WHEN Chelmick's Alison Williamson struck Olympic bronze for archery, a Burford woman was on the edge of her armchair clutching a world championship medal for luck. When Alison's shot hit home it was another nostalgia boost for Mary Matthews. Seated in her favourite armchair at Bow Site, Archer Way, the former manager of the Great Britain archery team watched the Athens games on TV and shared her sporting memories with JEN GREEN.

THE moment when Alison Williamson hit the target and scored Olympic bronze in Athens was a "wonderful moment for British archery" says Mary Matthews, vice-president of the West Midlands Archery Association

"It was archery's first individual medal since the London games in 1908 - it was so exciting.

"My only regret is that I had no-one to jump up and down with."

Mary has known the Williamson family for many years: Alison's parents, Thomas and Susan, are both Master Bowmen and started an archery club in Church Stretton almost 30 years ago.

Their medal-winning daughter pulled her first bow string when she was six.

Archery has also been a long pull for Mary Matthews, now past her three score years and 10, who has been associated with the sport for 52 years.

Last year she was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queens Birthday Honours List for her services to the sport.

A member of the British Olympic Committee from 1971 until 1981, she managed the British Olympic Team for 15 years, taking it to the Munich Games in 1972.

Mary remembers the games well, not just for the sporting highlights but for the horrific terrorist attack on the Israeli team that so shocked the world.

Eleven people were gunned down and killed by Palistinian militants and the traumatic events of those days remain vividly etched in her memory.

"It was a tragedy almost beyond belief," she recalls.

"It was shocking and had a devastating effect on everyone.

"The games were stopped for a day of mourning and it was so difficult trying to get competitors motivated, but we had to do it, it was the only way we could cope."

Mary's late husband Roy, twice world archery champion, was also awarded an MBE in 1977 and, to mark his achievement, Archer Way, where the couple lived, was named in his honour.

They first met in Leamington Spa and were married in 1951. They moved to Tenbury Wells in 1972.

Mary remembers: "I shall never know how we found the time.

"I was up to my eyes in bows and arrows, sorting out team kit and uniforms and packing up the family home."

Also a stalwart of the "Archers of the Teme", Mary stays in touch with archery at all levels and also has other strings to her bow - but she still misses all the excitement, she confesses.

"I still get the Olympic buzz when I turn on the TV," she says.

"I also get very nostalgic and the memories keep flooding back."

Proud and delighted to be honoured for her services to archery, she adds: "My MBE is not only for me, it is for my family, my sport and for Tenbury Wells, where thankfully, I continue to lead a happy and enjoyable life."