“The weather at Welbeck has been absolutely terrible for the last 3 years, but as luck would have it, this weekend the wind didn't blow (much) and the thunder storm feared by all bow bearers never happened. The rain only came down on AB detail, when Si and Phil was shooting. When Cat and Tom shot on the CD detail, the gods were kind and the rain never fell.
The Pastures lads and lady enjoyed their day. Cat shot a monster score, 292, at her furthest distance, then followed it up with a miss for her first arrow at 60! Oh well... Meanwhile the lads had put the world to rights and done a certain amount of bum kicking. Tom shot well at 90m and was already in 3rd position by the end of that distance - no small achievement for a cadet shooting a gents round. Phil had a shocking first dozen - not sure he realised practice was over... He soon remembered how to shoot (pick up bow, pull back "Pew" Gold!) and showed em all how to do it Pastures stylie.
As lunchtime approached, Cat's mind was clearly on her belly as she was the last on the line (of course), everyone was watching, she let the arrow fly and instead of the nice thud of arrow hitting target, a "thwack" kind of sound echoed across the field as the arrow met wood. Ooopsie!
The day continued and finished on a high, even if it was a soggy high. Pastures dominated the awards ceremony: Tom narrowly missed out on 1300 but walked away with bronze and claimed his adult 1200 badge - Well Done! Simon breezed the competition and claimed first position for gent compounds. Phil claimed his 1100 FITA Star award (easily, I might add), and Cat battled it out for gold/silver, finished second and secured her first Master Bowman score of the season.
But of course, the boys couldn't possibly have performed as well as they did on an empty stomach. They say that behind every great archer is a Tony. Tony Taylor helped our boys by words of encouragement and the odd reminder about changing sight marks, but most importantly he fed our boys bacon butties. Yes, everyone should have a Tony! In fact, we really ought to promote him to "Pastures Mum"!
