A year ago I had a plan of what new year 2023 would hold.
June 2022 pretty much gave me a very real picture of how none of it was likely to happen. I truly am blessed that my father, who had really supported The JLP and all that it represented, got behind Integr8Archery and proudly chatted to me once a week about what was happening. He saw the 6 month’s data post and he was so thrilled for me.
There have been many questions as he pushed me to do my best and in the last 6 weeks some big conversations between the 2 of us regarding what my plans are for 2023 for Integr8archery, my new job, my own archery and who will or won’t be with me on that path. We knew his time was coming to an end and that this post would likely be one he would not see (though it turns out Tuesday’s wasn’t seen by him either). However, he’s left me with words for specific things 2023 holds so hopefully he will be with me along the way.
I was able to tell him Sunday that my latest course of study is completed and has been sent for verification, so hopefully there will be no issues and it will see my certificate released. We talked about what a hugely important topic it is based on my work around safeguarding and well-being and how hopefully it will only improve my ability.
The radio show that I was supposed to be a part of on Wednesday has been postponed until next week as they understood why I couldn’t take part as arranged.
As I am away and dealing with significant issues I am limited as to what I can currently do but I have lots of phone calls and meetings arranged in the coming days so hopefully everything will be tidied by 14/1 or at least moving forward. Thank you to everyone for the understanding not just this week but for the last 6 months, it has helped tremendously,
Enjoy your shooting and I hope that if you set yourself resolutions around health, activity or archery that you are starting to achieve things.
What else would your granddaughter ask you to do for her birthday, join her on the range ❤️🏹
As you are aware I have been taking time away and you have all been very patient. My father was diagnosed in June and we were told that it was terminal within 36 hours, he didn’t want the details made publicly as we faced it together as a family. Thank you to everyone who allowed me to be a little slower in those times when I went off grid and the understanding that there was something happening that was bigger than anything you may need.
As time progressed it was simply sitting, chatting, making memories, sharing memories and having those conversations that people ask to have the chance to have.
The timing of his diagnosis was shortly before I made the step to create Integr8Archery. Absolutely no greater supporter of this than my dad. Chatting about what I wanted to achieve, how I wanted to achieve it, and details of everything I was doing and celebrating my successes.
He had been incredibly supportive of the various projects in the last 3 years and had been especially supportive of the charity that we had looked to create, the idea of doing amazing work in memory of your father really hit home to my dad, who family had such meaning for. He had some great ideas of how to help us get funding there.
In the absence of that project he got behind my “little business” as he always called it with a smile on his face 🙃 he was thrilled to read the week 26 update of what we had achieved in the first 26 weeks. I am so pleased he was able to share that progress just last week.
I shall, without a doubt, miss my amazing father who never doubted me, always supported me and always listened as I threw around ideas and was always happy to share his perspective, it’s always good to have an outsider’s view.
I ask you now for 2 things:
Your patience for a little while longer as, over the next few weeks, my family and I deal with all that our loss brings. I will answer and arrange things, and I am grateful to my supportive team who will be helping me keep things moving, but things may be a little slower than usual as other things take priority.
If you have a concern, a small niggle, anything that you may be worried about health wise, go to your doctor and keep going, my dad had worried and didn’t push maybe like he might. I don’t blame the NHS – we are incredibly grateful to all of the staff who have been involved in his care. Had he pushed, things might have been different but my point is, don’t take the chance, it might be scary, but push and keep pushing. If nothing else comes from this, our family’s latest battle with this horrible disease, let it be that you push for your health and we don’t loose you sooner than we need to.
I have lost one of my heroes, one of my greatest supporters – the man it was my privilege to call pop pops – my father.
I cannot believe that it’s been 6 months! It’s been a massive learning curve and in so many ways. I have to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in anyway from helping put on a session, to listening to me bounce ideas around, to just giving me a nudge when I think I might not be good enough.
I was literally on my knees on the 27th June having been barely surviving for 6 months and really hit a very dark place, a small group of incredible people had literally, some days helped me to breathe and dragged me through but on that Monday evening I genuinely couldn’t see any way to keep my sport at all. To continue to shoot or to continue my work within it.
