Bowyers' Longbow Day
At the Royal Toxophilite Society's idyllic archery ground in Burnham, the much-enjoyed annual Bowyers' Longbow Plate Day contest took place on Sunday 29 July, for invited longbow archers from all over the country. The very faint intermittent drizzle did not disturb the excellence of the day's shooting, and as usual, the 'longbow spirit' was much in evidence, presided over, as ever, by the Royal Tox's genial Freddie Fairfield, as organiser, competitor and scorer. The results were announced by Freddie at the end of the day, and the trophies were presented by IPM Tony Kench on behalf of the Bowyers, for the happy winners to keep for the ensuing year.
Bowyers' Longbow Plate Day dates back to 1981 as an offshoot of Bowyers' Prize Day, which had started as a longbow competition in 1910 but had progressively given way to modern recurve bows, leading to demand for a separate contest for longbows only. The original trophies were engraved pewter plates for gentlemen and ladies, presented by the then Bowyers' Master, Anthony Wood, and still awarded today for Most Hits. Additional trophies were presented by subsequent Bowyers' Masters: the Robert Hardy and Christopher Ballenden silver coasters for Highest Scores, the Peter Seaton silver goblets for Most Golds, and the Richard Model rose bowls for Best Golds.
Archived event reports
- A full list of archived event reports is available in the Members' area