Use of whistles to control shooting
The committee have been informed that last Wednesday the 7th of August during the late afternoon on the outdoor range an incident occurred where a member was collecting arrows at a distance of 70 metres when a couple of archers already back at the shooting line were going to shoot until a ‘stop / fast’ was called. This has come about because no-one took the responsibility of acting as field captain and non-use of a whistle.
The use of a whistle is a requirement of the AGB rules of shooting. In certain situations we have become lax on the use of whistle commands and as all members know this is something we teach on our beginner courses.
We must insist, therefore, that if 2 or more people are shooting, one person MUST take responsibility to act as field captain and use the whistle commands. There is always a whistle hung from one of the doors on the pavilion (i.e. one that you can squeeze by hand). It does not matter who acts as field captain whether an experienced archer or a relatively new member as long as someone takes responsibility. If you have acted as field captain and finished your round and ready to leave the field you must hand over the responsibility of field captain to someone else before you leave.
Please note that this occurrence has been recorded as a ‘near miss ’ on our risk assessments.