When Neil Ashton recently joined Burscough Archers, he never thought that just two weeks later, while sharing a target with wife, June, he’d hit a Robin Hood; indeed, he may well never have heard of the concept.

But, sure enough, and shortly after buying their own arrows, with the evening sun in his eyes, instead of the usual reassuring thud of the arrow hitting the target, he heard what he described as “a strange peeling sound and didn’t realise such things happen to mere mortals! Good job it was my own arrows involved — hell hath no fury and all that jazz.”