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Berkshire News


AGM - Jan 28th 2011	Julie Booth takes over from Paula Golding as Berkshire Secretary after three years of sterling work for the county. Other changes saw Shirley Nicolson taking over the role of Junior Rep, and Rob Potts taking over the role of Outside Tournament Organiser for this year. The Top Club awards, both Senior and Junior, were won again by Warfield, and the Mary Dolan Trophy was awarded to Denis Jones from Burleigh.

Harlequin Bowmen Success at National Clout Champs 2010	On 16^th October 2010 four intrepid archers from Harlequin Bowmen headed up North to Bradford for the Clout Championship. The day was grey, chilly, drizzly and blustery at times. At one point of the day there was a rainbow that started to cross the field. We hoped it would stop on one of the flags and show us where the gold was! There were ten flags. One hundred and twenty five hopeful archers started the day and one hundred and twenty three ended the day. Berkshire was represented by Brian Taylor, Gavin Taylor, Danny Taylor and Denys Barratt from Harlequin Bowmen.Brian, Danny and Denys came away as the National Compound Team Champions. Individually, Gavin came fourth in the Gents Barebow section. Brian came fourth and Danny fifth in the Gents Compound. Denys came sixth in the Ladies Compound.On the Sunday they competed in the Leicestershire and Rutland County Fita Clout Championships. Brian came third in the Visitors Gents Compound. Gavin claimed his black tassel and Denys claimed her blue tassel. Thank you to Denys Barratt for the report. See Pictures

SCAS Junior Intercounties Aug '10	Berkshire's Junior team took 3rd place in the 2010 SCAS Junior Intercounties match held as usual in Essex. The this year's team was George Arthur, Luke Wanden, Alex Hibbert, Nic Allen, Siophie Meering and Eleanor Barry.

Berkshire Champs	The weather was hot dry and windy, with the Champs again being held at Harlequins Didcot ground. Once again many thanks must go to Steve Barry for taking on the task of organising the tournament, and Harlequin Bowmen for the sterling work they did . This years new County Champions are Kathy Critchlow-Smith (Ladies Recurve), Caroline Robertson, (ladies Compound); Jonathon Manning, (Gents Recurve); Ian Hartfree, (Gents Compound); and Colin Young (Gents Longbow). George Arthur won the Don Stamp Sword. Congratulations to all.

Bowman of Warfield - press release	On 18th April Bowmen of Warfield sent a team of a dozen archers to the Droitwich Archers spring tournament and claimed 6 national records. This is the most successful outing in the history of the club. Were they just lucky, perhaps? Quite the opposite. Warfield's archers narrowly missed a further 3 national records. This is the second time that Warfield have sent a "mob" of archers to a tournament this year. The first outing was on the 7th March when a mob of over 24 Warfield archers descended on the Sussex indoor tournament at K2 in Crawley. This indoor tournament provided a brilliant opportunity for novice archers to experience their first tournament. Only the most experienced (& fanatical) archers shoot national records, right? Wrong! Warfield's record holders have been doing archery for less than 3 years. Some far less. Three years ago Warfield held just 2 national records. This outing brings the current tally to 16 national records: the best in Berkshire.

AGM - Jan 29th 2010	Kathy Critchlow-Smith has been elected as Berkshire's new President. The meeting expressed it thanks to outgoing president Graham Potts for his sterling work over the past three years. The Mary Dolan Trophy was awarded to Shirley Nicolson, for her work in not only running the Berkshire Indoor Champs for the last three years, but her outstanding work in promoting archery in schools. Other changes to the Berkshire Committee were Huw Jones taking over as Records Officer, and Chris Meering moving to the role of Junior Rep. Warfield won both the Senior and Junior Top Club award.

British Target Champs	Burleigh Archers featured heavily in the recent British Target Champs, with some great successes. Graham Potts represented England who came in second, just ten points behind Scotland; Jonathon and Nicholas Manning, Jane Burnham and Robert Storrar took the Team Club Trophy; and Jonathon was 3rd overall recurve gent, as well as taking the Double Distance 100yds Trophy. Many thanks to Ted Burnham for the report.

