Essex and Suffolk County Archery Association

It is with an extremely heavy heart that I pass on the sad news that our longtime club-member and friend Carmel Bassett has passed away.
Most of you will have known Carmel as our highly dedicated (and accomplished) Visually-Impaired archer who, together with husband Bob, were a constant presence at our practice sessions and shoots throughout the year, and often travelled widely to enjoy their passion for archery.
We nominated Carmel for the ECAA Thelma Davison Award last year, which she was thrilled to receive, with the following citation:

"Partially-sighted since birth, Carmel has been a VI archer for many years: initially shooting the early competition rounds using a recurve bow equipped with a magnified sight but due to rule changes to the B2/B3 class, was obliged to switch to the tactile sight to maintain her position on the GB Paralympic team.

With her eyesight in continuous decline, and with her competitors opting to shoot with compound bows, she switched from recurve to compound herself: no easy task given how shooting relies so much on feel.

In mid-2018 Carmel contracted cancer and underwent rigorous and debilitating chemotherapy. Despite struggling with fitness and consistency, Carmel's enthusiasm for the sport has not waned and, as her recovery continues, she regularly attends competitions both at home and abroad, including the Andorra Open VI and Berlin Open Indoor tournaments.

Despite the negative effects of her medication and increasing reliance on guide dogs (and, of course, her loyal 'dogsbody' Bob!), Carmel is a staunch supporter of the club - ready and willing to help with any task, and of course shoots as often as her energy permits - always positive and cheerful, with her sights firmly set on participating in the Vegas Shoot and rejoining the National squad."

Prior to the COVID outbreak, Carmel was attending our indoor sessions at Sweyne and was as upbeat and positive as ever, always seeking to improve her shot and offering kind words of wisdom and encouragement to everyone she talked to. Her passing comes as a huge shock and I'm sure all who knew her will join me in sending our deepest condolences to Bob whilst remembering Carmel for her humour, energy and spirit.

Tim Davies
RAYLEIGH TOWN ARCHERY CLUB

The running of the 70th East Anglian Championship will have to wait until next year.

As Alan Drinkwater, the organiser, says:-

Very sad to announce that following the continued restrictions and uncertainty surrounding the Corona virus pandemic our organising committee has decided to cancel the tournament.   I have been in contact with AGB to gain their latest views and they are going to refund our UK record status and Rose award registration fee.  Our current intention is to hold the 70 anniversary of this shoot in 2021 on the 22nd August.

The format will be the same as we had planned for 2020.

When the lock down process commenced in March I had thought we might be back in action by the date of the tournament but alas we have all seen so many plans put aside so let us hope that there is some good news for the full resumption of our sport in the near future.

Matt Prior has taken over as Secretary of Mayflower Archers.

All the Club details are on the Mayflower Archers page.

Hi

Hope you are all well.

Just sending out official confirmation that the Noak Hill Wooden bow and arrow shoot scheduled for 12^th July 2020 has been cancelled.

Many thanks

Look forward to seeing you sometime soon, 

Mark Lawrence
Noak Hill Archers

It will come as no surprise that this years ECAA County Championship has been cancelled.

It has been re-arranged for Sunday 6th June 2021 so keep the date free in the diary.

Many thanks to all the archers that had entered West Essex Bowmen Air Ambulance shoot.

Many of our entries kindly donated all their entry fee to the ambulance, and because of this we are happy to say the we have donated £1644.32 to the ambulance this year.

As always we are over the moon with your generosity.

Thank you all

Stay safe and hope to see you all soon on the shooting line.

Thanks again

PAUL TOLSON
West Essex Bowmen