Living in Hastings, in an area known as 1066 Country, I’ve
always felt a certain affinity with the noble art of archery. The Battle of Hastings was after all where
Kind Harold famously (and probably erroneously) lost an eye to an errant arrow
on the battlefield, whilst attempting to fend off the invading Normans and with
them, William the Conqueror, whose claim to the throne of England Harold didn’t
quite see eye-to-eye with, if you’ll excuse the awful pun. That was the last time mainland Britain was
successfully invaded by any attacking force, if you ignore the failed attempt
by a horde of French criminals and mercenaries led by an American
septuagenarian by the name of William Tate in 1797, which most people do. From that fateful day in October 1066,
through Agincourt (or more accurately, Azincourt) and right upto the Second
World War where Lieutenant Colonel Jack ‘Mad Jack’ Churchill cut down a German soldier
with his longbow in France in 1940, the English have had a great connection
with archery.
As a proud Brit and a great lover of tradition, archery
seemed like the perfect sport for me to attempt. Indeed, in the week leading up to it, I had
Tweeted about how much I was looking forward to it and even expressed some,
perhaps misguided, confidence ahead of my session which was set for Wednesday
31st October, 2012 – Hallowe’en.
The only minor worry I had was when I spoke to my instructor-to-be, Tony
Tutt, on the Saturday beforehand; all fine, he said. Looking forward to it, he said. Just one thing...if it’s raining, it’s
off. Ah.
Well that would’ve been a disaster.
Postponing death-wish BMXing in a monsoon is one thing, but surely
archers were tougher than that?! I can’t
imagine armies of big, hairy longbowmen suddenly upping and running for cover the
moment a bit of drizzle set in!
Evidently though, rain can affect the trajectory of the arrows as, when
the fletchings (pretty feathery bits at the end of the arrow) get wet, they
cause drag. Not something the elite archers
necessarily worry about, but tricky conditions in which to teach a novice such
as myself. Fair enough then.
Mercifully as it happened, Hallowe’en dawned dry and bright,
if rather chilly. My friend &
photographer Hollie and I set out for a field in Catsfield near Battle – the
eponymously named location for the Battle of Hastings and the actual location
of the medieval fisticuffs – about five miles from Hastings. After several wrong turns in which we found
ourselves variously in someone’s drive and heading into a large barn, we
eventually found the right field and there, bearded and grinning, was my delightful
instructor, Tony, a man with the strongest handshake known to humanity. Something about the firm grip and beard were
reassuring.
The first thing I noticed was that, of the dozen or so
targets in the field, there was one which was unmistakably meant for me, being
as it was, about five yards out. Before
I could make mincemeat of that target however, Tony first talked me through the
safety rules. Nobody ever shoots from in
front of or behind the line – always on the line, feet straddling it, about
shoulder-width apart. Secondly, nobody
ever shoots an arrow without first checking that the space in front of the line
is completely clear of people, animals or anything else you mightn’t want to
pierce with an arrow. May sound obvious,
but I was glad to hear it nonetheless, as indeed was Hollie. For similar safety reasons, once you’ve shot
your six arrows, you wait until everyone else has finished shooting too before
heading out together to retrieve your arrows.
Nothing is guaranteed to ruin a nice day in the country like an arrow in
your head. Just ask Harold.
Tony Tutt with the gurning Queen of the Potato People. Nice bow though. |
Secondly came the fingertab, a small piece of leather (which
reminded me, foolishly, of a leather castanet) which fitted over the fingers on
my right hand to a) protect the fingers from the string and b) offer less
resistance upon release. Next up came
the bow itself, a Recurve variety and the type used in the modern Olympic
games. It’s an impressive looking bit of
kit but very modern and quite far removed from the traditional image of carved,
wooden longbows and angry Englishmen.
More layered fibreglass and efficient South Koreans. Nevertheless it felt surprisingly nice to
hold and I was itching to get firing.
