Well, this shoot was just not meant to be!

Having been postponed last week because of illness and the weather, this week it was all down to the weather.

Yours truly got out of bed first thing, took one look out side and went straight back to bed.  The few brave souls who did make the journey to the ground found the field waterlogged and only getting worse with the torrential rain.

And so this (February) shoot has been cancelled for good.  The next shoot will be on the 30th March and that will be the 5th and final shoot of the Winter Series.  Lets hope we get some dry weather between now and then.

First and foremost, very best wishes to all our members, guests and their families for a happy and properous New Year.

Our shooting year got off to a flying start today with the Rob Law Double Rise Trophy shoot, which is also the fourth shoot in this year's Winter Series.

Apart from a very cold wind, and being a bit damp under foot, conditions were pretty much ideal for shooting.  A light grey blanket of clound meant that we weren't shooting into the sun like last time.

Despite that the scores were not brilliant today, I can only assume that everybody was suffering from the cold, I certainly was!

Best of the bunch today was, rather predictably, Tom Devaney with a 15/20 on his second card.  Mike Dunning and Mark Shand were snapping at his heels, each with a 14/20.  Unfortunately Mike fell foul of our early-leaver rule and had to forfeit his third position to John Tennison on a 12/20.  Very well shot to all those four.

This leaves the Winter Series with a slightly more familiar look to it, with Tom Devaney opening up a bit of a lead.

Talking of Tom, our final job today was to give him back the Club Champion trophy, for the second year in succession.  Congratulations Tom for a brilliant year of shooting in 2023, a very worthy Champion indeed.

Next shoot is on the 24th Febuary, look forward to seeing you then.

After the horrible weather we've been having recently, we had the most beautiful, sunny and mild day to shoot for the Keith Williams Christmas Trophy.  That didn't stop it being even muddier under foot than last time, but keith had invested in a set a mats so that each shooter was at least guaranteed a firm footing on the stands.  And they work a treat,  surprised we've never thought of that before.  Well done Keith.

As is traditional at our Christmas Shoot, when the sun shines we have difficult visibilty, and today the sun shone with a vengeance (not complaining though!).  So scores were really pegged back.  The best anybody could manage on the first card was Tom Devaney with a 62/75.  Very good given the conditions, but far below Tom's normal standard.

And so we went into the second round with everything to play for.  But that didn't last very long because Tom blew us all out of the water with an incredible 74/75.  I just don't understand how that is even possible given that we couldn't see half the birds!  A very fitting performance to confirm Tom as our Club Champion for yet another year, making 5 out of the last 7.  Very well done Tom, an inspiration to us all.

Karl Staffer came in second with a very accomplished 69/75, excellent shooting given the conditions.  And third spot was claimed by the old club stalwart, Russell Pierpoint, on a 60.  Very well done to all those three placed shooters.

At Christmas though, nobody goes home without a prize and if you go to the Photos page you will find some of Keith and Amanda's photos to prove it.

So that's it for another year.  Where does the time go?  Next time it's back to the Winter Series and Rob-Law Double Rise Trophy. That's on the 27th January, so see you then.  In the meantime very best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New year to all our members, guests and their families.

Our perennial winter problem of a very muddy field returned to haunt us today.  But apart from that conditions were very pleasant with plenty of sunshine and little to speak of in the way of wind.

Once shooting got underway, Russell Pierpoint was first out of the blocks with a 40/45 on his first card.  That went unchallenged for a long time until Mark Davies put in a very accomplished 42 on his third card.  So it was all down to the fourth and final round which was bit of a thriller.

Russell managed to up his game again with a very classy 43, but John Tennison came up on the outside and blew everyone away with a magnificent 44/45, just one second barrel.  And so John walked away with 3 points for the Winter Series, Russell took 2 and Mark 1.  Very well done to all those three on some great competitive shooting.

All of which leaves the Winter Series looking very interesing as we go into the half-way pause for Christmas. Both Russell and John are on 5 points apiece with Tom Devaney breathing down their necks on 4, Mark Davies on 3 and Karl Staffer on 1.  So it really is all to play for in the second half, anybody in the club can still win it!

But that will all have to wait until January.  Next up is our Christmas Trophy shoot on the 16th December.  Don't forget your Bring-a-Prize-Take-a-Prize!  See you then.

Today was the second of this year's Winter Series of shoots and considering the weather we've had over the last 2 weeks, we literally dodged a bullet.  The field was very wet, but apart from the odd shower we stayed mainly dry.

