Wow!, what a turnout!

Saturday was our main ‘Club Builder’ working party day of the year, and the club was a hive of activity for the whole day.

There was a very long list of jobs to be done in order to get GAC ready for the forthcoming season, and all were ticked off as complete by the end of the day – a fantastic achievement that could not have been managed without such a great turnout of members!

Outside of the clubhouse, the front wall was sanded and painted, the gutters cleared, the pathways cleaned and cleared. Inside, the kitchen and all toilets were thoroughly cleaned, the workshop cleared and tidied, the target face store improved and all windows and doors cleaned inside and out.

The outside furniture was all cleaned, sanded and painted, the Agincourt benches were oiled, the CCTV cables re-secured, the fence around the yew tree was painted, the patio cleared of weeds and grass and swept.

On the field, all of the distance marker plates were revealed by trimming, then individually lifted and cleaned, where necessary re-sprayed in colour. Missing distance plates were created and put in place and the white shooting line plates were also cleared, cleaned and numbered.

 

At the BOX, all of the targets from the field were dismantled, repaired and repacked with layered foam, other target stands were repaired after being damaged in the recent high winds. The interior of the BOX was cleared to make room for the new coaching mirrors and large amounts of shot-out foam were removed to a skip. The straw bosses were assessed and marked ready for use at Have A Go events this year.

The gutters of the BOX were cleared, and protective netting repositioned, the roof was swept and the rooflight panels Jetwashed.

Elsewhere, the full length of the path to the BOX was Jetwashed clean, the mower was given at thorough clean, the pile of old target faces were incinerated.

All in all, a MASSIVE amount of work, made possible by the fact that almost 70 members gave at least 2 hours of their time during the day!

There were so many, that it would not be possible to name them all (and I would hate to miss someone out) but you are all AWESOME!

Having said that, there are a few individuals and groups who I will single out;
– The team from The University Archery Club, led by Marek and Katya did a fantastic job on repairing and rebuilding the bosses and stands as well as helping create the new target face store.
– The team that spent their time out on the field finding, clearing and cleaning over 250 distance plates – this was mostly Junior members and parents, along with Mark on the strimmer.
– The team that scraped sanded and painted the clubhouse exterior -never an easy job!
-The team working in the clubhouse, cleaning and tidying, especially those who tackled the urinal traps
– The team working on the outdoor furniture, especially Dave, Tony and Jo who restored the picnic bench from outside of the BOX.
– All of those who gave up the whole day to help!

I hope that everyone who came and helped hasn’t suffered too many aches and pains, and that you enjoyed the day, and shared my feeling that we are all part of an amazing club!

Simon de Kretser
Chair
GAC