Summertime. Buckland Ripers. A lopsided field in a soft valley. In the top corner beneath the pylons in an impromptu gazebo settlement a flock of CMBers have migrated from Cobhams for the day.

Here to eat, laugh, laze and shoot the Osprey Archers Triple Shoot. The day is sold as a fun shoot and it provides great value at that, informal and kept gently on track by our own Matt and Jane as the convivial judges. Dorset Apple Cake, bacon in the morning, tea in mugs all day, burgers and full fat Tango. This is England with a west country accent – genial, mucking in, mucking about, letting everyone be, all proper relaxed, no pressure.

Perfect setting for a good day’s shooting, a morning of targets at 50 metres, then 12 ends in the woods field shooting out of the midday sun, then a mid-afternoon of clout to round off. Well organised and seamless, it’s just easy to slot in to it each year, pick up conversations with the wider archery family from other clubs, observe the gentle rivalries and watch it all go off nicely. It’s a gentle day of friends.

The natural setting is a charm as well, the farmyard has Yellowhammers, the clout field buzzards, swifts, sparrowhawks, kestrels, corvids and pheasant, the woods a cuckoo, chiffchaffs and a song thrush, more importantly though the trophy table has Ospreys.

This year two of our successful younger members, Carl McClaughlin and Heidi Lewis brought home the lovely glass trophies for winning in their groups. Many others were in the medals, notably Alan King continued his long running success at staying out of the medals, we anticipate a fractious call to Virgin Media to vent the emotional fallout from this imminently, your call is important to us Alan….

Good to see so many CMB archers involved again this year, hope to see even more again next time, it’s a good day’s fun, everyone is made very welcome in a supportive and generous environment.

It’s an opportunity to see what other people get up to in their clubs and in their kit choices, to swap ideas and to hear about what is coming up to enjoy through the summer or to try clout or field for a change.

It’s the one I try not to miss and can’t wait to get back to next year.

Put the Osprey Archers Triple Shoot in your diaries as soon as the date comes up!