The competition was pretty intense and all the best shooting came right at the end.  Mark Davies put himself in pole position with a 44/45 on his penultimate third card.  That looked like a sure-fire winner but, who-else but, Tom Devaney went and put in a 45/45 full-house on his very last card to claim victory and the 3 points.  Karl Staffer also matched Mark's 44 on his last card but under our next-best card rule could only claim 3rd spot.  Still, very good shooting by all those three.

So, whilst it's early days yet, the Winter Series table is starting to take on a familiar look, with Tom Devaney at the top on 4 points.  Long way to go yet though!

Shoot number three in the series will take place on the 25th November.  See you then!

Our old friends the bullocks were there when we arrived, to help us welcome in this year's Winter Series.  Fortunately they made themselves scarce once the shooting got started.

Weatherwise - a very pleasant early autumn day presented very little in the way of excuses.

The only negative today was a slightly depleted field of shooters, but that didn't stop us having a very good competitive shoot.

And competitive it was, with our new "second card counts" rule being needed to separate the first three places, Russell Pierpoint, John Tennison and Tom Devaney.  All of those three had a best score of 42/45.  But the second best card for each was 40 for Russell, 38 for John and 35 for Tom.  So that was how they ended up with 3,2 and 1 points respectively for the Winter Series.  Very well done to all three.

Because this shoot had been pulled forward by a week it will now seem a long time to our next shoot, which is on the 28th October.  See you then.

Today we marked the end of our summer series of trophy shoots with the Rob Ankers Double Rise event, as is traditional.

Not that we've had much of a summer this year, and once again today we were very lucky to dodge the rain on what ended up being a very good day for shooting, if a bit breezy.

Before shooting began we held this year's AGM and the minutes for this can be found on the Downloads page.

Once shooting got underway, the blustery wind made things a bit interesting and helped peg back the scores.  But three shooters, John Tennison, Russell Pierpoint and Nick Shand all managed  a 15/20, which considering the wind, was very good shooting.  So, our "next - highest score" rule came into play to separate these three and it ended up with John claiming the trophy, followed by Russell and then Nick in third place.  Very well done to all those three.

So that is the end of summer and our Winter Series starts at the next shoot on the 23rd September, one week earlier than sheduled because of clashing fixtures.

After one of the worst July's anyone can remember we were very lucky indeed with the weather for today's Albert Nixon Trophy shoot.  There had been early rain but by the time we got there the sky was clearing and for the few hours of our shoot it was beautiful light cloud and sunshine with a good stiff breeze just to make things interesting.

John Tennison, last year's winner of this cup, showed that he wasn't going to give it back without a fight by putting in a magnificent 44/45 on his first card.  Very impressive shooting given the breeze and the difficult light.  On many occasions that would have been good enough to secure victory, but Tom Devaney (Who else?) had other ideas and shot a perfect 45/45 full-house on his second card of the day.  Nobody else could match that so the trophy went to Tom's mantelpiece for the next year.  Very well done to him. 

Russell Pierpoint managed to equal John's 44 on his very last card of the day, but John claimed second spot by virtue of our "second-highest score" rule.  Congratulations to Tom, John and Russell on a great day of competitive shooting.

Our next shoot was scheduled to be on the 26th August, but because that is a Bank Holiday weekend we decided to bring it forward to the 19th - so please make a note in your diaries.  That shoot, as is customary, will be preceeded by our Annual General Meeting, so members are asked to arrive early so that shooting won't be unduly delayed.

See you on the 19th.

PS:  Our star lady shooter, Amanda, has taken up photography and it turns out that she's a very good shot with a camera as well as a shotgun.  Have a look at the Photos page for some of her handiwork from today's shoot.

Today we were shooting for the Phil Morgan Trophy and when we arrived at the field old friends the bullocks (about 50 of them) had returned to watch.  At first they seemed intent on occupying our bit of ground, but once shooting got underway they, thankfully, moved out of the way. 

The weather was just about perfect, if on the warmish side, and we were pleased to welcome back three members of old.

With the conditions being so good, it looked like only a full-house would win the day, but that proved not to be the case.  What little breeze there was seemed to fool a lot of people, except of course for the old stalwart, Tom Devaney, who showed his usual mastery with a very accomplished 44/45.  John Tennison wasn't far behind with a 43 and John Mills claimed third place with a 42.  Very well done to all those three and congratulation to Tom on claiming yet another trophy.

Next up is the Albert Nixon trophy on the 29th July.  See you then.

Our Ken Dodd Trophy shoot often marks the beginning of summer and today was no exception.  A cloudless, bright-blue sky and perfect temperatures made for perfect conditions with the only concerns being sunburn and a relatively small turnout, with just 10 shooters.

