The latest of our L1 Courses has just finished and our congratulations go to all 12 of the successful candidates and especially to the 4 from Deer Park! We would also like to thank Sue Matthews our course tutor for an excellent programme.
So congratulations to Jessica Diamond, Graham Peters, Aleesha Keddie and Ella Gibson.
11 0f the 12 Members of the successful L1 Course.
This brings our total club coaches to 34 (includes our community and university coaches) which gives us a coaching resource of just over 15% of our membership! Click here for more details 5 Coaches Brochure RED
We are organising another course starting in October and it is already almost fully subscribed.
Returners Events
We have just started our annual returners programme where we arrange for members who either do not enjoy the indoor season or for whom ‘life has just got in the way’ to get back in to regular attendance. The response has been amazing and the programme is being organised by two of our more recently qualified coaches Bob Worcester and Peter Sisson. More sessions planned and they will repeat every few months.
One of our ‘Returners’ Events.
Compound H2H Mock Tournaments
Our 50m H2H training programme begins this evening with a compound event. We are fortunate enough to have enough archers to run round-robin handicap H2H events using the recognised formats, complete with score boards and all the formal processes. These sessions will be held every fortnight and vary with bow type.
Now running sessions to recreate H2H situations.
Swimarathon
9 of our members and volunteers represented us at the Annual Cleve Round Table Swimarathon which we first supported in 1999. Thank you to all of them and to the many members and friends that sponsored them.
Including Gift Aid we raised £750 for the club and £151 for the Round Table.
Great effort by our team!
Gloucestershire School Games
The Primary and Secondary Level 2 (District) School Games have begun and entry levels, scores and all our volunteers have been in top form.
Up to 72 Primary School Archers in each event and they run like clockwork!
A few years ago each of the 5 Districts had a Level 2 Final to see who progresses to the L3 County event, rising entry levels mean this is no longer possible and for example Stroud District is now split into North & South and those are then split into as many as 3 events with up to 8 teams in each consisting of 9 archers at primary and 12 at secondary. With only 2 teams qualifying from each district it is extremely competitive!
We have also added a second dimension this year, with many teams entering with no previous archery experience so our teams of coaches and volunteers have to train up those teams prior to the competition. Truly the definition of pressure but just so rewarding!
New County Primary School Record – Callawell!
Our congratulations go to a Callawell team who qualified with a new County Record Score in a truly amazing performance! They actually entered 3 teams, all performed well, 2 of their teachers are qualified coaches and are Deer Park members.
The whole programme is organised by Steph & Dan Gill as Xperience Archery and supported by our coaches and volunteers and teams of young sports leaders allocated from Secondary Schools.
Compact Tractor
We have now received delivery of our compact tractor and all the fixtures and fittings. We would like to again thank Tewkesbury Borough Council for their support with a 50% Capital Grant and to Elliott’s (Cheltenham) Ltd for sponsoring the diesel to operate. We are very grateful. We have trained our first group of volunteer operators and Simon Faulkner was quick to learn and certainly shows a passion for driving it!
Our New Compact Tractor will make such a difference.
Combined with all the enhanced security arrangements this has been a big investment for the club but it will help us tremendously to improve our playing surface, extend the season and ability to increase participation and aid access for those with restricted mobility.
GB Youth Promo Video – YouTube
Please see the link to this recently issued video, Lucy & James are on it.
ClubMark Re-Accreditation
Our submission is almost complete, we are waiting on a few pieces of information on Safeguarding and other club processes but should be able to submit formally by the end of April.
Memory Walk – Alzheimer’s Society
Following our successful walk in 2017 to raise funds to fight Dementia we are again organising a similar event but hopefully with even more participants! Details to follow.
Some of the group that did the sponsored walk in 2016.
Thank you to David Reader – Archery GB – Head of Development
We would like to record our thanks for all the support David and his team provided us over the past 8 years. Unfortunately, David is one of the casualties of restructuring following Archery GB’s loss of Sport England funding. During his time in post David and his team have managed to modernise many aspects of AGB but we know that he often shared our frustration with the organisations pace of change. We wish him all the best in his next role.
