and 55p for an under sixteens, with top grade equipment and qualified instruction inclusive. Alec Cargill is a past master at five of the listed activities, but he has only a nodding acquaintance with archery, so he searched around and recruited one Jim Greig as a full time instructor. He started in archery aged seven, shot in his youth, plus learned the bowyery from Charles Dowsen, the last home based RCA bowyer, shot his first target tournament at the Queen’s Coronation (Queen Elizabeth II that is, not Victoria as Alec assures the pupils behind Jim’s back), and is currently a Senior Coach in Scottish field Arch Association. All three men were in complete agreement as to what form Beecraigs archery instruction should take, stressing only safety rules as relevant and leaving pupils to choose what branch of it appealed most to them. It should perhaps be pointed out that Scottish archery is not a multifaceted sport run by one body, for target and field are distinct and separate, controlled by two autonomous associations whose common ground has been indoor competitions. This is officially recognised by the Scottish Sports Council in their Grant Aid Scheme, as by several District councils and the Forestry Commission. Beecraigs is under the jurisdiction of West Lothian District Council making it a neutral ground on which all and sundry can shoot what they wish, without violating anyone’s rules.” 53
“To get archery off the ground the major tasks of constructing the target range and the field course had to be forested central area a failed plantation of storm wrecked larches was bulldozed out, top soiled and sown with grass seed. Gravelled paths were laid on both sides of the 90 meter range. Stance paths at various distances and at the target line were also metalled and rolled to give a clean and easy access for wheelchair archers. The whole area was enclosed with deer fencing to deter the native roe and the unwary backpacker, a car park was added and everything was ready for the targets. These posed problems, for the normal practice of setting out and retrieving roundels and stands would be a time consuming exercise when high volume of pupils were dealt with on a pay basis. “Greensport” butts, built by the Edinburgh firm of Castlecliff Workshops, finally filled the bill. They make special outsized models for target ranges such as Beecraigs, where the need is for permanent, storm proof and easy to rebuild butts, for vandalism or just plain wear and tear must be allowed for. Twelve of these massive butts straddle the range, staked down and immovable, certainly, which often exasperates the target clubs who may have hired the facilities for training session, but they are exactly what is needed for an instruction range in constant use. When it came to the constructing the field course it was found that there was room to lay out two, so work began on both sections. The area had been thinned out, but the remain- ing Sitka spruces and Scots Pines required brashing, or branch cutting up to 10 feet up, higher brashing was carried out on the longer lanes to give clear arrow flight. Accuracy is primary aim in field, if you pardon the pun, just hazards, deliberately left on a course, and not just forgotten about, may well make one question the judgement of the builders. With high accuracy expected from the shooters it behoves a course builder to set out the butts and shooting stakes with a degree of care. A very precise electronic instrument was used to set out the Greensport butts used on both lanes and were edged with path boarding and filled with woodchips. The woodchips help avoid path erosion which the constant passage of feet cause, these chips being produced by feeding the brashings and windblown timber through a 75 hp log chipper machine. With the facilities ready for use it only required the purchase of the shooting equipment to start the ball rolling. For the volume of beginners anticipated it was obvious that the bows especially would have to be robust and stable enough to shoot under all conditions novices could impose or invent. A visit to Border Archery proved worthwhile Robin Robinson, the manager caused raised eyebrows when he took a 66” bow to a 40” draw then unceremoniously dumped it into 300 F electric oven gave it a sound grilling, then took it out in gloves and shoot it with no perceptible change in its performance. Twenty of these “Comet” type takedowns were ordered from him, with a spare set of limbs for each, allowing them to be changed from 66” to 68” to suit the individual tailorings. Other assorted bows were purchased to suit the 54
