Killingworth Archers. Newcastle upon Tyne.

Journal Entry 5 - Young'uns.

I was going to call this entry ‘babies’ but then I decided that it would be better to call it ‘young'uns’ as really the club has benefited from juniors of all ages over the years. Now I have to admit that most suddenly change when they reach mid-teens as Archery seems so ‘un-cool’ by then. But lets start at the start and not some years ahead. At one time, some years ago, the club had a ‘nursery tent’ to cater for the children of club members, who were brought to the shoots.

On a technical side, it was never easy to predict who would become a lover of the sport and those who would see it only as a recreation when the sun was at it’s warmest. I’ve been caught out a few times by juniors who spent a year improving little and looked as if archery was a mystery, who suddenly appeared to understand what the whole game was about, improved exceptionally and irritatingly won everything on offer making it look so easy!

Kath and Charlie can confirm this if you wish to ask them! This would still appear to be the case on the odd occasion but never the way it was in the beginning. Instead of ‘comfort’ breaks during the shoot ‘feeding’ breaks were the order of the day.
Then as the children became older you had the new problem of ‘foraging for food’. This childhood game was to see what food you could beg from any other club member without eating your own food, which was jealously guarded. Obviously the answer was to come to Archery with some obscure concoction for yourself, salmon and banana, for example, but invariably this proved to be JUST what the child loved and you still lost your sandwiches!
Surprisingly they often turned out to be REALLY nice adults (mid-teens and upwards) and people who you welcomed as shooting companions, just when you were about to experiment with lettuce, chicken and fig baps!

However, enough of this waffle. Please enjoy the few pictures of our young’uns both past and present, just having ‘fun’.