Rugeley shooter Paul Watkiss claimed a Bronze medal at the Swadlincote Open Airgun Meeting on Sunday. Shooting Air Pistol in A-Class, Paul scored 548, tying for Silver but losing on inner-tens to Lucy Evans of the West Midlands Regional Squad (and just selected by GB for the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl later this year).
Mick Chaganis placed 10th in B-Class for Air Pistol, and 3rd in Air Rifle B-Class. Congratulations to both.
Rugeley enjoyed international success, with three members representing Home Nation teams at the Bisley 100 Meeting.
On Friday, Club Chairman Martyn Buttery captained England – an historic double after he also captained the team at Scotland 100 in 2019.
Rich Hemingway and Ryan Williams were both selected to represent Wales. They were joined by friend-of-the-club Liam Webster who earned his first Welsh cap. Liam shot at Rugeley for many years before moving to west Wales some years ago.
England ultimately won the match, scoring 3799/4000.
| England | 3799 |
| Scotland | 3755 |
| Wales | 3715 |
| Jersey | 3622 |
Rugeley members made their mark at the Centenary edition of the NSRA’s Bisley Rifle Meeting, which returned after a two year hiatus. A strong contingent, the club sent 10 shooters down, competing over the weekend and full week.
Richard Hemingway finally broke his run of middling Bisley performances to earn promotion to X-Class, joining Martyn Buttery and Ryan Williams in the top tier. Finishing third in the Weekend Aggregate and equal-fourth in the Grand Aggregate, either result was sufficient for promotion. Rich also won the incidental Prince William of Wales match and placed third in the Centenary Competition.
Vic Tyne placed third in Class for Competition 10 – the 100Yard portion of the Weekend Aggregate.
The meeting was opened by Michael More-Molyneux (Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey), on behalf of the Queen, who is patron of the NSRA. Lord Lieutenants represent the monarch in their county. The week included a number of 1922-inspired competitions, including deliberate and rapid-fire matches using targets from the period.
Michael More-Molyneux DL, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey at the Bisley 100 Opening Shot Ceremony with NSRA President Geoff Doe (left) and Chief Range Officer Jon Leech (centre).
credit: Hemmers, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rich Hemingway – Rugeley member and Staffordshire County Captain – was runner up in the Welsh Confined 50Metre Championship on Sunday.
Shooting at Tondu Shooting Club near Bridgend, Richard qualified for the Confined after placing 5th in the Welsh Open Championship on Saturday. Improving on his score from Saturday, he was pipped to the win by Alun Evans. Dave Phelps placed third. Conditions were bright, with the tricky light but gusting winds that Tondu is known for.
Friend of the club, Liam Webster placed fifth in the Confined. Liam shot with distinction at Rugeley for many years before moving away from the West Midlands.
Rich Hemingway placed second in A-Class on Saturday at the NSRA National Long Range Rifle Championships. Qualifying via the North-West Regional Championship, Rich fended off finalists from five other regional heats at Sywell Ranges in Northamptonshire.
The Long Range Rifle Championship is a new competition for 2021. The NSRA introduced the contest to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the National Meeting, typically held every August at Bisley.
Meant as a stopgap, the Championships have been well supported, with praise for regional events. The NSRA have often been accused of a Bisley focus with all NSRA events and matches (other than the Scottish Meeting) taking place in Surrey. Making the Association more regionally relevant is a very welcome step and the NSRA have plans to expand the series in 2022 alongside the Centenary Bisley Meeting, first held on the Camp in 1922.
Congratulations to the seven Rugeley members who helped Staffordshire to victory in Division 5 of the 2019/20 Inter-County Reserves League.
Although scores have been very slow to emerge as most of the NSRA’s Competitions Team were furloughed through lockdown, we now know that Staffordshire went undefeated with nine wins and one draw across the ten rounds.
Congratulations go to Graham Delaney; Vic Tyne; Jimmy Hibbert; Lee Featherstone; James Tyne; Shane Adams and John Kemp.
Also on the team were Richard Tilstone of Market Drayton RPC; Jeff Hickson of Crewe RPC and Gordon Abbotts of City of Stoke RPC.
Full results are on the NSRA website.
Final scores for competition 280 – the National 10m Air Pistol League – have arrived, with two Rugeley teams placing second in their respective divisions.
Rugeley A (P Voitiukevicius; K Voitiukevicius & J Craft) placed 4th in Division 1.
Rugeley B (M Buttery; R Hawkins & Ms J Smith) placed 2nd in Division 4, close behind Kilgetty .177 TSC.
Rugeley C (S Evans; D Glover & R Lloyd) placed 5th in Division 6.
Rugeley D (J Bradbury; P Evans & B Wiggett) tied in first place in Division 7 behind Burnham TSC with 18 points each, but were ranking second on aggregate (4,779 vs. 4,765).
The club’s Air Pistol section has come a long way in the past three years. In 2018 only two teams could be fielded, though the A-Team won Division 8. With four teams, our top athletes are now competing in the top domestic divisions.
Rugeley’s Zoe Perkin found gold on day one of the Welsh Airgun Association Championships, held at the Sport Wales National Centre in Cardiff.
