As Communities Editor for Flea Ents, founders of the Tots100, HIBS100, Trips100 and Foodies100 charts, I organise free fun events for our content creators. Last week a small group of us headed to the beautiful Lakeside campus of the University of Worcester to have a go at archery. (AD, gifted)
A journey which should have taken me just under two hours actually ended up being around three and a half hours so when I finally got there I was glad to brew up some tea and coffee and share pastries with our group while we had a catch up.
Next, our activity leader Jon Hunt explained the basics of archery along with some vital safety information and then we donned wrist guards and started shooting arrows.
Let me just say. Some of us were more skilled at this than others. I was just happy initially to hit the board the target was pinned to.
Gradually though I got the hang of it with Jon's help - all those hours ( and hours and hours) watching my son who is a talented bowman at his competitions were obviously also not a complete waste of time.
I said at the beginning of the session I'd be happy if I could get at least one arrow in the red zone and finally I managed it -just!
The other archers in the group seemed to be having an equally fun time and there was lots of friendly chat and laughter which is the general idea of these social get-togethers.
We rounded off the event with lunch and parted ways promising to come back in slightly warmer weather to maybe try some water activities.
The University's Lakeside team offers SUP (paddle boarding), kayaking, canoeing and raft building as well as a whole host of land-based activities from archery to zip-wiring for school groups, holiday clubs, team building, youth groups and corporate entertainment.
Many thanks to Jon and the University of Worcester for hosting us, and to Joy from Pinkoddy and her young son, known on her site as the Sensory Seeker, Emma from Crazy With Twins and Natalie from Plutonium Sox for coming along and joining in with such enthusiasm.
If you'd like to join in with free Flea Ents fun in the future, join one of our regional groups on Facebook - we have groups covering the Midlands, North East, South West and Wales, London and South East, Northern Ireland, North West and Scottish bloggers.
Head to Facebook and search "Flea" plus the regional group you'd like to join, eg "Flea Midlands". If you have any issues feel free to email me on madmumof7blog@gmail.com and I'll be happy to help you find your regional tribe.
A journey which should have taken me just under two hours actually ended up being around three and a half hours so when I finally got there I was glad to brew up some tea and coffee and share pastries with our group while we had a catch up.
Next, our activity leader Jon Hunt explained the basics of archery along with some vital safety information and then we donned wrist guards and started shooting arrows.
Let me just say. Some of us were more skilled at this than others. I was just happy initially to hit the board the target was pinned to.
Gradually though I got the hang of it with Jon's help - all those hours ( and hours and hours) watching my son who is a talented bowman at his competitions were obviously also not a complete waste of time.
I said at the beginning of the session I'd be happy if I could get at least one arrow in the red zone and finally I managed it -just!
The other archers in the group seemed to be having an equally fun time and there was lots of friendly chat and laughter which is the general idea of these social get-togethers.
We rounded off the event with lunch and parted ways promising to come back in slightly warmer weather to maybe try some water activities.
The University's Lakeside team offers SUP (paddle boarding), kayaking, canoeing and raft building as well as a whole host of land-based activities from archery to zip-wiring for school groups, holiday clubs, team building, youth groups and corporate entertainment.
Many thanks to Jon and the University of Worcester for hosting us, and to Joy from Pinkoddy and her young son, known on her site as the Sensory Seeker, Emma from Crazy With Twins and Natalie from Plutonium Sox for coming along and joining in with such enthusiasm.
If you'd like to join in with free Flea Ents fun in the future, join one of our regional groups on Facebook - we have groups covering the Midlands, North East, South West and Wales, London and South East, Northern Ireland, North West and Scottish bloggers.
Head to Facebook and search "Flea" plus the regional group you'd like to join, eg "Flea Midlands". If you have any issues feel free to email me on madmumof7blog@gmail.com and I'll be happy to help you find your regional tribe.