I was asked if I am not at home and I am not on the range what I am doing? How can I be committed to my projects?
My initial response was almost rude but I thought about how best to deal with the question, particularly in the face of the last 13 months of things that have been said and emailed or sent on various platforms. In that time I have never once been rude, disrespectful or unkind, to the sender or the people who are ultimately responsible for the issues in broken promises – that I too have been victim of!
My replies have continued to show respect and support to those people and their businesses.
I have repeatedly explained that if you made plans based on promises and ideas given to you by someone we would have been mutually working with, their change of plans and how that impacts you is not my fault and I cannot answer questions that I do not have answers to. You need to contact that person.
So to send me a message today that basically states what I am going through is a suitable punishment for my perceived failure is really not ok, on any level and basic human empathy should prevent such a message even being sent!
Currently my time is spent Friday evening to Monday evening in Derbyshire providing the support that I am giving. I am working my paid employment Monday to Friday with some small tweaks to my shift patterns.
Integr8Archery is still a huge focus, I never stopped.
This week?
Wednesday 7:30 a meeting before work at a school with a willing level 2 coach to help me confirm my thoughts before we both started our paid employment at 9:30. Lunch time meeting to discuss ideas and send emails. Evening sending and replying to emails, arranging more meetings.
Thursday – 5:30 to 7:30 & 22:00 to 23:45 emails, letters, plans being drawn up and sent out.
Friday 2 telephone calls at 19:00 – 19:30
Saturday 7:00 blog update and 20:15 emails
Sunday 8:00 to 9:30 & 20:30 to 21:45 emails and telephone calls.
Monday 19:45 to 21:25 emails, messaging and telephone calls.
Tuesday 5:30 to 7:00 emails, 16:45 to 17:30 meeting with activity partnership, 19:00 to 20:00 meeting with club secretary re membership, sport80 and some future planning.
From my point of view it doesn’t look too bad for someone who isn’t interested, focused or can’t be seen!
I continue to be grateful to those who support me, daily help with projects and keeping me in the loop but I can trust their management whilst I do what my family needs.
I wish you all a safe week and all the best as I continue to do what I can for my business, club and projects.
Please respect my time to deal with the practicalities of loosing an important person in my life and the lives of many others.
I suspect that thank you is going to be a big theme over the coming weeks. If you know me and read my blogs, it’s pretty much a constant anyhow, but at the moment my time is restricted and I do not take for granted that people are joining me for meetings at 7:30 or 21:00! Coaches bringing their lunches to meet me in my lunch hour and grab that time to make plans as they support me whilst I am not around, the flexibility that I have always shown to fit in around others is being offered to me with no boundaries at the moment and it is allowing us all to be productive and continue to move projects forwards.
I am missing shooting and I am missing seeing archers in person, so when I get back at it in person in full which I think is likely going to be March, prepare yourselves because this hugger will be catching up on missed hugs 🙃🤗
I am currently working on moving 3 of the schools forward with big plans for each as the children are driving their aims and I am proud that they are enjoying the sport but that they are also setting their own goals, some are going big with their long term aims and some I suspect, may be coaches of the future as they have taken on mentoring others and creating their own little videos on shooting techniques and form, to help new students who are coming on board.
We are back on track with planning the postponed instructors course and some other grassroots groups looking to start their archery sessions, I never get bored of the variety that our sport allows us to offer to anyone who approaches us.
Enjoy your sport and yes, please do continue to let me know how you are getting on, it actually gives me something to focus on and why I am working on all of this, so no, you are definitely not intruding by messaging me 😊❤️🏹
Going to be a while before I get to shoot properly so maybe it’ll be shirt sleeves again by then
2 weeks, 2 weeks since the person who never stopped believing in me left us. He was so interested when I talked about all of the projects my friend and I were working on, so supportive of the massive things we were aiming for by pulling different projects together to form huge plans. I sat in the living room planning things for months whilst chattering to him. Last April I spent the afternoon in meetings in my parents kitchen with solicitors and the national governing body and my friend. At the end of that day so much was ready to go.
When it all screeched to a holt as my friend left, dad was there, telling me I could make things work if I put my mind to it.
That Tuesday in June when I woke up with a plan and a bunch of amazing people giving me their thoughts and support dad was again so very interested. Over the coming months he would chat and ask questions about “your little business”. Proud of my aims, grassroots, inclusion, accessibility, schools and of the work I have been doing in safeguarding.
New year weekend we sat and talked of my plans, he had seen the numbers in my week 26 blog and was proud that I was achieving those aims that I had set out to. He wanted to know what I intended to do in 2023 and beyond. We knew that within days he would be gone and that I wouldn’t have his ear to chatter into about “my little business”, but my mind is full of his thoughts, opinions and ideas and as I move forward I will be able to hear him still even though he’s not there at the end of the phone.
Right now other promises I made him are my priority as I only get one chance to get these next few weeks right and so everything else is getting a short term reduced time from me. That’s still around 20-25 hours a week! I have some people who are helping me with the load and I am incredibly grateful for their support as I am exhausted.
So, lots of emails, a few meetings and the power of remote communication.
My bow is pretty much set down at the moment but I have pencilled in plans with the right people to pick it back up for outdoors.
My disability sports coach course has had to be deferred and we are yet to find out if this means that I will loose my place, I seriously hope not because it is incredibly important to me and dad was so supportive of me taking it on and what it would mean for the future.
I have some in person meetings this week in my couple of days at home, I am excited for what we are planning in regards to schools and this will see some of those things step up again and again I am grateful to the time and understanding those schools have given me in recent months whilst I put family first.
So, if you are waiting on something, odds are you will be hearing from me by the end of this week and nope, nothings stopped, it’s just not at my usual manic speed right now, but don’t worry I am assured that people have seen that kicking in this last few days.
