CHURCH STRETTON, SHROPSHIRE 2017

Bob and Bryan were organisers. Also attending were Alan, Dom, Jeff, Jim, Joe, George, Neil, Nick and Pete. Our digs were a couple of terraced spacious split level converted barns also comprising games facilities on a well run large working farm. These were within a holiday let part of the business. Ours were located within the farm complex along with others. The farm building and most others were medieval vintage robust picturesque stone structures. Ours were old but built from later materials. However the furniture and all fittings were many, good quality, comfortable and excellent, so well suited to our purpose. Other properties for let were located remote from the farm complex. Plaish village is very small but lends its name to the farm which is known as: Plaish Park Farm. Plaish Hall is a large manor across the road from the farm which may have been the home farm in times past. The remoteness of our digs resulted in weak internet connections so if you did not receive an, "I've arrived call," that is the probable reason.

The organisers had arranged a late afternoon welcome before venturing to a pub for a meal. Pikes who were likely to be late were given the pub location. As usual most of the Pikes had arrived and gained access to the digs before Bob and Bryan returned with the food and essential drink. So it was pretty soon off to The Plough where meals had been organised at a table set for all our number. There were two late arrivals. Dom appeared and managed to get his food delived to our table along with the rest of us. Neil arrived later and became a lone eater among the nourished. Later back at the digs things began to fall into place.

All Pikes gathered around a large round table. The first activity was the, "Grand Opening!" A number of sealed unaddressed envelopes were placed upon the table following Bob and Bryan each taking envelopes addressed to them. Pikes were told to take one envelope each but not open it until instructed. Strangely there were no spare envelopes. Then the order to open was given. The organisers and Pikes opened their envelopes to reveal each contained a self adhesive badge. They were all to wear their badges in the morning for a group photograph. There were three badge designs which designated the team that each Pike and organiser belonged. The designs were significant because 2017 was the fortieth anniversary of Pikehand Weekends. They were combinations of, "40." Namely they were forty, fortee and fortytee. Additionally the teams were given a weekend assignment that they were to presented on Sunday.

ASSIGNMENT PIKEHAND 2017
• You should create and imaginary Pikehand Weekend that you and your team attended earlier than 2017.
• Innovatively name (not a previous Pike WE) your weekend and the year you undertook it. Can be anywhere on this or some other planet.
• Your weekend could be thousands of years ago or only yesterday.
• Remember that you may have to adjust how you express yourselves dependent upon the technology of the time.
• You should maintain team secrecy from other teams and the organisers.
• Create as many activities as there are members in your team. All activities should be undertaken during your weekend in which you all took part. No age or medical declines allowed).
• Write them in readable English as a set of bulleted or numbered minutes with a brief explanation of what and how you achieved what you did using the paper and pen you brought with you.
• You should entertain us presenting your minutes to all the other Pikes on Sunday evening.
• You can elect one of you team as spokesman or several of you can present.
• Astound us with your choices, names, activities, where, duration, wildness, fears, laughter, mishaps, splendour, equipment, individual foibles, etc.
• Pikes should not heckle presenters but may seek clarification as required.
• BorB will chair and judge your presentations and validity of clarifying points.
• Surrender your minutes to BorB once they have been delivered.
• We need to be able to read them.

Until this weekend we had always delayed our annual conference until the last/departure day of our weekend. Often this left inadequate time to properly cover all business. This year our conference followed on from the grand opening. There was a lot to cover and we were going until the early hours when we adjourned. It was postponed until the evening of Sunday. Some resolution was reached but is not reported here.

After breakfast on Saturday the Pikes assembled and the group photo was taken. SEE BELOW. We then shared cars and in convoy made our way to an activity centre. We checked in and all signed the disclaimer form. Then we were introduced to our instructor, a competent young woman. In the interest of including the older generation Pikes in all activities we were taken out to a large field. Our instructor gave us a safety talk regarding the dangers of archery and that we were to obey her unreservedly. Unfortunately Pete had a previous shoulder injury and could not take part. Each team was taken to individual shooting points whilst observed by the opposing team and instructed on how to safely use the bow, load and release the arrows. They were then to aim four individually marked arrows each up into the air at a large target laid out on the ground some distance away. This was a test run by each team. Once the last man on each team had shot all his arrows the instructor allowed them to advance to the target to retrieve their four arrows. Each Pike was told the score he'd achieved with each arrow. It was surprising how many arrows had over-shot the target and hence received zero score.

Once the training shoot was complete the competition began. Much appraisal of the differing styles abounded with plenty of criticism and ridicule among the praises. Each Pike shot in turn five sets of four arrows. As the competition progressed Pikes began to debate about how they could improve their score. With or without spectacles, how to stand, how high to aim, wear a hat or remove clothing. Our scores were recorded by our instructor so were impartial. At the end of the shoot she totted up the individual scores then gave us our positions in the scoring. Each Pike had given her his name for the competition and as usual there were those among us who were too shy to be associated with bad scores so used pseudonyms. Seven were registered for the archery. The pseudos were:- Alan/Bryan, Jeff/Bryan, Neil/Bryan, Tarquin, Percy, Robin and Sir Lancelot.
ARCHERY SCORES AND POSITION

Pikes	Set1	Set2	Set3	set4	Set5	Score	Rank
Alan/Bryan	25	60	10	120	75	290	10
Jeff/Bryan	30	95	150	80	120	475	6
Bob	160	50	75	95	125	505	5
Neil/Bryan	160	135	185	135	145	760	2
Dom	20	130	85	100	105	440	7
Tarquin	135	85	170	45	210	645	3
Percy	175	235	135	100	150	795	1
Robin	85	35	160	85	20	385	8
Sir Lancelot	70	100	10	25	175	380	9
Bryan	80	100	110	60	185	535	4