younger archers. Besides the take downs on the wall racks in the information centre, which house the instructors’ offices and the equipment store as well as the showroom and a reception desk, where the base station is housed for rangers short wave radios. Initially one compound was acquired for use by wheelchair archers. The two-wheel compound with its wide range of weight settings and variable drawn use by archers with disabilities, who often find string changing a far easier task than anticipated; many people still believe that the bow will fly to pieces at the drop of a hat. Balance is always a big problem in a wheelchair and it can be as bad, if not worse, with the relaxation factor of the compound tending to take away slight body strains and tensions which are of help in a balancing in a seating position. So many pupils asked to try compound shooting that there were more purchased so as to give a wide range of choices of arrow length, draw weight and left and right hand. After some three years around 3500 people have tried archery at least once. An estimated 40 have joined one club or another, while many of the others may be tempted to try the sport again at some future date. Instruction is concentrated first on safety and discipline, then basic techniques are taught, advancing to whatever stage time and the novices competence may achieve. Pupils start off close to butt, 15 yards at most, less for youngsters, but it is important that they hit the face right away, then move slowly back as they improve. Boredom is the constant enemy in archery instruction and so to combat it the Saunders Speed Round Unit may be used, or Frisbee skeet with Flu-Flu arrows, or one of the novelty events of this kind. Many beginners only book in for one hour, and what can you teach them in that short time, I am often asked. You need a quick approach to the subject, trimming away deadwood and overly complex theories, then while you may not have trained a future Gold Medallist you may have sown in that person the seeds of genuine interest and without that interest any more advanced tuition is pointless…”. Jim Greig, Beecraigs Archery Instructor. 55
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BHAA Lockdown Challenge!! When World Archery started the Beat the Outbreak Online League back in March, the BHAA decided to run a league just for those shooting with a horsebow or other horseback archery legal bow - i.e. a bow with no sights, cut outs, arrow shelf etc, the archer must be shooting from the hand. Every week there was a new target to try, and some of them were clearly more for the compound archer - one of them looked like it belonged in a chemistry text book! But we tried them all, and had a lot of fun. Week 4 was fancy dress week so naturally we included our horses as part of the costume! And week 5 was cake week......actually, that was more than one week in our case ;-) Results were recorded each week and added together for a final total. The winner was Georgie Roberts from the Ribble Valley Mounted Archers in Lancashire and we also had participants from the Cotteswold Mounted Archers in Gloucestershire/ Oxfordshire and the South Downs Horse Archers in West Sussex. Helen Barnes BHAA Advanced Coach, Cotteswold Mounted Archers www.mountedarchery.org.uk 58
Pictured Left: Éowyn Barnes-Short Photographer - Helen Barnes Pictured Right: Ros Jones Photographer - Helen Barnes 59
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Pictured Above: Helen Barnes 61
Retro 24s Collection Photographer: JASON QUINN, Audris-Hart Field Archers Location: South West Crown 2016 @ Bowmen of Bude
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~ Socially distanced roving practice 20.06.2020 ~ By Mike Ridgway-Smith. Our midsummer rove at Womerton farm was originally scheduled for the 20th June 2020 and the course was set. Andrew Brodley, Ian Staines and myself decided not to waste the opportunity to practice some socially distanced archery. A beautiful day, wonderful views, and the shooting was magic. 68
