Veteran hobbyist helps Ukrainians stand un-bowed

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Tailem Bend bow-maker Ashley “Snoopy” Ralston’s years of military service are behind him, but he still has something to offer his brothers in arms in Ukraine.

In the past few years, Snoopy – as he is best known – says he has raised around $30,000 for Ukrainian organisations, all through sales of his bows, online, at auctions and events.

He even sent a handful of bows to the Ukrainian embassy in Canberra, to be shipped overseas and used by veterans recovering from injury, or young people developing their hand-eye coordination.

But why?

After growing up in Australia and the United Kingdom, and joining Her Majesty’s Armed Forces as a teenager, Mr Ralston spent much of his life training people to fight the Russians.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, three years ago this month, it triggered a desire in him to do something about it.

He resolved to raise as much money as he could to help equip the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and for relief organisations in that country.

“I was trained to fight Russians but I’m stuck here,” he said.

“(Now) I’m doing something I was doing in the forces … I’m not putting my life on the line, but I’m still helping people.”

On February 8, first secretary Pavlo “Paul” Troian, from the Ukrainian embassy in Canberra, and his wife Kristna Nedashkovska came to Murray Bridge RSL to offer him their thanks in person.

They presented him with a postcard from Donbas, a part of Ukraine occupied by Russia, and some buckwheat, a staple food in Ukraine.

“Thank you for helping us, for helping Ukraine,” Mr Troian said.

“We really respect military people, so we respect you; and we respect people who help Ukraine, so we respect you twice.”

Mrs Nedashkovska said Ukrainians everywhere were grateful for the support they had received since the invasion.

“We really appreciate any help we get from Australia, the Australian government and Australian people,” she said.

Even when that help takes an unusual form.

How does one become a bowyer?

Mr Ralston practised archery during his military days, and got back into it during his recovery at Adelaide’s Repatriation General Hospital from an episode of poor mental health.

At first he tried using a fibreglass bow he had bought from a shop in the Murraylands, but described it as … well, not up to standard.

Then someone suggested: why didn’t he make his own?

Though Mr Ralston’s bows look wooden, he actually makes them from high-grade PVC plastic in his workshop at Tailem Bend.

He slips one laminated tube inside another, heats and moulds them into the proper shape, then adds meranti wooden tips, Dacron bow string and other high-quality finishing touches.

He has exhibited and sold them at medieval fairs around Australia since 2015, including to Olympians and Invictus Games athletes.

One of his longbows could shoot an arrow clean over the River Murray, from the RSL to the Bridgeport Hotel, he said.

Rather than making copies of a generic design, he will size his bows to fit the owner’s size and draw strength: how far back they can pull the string.

“If they want a 50-pound bow but can only pull a 25lb bow, what’s the point?” he asked.

“I customise the bow to suit the person – that’s where the enjoyment comes in.”

Making bows was a way of keeping his hands, eyes and mind busy, he said.

If he could help people at the same time – whether they were recovering Ukrainian veterans or Australian Lord of the Rings enthusiasts – all the better.

“I’m doing something I was doing in the forces,” he said.

“I’m not putting my life on the line like I used to, but I’m still helping people.”

• More information: Search for “Outback Snoopy Custom Archery Bows” on Facebook.

Clarification: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the chronology of Mr Ralston’s childhood and the various ways in which he sold his bows.