Euston Park Bowmen held their annual soup shoot tournament recently.The venue was Euston Park Estate, with thanks to Lord Euston for the use of these beautiful grounds.

Euston Park Bowmen held their annual soup shoot tournament recently.

The venue was Euston Park Estate, with thanks to Lord Euston for the use of these beautiful grounds.

The day dawned bright and sunny, but with a keen wind blowing. However, archers are a hardy breed and they turned up in their dozens.

The banners were flying, the bacon was cooking and the soup was being prepared as a total of about 70-plus archers made their way on to the archery field ready to compete.

Archers of all ages lined up, using a variety of bows, recurve, compound and long bow.

The rounds being shot were long western (80-60 yards), western (60-50 yards), short western (50-40 yards) and short junior western (30-20 yards).

The judge blew the whistle and the tournament began. Four-dozen arrows were shot at each distance, six arrows making an end and an overall total of 96 arrows shot.

There were two trophies awarded for the most improved handicap (senior and junior), with gold, silver and bronze medals for those who scored the highest in their rounds and within their discipline.

So the competition was serious but, as always, there was friendly banter on the line as the day progressed.

After the first four-dozen arrows a break was called for lunch, with soup and rolls being served.

The tournament then continued, with the final whistle being blown at 3.30pm.

The scores were calculated and the gold medals awards were as follows:

Compound, long western: M Saunders; Compound, short western: J Newman; Compound, western: J Bunn, Mrs J Hart; Longbow, long western: P Fletcher; Recurve, short western: A Sherman, Miss B Farrow, Miss J Behan; Longbow, western: Miss J Aldworth; Recurve, long western: K Allen; Recurve, short junior western: H Silvester, Miss A Levy. Winner of the Senior Handicap Trophy: Miss J Behan. Winner of the Junior Handicap Trophy: J Newman.

The day was sponsored by The Crown Hotel, Mundford, Terry Gascoine, Mundford Power Plant Projects, Clickers Archery of Norwich (Graham Harris) and Tesco.

If anyone is interested in a beginners' course call training officer Richard Young on 01284 787550 for further details.