What I hadn’t counted on were 2 people that evening – one who shared their own story and then told me to put on my brightest leggings – I guess it was my very specific version of being told to put on my big girl pants and fight 😉 if you know me, you would know that was probably hitting the nail on the head. The other was someone who had stood back, remaining neutral and that evening decided to express their opinion after months of being quiet. It turns out my quiet friend has a very specific brand of motivational talking, and a lot like my counsellor mostly leaves me with my thinking significantly questioned, challenged and with a lot of work to do within my own mind. His timing was perfect! I think earlier would have failed and maybe he knew that.
For his trouble, the following morning he and a selected bunch of others awoke to messages explaining my early basic plans and what I needed to do to get started. So 28th June 2022 Integr8Archery was born, and here I am 26 weeks later, 6 months!! Having achieved so much, and with so very much still to do.
I thought it would be a great time to look at some numbers because in recent weeks I have been asked by a number of people for some details, and also use what I had done previously to add some context. So, if you are interested here are some figures, grab a cuppa and have a read:
I completed my beginners course in 2018 and I have held lots of roles since then, I did do some volunteering within the sport before I became an archer myself but I thought 2018 seems like a decent place to start and yes, this is all volunteering, and it doesn’t include what I have done at AGB competitions or for other sporting events outside of archery.
2018 –
1. helped out on 3 taster days – attended by local community groups and saw 143 people pick up a bow.
2. helped out at 4 beginners course – 49 people completed those courses
2019
Organised and put on a county charity event
helped at 5 taster days – attended by 185 people
helped at 3 beginners courses – 37 people completed
organised archery for 2 multi sports events – helping 72 people get a taster of our sport
volunteered for archery at the World Transplant Games
2020
The year of the pandemic! I did lots of things this year but by far my biggest achievement was helping with the return to sport guidance particularly when I picked up the phone following the original release and explained that until every archer was given the opportunity to choose to return we hadn’t yet gotten it right, those initial steps prevented some of our most vulnerable members being given the choice!
I attended so many webinars and workgroups, not just within archery but within multi-sports settings both locally and nationally and took the opportunity to study and learn for my role in safeguarding, being furloughed gave me the chance to do some of those things I had never had time for.
Sitting on the range for hours every day helping people feel confident enough to come back to shooting or try a new sport they discovered whilst locked in and searching the web, was incredibly rewarding and the ability to work with other grassroots sports to help each other was definitely another advantage to that time as we all took to get to know each other, bonds created which we still use now.
2021
3 taster days – 135 people with a bow in their hands
5 beginners courses across 3 clubs – 72 people completed
business games events – 135 people shooting
organised and hosted a county charity event
archery in education starts with –
wave 1 – 102 children shooting
wave 2 – 136 children shooting
primary school sessions – 57 children shooting
colleges – 27 students shooting
Out Of school educated children – 87 people with a bow in their hands for the taster sessions and 32 going onto weekly sessions
10 school staff completing an instructors course
29 coaches across all levels helping put these sessions on
2022
up to April
9 secondary schools – 118 children shooting
out of school setting children – 27 children shooting
3 local community groups having 4 sessions each – 48 individuals shooting
Integr8Archery
first 6 months
13 secondary schools across 3 counties after school clubs – 208 children
2 schools now have Integr8Archery satellite clubs – 23 children
weekly curriculum sessions providing archery for 72 children
4 primary schools – 68 children
3 nursing homes – 31 individuals
Weekly sessions for 4 weeks for ladies from a local refuge = 15 people, LGBTQIA+ support groups = 28 people & foster families = 13 children
helping 3 school games events – totalling over 200 children shooting
2 flight archery workshops – introducing 18 people to this style of archery
Integr8Archery club – currently collating the paperwork for 38 children and 11 adults
getting access to the anti violence pledge available online
obtaining Community Interest Company status and ensuring the very strict guidelines to being non profit are set and unchangeable – my way and no one else’s regardless of who collaborates with me – set in stone so I can relax
start my journey to become a disability sports coach and learn 5 new sports
joining forces with Sport for Development Coalition, Children’s Coaching Collaborative, We are Undefeatable, Belong and continuing to build and strengthen the relationships with the National Governing Body, Sport England, Northamptonshire Sports, local archery clubs and counties who have the same aims, and numerous groups who, together, we continue to learn to bring people to sport but to protect them whilst they are in our care.
