The president of the Gilde Saint-Sébastien in Ronse is “crazy” about archery

“B a lot of cities would have already been happy with a pole covered. Here, there were three, including two at Parc Lagache. There, only one is still standing, but it is no longer used. Our tower is 28.4 meters. Before, Ronse had the second highest perch in Belgium, after Leuven. We shot here at 36 meters, outside. The tree came from the quarries of Lessines. We went to look for him with horses. But at one point they got stuck and had to cut three meters off to be able to move… Leuven kept their record: anecdotes, Rudy Van Driessche, the president of the Royal Antique Guild of San Sebastian ( i n French in the text) has hundreds of them: We could fill the newspaper with it! And it’s the truth, huh! My wife told me again this morning: “You are getting crazier and crazier with your archery. You only live for that…” What the septuagenarian would tend to admit, moreover, in a city renowned for its “Zotte Maandag”.

The virus, he caught it very early. At first, as a simple shooter. Then, he will become president of the horizontal shooting society in 1980, before his predecessor, Dr. Vandenbossche asks him to take up the torch of vertical shooting (and of the guild) fifteen years later. Rudy will take his role very seriously, even merging the two companies. For fifty years, from 1972, he and his family ran the Auberge Saint-Sébastien, café-restaurant-hotel – party hall – caterer, in a beautiful residence which had seen the birth of Dr Ovide Decroly, just opposite from Bruul Park. It was the local of the guild (in addition to being that of the independent wheel, which organized the famous Critérium des As): “the people of Renais do not say “au Bruul”, but “au Saint-Sébastien”… “.

Three poles next to each other

Right in the city center, you are almost in an open-air vertical pole shooting museum: there is the open pole in the Bruulpark; a “semi-open” (with a metal cage that is raised to surround the pole at the end of which is the portcullis with the targets – rooster, hen, cane and bird – 27 meters high and, contain the arrows ) and, finally, this covered perch built in 1956 at the back of the villa. There are only two left in Wallonia (including that of Harchies, recently returned to the archers after its renovation), barely a little more in Flanders. “Shooting here since 1486. ​​The lawn belonged to a former president who donated it to the City. The first kiosk was also for archers. In exchangege, you can shoot for life, but you don’t does it more than twice a year, for insurance reasons.” Rudy made the same gesture with part of his property, including the tower and a new bar – or we can shoot horizontally – that members of the club are busy building, voluntarily, on the site of two former workers’ houses razed. He sold the other two lots, the villa renamed Muzikids (to host music camps for young people) and, along the rue Neuve Saint-Pierre, a tea room that became Den Bruul.”Is did not want that the guild, which was created in the 14th century (officially, it turned 500 in 2011, but would be much older), Ofdisappears after so long. So I made this proposal to the mayor.”

At present, all shooting company equipment is stored in the covered perch, fully lined with wood inside: “In 1956, when the burgomaster Soudan saw it once built, he said: “what is this all black thing?” I ls reached an agreement to place four windows but it didn’t make sense, since they are boarded up by the floor. This winter, we’re starting to shoot indoors again. It’s time to start again because a tower that is not in use is deteriorating.”

Four times king, but never emperor!

First reserved for the militiamen, archery later became a “leisure” activity; in particular because of the appearance of the firearm. In the beginning, Rudy recounts, ” a stick was placed on the wings of a mill which was turned to make it rise. this is where the expression “shooting a pole” came from. In Ronse, it happened at the Moulin de l’Ypréau, currently Place Guisset, which was a crossroads between the wheels leading to Oudenaarde, Lessines and Leuze. People transported flax in wheelbarrows to wash it in the Dender.

On the day of the King’s shooting, once a year, it is the parrot (papegeai) that must be shot. And that’s the only time we place an obstacle: “One day, it was a model who represented me as a cook. He was carrying a saucepan. and the guys had decided that whoever touched the pan got a beer. And that’s what we were aiming for rather than the target! It is the king who chooses. Next time, it will be a spinning ferry from Orval… ” We will have understood: at the Gilde, it is the spirit of camaraderie, the good atmosphere that prevails: “In the past, we were always paid in beer! GenAlso, in shooting, the prices are plates and cutlery, but I don’t really know why . ” We will greet the statue of Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of archers . He is a Roman officer who, having converted to Christianity, was condemned to death. His soldiers had towant to execute it, but they didn’t shoot in the heart, only in arms and in the leg . And finally, it is of the plague that he died. If you want the names of the women who treated him, I have them. I’m friends with the Dean. He’s the one who told me all these stories…”

Bilingual, intergenerational and mixed

When Rudy Van Driessche joined it in the early 1970s, the Gilde, which at one time had up to 165 shooters, still had about forty. “It started to decline sharply with the smoking ban. Then there were the alcohol checks, which of course I understand, but we liked to have a pint or two. Without exaggerating, because the bow is still a weapon. Finally, the Covid dealt us a bad blow, by changing the habits of some elders. And even with younger people, but who weren’t motivated then, because a real guy never gives up.“

From October 15 to April 15, it’s winter shooting, horizontally, then we shoot pole vault, on Saturday afternoon. The Gilde currently has about twenty members, including a quarter of French speakers (Ath, Ellezelles, Saint-Sauveur, etc.) and eight women, which had long been taboo according to him: “We have to be careful, or else they will overtake us…sourit Rudy. We are bilingual, like our guestbook, which since 1745 has been written once in French, once in Flemish. We find the signatures of the Belgian sovereigns who have passed. It lists all the kings and emperors, the price of a shot… We even know what they ate.“

In Ronse, each political tendency had its perch covered. The Gilde Saint-Sébastien rather brought together the notables, of liberal tendencies. On Mondays, they met at 4 p.m., while the workers were still working. no question of mixing. Today, all of that is a long way off. From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., it’s the “week” and novices are welcome. We can come and try our hand at shooting.

Four times king, but never emperor!

A good quality bow costs between 1,000 and 1,200 euros: “But beware, this does not mean that we shoot well. what counts is the eye and the arm. The young think they’re going to knock everything down, but the old don’t let it go. Our oldest member, Romanus Delhuvenne, was 79 when he first became king. He had been shooting for 50 years and had never been. We had a huge party. In shooting, you are alone, and what matters is that the bird is down. How you did it is none of our business. It’s yours ! Elders don’t have a problem with that.“

In 1976, Rudy received the title of Emperor of Flanders in Berchem, although no one knew him: “All weekend, I was in my kitchens and had no time to go shoot. When you are king three times in a row, you become emperor. I have been king twice in a rownt twice. Once I almost became emperor. I had said all winter that I would hit the bird the first time, and boom, I did, but it didn’t get ejected. The wind was contrary and it never detached. Then it was my son Hendrick’s turn to shoot. He didn’t want to, I told him to do it…and he got it. He was afraid that I would be angry…”

Respecting folklore and traditions is the only way to allow the guild to survive for the Renaisien. “I did pretty well in that. We have an outfit, a shirt with a crest, a necklace, medals… Even young people are hooked on that. I th day du tir du Roi, which takes place on the last Saturday of June, the last sovereign welcomes us to his home. We eat and drink a little. After lunch, we will greet the monument to San Sebastian in front of the villa (it bears the name of the members of the brotherhood who died for their country), then we shoot.”

For Rudy Van Driessche, the succession is assured: his two granddaughters, Laura and Larissa, practice archery. They were even European champions among young people.