AFTER a successful pilot last April, when Old Basing Archers opened its annual St George’s Day Shoot to members of other clubs, Archery GB, the sport’s national governing body, have agreed for them to stage their first UK Record Status shoot.

This will take place on September 11 and be called the Siege Shoot will see top archers from across the south and further afield arrive at the Recreation Ground, Old Basing in search of high scores to improve on their own national rankings.

The Old Basing Archers’ Siege Shoot is not new, it was reinstated after a decade, having been run successfully for some 25 years as a friendly inter-club event.

As the name suggest, it commemorates the siege of Basing House, an important battle in the English Civil War when Oliver Cromwell’s Roundheads laid siege to the Royalist stronghold of Basing House.

The final surrender terms were shot into the grounds by a Parliamentarian longbow archer.

For this year’s Siege Shoot, archers will shoot two, six dozen rounds over either 70 metres, 60m or 50m depending on age and bow type.

Next year, Old Basing Archers will celebrate its 50th anniversary.