Throughout this time I have continued to work in my safeguarding role and deal with incidents as they arise, develop my knowledge and support a number of families in well-being. Whatever else happens, I stand by my promise that I will make sport safer for everyone and to help support those where issues have created failure of care. Together we can create change.
So without a doubt, thank you to those who told me I did have a place, there’s a lot of shooting happened because you didn’t just watch me walk away when I thought I had no alternative.
If you have looked at the website and you have been following my blogs then you will know that the anti violence campaign is something that I feel incredibly strongly about.
On the 14th May I took part and helped marshal the march in Wellingborough led by the charity Off the Streets which culminated in the arrival at the knife angel monument which stopped for a few hours on it’s journey from Northampton to Corby in order for it to be part of this important day. The aim of the day, and any hosting of the monument is to provoke discussion around what we can do as individuals and together, in unison, to stop street violence. You can read about the day on the knife angel page of this website.
As I was busy talking to people around the topic and what we can do to help offer alternatives for our young people than to join those gangs that is often how they find themselves where violence is the only answer, I entirely forgot to sign the anti violence pledge. So, the following weekend, joined by my friend and our children we visited the monument at it’s stop in Corby. When we returned home it was to be told that moments after we left my friend’s house the air ambulance had made a landing in the local park as there had been a young person stabbed just that afternoon.
Today whilst visiting my parents, I became aware that the Manchester Bee monument which is made entirely of firearms and blades collected in an amnesty in the Manchester area, was being hosted locally by Derbyshire Constabulary. The weapons used to create the bee are part of what has been collected in the Forever Amnesty campaign.
I had the privilege of visiting the bee today in Derbyshire at Cromford Mills, the first host constabulary outside of Manchester for this important symbol of what we are all trying to aim for, to bring about social change. The bee has 2 other venues in Derbyshire – tomorrow 19th December at Buxton town centre and on Wednesday 21st December at Hall Leys Park, Matlock Town Centre. If you are able to, please pop along and visit, collect your own little handcrafted bee – at no cost, but to help promote conversation at home or work. The monument is less visually imposing than the knife angel but no less thought provoking or emotive. I think the inclusion of guns has a massive impact visually and for me, gave me new things to think about in addition to those previous thoughts and conversations I had had, earlier in the year.
I must also say thank you to the 2 officers who had been on the process of packing up at the end of the day for making time to allow an out of area Witness Care Officer to not just have a quick look, but to discuss what these crimes mean to us on a daily basis both in and out of work, and what our thoughts are around who and how might be able to help drive change.
Following my time with the knife angel I had communicated with Clive Knowles who is the Chairman and National Youth Violence Educational Programme and Tour Lead, to look at how the anti violence pledge could be made available online to those who wanted to sign up but were not near a local hosting event, and as you are aware I proudly announced, and have shared the link several times since, now that this access has been completed and I ask you again to consider what role you could take in helping stop or prevent violence on our streets.
I am not asking you to jump in if you see something happening. I am asking you to consider what, if any, small part can you play in offering an alternative for a young person who may not yet have joined that gang that would take them down the path where violence becomes the only answer.
Yes, I have worked in this area for almost 30 years but that’s dealing with what has happened!
I see my role in anti violence and prevention much more in the many hours I give in grassroots sports, where we can show there is an alternative place to belong. A different group to join. One that will not take you down a path where violence is the choice you face.
I was asked recently by a coach “ why is this my issue, why should I be involved?”.
Aren’t we all trying to work towards young people choosing sport?
Don’t you see how that fits the aims of the of anti violence and social change campaign? It’s a huge part!
So many of us are working to improve access at grassroots levels and to get our sport into schools, this is such a logical part of what we are doing and that is your pledge, right there.
So signing the pledge is just becoming part of that wider group who together, each with our own small step, can create a movement that might make our streets safer for the people caught up in these issues. Remember some of those who fall victim are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, it’s not all those “wrong uns” as was recently described to me!!
