Some Notable Club Members

Bernard Lee

Bernard was one of the three founder members of the club after the Second World War and became the first chairman.

Bob & Hylda Parsons

Bob and Hylda were the other two founder members and became very active members of the club, both serving on the committee for many years.

Bob was the first secretary of the club. He later served as chairman for 8 years and then became the longest-serving president we have had. He also served as chairman of WMAS and was their chief coach and a regional judge. In 1983 he was made a life member of RLSAS in recognition of his services to the society.

Hylda was the club treasurer for some years and also took part in coaching new members.

Frank Rawlings

Frank joined the club in 1950 and was a member for about 24 years. Rawlings Brothers was a Leamington Saddlers business which supplied leather goods to the sport of archery. They were appointed official supplier of materials and equipment to the society in 1956. Frank presented the Rawlings Brothers Cup to the society in 1971.

Bill and Beryl Letts

Bill joined the club in 1952 and Beryl a couple of years later. They were both keen on field archery and in the late ’50s formed the Warwickshire Field Archery Society. They were members of RLSAS until 1973 when they moved to Suffolk.

Bill took a prominent part in ground and equipment maintenance all the time he was a member and was also involved in coaching.

Beryl was a very competant archer. She made MB in 1959, was British Ladies Champion in 1960 and frequently figured near the top of the ladies rankings. She also became GB Women’s Field Archery Champion, although she preferred target archery and was quoted saying that she found field archery boring!!

Roy and Mary Matthews

Roy Matthews was our most successful archer of the post-war era, being British Champion for many years and representing GB in many international competitions including the 1972 olympics. More details about Roy’s archery career. Roy and Mary moved to Worcestershire in 1972.

Mary Matthews was secretary of the society for some years and was involved in archery administration at all levels. She was a GNAS vice president and manager of the GB team.

Mac and Cath Pritchard

Mac and Cath joined Leamington in 1963 having previously been at Meriden. Both were very successful archers, achieving MB status and were heavily involved in archery administration.

Mac was selected for several international shoots including the 1964 Helsinki World Championships and the 1965 Championships in Vasteras, Sweden. He was RLSAS treasurer for 18 years.

In 1971 Cath held 5 National records. She was Chairman of RLSAS in 1972 and secretary for 19 years. She was also secretary of CWAA and WMAS, a vice-president of GNAS and chairman of the GNAS Target Archery committee.

Ted Gamble

Ted joined the club in 1966 and was a very successful archer. He shot at international level and was selected for the Olympic training squad in 1969. He became GMB in 1971 and held the National record for the FITA. He emigrated to Canada in 1973.