 London Olympics: 0:0:0:0 |
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To check on County scores or look
at members averages by CPSA number click here.
I am grateful to David Christensen for this facility.
Click on to 'Calendar' to see all our
fixtures and the 'Committee' link to see the 2011 Cheshire team selection criteria
and procedures. Two new Dates: Cheshire OTR Championships Sun 2 Oct and DTR
Sunday 11 Sept, both at Beverley ctc.
Golden Gowries. This is a fantastic year for the Cheshire based Gowrie family. Nick was in the Great Britain Junior Olympic Trap team, (Mark Shaw, Nick Gowrie and Callum Macmillan) which gained Bronze in the European Championships and will go on to the Worlds in Belgrade. He is also a new cap in the England ABT team. Not to be outdone, Paul has qualified to represent England in OTR as a new cap. Must be something in the glorious Cheshire air! Stop Press: Congratulations to Fred Thornley
(veteran) and Paul Gowrie (senior ) competing in the England team at the
olympic trap home home international, this year taking place at Griffin
Lloyd sg in Wales. The England team was successful in winning virtually
every category. Fred continuing his exceptional winning run in veterans
for the third consecutive year. After the closing banquet the celebration
'Olympics' continued well into Sunday morning! |
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| Tony Dean's notes from the Highlands Blair Castle, at the foot of Glen Tilt in Perthshire, makes a perfect base from which to pursue a multitude of sporting activities, so armed with rods, gun and dogs the boss and I set off for Blair Atholl. From base camp those highland lochs beckoned, and soon the fridge was stocked with trout – delicious! It transpired that the estate was hosting the Blair Atholl International Horse Trials and Country Fair that very weekend, hence it was extremely busy, so to avoid the crowds we slipped away and found the Scottish Open Sporting Championships at Drummond Shooting Grounds, Drummond Castle (what a coincidence!) Anyway, as the results were read out the old ditty “Will Ye No Come Back Again?” was politely amended to “Will Ye Please No Come Back Again?” and I was even offered an escort down to the border, which I thought was jolly decent of them. Alas, I must return next year in order to take back a piece of old Scottish silverware, and I look forward to it with relish. Joking apart, many thanks to Edith Barnes and crew for their hospitality at Drummond, and it was good to see Charlie making the trip to mark a stand. As they say - "Ya Beauty". Pictured... Back row, L to R – yours truly, Wynn (an excellent fishing dog) courtesy of John Yarwood Front row, L to R – a fish supper, courtesy of Loch Eigheach (don’t ask me how to pronounce it), and a certain piece of Scottish silverware (runner up really) NB- Tony Dean is not sponsored by the Scottish Tourist Board, just in case you're wondering! |
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Please read Fred Thornley's concise
and brilliant analysis of the Cheshire & West Mids ZZ (Helice) Championship:
It is possible to make a small fortune shooting ZZ targets but the best way
is to start with a large one. These "helicopter" targets are roughly
£2 each and a £1 each to the prize pool plus you pay for your practice
and your shoot-off targets. It seems best for a 20 target competition to start
with £100 and work backwards. Owing to the vagaries of wind induced oversteer,
crash and burn can be an outcome. 28gm and both barrels are allowed but there
are limits - the vehicle must lose its wings inside a perimeter fence and hit
the deck. Jumping out of the ring is allowed but kamikaze escape is disallowed
leading to much gnashing of teeth. If the force is against you there can be
a flash of a charging buffalo [behind your head is out of bounds] and some people
use two-trigger guns for reliability. Each rotation sees two targets from a
possible five traps [an well paid urchin is employed to refill the hangar -
you pay him extra in order to be a favourite runner - they wear black caps to
distinguish themselves from the targets]. Then all the other guns take their
turn but only one at a time. Sometimes the reloaders have a rest in order to
re-charge them [not the guns this time]. They run 18 miles in short bursts.
So after 10 rotations ties are settled and everybody seems happy all of the
time. Monies are paid out from the top down - say 50%, 30%, 20% giving £110
first for 11 paying competitors. 20 guns takes some time and you wouldn't want
to see 40. The Cheshire ZZ championship took place at Rugby on the 23rd July
and came down to a head to head battle between Fred Thornley and Paul Culverwell.
