7th February

The first serious work party of 2010 at Fonmon took place to start getting it into shape for a 28 target shoot - a fantastic turn out and good weather allowed us to do some great work.

Paths were cleared of fallen trees to allow archers to walk from the peg to the butt without having to negociate slippy bark and unsure footing. Steps were cut in a number of places making a good start to ensure everyone can feel confident moving up and down the slopes.

New butts were put in to the North end to set up the new 14 target course, these will be test shot by a compound archer to make sure we dont have any shoot throughs that can be avoided. Obstacles were removed between targets so as to ensure a clear flight for the arrows, this will be tested by one of our Longbow archers to make sure we have good clearance, but we have not removed interesting features that may make you think a bit before you shoot! and the first signs and route markers were placed.

Pallets were put down in a couple of places to help where there is some deep mud. All of this was a great start and we have lots more to do to continue the good work until we can get the North course chartered and ready to allow us to shoot the full 28 for the Fonmon Challenge.

Also both Rod and Mark were re-united with arrows lost on previous shoots, a positive benefit of coming to a work party!

The committeee wish to offer their grateful thanks to the following for their great work and we look forward to seeing you all again and a few more besides at the next work party. In no particular order -

Gethyn, Nathan, Molly, Jessica, Elise, Michael, Dave, Chris, Paul, Sandra, Rod, Tom, Yoke, Verity, Claire, Roger, Mark

Lots of photos in the gallery! have a look.

The second work party of 2010 Fonmon took place to get the 14 North end targets in place and pegged - a great turn out and good weather allowed us to complete this

Shoot pegs were cleared and stand points were created along with steps and pathways to allow archers to walk from the peg to the butt.. The steps cut in a number of places will help ensure everyone can feel confident moving up and down the slopes.

New butts were put in to the North end to set up the new 14 target course, these were test shot by a Mike, one of our club longbow archer to make sure we dont have any branches in the way, we will have a compound archer check for shoot throughsso that they can be avoided. But we have not removed interesting features that may make you think a bit before you shoot!

The committeee wish to offer their grateful thanks to the following for their great work and we look forward to seeing you all again and a few more besides at the next work party. In no particular order -

Gethyn, Nathan, Molly, Connor, Michael, Dave, Chris, Yoke, Verity, Claire, Roger, Mark, Nigel, Joe, Colin,

more photos will be in the gallery soon! have a look.

A select band were there to carry out the 3rd work party. the weather was overcast and it tried to rain a couple of times but not enought to prevent us from working, numbers have dwindled but the work carried out by the few for the good of the many did not.

We had apologies from a few stalwart members but were missing a number of others that we know shoot Fonmon - please help us make it a great course if you want to shoot it - the new shed is in place now and so better on course facilities can be provided for major tournaments.

We rebanded the first 7 butts on the North end and replaced one completely, a net was put up behind target 2, more steps and shoot points were created - the next work party will continue this work until all the butts have been rebanded or replaced as required.

The last two work parties will be to recover all old butts and foam to allow us to rebuild spares for use as practice butts and reduce the wear on the course butts.

Our thanks to Nathan, Gethyn, Molly, Mike, Sally, Elise, Kathrine, Yoke and Verity who helped us complete the days work.

All the usual suspects were there - well those that were not doing a shoot or a First Aid course that is ! The 4th work party went ahead in glorious weather - if anything it was too hot and we were all glad we were under the trees for most of the work.

The North end course has been strimmed so you can now go around the course without needing a machete !

We replaced a butt on the North end and noted a few more on both ends that need urgent attention - new frames etc - the next work party will continue this work until all the butts have been rebanded or replaced as required.

A full set of new sign boards were put out, more steps and path work was carried out - special thanks to Dave for target 2 steps - and again to Dave and Chris for the pallets, It was good to see Cyril there as well and I know Dave was glad of the help with the steps. We are in the process of replacing all of the distance marker pegs with newly painted pegs around the course, a very big 'thank you' from all the committee to Paul for assisting in the peg work, without his help we would not be able to do this.

The last two work parties will be to recover all old butts and foam to allow us to rebuild spares for use as practice butts and reduce the wear on the course butts, as well as tidy the course up.

Our thanks to Peter, Nathan, Mike, Elise, Kathrine, Connor, Dave, Chris, Cyril and Verity who helped us complete the days work.

a few photos of the day

The usual suspects were in attendance and most of the new pegs were put out - except for a few that were mysteriously not there ! more work needed on the painting for next week then !

The three butts that were commented on as being soft during the FMT2 shoot at South end have been replaced by newly rebanded butts and others were checked.

Llantwit Major Archers would like to thank Colin for persevering with the Community payback group as they have now attended and put in some excellent work - they will attend site on a number of occasions going forward doing path clearing, steps and scrub cutting for us - a great benefit to us and we hope they get some satisfaction from the value the work has for us.

Thanks go to Mike, Colin, Pete, Molly, Nathan, Chris, Eleanor, Verity but especially to Rod for attending early and strimming North end - and all on his birthday !! Happy Birthday Rod and many thanks for your help it was very much appreciated