Southern Upland Roving Archery (SURA)

This is a quick and fast blast.. SMALL ACORNS.. Okay it may be a title used many times before and probaly on one of our blogs.. It still stands.

This past few days have been filled with lots of fun and plenty of archery action.

Wednesday was quiet! However I ended up with an impromptu shoot on Saturday I had already shot 5 sheaves in the morning when in the afternoon we had visitors so being the kind soul that I am I took them out for a blat.

Sunday was relaxing and only the ocassional shower to mar the day.

More work has  been carried out on South woods & Badgers bridge is nearly complete. Mandy has done a fantastic job on field targets and we are on course for having eighteen. Billy is working on a new style to improve the access from South field into the wood. I have started a new gallery "OH no" I hear you cry.. But it is a good way of keeping an historical record of our achievments.. Check it out Developing South Wood April 2013.

As most folk will know S U R A spent over a year working in Town Yetholm bringing archery to the Town, in February of this year they took the decision to go it alone and we withdrew. I was very happy with this and pleased for them. Indeed I was looking forward to the day when a team of us could go shoot with them and vice versa. However, yesterday I recieved phone calls from various folk asking what was happening with archery in Yetholm I could only refer them to their Face book page https://www.facebook.com/YetholmArcheryClub?ref=ts&fref=ts as I have not been given permission to pass out personal phone numbers.

Soon thereafter I recieved another call from an online S U R A and a member of Yetholm saying that they and others had split away from Archery Yetholm and were going on their own too! So does this mean yet another club? I am afraid dear reader that I am as much in the dark as you are.I have my hands full with running S U R A without doing admin for other units!

The way I see things are.The more folk who take up the bow the better it is for archery as a whole and I wish them all well whichever way things go,they are welcome to come shoot with us. We are only a phone call or email away to book in. 

Check out our galleries, webstore and events page feel free to get in touch if you fancy trying your hand at our great activity.  

Since I last wrote on here we have been ever busier. On Wednesday we did more work on the woodland and it is coming along very nicely as a course.

We were able to put this to the test on last Sundays shoot 14th April. We tried having a go at shooting out on the South field but with winds gusting to over 50mph it was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, as is the nature of S U R A we were not disheartened and fought our way into the South woods. Once down in the dip we were out of the wind and with a bright sky above it became fairly warm. It was interesting to see Rob (Edinborough) shooting his new "45# Pencheneg Nomad Recurve" its a great bow and a joy to shoot.

The course itself stands at 3 pegs and nine targets at the momment and will be increased to an 18 target route over the next few weeks with an additional 3 lane practice area. Then work can commence on the North wood!

The other joys of the day were that despite one or six lost piles no arrows were broken and Badger (Westruther) recovered two lost arrows from the previous shoot. Mandy (Westruther) Recovered two more from todays shoot which were reported lost by Amanda (Lauder) & Rob mentioned above.

On Saturday the 13th I had a good site meeting with fellow S U R A Jim Herbert (Berwick) in relation to another event "The Salmon Feast Festival"! Jim has taken over the chair for this festival which is to be held on Sunday the 21st July.

We have participated for the past two years and were not going to take part this year. However Jim being an archer and having taken on some of the feed back and advice from Graham (Kelso) We have agreed to run an archery have ago for them at the new venue in Tweedmouth. Full details will be published as we have them.

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly say thank you to John & Dennis of Ideal Carpets (Berwick) http://www.Ideal-carpets.co.uk for supplying us with enough materials to make four full size novelty targets in readiness for The Spittal Seaside Festival on the 24th & 25th August. Take a look at Spittal & a Scottish King page.

Seen below is Jim Herbert Chair person of the Salmon Queen Festival and fellow S U R A, under the new bridge at Tweedmouth where the Salmon Queen event will take place this year. 