We assembled our arrows and bows and returned to registration. Hot drinks all round as shooting was thirsty work. Our instructor then invited us to follow her to the next activity. In comparison with archery this activity was quite cramped and fortunately under cover. It rained Cats and Dogs. Again we received safety instructions and told we must each wear eye protection. This could be our own spectacles. There was one rifle that each Pike would use in turn. Fortunately it was an air gun with minimal recoil so Pete could take part. Each Pike was given a small paper target. We put our identification mark on it and then went onto the range to pin it on to a soft block. When all targets were placed we returned to the firing butts and given instructions on how to hold and aim the weapon. In turn we were to aim at our paper target under direct control of our instructor who operated the bolt action for each of us. The weapon was a revelation to older Pikes as it was a bolt action device which differed considerably from the single shot guns they used in their youth. It was also much smaller and lighter. Our instructor loaded ten slugs into a small exchangeable clip that she inserted into the weapon. Then the first guinea pig was invited to volunteer. With some trepidation one Pike surrendered and shooting began. The objective was to aim at the centre of our paper target and fire ten shots giving us training practice. It also provided a means to zero the gun sight to each individual's vision. When all Pikes had fired their training shots we recovered our targets for her to do some assessment from the clusters on each and relate it to a name. As before some pseudonyms were provided on the targets which were:- Robin, Nick/Nick, Pete/Nick, Alan/Nick, Neil/Bryan, Tarquin and Percy McGloater.

Next our instructor gave us the rules of the competition. There were five automatic target devices out on the range. Each of them would drop if a slug hit a small central area but it would remain raised otherwise. This was a timed round. The clock started when the first target dropped and stopped when the last dropped. As an incentive our instructor said that the record for getting all five was five seconds. Several Pikes made exclamations like, "He must have been a real marksman!" "Gender gentlemen!" she remarked pointedly. A proud Essex girl. It was HER record!! Following our correction the competition began she calling each by name so sight zeroing probably took place for each of us. Isn't modern technology grand. Two timed rounds were fired by each Pike. Most but not all Pikes improved their times. Our Essex girl then worked out our ranking.
RIFLE ROUND CHALLENGE

Pikes	Time1	Time2	Rank
Robin	30.24	23.73	8
Nick/Nick	35.75	23.33	7
Pete/Nick	1:39.92	53.47	11
Alan/Nick	37.25	27.93	9
Dom	20.72	13.02	2
Neil/Bryan	28.14	18.82	4
Tarquin	13.41	11.42	1
Bob	50.37	51.06	10
Bryan	19.32	28.73	5
Percy McGloater	17.62	13.62	3
Jeff	21.53	19.83	6

Having completed the Saturday challenges the Pikes returned to our digs to prepare for our taxi journey into Much Wenlock for our annual banquet plus one or two pints beforehand in a nearby pub. It was a summery evening so we enjoyed our Pike beverages in the outside area of the pub. Pikes had been asked to select from a menu previously circulated. Hence The chef was forewarned of our varying needs so there was not a long wait once seated in the semi-private area of the restaurant. Good food and good wine was enjoyed by all. Only one taxi was available for our return journey. So the driver had to make more than one trip to get us all back. Pikes were advised that their teams' competition was still in force. Three Pikes from each team were to be their team champions and play one of the games room activities against their opposition notifying the organisers of their scores. Also, as this was an anniversary year there were real prizes for each member of the winning team. Each Pike strove to get his personal best score thinking that the higher his score the better chance he had of receiving a prize. Some discent arose because the numbers in each team were not equal. However that was allayed because an organiser's score was used to make up the difference. Team winners however were determined by ranking hence the lower team score were winners but that was only to be announced once all competitive scores were in. The remaining evening was spent in conversation, beer, wine and spirit.

After breakfast on Sunday we shared cars to our next venue of interest. Ironbridge was in easy striking distance so that is where we headed. The organisers had selected from the many places of interest two that were close together at the upper end of the gorge. The china museum and the tar tunnel. They had planned to visit them both then have a pork pie lunch at the Iron Bridge itself then possibly go for a walk all around the gorge. Didn't quite work out like that but pretty close. It was rather whistle stop tour of the china museum and about the same in the tar tunnel. The walk was avoided by the Pikes and the pork pie lunch was at the pie shop rather than a picnic on the bridge. After lunch the consensus was to return to the digs and have a self prepared pork pie and salad evening. Went down very well though. Extra pies were purchased at the pie shop before we left. Dom had to get back so left at that point. Later our conference was re-convened. It went on again for a equally long time. So yet another record was set this momentous weekend. The longest Pike conference in our forty year history. No minutes were taken so nothing is reported here but some more resolutions were to be undertaken in the near future. (UFP), usual for Pikes.

Monday breakfast was reduced from what we had been experiencing. Pikes were eager to get away. However there were no scores from games room activities as Pikes a usual were skiing off Piste. A mutiny also became apparent. Both teams had refused to undertake their assigments. Hence no points scored. So, from the points that had been accrued, team 4T were winners. Four bags each containing a hidden prize were place upon the table and the winning team chose one each. What wonderful results for them as the prizes were boxes containing a proper digital watches, without battery. Nick was the lucky Pike whose prize was a his/hers pair of watches.
TEAM SCORE AND PRIZES

Pike	Team	Archery	Rifles
Jim	4T	8	8
Joe	4T	3	1
Nick	4T	9	7
Neil	4T	2	4
Sub Bryan	4T	2	5
Total:- 47
George	40	1	3
Dom	40	7	2
Jeff	40	6	6
Pete	40	0	11
Alan	40	10	9
Total:- 56

After the extravaganza we packed up our dirty washing and things, said our goodbyes, locked the digs and departed for home.

See Group Photo

See Slide Show

News & Events 2018