"My yew fence of England. Who can stand against thee?"

March saw the return of the Pickwick Pepperpots to Broughton.

This is a Midlands-based longbow only archers club. About 80 bowmen (?) archers (?) - I'm not sure of the correct term - participated, firing at various 'marks' around the park.

One mark placed very close to the moat resulted in the loss of numerous arrows into the murky depths. As in 2007 the event finished with shooting at a target in the park from the roof of the Gatehouse.

Beautiful to watch, and strangely, to listen to; the noise of the bow releasing the arrow, and the arrow flights whistling through the air together. Even with just 80 archers you wouldn't have fancied your chances within a 30 foot radius of the target. Imagine 5,000 longbows at Agincourt firing 10 arrows a minute. Ouch. Some of the Pickwick Pepperpots have published rather good footage of the event on YouTube. The photo above was actually from the rather sunnier visit in 2007.

On a grisly grey cool Sunday (April 20th) the Castle hosted a Dragon Boat race organised by Banbury Rotary and raising funds for the Banbury Young Homeless.

The races, and a dance in a marquee in the park the night before raised fantastic sums for the Banbury Young Homeless. Lots of fun had by all.

Only the sun was missing. Hopefully not too traumatic for the carp and perch and Cayuga ducks who I imagine took refuge over on the opposite side of the moat.

So, Old Subtlety returns. Perhaps another posting sooner than in 24 months :-)