Twinning - The Weekend!
SIXTEEN archers from Tavistock’s twin town of Pontivy in France arrived in West Devon but due to the blockade of ports they arrived very late. After a good night’s sleep the guests were greeted at the shooting venue by the Tavistock Company of Archers chairman Mike Charlesworth.
The competition was tight this year as Pontivy had brought most of their top junior archers with them so the Tavistock club knew they were in for a tough time. At half time Tavistock were narrowly ahead in most categories, but the damage had now been done with a fine barbecue and lots of local cider.
At the end of the competition the Tavistock team had won many of the categories except the under 16 boys in which the French side took all top three places. In the adult sections Tavistock took many of the categories with some outstanding shooting especially by Martin Sadler shooting Barebow in his first ever competition coming out on top.
The Tavistock U13s archers did themselves proud by winning most of the medals that were available, and in his first ever competition young Tom Barclay shot an excellent 523.
At the end of the day Tavistock had won by more than 500 points and remain unbeaten at home. A new trophy was presented to the club by Sally and Godfrey Perkins of the Market Inn, which the club were grateful for. The new trophy was used as the main runners up award due to the French losing the old one.
An evening of entente cordiale followed at the Blacksmith’s Arms. Jean Yves Boscher, president of the Pontivy club, thanked chairman Mike Charlesworth and the club members for a superb day and said he looked forward to Tavistock joining them in 2009 for more competition in France. Next year the French have challenged Tavistock at field archery, which the club are looking forward to. On Sunday a long and relaxing day out at Cotehele finished off a superb weekend.
