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On Sunday August 20th we held the Mushroom Shoot 2023, our largest tournament of the year and the 33rd time it has taken 
place. As an open shoot we were pleased to welcome archers from ten different clubs across Hampshire and neighboring counties. The full range of age and ability, we had new archers enjoying their first tournament experience, some new guests from other clubs and some die hard Mushroom Shoot addicts we love to see every year.
The weather was glorious, even for a summer shoot and the catering team and Tombola crew kept us entertained and fed. A superb day, with lots of prizes being won and some new names to be engraved on the trophies.
Full results of the shoot can be found here and some stunning images from the day are in the gallery here.
We were grateful to our officials for bringing glitz, glamour and good order to the event. Alison Innes (Bournemouth Archery Club) our Lady Paramount, Phil Collins (Waterside Archers) our Judge and Ian Mason (Sway Bowmen) our Field Captain, and to all the members and guest archers who contributed to make it such a great day.
We look forward to seeing you all again on Sun 18th August 2024 for the 34th Mushroom Shoot.
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In June and July we held two tournaments in which the prizes go to archers in drawn pairs. 
Sat June 17th was the friendship shoot (archery darts), a re-fixture after the original event was rained off. We had a reduced field of archers, but still had a great afternoon in which eight pairs of archers went head to head in a knockout competition. Well done to Andrew Dunning and Chris Baigent who triumphed in the end. Congratulations also to the runners up Ian Ovenden and Clive Atkins for pushing them to the end.
Sunday 2nd of July was the White Rose tournament. We had twenty eight archers shooting and for some it was their very first tournament. In a change to previous years we exchanged the Portsmouth round for something a little further out. Archers were permitted to choose between a Metric 80-30 or a Metric 122-30, with archers shooting on the larger face having their scores adjusted.
In the end Nicola Danson shot her way to victory strongly assisted by Chris Baigent who celebrated doing the double across the two tournaments. As well as getting their name on the trophy, the winners are now the proud owners of a White Rose badge to remind them of the occasion. Yvonne John and Matt Cooper came in as runners up and not far behind. Well done to all who took part. A special mention to Matt Ware, shooting in his first tournament with the first outing for his new bow and banking his first six dozen at Archer 3rd Class, only six dozen more needed to secure a first step on the classification ladder. Full results for the tournament can be found here.
Thank you to Hannah and Jem for organising and undertaking field captain and judging duties. 
Next tournament on the calendar is the Mushroom Shoot on Sunday 20th August.
A sign-up sheet is in the clubhouse or see Hannah or Jem to find out more.
Photographs from recent events can be found in the website gallery here.
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Sunday May 7th we gathe
red for the annual Line-Cutter Tournament, shot in memory of a former member, Mavis North. This is one of a number of tournaments shot on an annual basis at the club.
All archers shot a close distance round, choosing between a Long-Metric IV or a Long-Metric V. As well as keeping score in the normal way, we also kept a tally of how many arrows landed on a line between two zones (a line-cutter). The overall winner being the archer with the highest tally after all 72 arrows have been shot.
Line-cutter glory, the Mavis North Trophy and some 'Way to Go' chocolate awaited our 2023 champion, Peter Yates with a tally of 13. Well done Peter on claiming your first trophy at the club, the first of many we hope.
As well as being a light-hearted competition, this was an opportunity for members to claim another milestone on our 'Metric Marathon' summer challenge. Submitted scores will also help archers achieve classification under the new Archery GB scheme launched this year and to start to build an outdoor handicap ahead of handicapped competitions later in the year.
Thanks to Hannah Diffey who was Tournament Organiser, Field Captain and Judge for the event. Great job Hannah!
Results are given below by Line-Cutter tally and Shot Score for each Bow type. If you would like to see more photos of the event go to the gallery here
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After a pause of 1009 years the Battle of Clontarf was headline news once again in Sway Bow
men's very own battle re-enactment. Eight clans fought for the dominion of Ireland, settling their differences on 10 x 12 grids at 20yds playing Archery Battleships. The first clash was little more than a warm up, combining four Irish and four Viking Clans into a field of two Irish and two twin-horned Norse clans of larger size. High King Brian Boru (Jem Mason) was quickly made a vassal by a new king, his son Murdach (Ed Batchelor) whilst Brian's Grandson Toidlbach (Andy Nossum) bent the knee to Gormlaith, Queen of the Irish (Hannah Diffey). Meanwhile down the other end Gormlaith's Uncle Sygrydd Silkbeard (Mick Hayman) was humbled by Sigurd the Stout (Dave Errington) and next door Viking Commander 
Brodir (Matt Cooper) roaring and beating loudly on his shield with every hit (yes really, every single time!) combined forces with Mael Morda (Peter Yates). Appreciating now the double jeopardy that the more times your opponents hit you the fewer the arrows you have for the next engagement, the warriors girded their loins for 
the semi-final knockout. The Irish Crown changed hands yet again from Murdach to Gormlaith, while Sigurd the Stout continued to bear down on his fellow Vikings until victorious. A brief break in battle for some Mead recharged the battle weary warriors. The final showdown between Gormlaith's gaggle and Sigurd's hoard saw the curse of the Crown continue and the Vikings rewrote history (a history in which St Jame
s's gate presumably now serves Carlsberg rather than Guinness). It was a lot of fun, thank you to all the Chieftains and to our photographer John Clarke who captured the action (check out the gallery here). Well done to all the lower ranking warriors who although not individually named, have earned their place in Sway Bowmen History.
There was no gold on offer today, but the victors celebrated with chocolate instead.
We had a great morning and the weather was kind to us. The Battle of Clontarf and Archery Battleships was a new format for us. It was great fun and proved that it doesn't really matter what the rules of the game are, nothing is better than shooting arrows with friends on a Sunday Morning, especially if you get to do it wearing fake fur, an inflatable crown or an iron helmet.