First though, Tony took me through the basics of the
hold. It felt at first, quite
uncomfortable holding the bow out in front as, lightweight as it was, I could
feel and see my whole left arm shaking and trembling; quite how I was supposed
to line up the sight with the gold at the centre of the target was beyond
me. It’s hard to explain how odd it
feels to let go of the arrow with your right hand when it feels like, by so
doing, you’re throwing the whole delicate balance off. It felt like as soon as I released the arrow,
I would immediately feel my left arm drop and wobble uncontrollably. Tony had spoken about how your shoulders
should form a continuous circle of balance and power with the bow so, perhaps
overthinking it, I assumed that by breaking that circle – releasing the arrow –
I’d be weakening it and it would crumble.
The other issue I had was more physical. I’m told that the Amazons used to cut off
their left breasts to enable them to use a bow and arrow more efficiently. How true this is I’ve no idea, but thankfully,
in my case at least, all it required was a slight change of stance to rectify
the issue. Breasts out of the way, I was
at last given my first arrow. I did at
least manage to get the first shot onto the target board, if outside the
scoring target. Yes, even from just five
yards. The second shot is still I
believe, buried in the ground somewhere, so apologies again, Tony.
After 10 or so minutes of alternately watching me shoot and
tinkering with my technique, Tony decided to push back my target to a full 20
yards – almost the length of a cricket pitch. The extra distance made it somehow easier and
I was getting into a good rhythm. It was
then that Hollie decided that she wanted to get a shot of the arrow being
released from the bow, which lead to me attempt to try to countdown from three
to one during my set-up and release.
After several minutes of this, the result of which was that my accuracy
was falling apart and my discipline and technique had gone out of the window, I
felt I’d better shelve the countdown idea, lest Tony think I was failing to
take his instruction seriously.
However, just as I was trying to get my head back around my
technique, I forgot one of the most important parts; keeping my arm out of line with the trajectory of arrow and string upon
release. That was when I felt the
dreaded Archer’s Kiss. The bracer was
still on and where it should be but my elbow had turned so that the elbow
itself was facing down to the ground and the right hand side of my elbow and lower
arm, unprotected by the bracer, were pointing inwards...yep, I can’t say that
didn’t sting. After a few minutes of
jumping around like Tigger dying for the loo, I regained a little composure and
tried again. Wary now of catching myself
a second time, I was more tentative. I
wasn’t pulling back the bow as much and so everything was now falling below the
scoring circle.
Tony reassured me by telling me that as long as I kept my
arm braced and slightly bent, with my elbow pointing out to the left rather
than towards the ground, I’d be fine. I
gradually regained my nerve and after a little while, got my first arrow inside
the gold! I’m afraid that at this point,
I did start screaming and doing a little dance before Tony explained to me, the
edges of his mouth twitching, that it’s not quite the done thing to celebrate
in such a way. Fair enough really. My dancing’s atrocious. Bolstered by this though and by Tony’s
positive comments, I felt up to a challenge.
He said that I looked good and had a “good style” and at
this point, he said he’d give me a 7/10.
My grouping was also fairly consistent so I was feeling confident. The challenge he gave me was to get all six
arrows inside the red scoring area. If I
did this, I’d have to total of at least 42 points, and I would’ve passed my
second Olympic challenge.
Oh, how sports psychology fascinates me. I’ve always been amazed that, for example,
two people of similar abilities can react so very differently under pressure; one
might crumble and choke the other will thrive and succeed beyond anything they’ve
achieved before. I wouldn’t say I choked
completely, but when my very first arrow of the challenge fell into the blue, where
before I’d been landing them fairly consistently in the red, I did feel like I
might have succumbed. Knowing I’d
already failed the challenge, my shoulders did drop a little and I felt my technique
slipping as frustration and desperation set in.
The second arrow also fell in the blue but I was determined not to make
a total hash out of it and to at least end well. I took a few deep breaths, refocused and
tried to clear my mind. The third was a
little better, clipping the edge of the red but the fourth and fifth landed in
almost exactly the same spot in the gold!
