How I Started in Archery by Roy Brown

Club member Roy Brown's insight into how he started in Archery.

My love of archery goes back to my childhood. I'm sure many other archers do also. We spent most of our time in woods or near canals, that was our adventure ground then. A small branch off a tree, so long as it was reasonablly straight, and a length of string that was our bow, an arrow made from a dried nettle stork was the arrow with a length of wire wound round then end as a pile, no fletchings, maybe an old dart point for sticking into trees or boards was tops!

As time went by I got more adventurous and would trim my bow down like a flat bow. We never unstrung the bow and of course what happened, it eventually broke. Being born and bred in Nottingham I knew all about Robin Hood, but as I grew older the sport never really crossed my path again.

Many, many years later I was given a lift to work by a friend and in the back window was an NFAS sticker. The driver was a field archer, we talked for a while and from that day in 1976 I was hooked for life and became a member of Nottingham archers. Thousands of wooden arrows have been shot since then. I've read a few books on the sport and given it a lot of thought, then put them into practice, and thats what counts. Practice, thought and listening and more practice, if you want to achieve a decent standard. I make all my equipment from a bow to a bracer. I made many friends since being an NFAS member of 32 years. I'll give advice freely and help anyone. I've always shot H.T and the longbow (The Stick) I love it!

So fellow archers who dwell deep in the green woods, keep your arrows true and straight, your bowstrings dry, till we meet again.

Roy Brown

March 2007