What a fabulous Junior Acorn!

On Saturday 22nd June over 60 young archers came to GAC to take part in the 15th Junior Acorn, our annual, themed fun tournament just for juniors.

This year our own GAC Juniors decided on the theme for the day; Harry Potter. Over the last 6 months they have been working with a few parents and the GAC Juniors leaders to put together a fun day of archery and events inspired by the young wizard.

On arrival, archers were transported to registration after passing through the ‘wall’ to platform 9 3/4, where as well as showing their AGB card, they picked their alloted house from the ‘Sorting Hat’.

After setting up their equipment and enjoying a complimentary bacon sandwich, the competitors assembled to hear the welcome from Kevin Molloy and a briefing from the judges, including a warning not to use magic on the archery field!

The mornings shooting followed a group warm-up led by Dave ‘Snape’ Winter, and was accompanied by music and commentary from Steve ‘Dumbledore’ Tully, who gave spot prizes for individuals who hit HP characters stuck to the targets or got six-gold ends, also to the targets who could correctly answer questions about the young wizard and Hogwarts.

There was a long lunchtime to allow everyone to eat before the Quidditch match. Everyone had been assigned a house (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin or Ravenclaw) and teams of 5 from each took to the field to ride their broomsticks and pass the golden beanbag to each other to try and get it though the goals at either end.

The game looked like great fun, and everyone who wanted a go, was able to play. Once it was clear how it all worked, the players and the crowd all got into it, with lots of cheering when a great pass was made and goals were scored!

After lunch, we returned to the serious business of the archery and shot the shorter distance of the Western rounds. There was some great shooting, accompanied by the music, quiz questions, prizes and dancing.

Once the Western rounds were complete, and whilst the results were being calculated, the archers took part in ‘Maggie’s Game’ a simple one-arrow knockout that has become regular favourite at the Junior Acorn, and which involves a lot of noise!

By the time the knockout was down to the two winners, the results were complete and medals were awarded for the shooting and prizes for the house with the highest combined score in the archery, the winners of the Quidditch and the knockout, so lots of prizes!

There was also a new award for the Junior Acorn – The Tully Cup – a team trophy for the club with the 3 highest recurve scores across all of the Western rounds. The winners will have their names added to a magnificent silver cup, (generously donated by former GAC Chairman, Steve Tully) which will be kept permanently ay GAC. The inaugural winners were…..Guildford!! – with a team made up of; Sophie Godfrey, Lauren Levy and Ben Hancock-Smith – well done to you all!

In truth, everyone was a winner on a lovely day of sun, archery and fun – another brilliant GAC Junior Acorn!

However, none of this could have happened without the effort, dedication and time given by a fantastic number of GAC volunteers who helped with the planning, the setting up, the running and packing away of the event. There are far too many of you to mention everyone (by my calculations, well over 30!) but a few do deserve special mentions;
– Kevin Molloy, our awesome Tournament Organiser who makes it look easy, even though it definitely isn’t!
– Dave ‘Professor Snape’ Winter who helped everywhere and organised the first ever archery tournament Quidditch match!
– Kay Laul, Shiela Brooks and Liam Chelton, who manned the barbecue for the all-important breakfast bacon sandwiches and lunchtime burger and hot dogs (and the horrible clean up afterwards!).
– Sue Molloy, who spent the day providing refreshments for sun-parched archers and spectators, as well a paying on a magnificent lunch for the judges.
– Val Smith and Sue Watson; for registration and ‘Sorting Hat’ duties, and helping throughout the day.
– Andy Wells; who was our Field Captain for the day
– Steve ‘Dumbledore’ Tully; our MC and DJ for the day
– The field crew, who worked hard during the day, finding lost arrows, resetting the field, and generally assisting the junior archers; Tony Fry, Dave Stranks, Robin Brophy, Rich Johnston, Colin Levy, Colin Barlow, Krista Godfrey and Dan Brooks

Huge apologies if I have missed you out in my name checks – ti was a busy day, and there were lots of helpers, but you are all AWESOME and are what makes GAC such a great club to be part of!