If there is one thing archers enjoy at tournaments besides the shooting, it's the food! Your top athlete will resist the temptation of delicious home-made cake, but as for us lesser mortals...........
It's not just at tournaments either - we don't need much of an excuse to bring out the home baking.
And then there's the mishaps...arrows that don't know where the centre of the target is. Longbow arrows have a mind of their own (as does the longbow archer - but that's another story). They do sometimes end up in the most peculiar places - and not just longbow arrows either.
At one tournament held at Cheltenham Archers on the 17th May 2014, a longbow archer was at full draw when a recently fledged sparrow landed on his arrow! With the greatest control the archer 'came down' rather than taking the shot, thus no doubt saving the life of the young bird. The tournament was abandoned for a few minutes as we all stopped to gaze at the sight, before resuming with the young bird resting on a judge's finger until ready to fly once more!
Dursley
Gloucestershire
United Kingdom