Note: Jim seems to be missing some equipment ! Wonder what it could be !!:P 

Here we are April the eighth and the snow seems to have finally given up the ghost here in our part of the border country, although we can still see it lying on the Cheviots 25 miles to our south and on the Southern Upland Way & the Llanamuir hills 2 miles to our north. . Its certainly been no joke this year ! 

Saturday 23rd of March saw seven of us spending the afternoon huddled indoors at Howlets having fun discussing different bow types etc.. Take a look at the gallery March 23rd Real Snow it tells the whole story.

Thursday 28th March Alex (Snr Leicester) & Badger (Snr Westruther) spent the day out in the trees and fields on an impromptu rove & field shoot rounding off the day with a little stalking practice using a rifle and not bows of course.

Sunday the 31st March was quiet but there again it was very bitter out there! Badger & Alex braved the cold wind while the rest of us spent time chewing the cud and drank tea. heyho it must be must be an age thing!

Wednesday 3rd April saw the first of our now weekly Wednesday shoots 4pm until finish. Any non members wishing to attend mid week please contact us before hand. It was a little disconcerting to have three archers whom we had never met turn up. Never mind they seemed to enjoy themselves and we look forward to them returning next year.

It was good to hear from our very own true historian and fellow S U R A  Jim Herbert (Snr Berwick) this week. Jim is now chair person for the Tweedmouth Salmon Festival as well as a couple of other hats more on that in a later post !

As an historian and a very knowlegeable one too Jim has started a blog which is well worth a good read for those of you interested in history etc here is the link http://webmail.tiscali.co.uk/cp/ps/Mail/ExternalURLProxy?d=tiscali.co.uk&u=southernupland&url=http://berwicktimelines.tumblr.com/&urlHash=-4.6452675598345435E134 I certainly enjoyed reading this and am sure you will too.

Spittal is Great Sire!

A lot more progress has been made re the Spittal Seaside festival and we have created a special page dedicated toward this event (Spittal is Great Sire)!  Please get in touch with us by email questions@southernupland.com  if you would like to be part of this great weekend 10th 11th August 2013 as a re enactor street entertainer or specialist food provider. Or you can contact the secretary direct  via the Festivals own website. http://www.spittalisgreat.co.uk

Shooting Duck !! 

Sunday 7th April We had a lot of fun not just shooting but working on the south woods where we have now got three pegs out and nine field target areas set for the course another three pegs and nine field target areas will be put in next weekend. An area has been identified for a permanent three lane 2 way target range upto 100 yards and the North woods woods will be developed for more field archery over the coming weeks.

Image one above shows Billy King (Snr Lauder) going mad with a chainsaw !!

Image two shows below shows Megan (Jnr Lauder) demonstrating hitting a duck at 45 yards !

Hello readers I've finally found a bit of time to catch up on our website. 

Please note apologies for the events page not appearing at the moment. I can say that we are fully booked for public and community events for 2013. There is so much information to be posted that this will take a little thought and consideration. It is worth noting though whether you live locally or are just visiting The Bonnie Borders of Scotland there is going to be a lot to see and do for the whole family over the summer months!

As I mentioned in our previous report a meeting with the organisors of the Spittal Is Great Festival, Les Ami De Onno, Brave Heart, Strathleven Artizans and ourselves has been held and we can promise that this years event on the 10th & 11th of August is set to be bigger better and even more spectacular than last years!

Keep watching as things develop!

Sunday the 10th of March "Mothering Sunday" was a quiet shoot but a productive one.

Sunday the 17th of March was a surprise. The weather was pretty wet and windy all day Saturday and most of Sunday morning, then,  low and behold as the time for the shoot came closer the weather cleared and twelve of us got in a good afternoon of target, field, flight and rove.

Billy, Simon, Megan, Pascal, Jack  and myself followed Badgers lead into the Northern half of the woods where we were able to shoot down hill at various marks etc.. We all agreed that whilst these woods are a tad soggy even in a dry spell they will make a perfect  field course. Work has already started.

