A great effort by Gravesend Archers has resulted in a tremendous £1,000 donation to the Fletchers’ Trust.

The photo shows the Gravesend team and Chairman of the Fletchers’ Trust, Chris Brown.  Chris and I made our way to Meopham School in Kent which is the week-end home of Gravesend Archers.  There five stalwart archers and their support teams were part way through attempting to complete 24 Warwick rounds (each of 2 dozen arrows at 60 yards and 2 dozen at 50 yards) within 24 hours – that’s 1152 shots -and all to raise funds for selected charities.  What a wonderful idea!!

They found the Fletchers’ Trust on the internet and chose to support us as their sole beneficiary after a supportive conversation with our Clerk, Kate.  Shortly after our arrival we were overtaken by a torrential downpour so we dived into a tent and Chris took the chance in the enforced break to give an ad hoc presentation on the work of the Trust – with a focus on our work to support disabled archers – both as individuals and collectively in competitions.

The sunshine quickly returned and we saw some archery action from one compound, two sighted recurves, an unsighted recurve and a longbow with traditional wooden arrows.  We left them wondering how many arrows they might lose in the dark hours of the night despite the floodlights.

So, please join me in thanking our new friends at Gravesend Archers and, in particular, to Richard Watts, the Tournament Officer, who organised the charity event. 

If you are an archery club interested in supporting the Trust in a similar way, please contact The Clerk in the first instance.