Finishing in that order it was an amicable settlement over the last 2 targets
sportingly conceded by the runner-up. The county trophy has been described as
unmistakable - a pile of brown discs heaped into an artistic pat. My thanks
to John Nightingale for making this simulated flying experience possible.
Jack Gradwell (who else?) reports:
WMIC & Cheshire UT Championships, Rugby
31st July 2011
Most things were fabulous for this event. The weather was as perfect as you
could wish and the targets were as challenging as they should be, which in Rugby’s
case is very challenging indeed. The only thing which wasn’t overly fabulous
was your Cheshire team’s performance. We only have a small band of trap
shooters in Cheshire who are capable of taking on these targets and we struggle
to get a team together. The band gets smaller and older every year, and we struggle
against the quality of trap shooters from Warwickshire and Staffordshire, both
of which have larger populations from which to draw. Having said that, the 5
shooters who made up the score of 435 ex 500 averaged 87: not bad. Anyone out
there who fancies a go at this demanding game let us know!!
The Cheshire Championship was, at one stage, a 2 horse race between John Barnett
and Fred Thornley, ‘till John’s hooves came off a bit, leaving Fred
on a creditable 90 and the Cheshire Champion.
Your team comprised:
Fred Thornley
John Barnett
Chris Bushell
Paul Gowrie (Captain)
Jack Gradwell
Ian Dutton
A large mention here for Ian Dutton who, after
the first round, lost his footing, fell over and bashed his forehead against
the marker’s chair, leaking copious amounts of blood. It was suggested
that Ian should withdraw at this stage, but he bravely carried on: what a man!
Thanks to John Nightingale and his team for a well run event.
Jack Gradwell
reports on the Cheshire ABT Championship, Fauxdegla 26th June 2011
There were two particularly curious things about this event, firstly the weather
was hot which at Fauxdegla is a rare thing indeed, and secondly that very few
Cheshire folk turned up. This is not unconnected to the Great Planning Person
in the Sky causing this event to conflict firstly with the English Olympic Trap
Championship, (Note from one of
His representatives on Earth - it was the only date offered)
to which some of our finest trap shooters had to go, and secondly with a Welsh
Grand Prix for DTL at Mid Wales SG at which certain of our older trap shooters
were inclined to while away the weekend. Amongst this latter band was Mr Mike
Faux who left his lovely lady Debbie to run the ground with admirable efficiency.
The targets presented were testing going the full distance 75m, and with some
eye watering angles particularly off the trap in the UT layout. If any criticism
needs to be levelled there was a preponderance of low birds that did not seem
to make the required minimum height. However they were all there to be hit or
not hit ( I was going to say killed but I understand this is not PC anymore
and equally one must call them targets and not birds )
Scores were hard to come by and the event high gun was the on form Mark Houlding
with his state of the art Ceaser Guerini closely followed by Jack Gradwell with
a 90 and Cheshire Champion, using an old Miroku.
Two plucky Cheshire gentlemen deserve a mention here, Mr C. Shaw and Mr. T.
Robinson who turned up to shoot the event being new to the discipline and the
CPSA, and are at present awaiting their classifications. Their scores are immaterial
but their dedication is to be applauded.
Many thanks to Debbie and Mike for arranging the weather and the beautiful scenery.
Scott Barnett reports on the Cheshire Sporting Championship:
I woke early on the morning of the 12th, the sun was out, the birds were singing,
and the silly excitement knowing it’s the Cheshire Sporting Championships.
Turning on the TV - shock horror - the weather was going to turn bad (but still
outside looked fine). Knowing Beavis was going to have a lie in before starting
at Flash Farm (Bartomley) I rang him early as I didn’t want him to have
the advantage of feeling fresh and chirpy before the days events!
The weather was a little damp at junction 16 but not as bad as reported. Then
on finishing the round the phone goes, it's Pete Corbett "Scott, it’s
raining cats and dogs up here and I’m in a cloud. I’m going home;
Not gonna get the gun wet!"
