News

22nd May 2010
Hot Shooting Wins Darryl Worman The Ken Dodd Trophy

The hottest day of the year so far saw the start of the summer trophy season, with today’s trophy being our oldest and most prestigious of all – the Ken Dodd Trophy. This is a 25-bird event and we’ve been shooting for this cup since 1966!

The exceptionally hot weather seemed to cause problems for many of the shooters today and Darryl Worman landed an early psychological blow by scoring 74/75 on his first card – just the one second-barrel kill. Many brave challenges just melted in the heat and nobody else seriously threatened to deny Darryl the victory he deserved.

The closest anyone came was John Tennison who twice carded 69/75 points - a remarkable achievement in itself. Club Champion, Gary Crofts was having an off-day by his own very high standards, but he still managed to achieve third place with 67/75 points.

Congratulations to Darryl and well done to John and Gary.

Next time, we’ll be shooting for another old favourite – The Phil Morgan Trophy.

24th April 2010
Pierpoint Hangs On For Well Earned Victory

This was one of those beautiful spring days where the very best place in the world to be is rural South Cheshire. The sun was shining; it was sunny but not too hot and a month without rain had dried out the field to perfection.

So it was slightly surprising that the shooting got off to a slightly flakey start, the only person on the first card to show any form at all was John Tennison who managed to kill all 15 birds, but three second barrels pegged him back to 42/45 points – a score that would ultimately secure him third place for the day.

Despite faltering slightly on the first card, Russell Pierpoint regained his customary form on his second card and registered a “full-house” 15/45 score – fantastic shooting that was to remain unequalled for the rest of the day. The nearest anyone came to Russell was Tom Crowther with 44/45, earning him second place for the day.

Well done to Russell, and now we can all look forward to the summer trophy season, which starts with the Ken Dodd Trophy shoot on 22nd May.

27th March 2010
Pure Poetry From Tennison!

Despite the recent spell of gloomy weather this turned out to be one of our better and most exciting shoots. The sun shone and there was a definite hint of spring in the air, so conditions were just about perfect for shooting. Combine that with recent performances and you would have thought that only a 45 point “full-house” would have been good enough today. But 42 seemed to be the limit. Card after card went by with nobody managing to get that elusive last bird.

Going into the 14th and final card it looked like we were heading for a four-way shoot-off between Gary Crofts, Russell Pierpoint, Rob Law and Tom Crowther all stuck on 42/45 points. But then, on the very last card of the day, John Tennison showed nerves of steel to overcome an early second-barrel kill to go on and finish on 43/45 points and so win the day. Excellent and really exciting shooting. Well done John.

Sadly, for John, although this was the last shoot of the Winter Series his victory was not enough to wrest the series away from Gary Crofts. Gary went into today having an unassailable lead in the series and was duly crowned this year’s winner, with 10.5 points. Runner up was Russell Pierpoint with 5.3 point. A full table of the Winter Series points scorers can be found on the Downloads page.

26th June 2010
Champion Performance By Gary Crofts To Retain The Phil Morgan Trophy

Phew, what a scorcher! Again. The hot and sunny weather drew one of our best attendances for some time today and once again, many shooters struggled under the baking sun. The only exception being Gary Crofts, who carded a 15/45 full-house on his first card. Then, just to prove it wasn't a fluke, he did excatly the same again on his next card. Perhaps that explains why he's Club Champion!

In any event, it was a performance more than good enough to allow Gary to hang on to The Phil Morgan Trophy for the second year running. Well done Gary.

Gary's most serious threat came in the form of Russell Jones who shot well all afternoon but ended up with a brilliant 15/44 on his last card - just the one second barrel kill.

Third place was shared by "all the usual suspects" - John Tennison, Steve Harding, Daryll Worman and Russell Pierpoint, all on 41 points. Excellent shooting and well done to all.

31st July 2010
Yet Another Stylish Win Secures The Albert Nixon Trophy For Gary Crofts

Maintaining his dominance of the trophy shoots, Gary Crofts bagged the Albert Nixon trophy today with yet another classy 45/45 score.

Last years winner, Tom Crowther, showed that he wasn't going to surrender the trophy without a fight by carding 44/45 on his first and second cards. But in perfect shooting conditions, it was always likely that only a full-house score would be good enough to secure victory.

And so it proved, with Gary overhauling Tom's lead with a 45/45 on his first card, a feat that was to remain unequalled for the rest of the afteernoon.

Third place was shared by John Tennison and Russell Pierpoint, each on 42/45.

Congratulations to Gary and well done to Tom, John and Russell.

21st August 2010
Classy Shooting Wins Russell Jones The Rob Ankers Double-Rise Trophy

Today marked the last of our summer trophy shoots, and at stake was the Rob Ankers Trophy which is our only double-rise event, being shot over 10 pairs. Conditions were just about as good as they get for clay shooting and this proved to be one of our most enjoyable and exciting shoots.

Russell threw down the gauntlet on his first card with an impressive 16/20, and history suggested that might be enough to win the day. And so it seemed, with card after card going by with Russell's score remaining unequalled. Those second birds were proving just too difficult for many shooters.

But all the excitement came on the last card of the day, with both Gary Crofts and Tom Crowther finally showing a bit of form to provide a nail-biting finish, each scoring 15/20. So, close but no cigar for those two! Russell was also shooting on the last card and, just to reinforce his superiority on the day, he scored yet another 16/20 and so deservedly walked away with the trophy. Congratulations and well done to Russell on a truly impressive win, and one he's been threatening for some time.

So that's all of the summer trophies decided and, amazing as it may seem, the next shoot on the 25th September marks the beginning of our Winter Series - how time flies!