Qualifying third, Zoe led the final from the start with two outstanding strings. Holding her nerve as Braunton’s Emily Bale drew level with her in the middle section, Zoe delivered a strong series of inner tens to finish, winning by a clear two points. Zoe also qualified for both her other finals, narrowly missing out on a medal with a fourth place finish in her Day 3 match.
Also from Rugeley, Megan Bamsey qualified for two finals from her three matches. Her brother Mike Bamsey won his day three match, becoming the confined Welsh Men’s 10m Air Rifle Champion.
The Welsh Airgun Championships are held as a series of three open matches – one per day – from Friday to Sunday, each independent and with its own final. One match is nominated as the confined “Welsh Championship”.
Rugeley enjoyed great success today at the Staffordshire Short Range Championship Finals – postponed from March when snow stopped play.
Karen Dillon kicked off, taking Bronze in Class C, followed by Vic Tyne picking up Gold in Class B.
Finally Richard Hemingway and Brian Tonks took Gold and Silver respectively in Class A, Rich’s 393 making him the Staffordshire Short Range Champion for 2013.
As a club, Rugeley also claimed the Pidduck Shield which is based on each club’s best 5 scores from Round 1. Round 1 results are available on the SSRA website, with finals results to follow soon. In the meantime the outdoor season is well underway with Round 1 of the National Summer Postals already submitted and shooters preparing themselves for the summer opens, with Appleton’s 1200 Shoot in July as well as the County Championships and Bisley in August.
Class A
1 – Richard Hemingway: 393
2 – Brian Tonks: 384
5 – Will Morgan: 374
Class B
1 – Vic Tyne: 383
Class C
1 – Karen Dillon
Pidduck Shield Team
B. Tonks – 392
R. Hemingway – 390
V. Tyne – 386
G. Kershaw – 385
W. Morgan – 382
The Isle of Man Easter Shooting Festival is now in it’s 57th year. Featuring rifle, airgun and cartridge pistol events, it’s status as a GB selection match draws many shooters of national repute hunting for qualification scores, alongside the local shooters and those competing in classes.
Although the timing of the festival varies between mid-March and mid-April, the cold years have rarely gone so far as to offer snow. It was with regret then that the organising committee cancelled the Cartridge Pistol events when the 25 metre and 50 metre Pistol Ranges at Slieau Lhost (on the A18 Mountain Road across the valley from Snaefell) were buried under several thousand cubic metres of the white stuff – the first time an entire block of events has been cancelled in the history of the competition.
But then what can one expect when your range is at 1300ft ASL? Fortunately, the (by comparison) tropical rifle range is 1000ft lower, and as such was bitterly cold, but not buried. Safe too were the Air Rifle and Air Pistol shooters in a snug indoor temporary range hosted at Onchan Community Centre.
So it was with bags full of thermals that Rich and Simon boarded the Ben-My-Chree at Heysham bound for Douglas on Thursday 28th March. With a sheaf of paperwork in hand, they were whisked through security and made it onto the island with rifles and ammunition intact. For Rich the trip was almost routine, this being his 5th visit to the island. Simon was embarking on his very first Open Competition.
Friday morning brought the chance for an open training session, with people not only familiarising themselves with the range but working out what clothing combinations worked best for keeping warm on the firing point!
With training done, and the shooters prepared (or as prepared as we were going to get), the afternoons were left free for exploring the island. The event is run so training and competitions tend to be in the morning, leaving the afternoon for sightseeing. The famous mountain road was closed, but we went as far as the snow barriers, getting to the legendary Creg Ny Baa pub, and tooling down the back road, which afforded a fabulous view south back towards Douglas.
Saturday afternoon was spent exploring the West-Coast town of Peel, with Sunday covering the South of the island, as far as the Calf of Man and Langness.
But enough of the sightseeing, how was the competition?
Saturday dawned (as every day did) sunny with a biting cold wind. Sheltered in the valley floor, the early shooters were treated to gentle but inconsistent winds, with Rich slotting in a 584, placing him 12th overall and a credible 7th in A-Class – his first competition since being promoted from B-Class last year. Having drawn the second detail, Si faced stiffer winds, placing 64th overall, and 16th in class, putting in a solid shoot for his first Open Competition and substantially bolstering his outdoor shooting experience. Although not earning any medals for their Day 1 efforts, Rich did place second in the light-hearted Blind Pairs competition (where competitors are randomly drawn with another shooter and their individual scores combined), having been fortuitously matched with Manx shooting legend and Commonwealth Medallist Harry Creevy. The Easter egg prizes went down very well!
Day 2 dawned with the wind coming around ever so slightly, blowing into the firing point and giving the shooters a harder time than on Saturday. After a 99 first string, Rich struggled with the cold, shooting a poor middle section that ended on 574, sliding down the rankings to 41st overall and 21st in class. Simon actually managed to improve his score – unfortunately it wasn’t enough to stop him slipping to 65th overall, although he held at 16th in class.
The Easter shoot is billed as competition and holiday rolled into one, and it certainly delivers. With the picturesque island to explore, the chance of doing some pistol shooting, and an ISSF-rules competition that the organisers have succeeded in keeping fun whilst also providing a serious shoot for those seeking qualification scores, we’d heartily recommend it, and hope to have a few more club members join us next year (April 17th-21st. One would hope no chance of snow!). More photos are available here.
