[Archers] Loaner gear

[Allen Miller]

---------- Sent from my Verizon Wireless mobile phone


-----Original Message-----
From: Garth G. Groff
Sent: 1/31/2011 5:49:13 PM
To: Archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Subject: [Archers] Loaner gear
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






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