This week started with the funeral of someone special who always encouraged and supported me to do anything and be anything, I shall miss her dearly and will try to remember all of the things she taught me in the time I was privileged to have her in my life. From the coffees she made me to sit and recover from the emotional weekly counselling sessions as she lived close by, to her amazing relationship with my children, definitely a dear friend who’s love I shall carry with me always.
Sessions to catch up on with Northants Sports from the latest NFDS meeting, in particular in regards to the VR therapies and the Special Olympics Great Britain.
I have a lot of catching up to do and apologies to send for missed and/or late communications and I am starting all of those in the morning as I appear to finally picking back up after 5 days of being seriously unwell. If I can make a call I will but most likely it’s going to be majority emails for at least a little while as I recover fully.
As the schools we have been working in are winding up for Christmas it has been nice to hear of the fun being had to bring the term to an end in preparation for their breaks, thank you to Maggie, Chris, Duncan, Jack and Julie and all of the teaching staff who are still using their instructors qualifications across the many schools. Enjoy your breaks and look forward to seeing how 2023 progresses, in particular for those children who have set themselves targets.
Integr8Archery, Arcus Archery and Archery GB – strength in numbers
Another busy week, a pleasure to attend the West Northants Council International Day of People with Disabilities and the celebrations. Having previously met and spoken with Paralympic Champion Swimmer Ellie Robinson it was a pleasure to hear her speak again and also to watch the performance by Born to Perform. I always come away from these events energised and with my mind racing with ideas around how we can overcome barriers. Absolutely helps me feel that the work that I am doing with Integr8Archery and on my way to becoming a Disability Sports Coach is worth the hard days I sometimes have.
This weekend was the National Indoor Championships, Junior National Indoor Championships and the Back to Back events that end the 2022 AGB competition calendar. I so enjoy these days with my friends who by volunteering together we use the power of the blue shirt to pull off events that enable others to have amazing experiences. We can’t all win but it doesn’t mean they don’t take something positive away from the experience. Registration is also a great way to meet them with a smile, I often hear “I can’t attend a national competition because I am not good enough ” from local archers! Nope, we can all go and experience these things. I see my job to be that first face you see and to make you feel welcome and absolutely in the right place. Where I can I try and keep an eye on some and find out how they are getting on. Being in those environments with hundreds of people can be intimidating- if I can help a little then I did my job, one of the greatest things is when people come to find me to tell me how they got on. It’s a privilege that they remember me from the beginning of the day and come back to say thank you. Long days but absolutely worthwhile.
Another big shout out to my amazing friend Deb Horn, who I have mentioned several times over this 23 weeks. Our aims are linked and collaborating will make us stronger and she is moving forward with Arcus Archery as I announced a couple of weeks ago, but doing things a little differently can be a little slow when technology has to be tweaked to fit our needs so many thanks to Arran Coggan and Helen Smedley who have been very patient whilst we sort all of it out. The support of the National Governing Body is something that I have never taken for granted and I do believe that there is strength in collaboration and whilst there has been some change for me in 2022, collaborating is still going to help my projects move forward. Also thank you to the people who stopped me to discuss what I am doing it’s always going to blow me away I think to hear that people are interested so thank you for the kind words.
So now I want you to think about safeguarding, a topic I know makes many people groan and their eyes roll. For me it’s the biggest, most important issue. I work hard in this area. But, ask yourself, do you keep up with issues that relate to it, do you just think it’s boring so don’t pay it too much attention? There are lots of other things that tie into safeguarding.
The scenario is this:
A busy competition day, lots going on. Someone missed something and as they were asked to do it, needed a little further explanation. The person behind was getting a little impatient and said something rude to the person who required that little bit extra help. The person explaining pointed out that it was taking a little longer because the person required help because they had a condition and named the condition.
So, safeguarding? GDPR?
Personally I will do all that I can to help, I will not allow people to be rude, I don’t believe an explanation is needed and I do believe that disclosing another persons medical issue, physical, mental, learning related is a breach of GDPR.
Lots of admin, meetings and planning this last week.
