Sessions out – Rounds one to five

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how we had bid for and been successful in getting a grant of just over £5,000 from the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games Festival. Since then we’ve had to start delivering on what we got the grant for. So far so good. But it’s been a busy week or so.

We kicked off with a session for Govan Scouts Group at our usual indoor venue, Hutchesons @ Pollok Park, on Saturday 30 May. A wide range of ages from pre-school to teens turned out, plus their leaders and parents – about 25 in all. We split the hall with soft archery at one end and a full-sized taster session at the other. After equipping our charges with basic safety wear and instructions, the session proper got underway. The 6 of us (many resplendent in their new Glasgow Archery kit which you can get your hands on with our supplier), just about coped with some very excited participants (children and adults), many of whom graduated rapidly from one end of the hall to the other. Much innate archery aptitude was on display but despite provision of some snacks and sweets, after about an hour many of the younger participants, and a few of the GA volunteers, were tiring. The Scout leader brought the session to an end, with thanks from the group, and stickers and medals distributed to all.

Next was a soft archery session at Hazelwood School - a school for children and young people with sensory impairments and complex learning needs – on Thursday 4 June. Unfortunately, some of us had to work, so the session was provided by Michael and his MRM Archery business partner Moira, who have previously worked with the school and brought along their wealth of coaching experience. 8 pupils with a variety of additional needs, but particularly those with severe visual impairments, participated in two groups of 4. Reports suggest it went well, and Michael and Moira will be providing a second session to a group of slightly older pupils.

Beginners in action

Following rapidly after that, 5 of us turned up to provide an after school soft archery session at Blackfriars Primary School on the Gorbals on Friday 5 June. We were joined by 16 pupils from years P5 to 7, well representing the school’s diverse intake. After the obligatory safety wear and instructions, the pupils were split into 4 groups and archery commenced. Thanks to the watchful eye of one of Blackfriars’ teachers (and hopefully future GA member), none of GA’s volunteers got overly competitive with their charges, all of whom showed good progress even where there were initial doubts about their own skills. The biggest challenge turned out to be GA’s numeracy skills (these having been discussed in a previous article) when collecting arrows – how difficult can it be to count to 12? Maybe some needed to be kept back afterwards for some basic maths lessons? Despite this, after an hour we were all allowed to pack up and go home, with stickers once again distributed and thanks from the pupils.

As if that was not enough, some of us reconvened at Hutchies’ once again on Saturday 6 June for a taster session for Amina Muslim Women’s Resource Centre’s Women’s Friendship Group. 21 women ranging from teenagers to pensioners turned up, with 8 of us to facilitate the session. Safety wear and instructions provided, we split the group across 6 bosses. Any initial reticence was soon dismissed as arrows flew true and the centre of the target was found. Keep an eye out to photos from the session on our facebook page. Again, much innate ability was on display and time flew by rapidly, with many of the women enthusiastic about doing more archery and enquiring about full beginners courses ….

Poser and poster

… Speaking of which, in the middle of all this we also started to deliver a new beginners course to another 14 people (two more were no show)! This is despite the best efforts of meteorologists last Wednesday. On the same day we also became aware that Glasgow Life were using GA to promote the Festival, or at least using our Finlay’s visage to do so – Ale shared a photo of a still from the promo film that she had spotted at Hillhead underground station (limited edition personalised signed copies of the image will be available for a reasonable fee from the author of this article).

So overall, over the 8 days between 30 May and 6 June, GA has delivered 5 different events introducing around 84 people of a wide range of ages and ethnicities, from across Glasgow, to archery. Check the GA facebook page for pictures from the events. More Festival grant activities are yet to follow over the next few months, including our two competitions (which are filling up rapidly – book your place now!).

After this initial flurry of activity, the pace is slowing down a bit, which will be a relief to some of us who have had a bit of a whirlwind. But despite that it has been nothing but fun delivering these sessions. Thanks to the other 10 GA members who have turned out and volunteered at the sessions so far, who are (in alphabetical order): Ale; Bill; Chris B; Finlay; Laura; Jonah; Jordan; Meredith; Michael; Tony. I know others have already volunteered for some of the upcoming soft archery and taster sessions, but with those and the competitions the more the merrier. So please let any of the trustees know if you can volunteer you time to make them happen, with the grant including money to cover your expenses if so.

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Thanks to Henri for the update.

2026 Festival Open Shoot, Sunday 5th July 2026, American Round SRS

WoSAA WA900 UKRS 2nd Aug 2026