With regret we have to announce the death of Denis Beresford (87) on 31^st December 2012 after a short illness.  Denis was a well known and much respected archer in Nottinghamshire and the East Midlands, He began shooting in 1951 with the Royal Ordinance Factory Club (ROF Nottingham). The ROF became the Civil Service Archers, which in turn emerged into its current guise as ‘Wilford Bowmen’ in 2004.

An active archer for 52 weeks of the year, Denis quickly acquired additional skills as coach and judge; his wife Doreen assiduously organising his domestic diary around his archery.  His coaching skills were soon appreciated by newcomers to archery requiring him to spend less time shooting and more and more of his time outdoors coaching. In recent decades he only shot outdoors when there were no new archers to develop.  As a coach he introduced hundreds of people to archery.

He was a County Judge, again for longer than most can remember and assisted in many regional competitions.

In 2011 he broke his hip.  He had committed to judging the Wilford Rose Status York/Hereford shoot and was determined to fulfil his duty. So, three months after the injury, he was driven down to the shooting ground at Wilford where he fulfilled his duty; selfless dedication and determination in one act.  Club members walked round him with safety nets; just in case!

Denis was a vice president of the ‘Civil Service Archery Association’ for many years, and stood down only recently.  He has held every official post in the club.  He was awarded the most prestigious regional award, the ‘Ron Smith Memorial Trophy’ a few years ago.  He still competed in the Civil Service Winter Divisional Postal League every season. In addition he organised tournaments, too many and varied to mention.

He shot indoors, twice a week, every year between October and April.  Denis remained an active archer until the end.

He was the simply the star of our club and was widely acclaimed within the county. He was committed to archery absolutely and was a fine ambassador for the sport.

‘One of the lads’ was all Denis ever wanted to be, and he was; a very special lad to us all.

Our sincere and heartfelt condolences go to his widow, Doreen, and to the rest of his family.