Without a doubt I am most proud that the club at one of our secondary schools properly started this week, in addition to their curriculum sessions that have been running several weeks. These are the children who have been setting themselves goals and are now making arrangements for having video kit in place to watch themselves back and also these newly formed club members want to make a number of videos to help the curriculum sessions – these children are amazing, a few weeks of shooting, set up their club, set their individual and club goals and already looking at how to coach each other and help their peers improve.
Thank you to Duncan for agreeing to join the Integr8Archery coaching team, I am careful who I choose to engage in projects, and I am thrilled with how my team of coaches is doing and of those who are agreeing to work with me. Also the reserve list of coaches who are looking to help in the future but have currently got commitments stopping then starting right away.
I have learned a lot in the last 18 months about how to select my workforce and it’s most certainly paying off this last 3/4 months as things really start to settle. There is nothing more freeing than knowing that those representing the projects are doing so in such great style.
Chats around data sharing to allow comparisons and best practises and to see how different people working on similar projects can help each other with shared ideas was a very promising conversation.
Also safeguarding best practices and forging a way forward to make positive changes – the future holds great possibilities if we can pull it all together.
Keeping it short and sweet because I know everyone is concentrating on the football, something I love but have rejected in protest this year, the first World Cup I can remember not watching, but some things are greater in importance.
Take care and speak Saturday, I will be volunteering at the indoor nationals so I hope to see many of you there ❤️🏹
Pretty much the expression that I have been mostly wearing this week
So week 21 saw me hit with germs and mostly sleep. Turns out the already poor functioning blood doesn’t do recovery well! However, despite all of that, I did manage to get some things done.
Conversations about how we divide the Muslim community group into smaller manageable groups to introduce to archery. I am thrilled at the choice made for our first priority and I cannot wait to see them start.
A couple of new groups reached out and though early, I think they both look like we immediately have a plan of action so it’s going to be exciting over the coming weeks.
Schools moving into club phase, and the numbers of children wanting to extend their archery from curriculum to club has taken me by surprise but I am thrilled that they are enjoying it, setting themselves goals and seeing it as an alternative to hanging around the streets after school finishes. Most definitely proof of those conversations I had in the early summer at the knife angel event.
Whilst I had been disappointed when first hearing of the weekend’s training for my Disability Sports Coach course being postponed, by the time the weekend came around I was actually pleased as I likely wouldn’t have been able to make it, but it did give me time to plan and suggest ways that I can maximise my days in London for placement days so it wasn’t wasted time.
Lots of talk around well-being, some general but some specifically around issues arising, sometimes a coffee and sharing thoughts is all it takes to see a way around a blockage in communication. It is always a privilege that people see me as someone they can trust for these conversations.
A fitting point, perhaps to remind you all that it’s safeguarding adults week, if you want to know a little more the Ann Craft Trust is a great place to start.
Several other project issues this week would point me to the belief that within the “art of repetition” we could use improvement in the “art of communication”.
Within the three Monday schools sessions 7 children picked up a bow for the first time, these are the things that keep me moving forward on the days I might quit and Monday afternoon seriously was another of those “why am I doing this” moments.
Gratitude to the friends who reached out and made me laugh and reminded me that I love this sport and I am passionate about what we can achieve with it. So I guess I will stay a little longer 😉 (we know that I am unlikely to go anywhere really).
Finished the week with a smile despite the illness and wobbles
20 weeks! I still sometimes feel a little shocked and surprised that I have a business and a club!
This week has been lots of paper work, training and emotion for a number of reasons. It takes all of that in the background to get weeks like the one last week when we saw 65 new children across 3 schools pick up bows. Planning, planning and planning to bring those things together. So there has been a lot of that this week.
Thursday saw the NCAS agm where I collected my year bar, this has been a tough year and I am still not sure how much more shooting I have in me, added to the ongoing issues that we have been working on for 3 years to keep me shooting, the emotional and mental health issues from this last 11 months are now becoming very real physical issues and there appears to be a limit to what the team that is me, the counsellor, GP and asthma nurse can achieve but shooting is becoming much more of a struggle. It’s hard not to compare what I have done this year with what I have achieved at my best, but when I tried to say goodbye and thank you to the county squad they didn’t just let me go and I am grateful because between them and my flight family it is most definitely why I am still even trying to find a way to keep going with my bow. Collecting that tiny little bar gave me a lot to think about but a positive boost too.
