Charity Clay Shoot

Picture: Rodney(foreground), Paul (on the stand)and Louis at my worse stand - note the trap in the distance....

Saturday 5th May - I was invited to a charity clay pigeon shooting day by my uncle. Now I don't do much clay shooting, however its all for charity so why not go and have a few bangs.

As always, when the family get together, it ends up in fierce competition. My Uncle Rodney (a VERY competent shot who takes on the high birds of Devon every year), my cousin Paul (also a very keen shot) and his son Louis (just started shooting but is following in the family footsteps) and I decided to have a few practice shots before going for the main round.

Well quite frankly, I was embarrassed at missing so many clays - much to the amusement of my family members of course! Luckily we all shot pretty badly, but I had one stand in particular which was a nightmare - I just clipped one out of ten - lots of mickey taking etc.....

Once we got down to the real thing, the old competitive spirit settled down (or maybe a few beers took the nerves away?) but I soon took the lead in our group - with Paul constantly trying to un-nerve me of course. One thing I have learnt over the years is not to buckle under pressure - in fact I respond to the challenge of pressure.

Needless to say, despite Paul changing the order of shooting cards on the last stand, which happened to be my worse stand on practice, I stepped upto the mark with one clay between us - and shot 7 out of 8. Paul by now had realised that I had won, lost the plot and missed most of the last stand.

Rodney had a bad day too - this is probably the worst I have ever seen him shoot, Louis also didn't do so good - he had a worse score.

After the shooting was done, it was down to some serious drinking - which I openly admit to being defeated by the Rosiers!

The charity auction was strategically timed to coincide with large volumes of alcohol consumption - this proved a very expensive afternoon for me as I bought a very nice case of wine and a days shooting with the family in Devon next January.....I don't know how I can explain this to the wife - or the bank manager for that matter!

I am not sure the final total raised, but it was well into the thousands - so a great day out and all for a good local cause - Thanks to everybody involved.