AFTER RATHER a bad start, due partly to the weather, and partly to the indisposition of the organiser, the Archery Club was under way by about the fourth week of term. Soon after this, the hut in which the equipment was kept had to be demolished and everything was moved to a room in the model railway hut, where it has remained ever since. Attendance was now high, now low, but there was a regular flow of people, many of whom kept up their interest all term. This irregularity of numbers who attended can probably be put down to the weather, for of the three afternoons a week devoted to archery, a fairly high percentage were rained off. Nobody's marksmanship was outstanding, but this was excusable since, for most of the term, we were using two-foot targets, whereas the regulation size for summer is four-foot; this, for the sake of the non-mathematical readers, means we were only shooting on a quarter the regulation surface area! We shot at any distance from twenty yards to one hundred and thirty yards, but by far the most popular "shoot" was the "long-shoot", for which we stood on the terraces at the front of the main building and aimed at targets in the middle of Orwell side; although no-one ever hit the target from here, there was always a chorus of voices at the end of the afternoon, asking for a "long-shoot", and it never failed. to attract a large audience, after all, it is common knowledge that "hope springs eternal in the human breast"! One of the Master's wives decided, to turn Maid Marion and tried her hand at this sport. She was more successful than most on her first day out, but after this her interest seemed to wane. It would be good to see more Staff taking part in archery so that later there could, perhaps, be a "Staff versus boys" archery match. Our equipment is in good order with few breakages this term. The purchase of a Four-foot target late in the term, together with some new arrows, was a big step forward and a great improvement to our stock. We now have three targets and twelve bows, for each of which there are at least six arrows. It is a pity that this large target arrived so late in the term, but it will be ready for next year anyway. It did arrive early enough. however, to be used for the third of our archery matches with Winchester College. This was again postal, but was our first outdoor match. We had lost one indoor match but won the other so this was, perhaps, important to us. Our team consisted of Taylor, Fuller, Cracknell and Clutterbuck, who shot two dozen arrows at thirty, forty and fifty yards, with the following success.

This score was not excellent but it was fairly commendable, and we succeeded in beating Winchester, who scored 789 points, by a reasonable margin. I would like to thank P. Stocken, President of Winchester Archery Society, for his co-operation in arranging these matches, which were all most enjoyable. I sincerely hope more can be arranged, and also with different schools, in the future.

M. P. CRACKNELL

SINCE THE last issue of "Janus" there is obviously very little news for the Club is fairly inactive during the winter months. We have, however, shot off our first inter school archery matches, both against Winchester College and both indoor, postal matches. Each was shot in the gym. (with plenty of fortifications behind the target!) at a distance of 20 yards. The first, last December, we 1ost by 283 points to 400; that was after only 30 minutes' practice at indoor shooting at all. This term, on 23rd March, our six merry men shot their two dozen arrows with far greater accuracy (we had a whole hour's practice for this shoot) and returned a score of 473 points, which beat Winchester's 404 by a reasonable margin. We are very pleased to be able to have these matches and must thank Mr. Johnston for providing a link between our two schools for this purpose. We must hope that next term will provide us with many budding new aspirants to William Tell fame who can continue the matches in later years.

THIS TERM THE Club unfortunately suffered the loss of its founder and patient organiser, Mrs. Ward, and we would like to thank her for the trouble she has taken during the past five years.

The Club was soon under way, and with the assistance of Mr. Johnston, Mr. Goetzee and Mr. Thomas, meetings were held twice a week.

A good deal of new equipment was bought, including bows, arrows and a target stand.

We tried to arrange our first inter-school match, a postal one with Winchester College, but this did not come off. For the Christmas term a similar match, indoors, has been arranged. On Open Day the Annual School Archery Match was almost rained off but eventually it took place on Orwell Side.

I think interest in this sport is growing, although attendance is far from regular. The First Form are showing promise of future ability, which we hope will develop in years to come.

M. P. CRACKNELL (VI)

During the past term we have again seen a very keen interest amongst the boys for Archery. The club met on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays when the weather was suitable.

We were able to spend a little more money on equipment this year and quite a number of boys came along with their own bows and arrows. Bicknell and Hardy produced bows at 5 ft 9 in., which are the two largest bows yet seen in the club.

Again, at the end of the season we held a contest, and one or two of the new boys gained a place in the teams. The results were as follows:

'B' Team were duly rewarded for their victory with an iced cake, which was presented by the headmaster. The very close score gave a great deal of excitement both to competitors and spectators.

It is hoped that next year we will be able to have an Inter-House Competition.

At the beginning of the summer term an Archery Club was formed which became known to many in the school as 'The Cupid's Club'. Meetings take place on Orwell Side on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, and occasionally at week-ends. An average of twenty to twenty-five boys attend these meetings, all very eager to become accomplished at this sport. The majority of these boys have never used a bow but with some coaching and practice they now shoot at a standard size target of 4-ft. diameter at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 yards range. A few weeks before the school's 'Open Day', a number of boys asked if they might put on a display for the parents. This, we decided to do and finally the following boys were chosen to take part in the contest.

'A' Team
Gillard, Ferrier, Bicknell, Glass D, McMaster, Hardy, Glass A, Spicer.

'B' Team
McCulloch, Gordon-Smith, Cracknell, Bass, Boyce, Gilbert, Guest, Glanville.

The contest arranged was two Junior Columbia Rounds, each round consisting of twenty-four arrows at 40, 30 and 20 yards range.

A word of praise to Bicknell who has saved many boys from getting bruised arms by making arm guards, to Harrington who has repaired our bow strings and to Mr Hanson for repairing our arrows.

I hope this very old English sport will continue to be one of the favourite pastimes of the boys here at Woolverstone.