I absolutely enjoyed meeting the other candidates on the disability sports coaching course, this is going to be a great group to learn with and from, still a little overwhelming to think I have to learn 5 new sports but this together with when I complete my archery instructor course, I will have the ability to deliver 6 adaptive sports to those looking to find a sport they enjoy, and again making me feel more positive about doing something I was always very much set against.
Finishing the day early saw me have time to have a wander, so I chose Camden. There had been a surprise plan to be here earlier in the year as one of a number of steps to launch, promote and celebrate all of the projects that would launch from May to October, disappointment that this wasn’t the visit it should’ve been had it been part of that plan, but as I pondered the things that have been missed out on, the steps in place for me to save some of the projects, the prospect of what could happen if things were to be picked back up and collaborating re-started, what I can confirm is that my best friend definitely missed out on the most amazing pastrami sandwich, which I had researched and found at his request. The only one I have had that has tasted better was across the Atlantic Ocean. The hug I received from the person who would have been helping with the surprise and what we were going to do locally was almost as good 😉 I mean come on, what beats pastrami and pickles 😂, but thank you for the chat, it meant a lot that you were going to support us, I am still grateful for that support and belief in what we were going to do despite what’s happened to stop it. I would like to think we could re-start all of that work, but it needs us both to be brave enough – not me alone.
This summer has been the summer of finding hidden treasure at different sites looking to come on board the projects that I have salvaged and last week’s new school had dug around and found kit that had been packed away years ago, excellent when they have big plans and it helps us to focus their budget on what needs to be added rather than starting fresh.
What else is today? It is a year today that Dave and I took the out of school setting children indoors for the winter to shoot at the transport museum. Over that indoor season it was a privilege to watch those children and adults push their boundaries and challenge themselves in so many ways. Along with that amazing day there is of course the Monday a couple of weeks later when I walked in, found a surprise bus and fire engine in the range 😱🫣😂 and had to quickly run back out to warn my coach – made for some fantastic photos over the following months though. The group isn’t currently shooting and this is something I continue to work at getting back on track, but I have plans for this coming weekend to shoot with one of the those children, his mum is going to be doing an instructors course, a little later than planned but I am grateful she has stuck with Integr8Archery and the archery in education project.
Also, seeing one of the alternate placement children from this group back in a mainstream setting a few weeks ago, at one of the schools who works with us, seeing how sport has helped make the integration smoother and discussing how archery was used to help with literacy and maths lesson last year and having the school interested in maybe using it to help academically within their setting too.
I do believe that archery can help change lives, sport can be used for so many things and so I will continue to do my very best to work to help bring about those changes. I am proud of what I have managed to achieve with this sport and those who step in to work with me. 6 years since I first stepped in to help at an event but without a doubt Covid really turned up my determination. Let’s get everyone moving and see the improvement they find in so many different ways.
Out of school setting move indoors 15th November 2021 and the day the vehicles moved into the range!
This is been an emotional week on a personal level so I thank those who have supported me, checked up on me and those working on projects with me – for your patience when I took time to give to the important issues over the weekend, there will be a repeat of this next month.
However, for Integr8Archery this week has been important for schools, two approaches from new schools in new counties, early days but potentially very exciting. Progress on existing schools and this week saw the first session delivered at Weavers Academy- thank you Chris, the first curriculum sessions at Wrenn – thank you Maggie and updates on the latest group at Roecroft Lower School – thank you Julie. This week between these three sites we have seen 65 children pick up a bow for their first taste of archery. Thank you so very much ladies for helping these schools on their way to sustainable archery.
New members registered for Integr8Archery club and a bunch of paperwork coming back for my next batch. Meetings is the theme of the coming week, along with shooting with an important young chap and of course my first session of my Disability Coaching Course, just my luck the trains are disrupted that day! 🫣😂
That’s it for today, short but important I think. I am proud of all of my work, but getting new people involved is always exciting. Have a good week, catch up soon ❤️🏹
