The 2010 UK and Isle of Ireland Field Archery Championships took place on 10th and 11th July over a gloriously warm and sunny weekend

Over 110 archers came to the Vale of Glamorgan to shoot in the UK’s top field archery event making it the best attended UK and Isle of Ireland Championships for many years. Llantwit Major Archers were shooting in the tournament, it was the largest representation from the Llantwit Major club for a very long time, reflecting the growth and increased team spirit which the club has shown over recent years.

The tournament was hosted by Llantwit Major Archers at their Fonmon Castle course by kind permission of Sir Brooke Boothby. Llantwit Major Archers wish to thank Sir Brooke and Lady Boothby for their kindness and generosity in allowing the club to have the course in the grounds of their home and for kindly agreeing to present the awards to the tournament champions at the end.

Llantwit Major Archers took the opportunity to raise funds for Help for Heroes by asking all archers to donate for parking and at the tea tent, as expected all archers were generous and raised around £100 which was passed on to the charity.

Over the last 4 months members and family of members of Llantwit Major Archers have put in a huge amount of work getting the course into a good condition to hold the shoot and have been assisted by the Community Payback group, for which the club is very grateful. The work done was recognised and appreciated by all who shot the tournament and many compliments were received from archers as to the high quality of the course and the event.

Llantwit Major Archers were at the centre of the event in many groups and came away with a number of trophies, a number of our archers shot personal best scores on what is recognised as being one of the hardest field archery courses in the UK.

The support received by the club from all our members and the families of our members was, as usual, fantastic. A special thanks goes to the ‘catering crew’ Caroline, Cath, and Sally, everyone enjoyed the tea stop, not only for the much needed refreshments but also for the conversation and the humour that lifted flagging archers spirits and helped them go on to shoot the next part of the course, so much so that the Irish archers invited them to come to Ireland next year and do the same for them when Ireland hosts the championships!

At the end on Sunday afternoon, once all the arrows were shot and all the scores counted many Welsh archers came away with awards and Llantwit Major Archers were prominent among them, receiving awards and being congratulated by Sir Brooke on their achievements.

The following Llantwit Major Archers shot in the championships.
Yoke Lunn, Adult Female Barebow Recurve, UK Champion 2010
Anna Ritchie, Cub Female Freestyle Unlimited, UK Champion  2010
Chris Gray, Junior Male Freestyle Recurve Limited, UK Champion 2010
Joe Griffiths, Cub Male Freestyle Limited, UK Champion 2010
Gethyn Friend, Junior Male Barebow Recurve, UK Champion 2010
Michael Mattingley, Adult Male Historic Bow, UK Champion 2010
Dave Gray, Adult Male Freestyle Recurve Limited, 1st C Class
Colin Ketley, Adult Male Barebow Recurve, 1st C Class
Sandra Jones, Adult Female Freestyle Recurve Limited
Connor Harrison, Junior Male Freestyle Recurve Limited
Paul Watson, Adult Male Barebow Recurve
Claire Hamilton-Jones, Adult Female Freestyle Unlimited
Mark Lunn, Adult Male Freestyle Recurve Limited.
Nigel Kent, Adult Male Bowhunter Unlimited
Cyril Jones, Adult Male Bowhunter Recurve
Mathew Symmonds Adult Male Freestyle Recurve

Llantwit Major Archers would like to thank Nick Graham for organising the ATC who kindly provided Volunteers to Marshall the tournament, Roger Griffiths for Cub Minding and our sponsors for the event, Wales Archery and Blackrock Archery.

Oh and it was sunny at Target two at the start of the day !