Congratulations to Liveryman Gordon Sharp who won the Coronation Cup at the special Royal Toxophilite Society Platinum Jubilee event on 4 June.

The trophy was presented to the Society on 2 June 1853 by Mrs J K Flower, and the competition is held as near as possible each year to the anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Gordon's longbow is inscribed with the motto of the Company, and his arrow fletchings are in the Company colours of black and yellow.

Congratulations to Liveryman Peter Gerrie and Freeman Archer Jacqueline Gerrie as they approach their 71st Wedding anniversary, having celebrated their Platinum anniversary in 2021.

Peter and Jacqueline are both highly skilled archers and long-standing members of the Royal Toxophilite Society. We were delighted to see them at the Platinum Jubilee event at Archers' Lodge on 4 June.

Peter was treasurer of the Royal Tox from 1974 to 1997, and president from 1997 to 2002. He is also the author of a fascinating history of the Society, 'From Quill to Computer', the book he is holding in the photograph.

On behalf of the whole company, our very best wishes to Peter and Jacqueline.

The WCF was treated to a marvellous talk by champion archer and arrowsmith Mark Stretton, with the intriguing title 'Piercing Plate Armour with Arrows - Fact or Fiction'.

Mark's experimentation left us in no doubt as to the power of the medieval longbow and its effectiveness as a weapon. 

We were privileged to hear about Mark's expertise in making arrows, setting up a range of hands-on tests, and above all deploying his huge skill as an archer.

Mark holds the Guiness World Record for the heaviest longbow draw weight (200 lb) achieved in 2004 at the shooting ground of the Bath Archers.

See also his excellent blog http://markstretton.blogspot.com/

On 15 November 2021 a small group of Fletchers, led by the Master, had the privilege of visiting Bill Terry's personal collection of archery equipment and ephemera at his home in West Kent.

The house is purpose-built and has been much extended to create a most impressive museum containing the collection he has built up over 70 years and we only saw under half, all beautifully displayed. His knowledge of the collection is encyclopaedic and he was most gracious and generous with his welcome and hospitality. He hopes very much that the Fletchers will visit him again in the Spring and perhaps take advantage of using the archery field adjacent to the house. Also, he has under construction, a brand new building to house his extensive picture collection and he hopes that it will be ready for us to see then.

Thanks to PM Chris Brown and Liveryman Felicity Brown for this report.

On 14 September thirteen Fletchers gathered for a day's archery at Noak Hill Archery Club. This is an annual event and we are always welcomed with excellent cakes as well as faced with targets which are both challenging but fun.

In the morning it seemed so easy, just aiming for standard archery bosses appropriate to our various levels of skills. But in the afternoon, we were in the wild, so to speak. Noak Hill is one of the few places with a field archery course where, between bushes and briars, we can try our hand at life size (polystyrene) animals. Around trees, from above, from below, with chances to increase scores by hitting both predator and prey.

A marvellous and unique experience for all. Congratulations to prize winners PM Lesley Agutter, PM David Goodall and Liveryman Tim Eltringham. And even the Master Anne Curry won a chocolate orange for hitting the first gold in the morning session (by sheer fluke as she had missed the target completely on most previous shots!).

On Saturday 4 September 2021 the Fletchers Prize Day was held at the Royal Toxophilite Society.

It is always a special occasion for members of the Company to watch excellent archery as well as to enjoy the splendid hospitality of the Society at their iconic ground north of Burnham.

The Society is one of the oldest archery societies in the UK, being founded in 1781 and we are very grateful for their hosting of two events each year supported by the Fletchers Trust.

Congratulations to all the competitors and especially to the winners of each class:

Ladies Recurve Eleanor Piper; Gents Recurve Conor Hall; Ladies Compound Nat Merry; Gents Compound Bernie Dicks

Once again, a small gang of Fletchers and their guests enjoyed another superb day of archery laid on by the Noak Hill Archers on 19^th Sep 2018.

On the 26th April 2018 we gathered at Noak Hill's splendid grounds  for a prompt start around 10am. After benefiting from the opportunity of instruction from Club members, the assembled Fletchers initially  loosed  their arrows at target archery, before moving on to a field round.   All levels of archery were catered for and everyone was equally welcome, from absolute beginner through to those old-stagers who have attended from the beginning. The instructors are incredibly patient and helpful and catering refreshing, plentiful and delicious. A brief period of rain added an extra element of difficulty during the field shoot. However it didn't detract from the fun being had and the rapid deployment of umbrellas ,courtesy of our hosts, meant that our fletchings and Fletchers stayed dry. 