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\"Coach's Thoughts\" Part 2: ~ Meaningful practice – making the most of your practice time ~ Hello again fellow archers, Following on from my last ditty on Goal setting, I’d like to share my thoughts on making the most of your practice time. It may be very difficult and limited at times, some may be fortunate and have access to a prac- tice range, but most of us mere mortals are making do with the back garden, shooting into ga- rages, shed or a wall for a backstop, don’t forget to be safe! Or it may be that the best you have been able to do is some time with elastics or a trainer band. Whatever it is you do it is im- portant that you monitor the quality of your practice and not the quantity. Preparation: Think about what you are going to do, there is a rule to quote here and is the rule of P’s: Poor Preparation -leads to: Poor Performance Some of you will have heard variations on this but this is a family show…. In order to put some meaning into your practice let’s consider some of the factors you might want to consider: · Bow Tuning · Arrow Tuning · Shooting Form · Mindset/mood · Goals · Facilities 72
Bow Tuning Unless your bow is in tune then any practice that you are able to carry could well be wasted time and result in frustrations. Take time to learn how to tune your bow to make sure you are able to get consistent results. Some good sources of free information on this subject are: Archers Reference – For Recurve bows and The Nuts and Bolts of Archery - Compound a little dated but still worth a read. If you want to spend a little money the for compounds- Larry Wise’s Tuning Your Compound Bow will be a great investment. Top Tip! Keep a notebook, you do have one, don’t you? With all your vital statistics for your bow written down so you can check it. Bows create a lot of shock and some degree of vibration when shot. A little soft (blue) thread lock will pay dividends. Arrow Tuning The right arrows for your bow are essential, there is a great deal of advice out there. Larry Wise has a section on them in his book mentioned above. Also Archers Reference goes into some useful detail. Easton also have a very useful guide: Easton Arrow Guide. Shooting Form Once you have the setup sorted and have confidence in your shooting kit, it’s time to work on the weakest link in any setup: The Nut Behind the Bow! I just want to include a health warning here: There is an enormous amount of information on the internet with regard to shooting form, some very good, but a HUGE amount of utter rubbish. Adopt a system such at the US NTS system which is a proven formula to; firstly, prevent injury, provide a framework to help you develop your form in bite size pieces allowing you to set short term form goals and isolate them to work on them. Depending on how deep you want to dive into this here are some useful references: Archery by USA Archery – A deep dive into NTS Form steps. Simon Needham’s The Art of Repetition - Good easily digested read. Larry Wise’s Core Archery Shooting with proper back tension – Also a good easily digested read. Be patient with yourself and work on one element at a time. Mindset/mood It is vitally important to be positive about practice, that is “exactly what is says on the tin” …. Practice! Use this time to be positive about improving your form incrementally from the ground up. Be kind to yourself and use positive self-talk. Remember negative self-talk leads to you becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is all too easy to be over critical of yourself. Remember why you started this sport in the first place. To have fun. 73
Goals I will refer to my last ditty on Goal Setting. It is important to have something you want to achieve, no matter how trivial it may seem, if you want to improve your shooting then a struc- tured approach with set goals will help. Facilities At the moment it is really difficult for archers to get to a range to practice. If you are fortunate and have access to a range you can access within the current COVID Guidance, then happy days, if not and you are setting up at home, then it is vital that safety of yourself and others is your primary consideration. You must have: Adequate overshoot area A good backstop Ensure pets & children cannot wander into your practice area. If shooting in a home consider others who live there and ensure that no-one can accidentally stray into your practice area. Failing that there are some good training videos on YouTube at the moment and especially comment the series being run by Jake Kaminski. This guides you through non shooting workouts you can use with your bow, a bow trainer or elastics. Here are bags of other useful stuff on Jake’s site too. Target vs Blank Boss This is always an interesting topic to discuss. After all the only reason we shoot is to hit the Five Spot isn’t it? Well may be not as simple as that but I’m sure most of you will agree. Hitting the target is what we aim to do! Pun intended. Shooting without a target on the boss takes away some of the stress of aiming. There is always a temptation to aim because it is in grained in us to do that. What can be very useful is