Maria, Amanda, Charlie, Mandy and Sophie remained back at base shooting target and had hot drinks & biscuits ready for our return. Who said we were not  professional ?

Tuesday 19th March the snow started arriving and by Wednesday morning we had to dig S U R A 1. (The car) out, to get it onto the snow ploughed road.

Mandy headed south and once she'd made the A1 at Berwick she made good time to Northamptonshire. The weather here gradually became worse and I cancelled all apointments and spent my time looking after stock & making arrows & targets. 

We had already swapped Sunday the 24ths shoot over to Saturday the 23rd in order for me to visit the very first Deer stalkers fair in Kelso. More about the fair later and on a different website.

With the deteriating weather, I thought that Saturday would have to be cancelled. It wasn't and as is the way with roving archers, we had a good meet ! Checkout what we got up to on our photo gallery March 23rd "Real Archery & Snow" !!  Well done teams.

Sunday 24th March S U R A 1 mentioned above was back, and took myself & Badger off to the Deer Stalkers Fair in Kelso.

I will be writing a seperate article about this unique first of its kind event in the Scottish borders and submiting it to the Scottish National Rural Network for possible publication. Suffice to say that Badger & myself enjoyed the experience and many good contacts and friends were made.

Back to archery and the weather etc...

British summer time begins next Sunday ! Yippee get the sledges and ski's out !

 Now that we no longer have Yetholm to support, means that we can and are reinstating our regular Wednesday shoot here at Howlets ha'. 4pm until finish. Commencing Wedneday 3rd April. Beginners and experienced archers welcome by prior booking !

As always thank you for reading this keep warm well and safe and enjoy your archery

It has been an interesting week here at Howlets !

At the begining of the week I recieved an email from Senior SURA Alex, aka Pheonix who had returned to Leicester the previous week and had been getting high scores shooting alongside Badger. Here is an extract from that email.

I got my exam results from January today and I just thought I'd let you now how I did 

Physics. 100% A*

Chemistry. 98% A*

English lit. 86% A

English Lang. A/A*. ( grade boundaries not announced yet )

Maths A-level. 91% A. ( can't get a* at a level )

I am sure you will all join me in congratulating Pheonix on such a high score in the educational stakes. Well done him.

Last Sunday 3rd March as reported the weather was clemment and almost Summery, yesterday started off in much the same way albeit a lot cooler. The field was set by 1pm and four archers arrived. we decided we would go out onto the big field rather than the smaller target field and have a rove. we had gone about a mile from the farmouse when as is the way of the Borders the weather quickly closed in. Undaunted we made our way back through an almost total whiteout, to the workshop / clubhouse and enjoyed hot chocolate & soup whilst having a laugh building a hand cart for targets etc. Trust you all got home safely. And a big thankyou for all the apologies from those of you who mailed your apologies for not turning out due to mothering Sunday. (As  I have always said Family, school / work is far more important than archery).

Throughout the past week I have recieved a number of enqiuries from groups, communities and individuals asking if we can assist them with various projects. I am in the proccess of answering them all. I am able to report however that we are fully commited and our  events page will be updated this week and will reflect that.

A number of individual enquiries have been about Yetholm and I have advised those people to contact Yetholm Archers directly.

Last Friday saw Mandy and myself out at Coldstream, Scremeston & Spittal doing some site reconaisance for the summer months. More on this later.

On the subject of Spittal S U R A are hosting a meeting with the festival organisors and Les amis De Onno this wednesday 13th March, here at Howlets. It is on the cards that the Spittal Sea side Festival will be even more spectacular than last year. Further news about this will be published as soon as possible.

Thanks for taking time to read this. Keep watching. Take time to have a look at the webstore and other places around our site.

Most of all keep warm and safe and enjoy your archery. 