Buoyed and desperate to end with a hat trick of golds, I may have tried
a little too hard with the sixth and final arrow, but I managed to get it comfortably
in the red. Overall, I was disappointed
not to have succeeded but relatively pleased with my efforts.
Tony however, perhaps taking pity on me, explained that in
actual fact I had passed on points as, although I’d fired two arrows outside of
the red, thanks to my two golds, my points total was 42! Well, it’s not a comprehensive victory but hell,
I’ll take it.
Afterwards, I asked Tony, who’s a member of the Bayeux
Bowmen based in Catsfield, about archery and who could take it up. Was it open to everyone?
“As long as they can hold a bow, they can do archery. We’ve got kids from the ages of 11-12 right
upto a 90 year old.”
But is it expensive? “The
recurve you were using was about £1,000 but you can get a basic bow for about
£100 and arrows from about £4 each. We
run beginners’ courses consisting of 12 hours over six weeks for £35, and that
includes a diploma allowing you to shoot, which is valid at any archery club in
the country.”
What about the social side?
“There’s a terrific social side.
We had a shoot followed by hot-dogs with many of the members here just
the other night.” No beer though presumably;
alcohol and arrows must be a big no-no, surely!
“We have a drink! Especially the
longbowmen. We often carry a hipflask
around when we’re outside shooting all day, but the longbowmen are quite famous
for being tiddled by the end of a competition!”
Well I never! I
suppose if you’re all shooting in the same direction and there’s nobody there,
it doesn’t really matter how many targets you can see. I’m beginning to warm to archery more and
more. However, my personal target is
Rio, and I can’t see the uber-focused South Koreans sipping brandy between
ends. What did Tony think of my efforts,
first of all?
“I was impressed actually.
You looked good, had a good style and a decent technique. And your grouping was very good. A lot of people after the six-week course
still can’t hit the gold, and you did that three times in just an hour and a
half, so well done. Overall, I’d say you’ve
earnt 8/10.”
Well, that certainly made me smile! I really enjoyed my session with Tony and the
feeling of picking up the bow and aiming was as amazing as I’d imagined
beforehand. I was delighted with his
comments and so pleased that I’d impressed him.
However, before I get too smug and full of myself, I must remind myself,
more than anyone else, that I was shooting at a target a mere 20 yards
away. Olympic archers are aiming at 72 metres. Quite a significant jump up. So how does Tony think I’d get on in my quest
for a place in Team GB’s 2016 Archery squad?
“Well...it’s tough.
You have to travel the length and breadth of the country competing in
tournaments and winning to get noticed.
Then you make the jump to Archer 1st Class to Master Bowman,
Grandmaster Bowman, White Rose, Red Rose...and then it all helps if you know
which set of cutlery to use at dinner.”
So there’s elitism in the sport? “Yes, I’m afraid so at the top level. That’s not to say you definitely couldn’t do
it though...it’d just be very difficult.”
Well ‘difficult’ doesn’t mean impossible, so I’m not calling
a halt on my archery dream just yet. But
it was a genuinely lovely way to spend an hour or so – out in the country,
chatting, laughing, being fed chocolate by Tony and perhaps reconnecting in
some way with longbow-wielding ancestors – so Rio or not, archery is certainly
something I intend to have another crack at.
And so should you.
If you are interested in taking up archery and you happen to
be in the Hastings area, then here’s the link to the website for the Bayeux Bowmen:
If you’re from slightly further afield, here’s site for
Archery GB:
Or, if you’re abroad, try World Archery:
So, for now at least, I leave the world of archery and the
delightful Tony Tutt behind, as I step forward towards my next challenge...Fencing. Yes, if you thought the idea of me wielding a
bow and arrow was terrifying, I’m now going to get my hands on a sword. I can’t wait!
Kayaking – nearly drowned.
Archery – nearly shot myself.
Fencing - ... Well, you’ll just
have to wait and see.
Pip pip.