( Newsletter Editor - Grahame
Amy. )
If you wish to have a article published for the next Newsletter - see Grahame.
Club Operations at Wacol Station Road, Sumner Park
The Club's Working Bee got a lot done, thanks to many members helping out.
New target butts and stands have been built and more
are in production.
Mowing and slashing around the Clubhouse and target butts have greatly improved
the look of the grounds.
Special thanks to Sandy's brother 'Bob', who did a great job on the tractor
mower.
Note: The entry beside the hut is now open again due to
the Council doing an excellent job of filling and gradingAlso there is now a new
gate across the entry. This gate requires a Council park key to open, so the
gate will only be open on Saturday's from 12.30pm to 5.00pm.
The park fence line has also been fixed, so the entry gate is now the
only access into the park.
Due to recent demand, Club and Association Membership
Forms have been added to the website for direct download.
Check the links on the HomePage under Membership Fees.
The park does still need to be kept tidy, so if you
come across any rubbish, please do the right thing and put it in the rubbish
bin.
The rubbish bin is located at the Clubhouse and we also have a recycle bin for
cans.
Coaching Seminars for Club Members
The Club Coach will be drafting up a series of
seminars for Club Members to cover topics of interest to members.
Some topics to be covered may be:
Bow Tuning Techniques - basic and advanced for
recurves and compounds
Arrow Making - aluminium, carbon and wood
Bowstring Making - basic string jig setup and string making techniques
Shooting Form - advanced form techniques and error correction
Strength Training - exercises for archery
Mental Training - concentration and visualisation exercises for archery
These seminars will be held during Club hours and may run approx. one hour duration per topic.
The topic list has been placed on the noticeboard in
the Clubhouse and members should register their preferred choice of topic
to be the first seminar.
A date and time for the first seminar will be advised by the end of April.
Club Days
On Club Days there are many things that need doing before members can shoot.
T
he Safety Signs need to be placed out on the fields, the Club Sign needs to be placed out by the park entry, the warning flag needs to be erected beside the park entry gate, the warning flags need to be placed on the target butts, the Clubhouse needs to opened up and the windows opened, the attendance book needs to be signed and the ground fees paid, the Club's archery equipment needs to be placed out ready for visitors and beginner courses and the drink eskies need to be placed in the Clubhouse.When it comes to the end of the Club Day, all these things need to be placed away again.
All these have to happen every Club Day, so all Club Members are encouraged to help out, whenever possible, to make the running of the Club more enjoyable for everyone.
Unauthorised Shooting
If you see anyone unknown shooting a bow in the Park, especially outside of Club hours (Saturday's - 1.00pm to 5.00pm), please contact the Club with the details and the Club will take the necessary action to ensure these people play by the rules.
(Club Members should be wearing our Club T-Shirts and/or carry Club Membership Cards when practising).
The local archery dealer, Abbey Archery, opens their
shop on Saturday mornings from 8.00am to 1.00pm.
Please support your local dealer and check out their shop at Unit 4, 32
Spine Street, Sumner Park.
(Keith will be very happy to show you their range of equipment).
Only 5 minutes by car from our new ground and car parking available in front of
the shop.
Tournaments
Australian Archery Championships
Morwell, Victoria.
22nd to 30th April
Club Shirts
Our new supply of Club Shirts is available. The cost
per shirt is $35.00.
For those who have ordered shirts, please make sure to collect them as soon as
possible.
Please check with Ross Larsen for available shirt sizes, if you are interested in buying one.
Other Shoots
Want a shoot with a difference?
Australian Longbow and Recurve Muster
Gladstone, Qld
10, 11, 12 June 2006
Hunter Valley Traditional Gathering
Newcastle
10, 11, 12 June 2006
Great Southern Traditional Archery Tournament.
Geelong Archers Inc.
Sept 2 & 3, 2006
Queensland Traditional Bowhunters Rendezvous
Easter Weekend,2007
3D
(Ask Dale Marsh what this year�s was like.)
Flemish Twist Bow Strings
So you want to make your own bow string or perhaps you just do not want to pay as much for them. What are the options?
Option 1 is to make a continuous loop bow string that is used by the majority of club members. For this you will need a string jig, some bow string material, a serving tool and some serving material. Now making the string is not hard with Dacron strings being easier to make than other materials and a good starting point.
Option 2 is to make a Flemish bow string. "What is a Flemish bow string", I hear you say?
Well it is the bow string of olde and usually is a two strand or three strand twisted rope. They can be made with loops at each end so they fit like a conventional string or you can make them so that one end has no loop formed and instead use a "Bowyers Knot" (aka Timber Hitch) to form the loop.
Two strand strings are easier to make and three strand stings end up a little rounder and thus nicer.
Traditional bows definitely look better with Flemish string and even better if you make the strands different colours. I usually use black and white and make a two strand strings. What I end with is a neat twisted rope that has one strand black and the other white.
The other nice thing about Flemish strings as because you do need a jig you can make them anywhere. Very handy for those people who do not have a spare string in their bag. These days I carry a roll a B50 Dacron and my serving tool most of the time I go to Archery just in case.
You can make the string and then serve it on the Bow as you only need to serve the centre section.
Waxing your Bow String.
The other week I was looking at a bow string on an acquaintances bow and it looked like a piece of Mohair wool. Over a drink later we were talking and the topic of strings came up and I asked them how often they waxed their string. The blank look said it all and also explained why their string looked the way it did.
You wax bow strings to keep all the individual strands and fibres in a cohesive single strand. (And in the olde days it stopped them from being effected by the rain � wet bowstrings equated to broken bowstring and broken bows.) A bow with a waxed string will shoot faster than one with an unwaxed string.
You can buy special bow string wax from your local archery shop, you can make you�re your own. In my case I just use Bees Wax.
To apply it to the bowstring rub the piece of beeswax along the bowstring and then using a piece of soft leather burnish it so that it soaks into the string.
Don�t use so much that your bowstring ends up looking like a candle wick.
Making your Own Bow.
Most people shoot bows that they have been manufactured by some large company. Overall one would have to say that these are very good products. However that is not the only source of getting a bow. There are some people who make their own.
Dale and Darren have both made their own riser and have fitted commercially available limbs to them. So next time you get a chance have a look at them. And if you want to see what a homemade self longbow looks like have a look at Phil�s, Peter�s, Graeme�s or mine at some stage.
Why you should score.
(See also Graeme Jeffrey�s article on Page 2 of this Newsletter � What to do after the Beginners Course)
If you want to chart your progress and how you are improving then you need to keep a measure. And the easiest way of doing that is to track your scores and that means scoring occasionally.
For those shooting 30 metres probably the easiest round to score is a Geelong which is 90 arrows at 30 metres on a 122cm Target. If you want to move out 40 metres then a Darwin, 90 Arrows @ 40 metres on a 122cm Target would be a good starting point.
Keep a track of your scores yourself and you will have an idea of how you are improving. Attach the completed scoresheet to the clipboard in the Clubhouse and Catherine Parsons will add the information to the Club records.
( Newsletter cont'd. on Page 2 )
Author : Graeme Jeffrey
Copyright � Centenary Archers Club Inc. 1999-2008
This page last revised : 22 June, 2008