Dunster Archery Week 2023

The 67th GWAS and SCAA Dunster Archery Week

The annual archery competition which dates back to 1861, although it was renamed Dunster Archery Week in 1955.

It is fantastic that it takes place right on our doorstep, enabling our members to mix with archers from as far afield as Australia.

There are competitions in most archery disciplines, notably Target, Clout and Field.

Several of our archers took part and were supported by others from the club cheering them on.

Further Results

Gents WA1440 – Gents Recurve – 968 – Mike Cooper
Gents WA1440 – Gents Barebow – 632 – Ian Bailey
Field Round – Ladies Barebow – 270 – Charlotte Bailey
Field Round – Gents Barebow – 306 – Ian Bailey
Field Round – Gents Freestyle – 478 – Mike Cooper
Field Round – Gents Traditional – 210 – Paul Birch
Albion – Gents Recurve – 653 – Steve Robertson
Albion – Gents Longbow – 340 – Pete Offin
Western – Gents Compound – 732 – Paul Birch
Longbow Two Way Western – 283 – Pete Offin
Longbow Two Way Western – 268 – Mike Cooper
Longbow Two Way Western – 217 – Charlotte Bailey
Longbow Two Way Western – 130 – Courtenay Welsh
Longbow Two Way Western – 102 – Ian Bailey
Double Two Way Clout – Gents Barebow – 16 – Ian Bailey
Western – Gents Recurve – 596 – Steve Robertson
Western – Gents Longbow – 357 – Pete Offin
Western – Gents Barebow – 200 – Courtenay Welsh
Double York – Gents Recurve – 1883 – Mike Cooper
Double York – Gents Longbow – 364 – Pete Offin

Stories from Dunster

“The end of another Dunster week, which is, I think, my 15th time attending. I did the last weekend initially, but I very quickly came for the whole week. In the early days, I shot every day, including the longbow and clout days, but as time moved on, I sold the longbow and now use the middle two days as a rest. As ever, I find the field day the most enjoyable. As I use my horse bow for that, it’s an entirely different experience to target shooting with a compound. It’s fun and more exciting when I hit something(still more misses than hits, though).  I noticed this year that there were fewer targets on the main field than usual, and they were spaced apart a bit more, but there are still a lot of archers there for the week.   Of course, one of the week’s highlights is the food tent, and I usually try to have an ice cream every day I’m there. This year, I tried a different tack and had a slice (or two occasionally) of Bakewell Tart for every day I was on the field, but I also had ice cream at the end of the week.

This year, I managed to persuade a friend from one of my former clubs to come down for the field shoot, and she enjoyed it so much she has promised to come back next year and hopefully shoot on Monday as well.

This year, I learned not to change your equipment right before a week of archery and expect it all to go without a hitch. So, the new release aid is back in the bag, the old release aid is back on and “Oh look, your scores have improved by about 100 points!”.   Even with that, I managed to get a third-place visitor last weekend. Why am I considered a visitor?  I entered back before we moved down here in May,  and I checked with the organisers, and it seems AGB has a rule that I need to wait six months before I can be considered a county archer.

It still feels strange, though, as Dunster week was usually a holiday for me, and it’s odd to go home each night rather than back to a B&B or rented cottage. Still, I’ll get used to it and roll on Dunster 2024.”

Paul Birch.