A well attended and happy shoot in clement conditions here at Howlets Ha. It was good to see junior Southern Upland Rover Charlie back at the bow after a years break. He is seen here leading a bunch of us on a full rove. More images from todays shoot taken by senior SURA  Maria can be seen in the new gallery. 

  Along with comments on the day. Its good to back doing full on flight & roving archery and seeing some faces that we have not seen for a while. We had quite a laugh as Badger rode onto the fields with his ped and promptly broke down ! Another good one and taken in good part was when Junior SURA lost a boot in the burn ! Sadly because Maria did not have her Cannon SLR with her and had to make do with my rather slow Fuji those images were not captured. Maria has promised that on her next visit she will not only bring her camera but will bring her all terrain vehicle so she can join the line. Instead of having to stay on the hard standing in her normal wheelie! Great safe Freindly Family Fun archery. Visit our online shop and see some of the marvelous leather arm bracers created by Senior SURA Simon.  

The end of February is now past and the end of our third year as an independant archery unit and the begining of our fourth.

Those of you who have watched and been part of S U R A will know that we began small !   Still are, and happy to remain as such. Asking for government or charitable funding, goes against the ethos of independancy.  Whilst this may seem strange, to some ! It certainly is not for myself and many others.

Yetholm, has, as you may have noticed, disapeared from our web pages.

As the originator and co founder of S U R A I am able to report and say. "Yetholm is and has been one of our successful community golds" and we wish them well as they are now fully independant of us.

We began in Yetholm with a days shooting for the Towns Youth Dry Bar 3 years ago this developed into a once a month and then once a fortnight regular shoot and eventually last year into a weekly shoot alternating with our main shooting at Howlets.

Prior to christmas I called a meeting of archers at Yetholm and gave them the option of remaining part of SURA or going on there own they chose the latter and Im proud of them.

This allows us to concentrate on our main shoot and reduces the wear and tear on our equipment , and  gives Mandy and myself more time for ourselves. We and other archers here at Howlets look forward to shooting at Yetholm from time to time and vice versa archers from Yetholm coming to shoot here. 

Other news from the past month.

Wednesday 13th February we had two guests here at Howlets from Northern Ireland who braved the snow flurries and enjoyed a good three hours of roving. Look forward to Alen & Sean's return in November.

Thursday 14th February we had an all day visit from fellow  SURA Alex (Pheonix) from Leicester who was joined by Badger and they disapeared off into our woods with their bows and arrows and apart from seeing them for a hot lunch I would not have known they were about.

Sunday's 17th and 24th February both shoots were reasonably well attended. On the 17th Badger brought along his new rifle which we had a go with after archery. Badger is doing well on his work placement and college course as a trainee game keeper.

Monday 25th February It was good to see fellow archers Linda aka mrsbad on Twitter & Jim over at Yetholm, where they helped Mandy & I load SURA's equipment for return to HQ. Mandy and I  would love to have stayed longer to chat but we had an important lunch meeting to attend at the Teviot Water garden centre nr Kelso http://www.Teviotgamefaresmokery.co.uk Its a grand place  to visit and we can recomend the food. The meeting went well and I will be publishing details in a few weeks time.

Wednesday the 27th February  We had a privately pre booked rove with a newly married couple from New Zealand over in the UK on their honeymoon. Im not at liberty to publish who they were but take the opportunity to thank the member of staff at the Friars Carse Hotel for recomending us to them.

We had done a private afternoon of archery for the guests of two of our archers Catherine & Rob (Sprouston) the year before last. Once again we can recomend the Friars Carse as a very good hotel & restaurant. http://www.friarscarse.co.uk ;

So as you can see from small acorns ! If you think S U R A can be of help in your community or private function or you fancy a go with a bow please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Now shooting regularly on Sunday afternoons mid week by prior booking. Wednesday afternoons / evenings will commence when we switch to British summer  time.

Please take a look at some images from February in our galleries. Visit our webstore most of all have fun and stay safe.

