Rugeley volunteers were in action this week at the 2026 Finals of British Shooting’s Schools Championship.
Held at Chase Leisure Centre, this year’s National Final saw a move to a full 30 lanes of electronic targets, supporting 220 pistol and 160 rifle athletes who had qualified from over 1000 competitors at the regional heats last autumn.
As an event sponsor, Rugeley were present with a club stand and ran a raffle for our charity account.
Rugeley’s first ever Pistol Youth Team made their mark at Ellesmere College during the heats of the Schools Pistol Championships.
As a Youth team (run parallel to the School teams), Olivia Caswell-Wedderkopp, Max Taylor and Andrew Coward achieved 3rd place and each qualified to shoot individually for the February finals at Cannock Leisure Centre.
Additionally, Olivia made it to the final 8 on the day, finishing 6th. A great result for her first 10m pistol competition and final. Phillippa Watterson also qualified individually in the intermediate girls
Rugeley members Izzy Ward and mum Carla medalled at the West Midland Open Championship this weekend. On Saturday, Izzy set a new PB of 607.5. In aggregate with her Sunday score of 605.2 she became West Midland Junior Air Rifle Champion.
In the 10M Air Pistol, Carla also PB’d with a 529, winning a silver medal in C-Class. With her Sunday score she won the C-Class aggregate. Congratulations to both!
Rugeley shooters have had a very successful weekend at the British Open Airgun Championships at Bisley.
Kicking off on Thursday, Abbi Beech took bronze in the Sporter Rifle championship.
On Friday, Pippa Waterson qualified fourth in the Junior Women’s Air Pistol, improving to bronze medal position in the final, whilst Oliver Hill qualified as the youngest finallist in the Junior Men’s Air Rifle, improving from seventh to fifth place.
Olivia Beech took bronze in the Women’s Air Rifle and silver in the University Championship. Megan Bamsey also qualified for the Women’s Final, finishing fifth.
In the Seniors, Paul Watkiss qualified for the Men’s Air Pistol final in 6th position, unluckily finishing just out of the medals in fourth place after a strong final.
Paul Barker won the SH1 Air Rifle, and placed third in the SH1 Prone Rifle.
All photos courtesy Eleanor Shorey, nsratheshorey.com
Rugeley shooters have been in action at the regional heats of the British Shooting Schools Championship. On the 20th November, Abbi and Pippa competed at Ellesmere College in the West Midlands Pistol Regionals.
Qualifying fifth, Abbi shot a strong final to picking up bronze in the Junior class, whilst Pippa climbed from third place in qualification to win Silver in the Intermediates.
A few days later, Abbi was in action again at the NSRA’s West Midlands Regional Centre at Aldersley, shooting in the West Midlands Rifle Regionals, where she took a decisive win in the Junior 10M Sporter Rifle class!
Abbi and Pippa will both be finding themselves busy at the National Finals at Chase Leisure Centre in February!
Rugeley shooters represented this weekend at the Welsh International Airgun Championships in Cardiff.
Shot over three days, athletes contest three matches – the Cardiff Grand Prix and AiroShoot Qualification are contested over Friday and Saturday in Senior and Junior classes, with the Welsh Open Championship contested on Sunday as one class. WIAC is part of the AiroShoot circuit, alongside the InterShoot match in the Netherlands, RIAC in Luxembourg and other matches in Scotland, Denmark and Belgium. As a result, it attracts international shooters in addition to the predominantly British entry.
Paul Watkiss placed 13th and 12th in his Air Pistol matches, finishing 21st in the Open Match with a series of very steady shoots.
Pippa Watterson placed 7th and 17th in her Junior AP matches, and 25th in the Welsh Open.
In the Air Rifle, Megan Bamsey placed 5th and 8th in her Senior matches, and 25th in the Open.
Izzy Ward placed 23rd and 24th in the Junior Women’s Air Rifle, and 22rd in the Open.
Bill Clark placed 16th and 15th in his Men’s Air Rifle events.
Fourteen young shooters took aim at Rugeley Rifle Club’s Young Guns competition this week. With two days of training over Wednesday and Thurday, final practice and competition took place on Friday. Shooting Air Rifle, Air Pistol and .22 Rifle, the young shooters worked through more than two and a half thousand air pellets, and a thousand rounds of .22 ammunition. The competition marks a continuing partnership with Vysions Youth Service.
Each discipline competition saw the top 3 shoot a final to establish medal placings. Medallists received a Rugeley Rifle Club patch, along with gold and silver medals and a patch for third. The Overall competition was a close-run fight, with only 27 points separating the top 5 shooters and a tie for the lead between Phoebe Haughton and James Hallam, which had to be broken on countback of Air Rifle scores, with James gracious in defeat. Connie O’Brien placed third, having had a mishap in the Air Rifle shoot which cost her as many as 17 points – enough to have put her in the lead overall.
| Air Pistol | Air Rifle | Smallbore Rifle | Overall | |
| 1 | James Hallam | Aiden Coghlan | Connie O’Brien | Phoebe Haughton |
| 2 | Phoebe Haughton | Phoebe Haughton | James Hallam | James Hallam |
| 3 | Joel Sherratt | Connie O’Brien | Phoebe Haughton | Bogdan Dubita |
Congratulations to overall champion Phoebe, who wins a years free membership, along with free ammunition and targets.
Paul Watkiss had a stand-up weekend, finishing fourth in the open Air Pistol event at the third installment of British Shooting’s Air Series at Aldersley, near Wolverhampton.
Shooting on Saturday, Paul managed 561, topping Relay 2. On Sunday morning he improved on that with a 562 in Relay 4. Both these scores were good enough to qualify Paul for the 8-athlete final. Starting with a wobble he placed 6th after the first string. Regrouping however, he climbed to fifth after the second string and fourth after his 12th shot. Further steady shooting saw him climb in to bronze medal position, but a robust response from Charlotte Hicks over her last four shots saw her climb past Paul and Ayush Chauhan into silver medal position, pushing Ayush in Bronze and Paul just out the medals.
In the Air Rifle, Bill Clark, Izzy Ward and Nathan Clark all put in strong performances. Bill managed third and 5th in his two relays, Izzy placed 5th and 3rd, whilst Nathan placed 6th in his relay. Their best results put Bill 13th overall, Izzy 15th and Nathan 19th. Congratulations to all.
Congratulations to Rugeley Rifle Club member Paul Watkiss who won the Air Pistol event at the Bedfordshire Open Airgun Meeting!
Shooting in the 10m Air Pistol event, Paul scored 554/600 to win the Open. On his second detail he improved with 556, which together earned him the A-class aggregate.
Paul Watkiss and Izzy Ward were in action representing Rugeley at the second round of the British Shooting Air Series this weekend.
Shooting two relays – one on Saturday and another on Sunday – the better score is used to qualify athletes for an Olympic Final on Sunday.
Shooting Air Pistol, Paul placed third on his Saturday relay, with 560, and managed a consistent 559 on Sunday, finishing second in that relay.
In the final he was eliminated in sixth place, missing fifth by just a point.
On the Air Rifle squads, Izzy placed 5th on Saturday with a massive new Personal Best of 591.3. She placed 9th on her Sunday relay with 580.6.
Full results at British Shooting