Earlier this year (2015), on what seemed the first day of summer the Master treated me to my first archery lesson at Noak Hill.  For the benefit of those, who like me have not been to Noak Hill it is a small club on the outskirts of Romford, Essex.  The instructors who are Club members are excellent, very patient and professional and all keen to see you do your best – so much so that at one point I think I had 6 of them advising me on how to hold my bow, position my body, release the arrow for maximum effect. 

Initially everyone shoots at targets, this is to help everyone get back into the swing and to test sights and adjust if necessary, then the scoring begins.  We divide into teams of 3 or 4 depending on the number who attend. Each team has an instructor/guide to take us around to each target and to keep our scores.  We start with target archery and each team then move into the field.  Some 16 or so targets which in this instance were mostly animals, zebra, crocodile, boar, and hart to name a few and each positioned to present a different challenge.  Some had to be shot at from a platform, others from the ground and all at varying angles.  I was fortunate to be in the Andrews team (McMillan and Trapnell) since both are accomplished archers and sadly my ability with a rifle did not translate to a bow as I had hoped. Without their high scores, if we were having a team competition, team Andrews would undoubtedly have been last – competitive moi?  Absolutely – 2^nd is first last!  

The Master was kind enough to take me again in October, when the team at Noak Hill had made the field targets according to an Agincourt theme.  Whilst everyone praised their creativity, these proved even more challenging than usual.  I was pleased that my own performance had improved, though alas not to a level to help with the scoring.

Tea, coffee and biscuits are available throughout the day and the team lay on a stupendous buffet lunch. I urge any member of the Company who has not yet been to Noak Hill yet, to take a day out, and have a go, the instruction is superb, the archery fun, and it’s a great way to get to know your fellow Fletchers better. 

Tuesday 20^th June 2017

Nestroque!  Nock! Draw! Loose!  Nock! Draw! Loose!  Nock! Draw! Loose!

Well the steady rhythm may not have been there, nor the regular pattern, but the actions certainly were as, what I was told was a considerably weakened Fletchers' Team took on that of the Bowyers in the east moat of Her Majesty's Tower of London on a balmy Tuesday evening in June. We were taking part in the annual archery competition between the Fletchers and the Bowyers for the Governor's Trophy which we were told had first been presented in 1901.  More importantly we had lost it to the Bowyers last year and had been exalted to try and retake it for the honour of the Company.

Targets were set up, shooting stations organised and instruction was provided by a most efficient team of volunteers from The London Archers – they even recovered the arrows and collated the scores; not that any company member wouldn't have been delighted to annotate the score cards...  The evening was enhanced by several of the Yeomen Warders who brought their self-crafted bows into the moat and demonstrated their own skill as well as allowing anyone who wished to try their luck drawing 60 – 90 lbs bare bows (no sights, no fancy shaping etc.) and loosing as many arrows as they wished or indeed could. 

Soon arrows were flying along the moat and most were hitting the distant targets but to our horror we learnt that there were 'professionals' in the Bowyers' ranks and one of their chaps actually taught archery!  Moreover, whilst enjoying a refreshing glass of Pimms I was told that although never having shot in a competition before I really ought to 'have a go' as we were so desperately short of people, and that anyone with even a modicum of willingness to shoot really should do so.  I duly did but my accuracy was far from impressive.  However there were some talented Fletcher archers, and Jane’s son, Nicholas Gilbert ran up an excellent score to win him the outstanding guest archer of the evening award  with a score of 27.

Having written so often about the archers at Agincourt I was expecting a similar score from Anne Curry but somehow the spirit of Sir Thomas Erpingham eluded her that day – it wasn't Crispin Crispianus.

However it was the taking part that really counted. I regret that how the adjudicators arrived at the final scores is a mystery to me but amid much cheering the announcement came at the end of the Joint Shoot Dinner in the Royal Fusiliers Officers Mess.  Bowyers: 166.  Fletchers 170.  We had actually won, and a grateful Master was most happy to take charge of the trophy once again.

The most memorable event ended with our two companies having the VIP post to watch the centuries-old ceremony of the keys before wending our way out of the Tower beneath Byward. Our grateful thanks to all those who helped make this occasion so enjoyable.  I apologise but I did not catch the names of those who ran the moat bar or indeed organised the activities apart from our esteemed Clerk Kate who was her usual busy self.  Our most grateful thanks must go to the Constable and Governor of the Tower for permitting the event to take place in this historic venue and to the Royal Fusiliers who were our hosts for the evening and royally entertained us in their mess. We look forward to defending the trophy next year, so if you can shoot without embarrassing yourself too much please join us.

CHRIS SCOTT

Photos Pamela Golding