PAUL TWAITES of the Deer Park Archers club near Little Shurdington won an individual silver medal in the novice category at the inaugural Invictus Games as well as a bronze in the team competition.

Paul Twaites has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since leaving the services.

Twaites lost out to Italy’s gold medal winner Fabio Tomasulo.

Congratulations also go to club member Dave Sandles for the coaching support he has given to Paul and others.

Gloucestershire Junior Championships THERE were an avalanche of titles for Deer Park Archers at the Gloucestershire Junior Championships in Cheltenham Winners included Charlotte Lunt, Anna Langdon and Robbie Baker, who also recorded the highest recurve score of the day with 624.

Lucy Mason beat a long-standing national record held by club coach Steph Gill.

Wins for Hannah Deasy, Connie Healey, Ellie Gore, Will Kurtze, James Howse, Fin Cummins, Holly Clifford and Harry Faulkner confirmed the strength of Deer Park's compound team.

Not to be outdone, the barebows also looked awesome with Page Tucker, Rachel Lucas, Chloe A'Bear, Mike Dalton, Aidan Miles and Hamish Ponton all winning county titles.

Rachel smashed another long-standing record by 130 points and she also beat all the male and female recurve archers shooting at the same distance.

Hamish Ponton continued his return to form by breaking a national record by 79 points.

Deer Park Archers also retained the Gloucestershire Perpetual Team trophy through Holly Clifford, Robbie Baker and Rachel Lucas, while Pete and Anna Langdon won the Parent and Child Trophy.

GWAS Junior Inter-Counties THE Gloucestershire team, which included nine Deer Park Academy juniors in the squad of 15, impressively retained their Grand Western Archery Society (GWAS) Junior Inter-Counties title at Danesfield near Taunton.

Some highlights: Lucy Mason top-scored in the compound team with 1390; Anna Langdon took the recurve with 1271, Phoenix Udin won the longbow with 528 and Rachael Lucas, shooting barebow, broke two national records when scoring 1171.