ARCHERS OF AMERICA

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16317, 18 April 1927, Page 11

ARCHERS OF AMERICA

Plf 1.8 ROASTED WHOLE AT A BANQUET. GARDEN TARGETS, WASHINGTON. Young people in fashionable Washington circles, have gone, hack to medieval times for their latest sport, and it, is the smart thing to belong to an archery club similar to the famous Toxophililo Society of England. So much interest has been aroused in the ancient pastime that golf and tennis have almost been relegated to a. secondary place among fashionable sports. Girls arc. playing an important part in the revival of archery. The movement is rapidly spreading throughout America, and plans are being made for inter-State “shoots.”

Targets are set up in gardens, and to protect passers-by, as in the days of Henry VIII., a police order forbids practice at a shorter distance than one furlong from a public road. i The Washington archery clubs comLined recently to present’ a, pageant., j One group appeared as the historic Royal Company of Scottish Archers, another as John o’Gaunt’s bowmen, and a third wove the gay apparel of the Continental armies of the twelfth century. Whole pigs were roasted in the open and served on a long table in medieval style, with '‘troubadours' entertaining the guests. One eluli on the. banks of the Potomac, near here, follows the old Japanese j style of archery, and a club house lms ; been erected resembling the archery j halls of Kioto and Tokiu, where the j archers, using bamboo hows, have to • shoot- the full length of a low-oeiliiiged j corridor, 128 yards long. Another, club is known as “The Amen- j can Finsbury Archers,” whose chief is , called the marshal, after the marshal; of Hie- Fraternity of a title ; recognised by Charles 11. 'I his clul j 3ias icvivod the curious “goose” medal : shoot which originated in Scotland. | The arcliers had to aim at the. head of, i;i goose buried in the butt j up to its neck, hut now a small glass globe, moved from side to side bv electricity, is used. Many ‘clubs use- the famous long how, which was drawn to the ear —an expensive weapon made of yew. propel - ly seasoned, and of an average length, for men 6ft. liti. Women use a bow ot sft. 6in. One Washington club, however has adopted the short bow of Hastings, which is drawn to tlie chest, as used by William the Conqueror’s archers when they routed the Saxon army.

WIRELESS FOR HOSPITALS SOLACE FOR SUFFERERS. SYDNEY, Nlarch 24. The hospitals m Melbourne are beginning to benefit- as the result of puntie contributions, exceeding iROCO, donated for wireless equipment. Cue after another the institutions tire being visited by mechanics installations made. The work is necessarily slow, for if is entirely voluntary. Mechanics from the (tenoral l’ost tlltlee and from the Railway Department ay? sacrificing their Saturday afternoons for the benefit of hospital patients, and week by week the splendid work makes progress. Last Saturday nearly 100 mechanics visited the Melbourne Lencvolenl. Asylum «U- Cheltenham arid installed head plumes for the inmates. The 1 equipment includes four Find speakers. The scheme aims at providing wireless for each patient or inmate of the principal hospitals and benevolent, institutions in the city. Tl is a Idling sequel to the wonderful success achieved by the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, which may be regarded as (lie pioneer in radio for patients. i here it was fulß demonstrated what a. great solace radio was for sufferers. Its value was proved in the wards and in the operating room, ami the example set is now being billowed, ns a result of public generosity, in the oilier institutions.