Clay Shooting March 2020

This is always an exciting time of year, with a season of clay shooting stretching out ahead of us – and we look forward to the World English Sporting returning to EJ Churchill, the Tokyo Olympics, and much more! We are specially excited about our own events, the British Schools and Young Shots Championship on 25 April, and the Clay Shooting Classic at the end of May – both of which are this year hosted at the excellent Orston Shooting Ground in Nottinghamshire. You can read all about them on page 18. Even closer in the calendar, we’re off to the British Shooting Show at the NEC in Birmingham on the 14, 15 and 16 February, just a few days after this issue goes on sale. We’ll be sharing a…

Lea Marston Shooting Club welcomed the Aston Villa Women Football Club for a friendly day of competition on a chilly but sunny 4 January. The day was organised by CPSA Coach Paul Dancer, who was inspired after recognising that the two sports shared transferable skills. With the team arranged into three squads – Forwards, Midfield and Defenders – four stands were shot, with five clays at each. Conditions were very bright, with the low winter sun making visibility tricky. Wind was light. The stands were set up for novices, but two of them provided a real challenge. Stand two, an incomer, rose quickly and dropped equally fast, with little dwell time. Stand four quartered away quickly with a nasty curve. Even Lizzie Williams, ambassador for the day, was caught out.…

India will host a Commonwealth shooting event during 2022, the year of the XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The shooting won’t be part of the Games, but medals won will count in the standings, and world records will be recorded in both qualifications and finals. The ISSF will provide technical support and guarantee compliance with rules and regulations. The competition program is likely to include four Mixed Team events, three of which are included in the program for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The arrangement is a compromise reached after months of negotiations – Birmingham 2022 did not include shooting in its programme. The announcement came after a meeting in Munich in December 2019 between ISSF President Vladimir Lisin and Commonwealth Games Federation president Dame Louise Martin. The decision was supported…

Thimbleby Shooting Ground in North Yorkshire has appointed Philip Thompson as its new manager and senior instructor. A highly experienced APSI instructor, Philip took up the post in December and is responsible for the management and day-to-day running of the ground. Philip has previously instructed at shooting grounds in the North East, and ran his own shooting business with a number of high profile private clients. He will lead Thimbleby into its next development phase, which will include the building of a new clubhouse and see the launch of a simulated game shooting enterprise to take advantage of the estate’s outstanding topography and established game drives. Owner Andrew Shelley said “We’re thrilled that Philip has joined us here at Thimbleby and look forward to him leading the way in developing…

See you at the British Shooting Show! Clay Shooting magazine will be at the British Shooting Show, at the NEC in Birmingham from 14 to 16 February. We’ll be sharing a stand with our colleagues from Sporting Rifle, Airgun Shooter and Gun Trade News – and we’d love to meet readers, so drop in for a chat! Also at the show, we’ll be announcing the winners of our Great British Shooting Awards. Look out for a full report in our next issue. CPSA major events booking up fast Entries are filling up fast for the major CPSA championships of 2020, including the World English Sporting and World Sportrap at EJ Churchill in June, and World DTL Championship at Bywell in July. Entries opened on the CPSA website in December, and…

World Skeet Masters returns Eriswell Lodge and John Dyson relaunched the World Skeet Masters in 2019 after a gap of many years – and the event proved so popular they’re running it again this year. The 2020 event will be on 7, 8 and 9 August, with a £1,000 high gun prize up for grabs. It consists of 100 English Skeet and 100 Skeet Doubles shot on one day, with a 50-target super final for the overall top six shooters. For details see www. eriswelllodge.com or find them on Facebook. New Longthorne guns on the way Longthorne Gunmakers are promising several new launches in 2020, including a rifle, a side-by-side, and the much anticipated boxlock Sporting competition gun, which will feature the company’s unique design of barrels made from a…