spending some time shooting very close to a blank boss (“Blind Bale”) shooting with your eyes shut. You do need to be very close for obvious safety reasons. What this can help you do is just focus on how your form “FEELS” this is very important in practice as developing good form depends on good muscle memory and having your eyes closed helps you to focus on this without the distraction of the aim. Try shooting a couple of ends blind as part of your warm up before practice. I think you will be surprised by the results Conclusion OK so this has been a bit of a look into practice, and is only a few suggestions of what you can do to make your practice more effective. Have a chat with your coach about this article, and I suggest using a Log Book or your notebook to keep practice notes. There is, of course room for just going to the course or range and blasting off some arrows for fun as well. Enjoy your archery and make the most of the downtime, see you in the woods. Ken Brill, IFAA Level 3 Coach 74
Pictured: Juliet Tomlinson and Elwood Pic provided by: HBS Photography
Aspects of Late Byzantine Archery (13th-15th Century) By Spyros Bakas, Archaeologist (M.Sc.) University of Warsaw. Even if the Byzantine military manuals offer enough information on the archery tactics and equipment, we do not find important number of depictions of bows in orthodox art until the second half of 13th century. After that, the bow gradually acquired a prominent position in the hands of military saints, probably due to the widespread use of Turkish mercenaries in the Byzantine army. The Byzantine archers of that period were primarily using composite bows of different variations (Cuman, Turkish, Magyar), while in some frescoes we can clearly see the distinctive layers of the different materials of those bows (horn/wood). It seems that the Turkish bow was of high respect among the late Byzantine armies – especially after the vast number of Turkish victories in Anatolia- and was gradually adopted by the Byzantine elites. The phrase “Turkish bow” is often been found in the literature of the time and describes a weapon under special characteristics. In 1382 the Countess of Salona Helena Asanina Kantakouzene offered a beautiful Turkish bow with its quiver to the prince of Aragon who asked her then for more bows. Emperor John VIII Paleologos along with his companions were bearing Turkish bows during their stay in Italy (as been depicted by Pisanello works, Currently in Louvre/Paris). The Turkish bow seem to be on preference even on Crete, a territory under Venetian rule: the funerary portrait of the Venetian soldier Michail Mochiotis from the Church of Archangelos Michail, Exo Lakonia, Crete (1431) Michail Mochiotis from the Church of present him bearing a Turkish bow. Archangelos Michail, Exo Lakonia, Crete (1431), bearing a Turkish bow 78
Different types of composite bows occurred as well: the famous “Conquest of Trebizond” depiction (middle 15th century, currently in Metropolitan Museum of Art) presents the Byzantine soldiers of the Empire of Trebizond fighting against the Ottomans, bearing a double concave bow, distinctively different from the Turkish bow. However there are some few references that in some conflicts the longbow type (called as “Italic bow”) was also in use in the East by western allied or mercenary archers. In one of such occasions the French King assisted the Byzantines against the Ottomans during the 2nd Siege of Constantinople (1399) by sending them 1000 archers. The conflict was successful for the Byzantine army but we do not have enough information about if the French longbow archers dominated over their Turkish opponents in the battlefield. In another occasion (Georgios Metochites, 1283) we see that a number of Constantinople’s garrison units were bearing “Latin bows”- we are not sure however if those refer to the longbow type or some kind of cross bow. In 1422, the historian Dukas describes a unit of imperial guards of Constantinople originated from Crete, who were probably archers. This can maybe been connected with a rare depiction from Crete of St George on horseback (Agios Isidoros Church, Kakodiki, Crete,1420) who bears a quiver with the imperial badge of the double- headed eagle: this could indicate a direct connection of a Cretan donator serving in the Imperial guard of the Emperor (Pictured Right). During the last siege of Constantinople in 1453 some of the last defenders where Cretan archers, while one of the most prominent defenders of the city was the noble archer Theodoros Karystinos. Pictured: St George on horseback bearing a quiver with the