Here we are at the begining of our fouth year as an independant fully insured archery shoot. Let us hope the weather is a little kinder than last year. I believe the farming world is refering to it as the eighteen month long wet winter !

So far this year we have only had to cancel two shoots and that was not surprising with the weight of snow that fell over the week prior and during the weekend 26th and 27th January.

On the subject of winter weather we have recieved a nice thank you comment on the "Papingo Eat Yer Heart out" post january 21st 2013. Sort of makes things all worthwhile.

The past three years we have celebrated our birthday with a bit of a get together at Howlets'ha but this year have decided that with the Yetholm branch up and running we will settle for our new look website and begin featuring different links and contacts within the website as a way of saying thank you for support and interest in us.

On the last post 25th January we had input from one of our online archers Rem from over the channel in France, ref: "Le tir du Roy"!

Within this post I include another online member Nick Viau a 31 year old archer from Grand Rapids Michigan USA.

I have followed Nick for some time and learnt a lot about our hobby / sport / craft !

Nick keeps a very good online journal called Life & Longbows and while we know that hunting in the UK with a bow is illegal it apparantly is not where he shoots.

Nick makes a lot of his own equipment and those of you wishing to expand your knowlege should take time to read his latest post. "Traditional Tools of The Trade". Here is the link http://wp.me/p2D0l7-az

Both Rem & Nick are classed as Southern Upland Roving Archers and know that at any time they are in the UK can come along and shoot with us.

Saturday 2nd of January once again saw ten of us shooting at Yetholm in cold but clear weather. John Gibson aka (One Shot) had produced a novelty target and is seen here with Ellis aka (Noddy) who is holding his very own first bow and verifying that John had got one of his three arrows into the tube at 30 yards !

Ellis came to Southern Upland Roving Archers after approaching a number of other archery clubs in the Borders and gave up waiting for them to get back to him with an answer. Their loss our gain. Later that day Ellis shot with me at four marked arrows taking two of them. His personal best flight shoot using his new Rolan bow is recorded at 178 yards ! Not bad for a newbie and I say well done him and well done Jim aka (Big Daddy) and "One Shot" for working with the lad.

Sunday 3rd January at Howlets saw four of us pinging arrows on a half rove just for the heck of it but that old North wind got stronger and stronger. Still we had fun.

Thanks for looking dont forget to check out our webstore and be ready to start watching out for our events.

As I sit here typing yet more snow is begining to fall and an amber weather alert has been issued by the met office. Whilst I enjoy shooting in deep snow I have to consider the safety of all.

After consultations with other senior archers a decision was taken to cancel this weekends shoots at both Howlets Ha and Yetholm. Whilst I do not believe things will be as wild as last weekend good advice is always worth taking !

On the subject of last weekend and rescuing a neighbours radio mast and mentioning Papingo I have recieved two or three interesting emails and yes Tweets.

For those of you who do not know, I am an avid Tweeter and have made many real archery friends and contacts through this medium.

Some of those Tweeters are active archers in their own right and have become online members of S U R A. Through Twitter I have learnt quite a lot about our pastime from them. More so than when we had an active archery forum on our web. You may ask why we do not have this forum any longer and the answer is simple it was to difficult to moderate.

That is why I would like you to take a little time and read the following on this snowy day. The first is part of an email I recieved from Joanne Glennie an online S U R A active archer and re-enactor who has shot with us at Yetholm on three or four occasions. 

Hi Mick,

Happy New Year and All that!

Very interesting about the papingo shoot. Never heard of this before - although I know the papingo in heraldry is a parrot (as evidenced in the early Hume coat of arms as at Flodden where three green papingos are quartered with the more familiar white lions on a green background)

You did well in the snow. My Mum and Dad came over to see us in Law on Saturday morning - Dad stopping off halfway between Yetholm and Kelso to pull someone out of ditch. They were staying over at ours to sit on the children while Iain and I went to a rather splendid Burn's supper. They said the snow was rather deep. Luckily Dad is rather adept a snow driving about forest tracks in the Highlands and Perthshire.