Berkshire Champs	A mostly sunny but gusty day this year saw the Berkshire Champs held at Harlequin's ground at Didcot. Many thanks must go to Steve Barry for taking on the task of organising the tournament, and Harlequin Bowmen for the sterling work they did . Our new Lady County Champions are Sophie Meering, Recurve; Sally du Feu, Compound; Anne Barefield, Longbow. The Gentleman County Champions are Jonathon Manning, Recurve; Ian Hartfree, Compound; and Mick Tappin, Longbow. Congratulations to all. Mari Jones set another National Record, this time for the national round.

Burleigh National Records	Four National records were broken at the Burleigh Senior and Junior events over the weekend of 21st and 22nd June. On the Saturday Mari Jones of Warfield set a new record for the Windsor for Junior Ladies Barebow with 705, and Grant Ballentine broke his own Albion Longbow record with a score of 262. The next day Grant set another national record for the Long Western, and Elizabeth Wilson of Harlequin wrapped it up with a score of 784 for the Western Junior Ladies Compound. Well done to all.

England Teams	2 Berkshire archers have been selected for this year's first England Team matches: - Nicholas Manning for the Senior Euronations in Scotland, and Matt Brighton for the Junior Home Nations and Euronations - all matches being held in July.

Berkshire AGM 2009	Steve Nicolson has been elected as Berkshire's new Chairman. The meeting expressed it thanks to Eddie Newman who is moving away from the region. The Mary Dolan Trophy was awarded to John Kember-Smith not only for his outstanding services to Berkshire Archery, but his work with the GNAS over the years. There was an amendment to the Berkshire Constitution changing the length of office for the Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary from 1 year to 3 years, effective from 2010 onwards. Burleigh won the Senior and Warfield the Junior Top Club award.

More National Records for Mari	Mari Jones from Warfield has continued her record breaking run, by adding the FITA 25 and Combined FITA National Barebow Records at the Andover Archers Advent shoot, to her Portsmouth one set at the Berks indoors. Congratulations Mari!

Berkshire Indoor Champs	Mari Jones from Warfield set a new Portsmouth National Record for the Junior Girls Barebow with a massive score of 534, beating the previous record by 17 points. Grant Womack retained his County Champions crown, and was joined by Graham Potts (Compound), Mick Tappin (Longbow), Anna O'Neal (Lady's recurve), Lyn Wilson (Compound), Anne Barefield (Longbow), with Mari taking the overall Junior Ladies title and Matt Brighton the Junior Gents. Many thanks to Shirley Nicolson and her crew for staging these champs.

Laleham Albion	Crowthorne's Grant Ballentine set his second National Record of the year with a score of 241 for the U18 Longbow.

Senior SCAS Intercounties Match	Berkshire's Recurve team took second spot with a combined score of 4361 in the SCAS Intercounties tournament : Jonathon Manning, Wayne Stocker, Nicholas Manning and Karen Adkins. The Compound team came fourth with a score of 4760: Graham Potts, Richard Brady, Sally du Feu and Ian Hartfree.

Field World Champs	Chris Wells won the bronze medal at the World Field Champs in Wales. The weather was truly awful, with the second day of qualifying being cancelled, and the rest of the tournament having to be rescheduled. Well done to Chris, who is about to start at Warwick University.


Junior SCAS Intercounties Match	In true Olympic style, Berkshire's 5 juniors produced a stunning display to claim third place in the Junior Intercounties match on August 17th, the team being Alex Hibbert, Sophie Meering, Geroge Arthur, Eleanor Barry and Robert Urquhart. Now it's over to the Seniors to beat that!


Tri Counties Match	The annual Tri-Counties match was held at Burleigh's ground on Saturday 9th August. Unfortunately this year it became a bi-counties match as Bucks could not field a team. The weather was much as we would have expected this summer - a mixture of sun to start followed in the afternoon by rain and wind. As to results, well... Herts won the Recurve, Compound and Longbow! Berkshire held onto the Junior title, although it has to said Herts only had one archer! Thanks go to Burleigh and Robert Potts for stepping in at a late date to organise the event. Full results are on the tournaments page.


National Record	Grant Ballentine of Crowthorne added nearly one hundred points onto his existing Short National national record, at Crowthorne's summer tournament.

Berskhire Champs	One of the first relatively sunny days this year saw the Berkshire Champs at Windsor Forest's ground in the shadow of the castle. Many thanks must go to Denis Jones for taking on the task of organising the tournament, and Windsor Forest for staging the champs at their ground. Full scores to follow.

