Veteran with macular degeneration sharing his passion for archery

When it comes to archery, RAF veteran Jim McPike has more experience than most. Jim, 91 years old, has been shooting arrows since he was young.

“I’ve been doing archery all my life. I have macular degeneration now, so these days, I practice in my back garden,” he said.

Jim lives in Kilmarnock. In his younger years, he would make his own bows using yew wood or ash wood. Jim recently donated three bows to Sight Scotland Veterans' activity centre in Paisley, the Hawkhead Centre, for other veterans to use.

Jim said: “The wooden ones I’ve made are a lot lighter than modern bows. They can be used by more people."

The keen archer honed his skills while doing his National Service.

“When I did my National Service with the RAF, I was posted to a training camp at Moreton-in-the-Marsh, on the edge of the Cotswolds, and I trained as a Medical Orderly. I had a bow and I used to go into the woods and practice," Jim said.

“We used to shoot rabbits in open fields, places with small hillocks, where their burrows were. You’d have to be patient, sit and wait, because when they see you, they’re off. If you get within 20 yards, you have a good chance of hitting a rabbit.”

Jim would take the rabbits home and cook them.

“I’d add vegetables and make a stew. I’d also hunt pheasants and they’d go in the oven.”

Jim said he had received an “enormous” amount of help from Sight Scotland Veterans.

“Anyone who was in the Armed Forces and now has eye problems, I would encourage them to get in touch with Sight Scotland Veterans. I was amazed at the amount of equipment they had which could help me.

“I hadn’t read a newspaper for years. But now, with the special magnifier, I can read a newspaper now,” he said.

Jim said he enjoyed meeting other veterans when he visited Sight Scotland Veterans’ activity centre in Paisley, the Hawkhead Centre.

“My daughter lives in Ireland. The only people I see are people walking their dogs when I go for a walk in the woods.

“I don’t really see many people, but I really enjoyed that day at Hawkhead and at the Linburn Centre near Edinburgh, as well.  I like to meet people, and I met so many at the Hawkhead Centre.”

Jim has always been a social person. When Jim was younger, Jim helped set up an archery club in Kilmarnock.

Jim said: “Weans were running about here and getting into bother. The excuse given was, they had nothing to do. We had a meeting and they asked if anyone had skills to offer that the children might be interested in.

“I came up with the idea of an archery club. On the first day, so many people turned up that we could only give each kid three arrows. It was a fantastic success and it became the North West Archery Club.”

Jim’s archery led him to meet a member of the Royal Family.  In 2012, the North West Archery Club received a visit from the Prince of Wales. Jim recounted the meeting in June 2022, before the Prince of Wales was coronated as King Charles III.

Jim said: “Prince Charles and I had a good chat and I gave him a shot with a bow that I’d made. We got on great together.

“Prince Charles asked me, ‘What possessed you to start a club like this?’

Jim said: "I want the kids around here to experience the outdoors. When you go to the woods nowadays, you don’t see any kids at all. That’s a shame, because they’re missing out on quite a lot. Learning to shoot an arrow gives them a taste of the outdoors.”

“I’m a country guy and archery, hillwalking and fishing have always been my main events. When I was a boy, we used to go up into the woods. We’d make a raft and go swimming in the loch. We would make a fire and we’d throw tatties into the fire to cook them. They came out black, but you’d just pull the skin off them, and eat them.

“Prince Charles said, ‘Oh, I did that too, with my brothers up at Balmoral’.”

At the North West Archery Club, Jim taught the sport to a handful of youth workers over six weeks. Those youth workers became Archery Coaches at the club and ran classes for children aged 5 to 14 years. The North West Archery Club continues in Kilmarnock today.

Jim said: “I was proud I got it going because nobody thought we’d be able to do it. A lot were amazed when they saw the turnout we had.”

These days, Jim is happy to continue his archery at home.

“I’m 91 now and I’ve had a great life, to be honest, with all the things I’ve done,” Jim said.