Given the ideal conditions you might have expected some big scores today, but for some reason most people struggled to find them.  The notable exception to this was John Tennison who put in a masterful 70/75 on his first card and then bettered that with a 72 on his second, so close to that elusive full-house.  That was easily enough to secure the trophy for John, with a very well deserved victory.

Runner up was Russell Pierpoint with a 68 and Karl Staffer came in third with a 64,.  Very well done to those two.

Next time we shoot for the Phil Morgan Trophy and that is on the 24th June.  Let's hope this spell of weather lasts until then.

Our Summer Series of Trophy Shoots got underway today with the Rob Law Single-Barrel event, as is now traditional.  The weather played it's part in making this a great shoot.  Perfect spring sunshine, light cloud and very little in the way of wind made for perfect shooting conditions and a dearth of excuses!

Tom Devaney was the first to take advantage of the ideal conditions and put in a mightily impressive 25/25 full-house score on his first line.  At most of our shoots that would have been enough for him to claim the trophy, because nobody else managed to equal that.  But today's rules were that scoring was over all 50 birds, so every shot would count.  Even so, I would still have put a lot of money on Tom sealing the win on his second line. 

But, that would have been to ignore two dark horses coming up on the outside.  Mark Shand and Amanda Staffer each got a very respectable 22 on their first cards.  This meant they were in a position to pounce when Tom had a very rare lapse and dropped 6 birds on his second card, giving him a still respectable score of 44/50.  Mark, however managed to improve on this first card with a 23 on his second, dropping just two birds and claiming victory with an overall 45/50.

Amanda repeated her 22, which under our new rules of counting the second card, gave her second place and relegated Tom to 3rd.

Very well done to Mark, Amanda and Tom for some excellent and entertaining shooting.

Next time it's the Ken Dodd Trophy, a cup we've been shooting for every year since 1966.  That's on the 20th May, a week earlier than published becuase of a clash of diaries.  See you then.

Today's shoot was the final of the 2022/23 Winter Series and although very enjoyable, it was largely irrelevant because Tom Devaney had already laid claim to the trophy with some excellent shooting in all five of the previous shoots.

Conditions were relatively benign, apart from being very wet underfoot and there being a fairly stiff cold breeze most of the time.

Just because he'd already won the series didn't mean Tom would rest on his laurels.  In fact, he asserted his authority once again with a mightly impressive 45/45 full house, which nobody else could match, to claim all 3 points for today.  So, out of a maximum possible 18 points, Tom ended up on 16 - seriously impressive shooting over the whole series.  Very well done Tom.

Today's runners were Russell Pierpoint in second place and Mark Shand third.  Very well done to those two.

So, with Winter out of the way, we can now look forward to our summer series of trophy shoots,  staring on 29th April with the Rob Law Single Barrel event.  See you then!

Aside from the bitterly cold wind, conditions today were pretty much perfect; dry, with a light covering of cloud and not much in the way of wind.   So it was surprising that most of us struggled to put in respectable scores.

The main exception to this was Club Champion, Tom Devaney, who not only won the day with a 43/45 but also put in 40+ scores on his other three cards.  Remarkably consistent shooting, which also wins the Winter Series for Tom, with still another shoot to go.  Truly inspirational stuff, so well done and congratulations to Tom.

Second place was claimed by Mark Davies with a very accomplished 42/45 and he, coincidentally, is mathematically assured of the second spot in the series too.

Third place went to Russell Pierpoint with a 41. Very well done to him.

Before wrapping up we had the pleasure of presenting Mark Shand with the Most Improved Shooter trophy for last year.  A great achievement and a well deserved victory.

So those of us who were hoping for a cliffhanger finish to the Winter Series at the next shoot will be disappointed - but we look forward to it nevertheless.  That will be on 25th March.  See you then!

Very best wishes to all our members, guests and their families for a happy and prosperous 2023.

As is customary, we started the year with the Rob Law Double Rise event and conditions could not have been more perfect for shooting. Very mild, no wind and a covering of light grey cloud so no excuses at all today.

Mark Davies came out of the blocks at full speed with a very impressive 17/20 on the first card of the day.  In most years that would be easily enough to win, but with the conditions being so benign there was always the real chance that somebody would better it.

But Mark needn't have worried.  Many cards came and went, but the nearest anybody got was Russell Pierpoint with a very accomplished 16/20 and then Tom Devaney with with a 15.  Very well done to those three, but particularly Mark for claiming the trophy for this year.

This leaves Tom in an unbeatable position for the Winter Series and needing just one more point for the outright win.

The unfinished business from last year was to present Tom Devaney with the Club Champion Trophy which he earned with a remarkable 98.5% average best score, great shooting indeed.

Next up is the 5th and penultimate Winter Series shoot on the 25th February.