HNA Shoot 29/30th April 2017

by Queen Bee

KLFA Roving Reporter & Crossbow Queen

With Graham sorted and no longer under the hallucinative (is there such a word?!) influence of Morphine, I set off for HNA at eight with the hope that I wouldn’t have to dash back home again before the start.
HNA is a good shoot in bluebell-strewn sweet chestnut woodland near Braintree in Essex. I’d shot their Racoon Shoot last year which was great fun, with Monique and I still trying to hit targets at 1.30am! This was a two day shoot of 40 targets.
Having been a NT member for more than 40 years I decided to visit two estates on the way down. As I set out the sky was blue with the promise of high temperatures – yeah, right. Just north of Bury St Edmunds the sky began to darken. At the time I was listening to Katchachurian’s waltz from his Masquerade Suite. It is a strong, fast-moving piece, and the cymbals and heavy percussion were perfectly timed to herald the inexorable arrival of dark, forbidding clouds.
Rounding a corner on a narrow country lane I found the road beautifully strewn with white cherry blossom petals, bright in the gloom. Unfortunately it was the clothing of a wood-pigeon that had sadly exploded on impact with a vehicle. But it wasn’t all bad, the air was full of the sweet smell of the cowslips that lined every grassy bank.
I found Ikworth House, although not a particularly attractive building, extremely fascinating below-stairs. The owner, Lady Bristol, remarked in 1795 that it was, “a stupendous monument of folly”, and I was inclined to agree with her. My next stop was Melford Hall. This is much smaller so didn’t take so long, and I very soon gave up waiting for a spot of sun to photograph the exterior.
If you’ve been to Suffolk and haven’t seen the village of Hartest then you’ve missed a real treat. What a simply stunning village. Small, old Tudor houses, all painted a different colour, lining a huge green with an old pump in the middle. I spent a long time photographing and admiring. The only down-side was that nobody seemed to be at work – there was a car parked outside every single house!
I arrived at the 40 Acre Plantation at 5.30 – a very long, but very enjoyable drive. As I switched the engine off I immediately became giddy. This is an annoying inner ear problem I’ve had for over 30 years and which rears its ugly head occasionally. Fortunately I carry tablets that help – but not this time. I stuffed a couple, chucked everything untidily on the floor and lay down on the bed. It was nearly 7 hours later before I could safely stand up, and full marks if you can guess what I did first! However, about halfway through my marathon there was a loud knock at the door. I wobbled, feeling decidedly sick, and opened the window to find the landowner demanding I moved as I was too near the barn – bit if a fire risk, he said. I thought it would be easier to just move than try to explain, so with my eyeballs spinning like tops I trundled untidily away from the barn, stopped – didn’t know, or even care where, and threw myself back on the bed.
Saturday dawned chilly but with a bright blue sky, and again there was a knock at the door and a Marshallasked me politely if I could move to one side as I was parked in the middle of the track!!! So far my visit hadn’t been too successful which didn’t bode well for my quality of shooting.
About 80 archers started the shoot on the dot of 10, by which time it was beautifully warm and most people began to shed layers. Ian and Nicky D were present but I didn’t see much of them throughout the day – we passed occasionally like ‘ships in the night.’
The woodland was stunning. I can’t remember ever seeing such a thick carpet of vibrant, perfumed bluebells as far as one could see. Dead Nettle and Anemones were present too, although not so abundantly, and towards the end of the day I came across a brave little clump of Primroses.
The targets were very well placed and needed some thought. There were two sets of pegs with two targets and we split in half – two and two, or three and two. There were very few hold-ups and most had finished before 4pm. Some archers who had attended KLFA’s shoot all said that although ours had been difficult – though most enjoyable – they thought this one was harder and I agreed. Most targets were on the flat with three or four either shooting from the top of mounds or across dead ground – although many of the wasp pegs were from inside ditches! Almost all of them were a bit long – especially from the wasp peg, between 20 and 40yards, which I found useful as I do need the practice on longish shots.
I didn’t shoot particularly well and used quite a few second arrows but had a lovely day.
Although it didn’t rain during the night there was an humongous noisy gale that had the van rocking quite violently. Sunday dawned fairly overcast and windy but not too cold.
Most of the long shots had been shortened a fraction, and a predator/prey shot had been included with a possible 48. We were asked specifically not to jump but three groups of archers ignored this resulting in lots of queues, and the last five targets of my group taking nearly an hour to complete.
Ian shot a personal best without a reward for his valiant efforts, Nicky beat the opposition for gold, and I of course as usual, didn’t have any challengers. However, I shot the best I’d ever done by only using one second arrow over the 40 targets, but irritatingly had trouble hitting ‘gold’ in the first half with all but four of my many16’s landing less than an inch from the kill.
Over the weekend I discovered that Ladies’ Crossbow seems to be coming more fashionable with at least 3 archers saying they’d like to have a go, and one of them actually buying a second-hand bow exactly the same as mine. Who knows, I might have opposition at last!