January is looking a bit busy for me just now - Iain is out a lot at Burns suppers so I am on child wrangling dutys most weekends. Hope to be down at Yetholm in February so we can catch up then.

Keep warm,

Joanne Glennie

Apart from looking forward to shooting bows and arrows with Joanne again soon I took a little time to find out more about Papingo.

The following is courtesy of Wikipedia.

The archery form of popinjay dates back to at least the fifteenth century. The annual popinjay (or papingo) tournament of the Ancient Society of Kilwinning Archers, of Ayrshire in Scotland, is believed to have been running since 1483, though the records are only reliable from 1688. The current prize of a silver arrow was introduced in 1724.[citation needed]

Popinjay archery is popular in Belgium, but is less common elsewhere. Many Belgian clubs have permanently erected popinjay masts. Popinjay can also be shot horizontally rather than vertically, though this form is even less common. 

There are no international standard rules of popinjay. The definition of rules is left to national archery organisations.

Check it out for yourselves on Wikipedia.

Just goes to show I wasnt far off shooting a Papingo / Popinjay shot last weekend !!

Through Twitter I met another great so far online friend and fellow archer Rem.

Rem is not only an online friend via Twitter but is an online S U R A  I have learnt a lot from him and through one of our exchanges Rem informed me that he had taken part in and won a particular type of shoot at his club in France "Le tir du Roy" 

Here is what he sent about this shoot which for those of you still learning about the history and traditions of our great activity should find very interesting.

Hi Mick,

"Le tir du Roy" is an annual contest going back to the dark ages in which the participants shoot one arrow at a bird on either a 30 meter high pole or on a target at 50 meters distance. (if everybody misses the target, the whole thing starts all over) 

Shooting order is as follows: First to shoot is last year's king (who made the target we are shooting at), next shooters' order by ballot. 

First person to hit the target is declared King or Queen for the year. This ends the contest immediately (even if some archers haven't tried yet). 

The new King receives a red scarf and a silver cup, both marked "King xxxx" (where xxxx is the year). The captain or master of the ceremony is to hold the following speech: 

Silence and hat off! 

On behalf of Saint Sebastian, Martyr of the Game of the arc, this noble and honest game where there is no deceit. 

Sire! You who made the King's shot, here is the price, I present you. 

Kneel, and everyone will shout with me: 

Long live the King! 

This glass of wine I will give you, lest you'll be poisoned, I'll try first. 

And shout with me: 

Long live the King! 

As a King, he participated in the meetings of the board of the company in an advisory capacity, if not already a member of said board. 

If the same person wins the title of King three consecutive years in the same company, then he's named Emperor, receives a green scarf and keeps the title all his life, and his prerogatives, which are the same as for the King. 

Well that's about it Mick. If you have any questions… 

Just a thing to know about archery in France; there are two kinds of archery clubs. The so-called ordinary clubs, and those who like to refer to tradition (even with modern bows) because of the spirit, respect, gallantry and such. Those clubs are called Compagnies, and have a Captain and Officers.

Archery Companies being respectful of traditions, Saint Sebastian is very present. In some companies there is a "trunk of St. Sebastian" where each archer symbolically condemned for reasons such as uttering profanity while shooting, not saluting before shooting his first arrow or forgetting any object in the premises of the company shall pay an amount equal to the fine. 

Hope this will help you understand. 

Cheers,

Rembrandt ten Hove

Treasurer of La Compagnie Havraise du Tir à l'Arc.

It is through contacts of this nature that we all learn and perhaps we can set up a shoot of this nature here at Southern Upland Roving Archers.

Rem also took time to send me the ins and outs of "Bersault" shooting which with his permission I will publish at a later date.

If you have any ideas or bits of information on any or all archery matters feel free to send them into questions@southernupland.com for possible publication.