double-headed imperial eagle. Frescoe from Kakodiki, Agios Isidoros, Crete (1420-1421) in: Andrea Babuin (2009) “The Offensive weapons of the Byzantines during the later period (1204-1453)”, PhD Thesis,(In Greek), p656 Sources: Fundamental information for this article was based in the exceptional work of Dr Andrea Babuin (2009). “The Offensive weapons of the Byzantines during the later period (1204-1453)”, PhD Thesis (In Greek) Heath, I. (1995), Byzantine Armies AD 1118-1461 (Men-at-Arms), Osprey Publishing Lurier H.E. (1964), Crusaders as Conquerors: the Chronicle of Morea translated from the Greek, Columbia University Press Kaegi, W. (1964). The Contribution of Archery to the Turkish Conquest of Anatolia. Speculum, 39 (1), 96-108 Kyriakidis, S. (2009). The employment of large groups of mercenaries in Byzantium in the period ca. 1290-1305 as viewed by the sources, Byzantion, 79, 208-230. Paterson W. F., Latham J. D. (1970), Saracen archery. An English translation of a mameluke work on archery, Holland Publishing 79
Limerick Field Woodlan 26th Jul 82
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Did you know that if you would like to show your appreciation and support for FAN UK and what Hels is doing (and to enable her to keep the magazine free for everyone) you can DONATE? You may or may not know that \"Field Archery News UK\" online magazine is researched, edited and produced by just one person whose aim has always been and still is to bring field archery in all its forms (alongside other forms of archery) and all associations & societies together in one place to celebrate, promote and share our wonderful sport with archers, clubs and enthusiasts across the UK and worldwide. Any sum to keep the magazine going would be greatly appreciated - thank you :-) To Donate via PayPal just visit https://www.paypal.me/FANUKHels OR select the \"Donate with a card\" option (which does NOT go via PayPal once the Donate with a card option is selected) at https://www.paypal.com/donate/… 85
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Field Archery News UK online magazine Clubs Dogs & Crossbows List (Updated 1st August 2020) CLUB Dogs Crossbows Pines Park Archers YES - on leads & with owners No - sorry, due to landowner Rednex at all times please restrict ions Stonebow Field Archers NO YES Kings Lynn FA Ye Olde Delph Bowmen NO - sorry NO - sorry Delamere Field Archers YES YES Paget de Vesey Black Arrow FAC YES YES Ashcombe Valley Archers YES, with well-behaved owners! NO Spirit of Sherwood YES YES Cheshire Oak Bowmen Westcombe Archers YES YES YES YES Archers of Dolphinholme Longbow Heritage YES YES Pennington Archers NO YES Redgauntlet Archers YES - with advance notificat ion, YES on leads & with owners at all times please YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES 89
CLUB Dogs Crossbows Forest Spirit Archers (near YES NO Cluny in Fife) Auld Kirk Bowmen YES YES Redoubtables Archery Toad Hollow Archers NO YES Oakwood Bowmen YES - on leads at all t imes please YES Butsfield Bowmen NO - sorry NO - sorry Druids Field Archers Lakeland Field Archers YES YES Brixham Archers YES - on leads please YES Aurora FAC Black Sheep Archers YES YES Artemis Archers NO NO Centaura Bowmen Hanson Bowmen YES YES Long Eaton Field Archers YES YES South Hams Field Archers YES YES Pentref Bowmen YES YES Birkhill FAC (near Wormit, YES YES Fife, Scotland) Riggwelter Field Archers YES YES YES YES We have a no dogs on the NO course policy however, archers are welcome to bring their pets but they must be left in their vehicles while the shoot is in progress YES - well behaved dogs on Sorry, it’s a NO leads at all t imes please YES - but on a lead NO Thank you to all clubs that have let me know so far! Hels :-) If you would like to be included in the list then just let me know. Please include your Club Name and a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ regarding Dogs and a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ regarding Crossbows at your shoots. You can contact me in the following ways:- 1. Email me at [email protected] 2. Contact me via the FAN UK website as a site member via Wix Engage message at http://fieldarcherynewsuk.wixsite.com/fanuk 3. Send me a Private Message via the FAN UK Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FieldArcheryNewsUK/ 90
Retro 24s Collection Photographer: MARK SERVICE Pictured: STACEY SERVICE shooting @ the 2018 EFAA Spring Champs
Photographer: ADAM BROWNING Pictured: Aurora FAC, 2019 August Bank Holiday shoot
~ FOR THE LOVE OF FIELD ARCHERY ~
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