Euronations	3 Berkshire archers have been selected for this year's Euronations Tournaments - Nicholas Manning for the Seniors in Belfast, and Chris Wells and Sophie Meering for the Juniors in Wales

GNAS Gussey Trophy	At the GNAS AGM last Sunday, Rob Anderson was awarded the Gussey Trophy, presented annually to the Wheelchair Archer of the Year. The citation included reference to Rob's achievements working with the disabled squad, of which he is both member and coach, and his success in achieving his Senior Coach Grade in 2007. The County wish to congratulate Rob on this prestigious award, reflecting his great contribution to archery.


Berkshire AGM news Jan 2008	Eddie Newman has been elected as Berkshire's Chairman, along with Paula Golding as the new Secretary, and Ted Burnham as Treasurer. The meeting offered it thanks to the departing officers, namely Adam Abbott, Kathy-Critchlow Smith and Joan Kember-Smith respectively for their dedication over the years. Adam keeps his influence on Berkshire's scene by becoming our Gentleman Vice President, and one of Berkshire's SCAS Reps. Peter Tranckle has been re-elected as Junior Rep, and Mike Hogg has taken over as Child Protection Officer. The AGM also voted to change the annual Field Tournament to a FITA or GNAS round. Burleigh won both the Senior and Junior Top Club award. More details on the Tournaments and Results page.

Junior National Indoor Champs	Grant Ballentine of Crowthorne took the overall Junior Longbow title at this years Junior National Indoor Champs in Lilleshall with a score of 346 and 59 hits, smashing the previous Berkshire Open record. Chris Wells came 3rd equal in the U18's, only 1 point behind the winner.

World Field Rankings - 2007	Chris Wells has finished the Field Season ranked as World No1 in the Junior Recurve division. Click here for FITA Field Archery site
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Berkshire indoor Champs 2007	The 2007 Berkshire Indoor Champs we again held at Sandhurst Sports Centre, and organised by Shirley Nicolson and Crowthorne Archers. This year's Champions were: Grant Womack - Gent Recurve; Richard Brady - Gent Compound; Mick Tappin - Gent Longbow; Eddie Newman - Gent Barebow. Karen Atkins - Ladies Recurve; Lyn Wilson - Ladies Compound. Alex Hibbert - Junior Gent Champion; Sophie Meering - Junior Lady Champion. Kirstern Davies of Reading won the best overall novice award. Photos will be posted soon.

Graham Potts confirmed as International Judge	At the recent International Judge's conference in Rome, Graham received confirmation of his upgrade to International Judge, and is looking forward to working at future International events across the World.

GNAS Rankings	Berkshire has two archers in the top 20 Recurve gents - Grant Womack (6th) and Colin Geenes (12th) with Kathy Critchlow-Smith at 20th place in the ladies recurve division.

SCAS Intercounties - Sept 2007	The Berkshire Senior recurve team of Nicholas and Jonathan Manning, Chris Gray and Kathy Critchlow-Smith came in 4th place, whilst the Compound team of Richard Brady, Graham Potts, Ian Hartfree and Lyn Wilson achieved 6th place. Results can be found on the Tournaments page.

World Field Champs - test event	European bronze medallist, Chris Wells, set a new national record for the FITA 24 Combined Gents U18 (Red pegs), with a score of 633, at the World Field Champs test event at Pentref.

Tri Counties Match	Bucks hosted this year's Tri Counties match at Newport Pagnall's ground in Milton Keynes after last year's one in Herts was rained off. Berkshire fielded adult and junior recurve teams, and one longbow archer. A warm mainly sunny day was enjoyed by all, with the senior team finishing second and the junior team of Ben Hiscoe (Burleigh), Alex Hibbert (West Windsor) Matt Brighton and Sophie Meering (Crowthorne) winning. Full scores will be posted on the tournaments page in due course. (See picture section)

Burleigh Coaches	Following a seven month training course, five Burleigh members successfully passed their Coach level exams after two days of assessment. The new coaches are Alex Gray, Sarah Morris, Craig Rundle, Len Starling and Nick Youldon. (See picture section)

European Field Champs - August 2007	Chris Wells of Crowthorne won the bronze medal at the European Field Championships in Croatia. (See picture section)

Junior England Team	Sophie Meering gets her fourth call up for the England Team at this year's Euronations in Ireland, after appearing for the second time at the Junior Nationals in July.