Are you interested in taking up the bow? Keen to match your prowess with our target archers? Compete in clouts and window shoots from the battlements of castles?
We have a small corps of Archers in the Shire, pursuing the sport armed with traditional hunting bows, horse bows, longbows, and even modern bows. However, our archers are scattered across the geography of the Shire and this presents a challenge for a regular Shire practice.
With this in mind, we recommend that you drop a line to the Captain of Archers Lord Edmund letting them know your interest and what equipment you may have.
We highly recommend that you join a local archery club as most clubs have a contingent of traditional archers. The Captain will be able to advise on finding one. This gives you the added advantage of a local practice, membership of Archery GB and access to coaching.
The Captain will keep an eye out for competitions, both SCA (such as the Inter-Kingdom Archery Competition, and Raglan) and non-SCA Open competitions with traditional or longbow categories.
There is also an interest in developing combat archery, though under Kingdom rules, you need to authorise as a Heavy Fighter first in order to pass safety requirements on the field.
Archery Elsewhere
Archery is becoming increasingly common at events such as Raglan Fair, Yule Ball and Melee in the Manor, as well as at our own autumn event Michaelmas. Both target and 3D field archery feature and so far this is where we gather for SCA shoots.
Several members of Thamesreach hold ranks in the Kingdom of Drachenwald Company of Archers and enter postal scores for the Inter-Kingdom Archery Competitions.