[Archers] Loaner gear

[Garth G. Groff]

Noble Friends of the Bow,

Recently I overheard an archer tell a first-time guest who was agonizing 
over losing an arrow not to worry because our loaner gear was all junk, 
and nobody cares about it anyway. I was shocked, and started to respond, 
but fortunately backed off so as not to cause a scene in front of the 
guest. The archer was wrong, and it was personally insulting to me, and 
would be insulting to the guest if she got the idea we only offered 
trash to newcomers.

The bows my group issues to guests may be old, but they are maintained 
in the best condition possible. All those bows had all just been 
inspected in a general maintenance session the weekend before (and were 
inspected again when issued that day), strings were checked and waxed, 
and brace heights adjusted. I also regularly clean our bows to remove 
gunk from the grips and limbs. Our arrows are as good as I shoot, since 
I made most of them myself, and they are repaired or replaced whenever 
they become worn or damaged.

I'm sure that many of you who also maintain your group's loaner gear to 
high standards. I hope so. But I have seen the loaner garb some groups 
offer, and indeed drew a few pieces from that source when I first 
started playing. It was pretty awful, mostly stuff that was ripped up 
and should have been used for rags. I've also seen some loaner gear that 
is offered to heavy fighters which was an embarrassment, and stuffed 
into a barrel where it was getting further damage.

My point in bringing this up is not to toot my own horn, but rather to 
get all of us thinking about our attitudes toward our equipment, 
especially the stuff we offer to guests, and thus to inspire us all to 
keep our loaner equipment and garb in the best possible condition. There 
is a lot of hand wringing and pontificating these days about how we are 
going to attract new members to keep our society going. You can't do 
that if you insult newcomers.

I invite comment and discussion.

Kind regards,


Lord Mungo Napier, Archer of Mallard Lodge