Chairman's Bumper Spring 2025 Update

Congratulations Steve Allam

Not one, two, or even three, but FOUR National Records set in one weekend. Steve has continued his journey up the field rankings - typically to be found ranked number 1 in the Traditional category for Field - following his switch from Recurve to Traditional.

What's more our former Chairman and long-standing Tournament Organiser now holds four National Records, so huge CONGRATULATIONS to Steve Allam from all of us here at Overton Black Arrows!

Steve is now the National Record Holder in the Traditional for WA24 mixed one day and two-day Field Archery rounds.

His record scores were shot during a UK Record Status event at Exmouth Archers at a two-day event shooting WA24 rounds shooting from the Blue Peg (unsighted bows), the mixed round scores are where 12 targets are at known/marked distances and 12 targets are at unknown/unmarked distances. His one-day score of 316 is an average of over 13.1 points per target with his two-day score of 601 being an average of over 12.5 points per target.

Firewalk Night

We recently held a Firewalk Night where various plucky members took on the challenge of walking over hot coals in a bid to try and raise some money for our current charity, as well as to challenge themselves.

Early indications are the Firewalk event donations raised in the region of £8,500 for our chosen Charity for 2024/2025, which is Dive Ability. So, this will go a long way towards enabling them to get a new hoist to help get less able participants in and out of the water.

Once the additional amounts raised at our shooting events are added in to get a final total for the year, we're keeping our fingers crossed we might even have raised enough to cover the cost of the hoist itself, so a massive THANK YOU, to all who have donated, helped at events and or raised donations in other ways.

We will of course update you with the overall total for the year once we have had the final Firewalk figures from Dive Ability and we've been able to add in the amounts raised at the club events during the year, so hopefully at, or soon after, our AGM.

Indoors to Outdoors

Now the clocks have changed, and the evenings are getting lighter, the 'Indoor' season has come to an end and the 'Outdoor' season has begun once more, so no more Club Nights at Testbourne or at least not until October.

Instead, Warren Wednesdays make a return, so for those interested in giving Field and or 3D Archery a go there'll be regular events for you to book onto so you can enjoy the gentle slopes of The Warren and Peter Hastings Woods a couple of miles North of Overton.

If you're new to Field/3D and or you aren't sure about shooting Field/3D, you'll find many archers shooting at The Warren will be more than willing to have you shoot with them so you can get some pointers and advice and find out all about shooting 'Field' and or '3D'. We really are a very friendly bunch, so if you've ever thought about shooting at The Warren, why not make 2025 the year to actually give it a go?!?!

For upcoming target shooting events, there is a friendly 'Warwick' shoot in early April 'Click Here' to register if you'd like to take part.

A Warwick is typically 24 arrows shot onto a 120cm face at 60yards, followed by 24 arrows shot onto a 120cm face at 50 yards. There are shorter versions of Warwick round, so you can choose to shoot a shorter distance such as 30 then 20 yards if you're not sure about shooting 60 and 50 yards.

We will try and hold a few Warwick shoots over the summer, this will enable those who are interested to see where they fall on the Archer, Bowman, Master Bowmen, Grand Master Bowman ratings, depending on the distances shot.

If you are interested, please do have a chat with any of the Committee Members.

Improvers Sessions and Club Coach help

We intend to continue running the Improvers Sessions on a regular basis, normally whenever Coach Nigel visits on a club night. Keep an eye out on the main WhatsApp group chat as well as on the 'Events Page' on the OvBA website in the 'Member only events' section for upcoming club night Improvers Sessions.

Whether you have an archery related question about equipment or technique, Nigel has a wealth of knowledge and experience and as a Level 3 'County' Coach, he is an ideal person to ask. Or maybe your scores are suffering and getting worse instead of better and you know you need to fix something, but you're not sure what, or how to fix it, again Nigel has a wealth of knowledge and coaching experience and is an ideal person to see.

The OvBA Club Coaches are a friendly bunch too and will normally be happy to help, so feel free to have a chat at an opportune time with any of the regular shooting club coaches, currently they are; Steve Allam who is a Level 2 / Development Coach, and Richard Buckner, Steve Baker, Eric Dunlop, Rob Aldridge, Paul Williams who are all Level 1 / Session Coaches.

We have additional members who are either taking their Coaching qualification, or are looking to take their Coaching qualification, so hopefully the number of coaches will continue to grow, for a full list of the Coaching Team, have a look at the OvBA website at the bottom of the 'Learn/Try Archery' page under the 'Archers' menu.

Your Club Needs You!

The club and its' facilities, rely on members contributing in various ways, such as, but not limited to;

• Helping set up and take down at Testbourne,

• Taking a bag of rubbish away when one of the Club House bins is full,

• Mowing the Laverstoke range,

• Keeping the Laverstoke bosses in shootable condition,

• Keeping the distance lines marked out,

• Keeping The Warren Bosses in shootable condition,

• Helping at Beginners Courses - setting up and or being an extra pair of helping hands for the coaches and experienced archers who typically take the beginners through the course itself.

• Taking on a role within the club itself, such as;

  • Chairman,

  • Club Secretary,

  • Treasurer,

  • Membership Secretary,

  • Equipment Officer,

  • Records & Competitions Officer,

  • Coaching Officer,

  • Tournament Organiser,

  • Safeguarding Officer(s),

  • Associate Committee Members.

• Helping with the preparations for events we hold/run at The Warren, be it;

  • Bringing a cake/tray bake to an event,

  • Helping with the catering team during an event,

  • Being part of the 'work party' team during an event,

  • Helping move bosses and prepare the course (pruning/strimming/etc.),

  • Putting up and or taking down the tents.

If you're interested in helping out in any way with the running of the club, or helping at events, please do contact the Chairman or Secretary. They'll be more than happy to outline what the various club officers do in their roles and would be delighted to put new names forward for election onto the Committee.

You can use the 'Contact' page on the OvBA website to get in touch and let us know how you're thinking about helping and whether you're interested in sitting on the Committee to help run the club.

Annual General Meeting

The clubs' AGM is due to take place in May and will likely be held at The Red Lion in Overton on a Thursday evening, there will be a warm welcome for anyone who would like to attend and food is usually provided, in the form of a buffet, so please feel free to come along and see for yourself what a friendly bunch we all are.

The Portsmouth and Frostbite Challenge results will be announced and trophies awarded.

If you think there is someone at the club who has gone above and beyond over the last year, then please let the Club Secretary know, either via the 'Contact' page on the OvBA website, via email, or in person. This person can then be added to the list of members who will be considered for the Presidents Medal, which is awarded annually to a member who had gone the extra mile to help the club, or its members.

Keeping Track Of Your Scores - and other things too

The very talented Steve Allam wrote, built, maintains and updates the Archery Scoring App called "Expert Archer" which apart from allowing you to score all sorts of rounds you shoot, so you can keep track of your scores, you can also detail the equipment you are using, including allowing you to specify different sets of arrows, record all of your different sight marks and even keep track of coaching notes - if you and your coach use "Expert Archer".

Most if not all of the committee members use the app, so feel free to have a chat with any of them, or if you want to use it to its fullest potential, it might be worth having a chat with Steve Allam if the first person you speak to is unsure of everything the app can do for you.