Taking aim at family fun

Image: Family Fencing and Archery - Summer 2018 Our kick-off activity for this year’s Summer Holiday activities proved a popular draw; for the first time, OCRA and West Devon Swords staged a Family Fencing and Archery session, with parents and children side-by-side and face-to-face in a test of martial prowess.

Starting with traditional bare-bow archery and sharp arrows, our gentle introduction was more about learning to shoot in a safe environment than any hard competition; although, as usual, some of the parents were keen to find the centre of the targets.

Image: Family Fencing and Archery - Summer 2018Moving on to Olympic-style sports fencing, we took the time to kit-up in full regulation gear to try foil fencing in a poule-unique, anyone-fence-anyone format. No surprises that the children wanted to beat the adults in each and every fight. In what was honestly the noisiest first fencing session we’ve ever led, there was no doubt that the spirit of fun prevailed, while a few adults and children discovered a competitive streak in a very different martial art.

OCRA’s Summer holiday activities continue and we will run some short sessions of fencing and archery using the plastic kit as part of Sport and Art days on Tuesdays 14th and 28th August.