In the meanwhile its thanks to Joanne & Rem for todays contributions and you as the reader for taking time to have a look.

Keep safe and warm during this new snap of artic weather check out our webstore and if you are on Twitter keep on Tweeting  

The severe weather predicted by the Metrological department proved correct this weekend. On the advice of senior archer Linda and Yetholm resident we cancelled our Yetholm shoot for saturday 19th Jan due to the potentilal road conditions and the condition of the playing field.

Never the less on Friday evening I made it along the road to the Old Thistle Inn in Westruther to Join with fellow archers Badger & Tash for Badgers 18th birthday bash. After an enjoyable 2 or 3 hours I had a quiet walk home in the middle of the road through about one and a half foot of soft snow. The next morning saw the Borders council had done their work and the road was clear enough for Mandy & myself to take a trip into Kelso which is some 15 miles away for a spot of retail therapy. The out going journey was not to bad at all and the return journey was even better as there had been a slight thaw.

Sunday morning showed that we had had another drop of the white stuff ! I had not cancelled todays shoot at Howlets and have to admit I like a good Rove in deep snow. Surprisingly when shooting high, arrows are pretty easy to spot. Okay its not  everyones cup of tea I admit that.

Despite the conditions Badger came along from the village for the craic and we had a laugh helping Mandy build a snow castle !

We had just decided to arm up when a 4 x 4 pulled into our drive.

It was chap called Ian and one of our neighbours here at Howlets' ha. Ian is a game keeper and as a hobby is a very keen Ham operator (Amateur Radio). In his garden he has a fourty foot radio mast which allows him to communicate with others of a like mind. Ian had a problem that he suspected Southern Upland Roving Archers could help him with.

His radio mast had broken free from its bearings and was swinging free threatening to cause the whole structure to collapse. 

Ian seen at the bottom of his mast with the two bows that were to save the day !

The mast is normally controlled electronically, allowing it to move and tilt for signal. Due to the winds and the Icy conditions it was becoming impossible to scale the structure to secure the swinging mast head. Ian had seen S U R A in action shooting a line out to sea for the Tweedmouth RNLI open day a couple of years ago and wondered if the same technique could be deployed. 

Unlike shooting a line out to sea this was something different. Fellow  S U R A Stu Bimson & myself had trained alongside each other for weeks before we shot a line for the RNLI. 

Shooting a line with many yards of light line attached is not something that should be taken on lightly and can be extremley dangerous and certainly not for a novice. To achieve the shots required for this mission required shooting at a near vertical angle and into gusting winds.

There is a form of archery known I believe as "Papingo" which requires an archer to shoot at this dangerous angle in order to hit a small hanging target. Id never shot "Papingo" before, but could see that it was the only method of getting securing lines over the swinging arms.

With Badger out  too one side and acting as spotter and safety observer and Ian out of harms way I took a marking spot and on Badgers command released an arrow into the air. We then attempted the second shot with a light line attached once again I released at Badgers order.

THE TOP OF THE MAST (The target area can be seen to the left of the T cross & trough the lower wire).

The second arrow fouled but the third went true and took the light line over the spar allowing us to heave hevier lines into the rigging thus securing the mast from swinging about.

Eighteen year old Badger and fellow archer seen above tying down the last of the heaving lines just along the road from our HQ at Howlets ha.

By the time we had finished this unexpected, exciting and unusual mission the weather began closing in and it was becoming dark. We returned to HQ for hot chocolate and to admire Mandy's  Snow castle. (Below)

As I wrote this update further snow has and is still falling the winds are gusting to 30 mph and I am pleased to report that our temporary repair on Ians Ham mast ! Is holding well.

Thanks for taking time to read this post. Take a look around our revamped site feel free to get in touch if Southernupland Roving Archers can help you or your community. Watch our events page and online shop as it develops.

If you are not a S U R A send comments to southernupland@Tiscali.co.uk If you are a S U R A comment on our site directly.