Don’t forget I don’t sleep so you will likely see that emails are sent in the night, no I do not expect you to reply in the middle of the night 😂😂❤️🏹
Take care of you, remember I always love hearing how you are getting on and I will always bounce around my ideas to help think outside the box so don’t stop sending me those messages.
Thank you to my crazy friend for driving in the night to give me a hug and talk dad, archery and remind me I have people, even though I am not used to it or even know how to have people ❤️ and to the very many who have messaged and called and FaceTimed 😘
With everything going on my time is restricted but I am gradually picking up on communications properly and starting to make plans for 2023. There should be a flurry of emails coming out over the weekend and I have a plan now for the next 5 weeks of work and personal life, I will be splitting my time between Northamptonshire and Derbyshire so meetings that had been planned for face to face may find themselves on zoom or alternative, thank you to those have done that with me this week already.
New contacts and existing projects are all slowly moving forward now that I can settle into a routine and certainly getting regular feedback on how the schools are doing is a big boost to my mood. Though we are currently down a school due to a serious injury and rehabilitation for the coach – continued love and best wishes to Julie for a great and smooth recovery. This week has seen 218 return to shooting. Thank you to all the coaches who are helping this happen whilst supporting me.
Short but sweet, I look forward to seeing the few people I have managed to squeeze in next week for face to face meetings, I have no doubt that being around some arrows will help lift me ❤️🏹
See you all soon and thank you for your continued support.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out or let me move meetings and things. Sport is made up of some amazing people and this week has proven that both within my own sport and others who I collaborate with, the very best of sporting attributes have played a part in getting me through most days.
Obviously not being at home means I have not shown up in person for anything but for the things I could not delay the lessons we learned in Covid regarding virtual communication have proven priceless.
I will not bore you with details of arrangements being made but will celebrate them at later dates when things start to happen. However, thank you to Maggie, Duncan and Chris for getting on with schools and arranging things between them. It has been incredibly helpful to just have that lifted from me.
So, the only real thing to shout about was today’s radio appearance!
BBC radio Northampton had approached the local activity partnership, Northamptonshire Sports, to be linked with people in local sports to take part in the afternoon show hosted by Tim Wheeler and includes a music quiz and I was somewhat anxious about representing the sport and failing to get anything right 😱🫣 as a heavy rock / metal fan I was especially scared of getting a bunch of pop song related questions, so I chose 70’s in the hope there may me some glam rock or those quirky hits!
My aim was to promote the sport and it’s inclusivity and hopefully I didn’t embarrass the sport or the county as I was representing NCAS.
Have a listen for yourself and judge with kindness please, you can hear me from 15:44 to 15:58.
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.
If you have been following us a little while or even just had a quick look around the website, you will know we have our own archery club and that we are a little bit different, this allows us to fit our aims and our needs together quite nicely.
We get asked if people can join, yes – absolutely. So we are a hybrid club, as a regular member you can pay your AGB fees via us and we will be your first club. We are also a school club and as such have school satellite sites dotted about. Why is this important? It really only impacts you from a range perspective. We have 4 school ranges registered to the club, this will be increasing to 6 very shortly. These are not open to anyone but are specific to our groups who shoot there. At the moment Integr8Archery Club doesn’t have a range of it’s own for regular members, simply there aren’t enough of us in one place, this may change it may not. We have members around the country. For some we are actually their second club as they want to support us and our aims but they are too far away to shoot with us on a regular basis. These archers are also choosing to have a club shirt and often, in place of their name on the back, choosing to put the name of their first club to allow them to support both clubs with one shirt, an idea that I love.
I did say I would let you know where and when we will be so that when you want to join us to fling some arrows you could join us. For those of us who are local to Northampton I have chosen our main shooting spot to be Archers of Raunds and these are my second club. Why? Simply the hand of friendship that they have extended me, over the last couple of years especially and they are one of the clubs involved in the archery in education project. When I discussed the needs of Integr8Archery Club they didn’t hesitate. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank them again for the support that they give me on a personal level and also the work I do at grassroots level.
There are some other clubs you will likely see me pop up at as these are where my shooting friends are and where I have always been welcomed – Long Buckby has the advantage of my friend and county captain who allows me to pick his knowledge when things aren’t right. Banbury Cross is another warm welcome and my aim as I settle back into routine is to visit these 2 clubs once a month if I can. In the summer I try and get to Bowmen of Glen at least once a fortnight as the company is great and of course I need to settle and get over more often again to my shooting buddies at Kestrels which again was easier in the summer but definitely worth the effort. Don’t forget the clubs that extend a welcome for us to shoot have shooting fees and some require a pre-booked lane.
Usually I love competition and spend most of my Sunday’s doing just that, I’m working on it and will get back to it and when I start booking places I will let you know so that you can join me if and when you wish as some of you have suggested that you would enjoy this as a way of getting together.
So that’s hopefully answered some questions, if I have missed something don’t be shy – ask. See you on the shooting line soon.
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.
Tidying up plans for 2023, reviewing that last 6 months and what went well and where I can improve, funding applications and planning to be on the radio in the new year 😱
Christmas planning, if like me you don’t actually like Christmas it’s always a challenge! We smile and get on with it because it’s easier than defending our position, but if you need a place to scream, give me a shout.
That being said have a great Christmas and enjoy whatever you do, and I hope that whatever happens you manage to find time for maybe a frostbite shoot or some other fresh air activity. No frostbite for me this year on Boxing Day instead a day with friends and muddy bikes, I have always gotten thrills standing at the edge of a racing track so if I can’t shoot being amongst petrol heads will be great fun.
For now a coffee and Christmas clothes to pop over to the range and see friends.