We were thinking the worst on the way up and to be fair that’s what we
got. It was as Colin Foden said "trying to shoot while looking through
a shower cubicle with the hot water on". Never the less everyone looked
happy on arrival; well, as happy as you can look when you’re soaked to
your briefs and wind swept. In the clubhouse Deany was having a burger (meaning
he had finished) and on closer inspection was at the top of the board with Brett
Winstanley. The word was that stands 1 and 12 were the hardest and everything
else was very shootable. I found the little midi half way round was also a tidy
target. We all chased Tony’s score and one by one failed until news that
Brett Davies was out there shooting well and, if you have been paying attention,
when Brett has shot well, it’s been a big score.
Before I give out the results I must say ‘thanks’ and ‘well
done’ to all of Mike's team at Fauxdegla. It was a great shoot and considering
all the weather problems, it ran like a dream.
So now for the results
High gun: Brett Davies 93
Second : Tony Dean 91
Third : Nick Beavis 88
Ladies : Hazel Denny 62
Veterans : Morris Snelling 83
So, well done and thanks to all who attended
and that is the end of our Sporting selection procedure, congratulations to
everyone who makes the
team and I hope that if you didn’t you will try again next year. All team
members will be notified ASAP.
| John Mills strikes it ‘Lucky’ John, a 59 year old shooter from the village of Elton in Cheshire has just returned from the Krieghoff 500 classic shoot at Mid Wales Shooting Centre were he was runner up in the shoot off for the ‘Lucky Numbers’ on the Friday. It was the first time he had ever shot in a major competition and had to go through 3 shoot-offs in his class (B class); then had to go into the final shoot off against shooters from all classes. He shot a 25/74 but so did one other shooter, therefore there was yet another shot-off for the final. Unfortunately he was beaten in the last stage but was still very happy with his result and the £800 he collected. John’s home ground is Fauxdegla Premier Shooting Ground where you will find him in the cafe where both he and his partner Carol cater for the shooters. |
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| It was a very warm sunny day with no wind
at all on the 10th April at Fauxdegla Shooting Ground. The cream of Cheshire
turned up and the targets were excellent; Tony Dean shot a great 100 straight
to win, Pat Hollins and Mo Snelling were second on 96. Hazel Denney won
Ladies on 83, well done to you all. After that we had the Skeet Doubles and the Olympic Skeet to shoot. Skeet Doubles was won by Tony on 49 ex 50, pushed all the way by a great performance from Ian 'I never get a mention' Cuncliff and the Mighty Faux third. Hazel again won ladies. Olympic skeet was the last competition of the day and Mike and Tony tied on 35 ex 50. Tony the wily old dog came through in the shoot of winning by 2, Hazel won ladies to give her and Tony a clean sweep. Thanks again to all at Fauxdegla, the place looks great and a lot of work has been done. Good luck to you all on your future events. |
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| Scott Barnett reports: Super star Jones seals win with a top class performance. On the 25th April the first of the County sporting selection shoots was held at Catton Hall SG. Firstly a big thank you to the Manns for hosting the event. It was a lovely sunny day the targets were great, a good mix and all to be hit. Andy Jones was top of the pack with an excellent 96, closely in pursuit were Pat Hollins and Nick Beavis on 94 apiece. Scott Barnett was 5 behind on 91 and Brett Davies and Allan 'the Assassin' Millington on 90. P Noden 89, A Ingleson 88, Renkel, Cuncliffe, Moss and Harvey all shot 86. So with six in the 90's and a pack not far behind it’s all to play for. |
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Beavis blasts ahead. Bartomley SG was the venue for our second
sporting selection shoot held on the 8th May. The weather was a little
windy to say the least and the targets were set a little harder than usual
and in the wind it was very difficult to build a big score. Never the
less Nick Beavis shot a great 67 to go clear by 5 targets over the next
rival. Ben Harvey was the next man in the selection proccess on 60 with
Tony Dean. The rest of us brought up the rear in the 40s and 50s. |
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(Library Pictures) |
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