here
was a disappointing turn out for the Snap Shoot Competition which was held at
Binton on Tuesday. Only one member of the Binton A team, together with two from
the MEB team and five members of the Wilmcote team tried their hand at the
competition which required a score of 22 or more from five pellets shot within
one minute. Andy Morris was the first to qualify, followed by Alan Brookes, both
gaining the required 22pts at their first attempt, then Fred Williams shot an
impressive 23pts. Gareth Morris had problems and was timed out in his first
attempt but got through on his second. Andy Smith was also timed out on his
first visit to the target but then shot an even more impressive 24, the highest
qualifying score. Jack Shipman who has only been shooting for a month also met
the qualifying score. Unfortunately, John Maycock was timed out on each of his
three attempts to qualify. It took Paul Clingan three attempts to shoot 22 but
he kept on trying or was it practising until at his 7th attempt he matched Andy
Smith's score of 24. In the final round, Fred Williams shot 19.2 but was timed
out after four shots: Jack Shipman shot 19.1: Alan Brookes 21: Andy Smith could
not reproduce the accuracy in his qualifying round and scored 21.1: Andy Morris
and his son Gareth both shot 23 before going into a shoot out for second place.
Gareth come off best with 22.2pts to Andy's 21.1 which left Paul Clingan as the
overall winner with a score of 24.1. In the league matches, Binton A and Wilmcote battled for top slot. Both teams fielded strong teams of eight shooters. Binton A had no threes on the board and with bulls and fours their lowest score in this high scoring match was 30. Wilmcote seemed set on maintaining their undefeated record with an impressive 34 start from Andy Morris, followed by Lyn Brookes' 33, a personal best, then veteran shooter John Maycock's 32, Gareth Morris' 34 and Alan Brookes' 30. Not to be out done, Binton countered with 30 from Mark Oakey, Andy Smith 34, and 33's from Gary Hooper, Simon Dale and Michelle Dale. After five shooters the scores were even. Tim Stephens for Wilmcote shot a respectable 31 and was matched by John Parrott for Binton. Paul Boazman and Trev Skinner were the only two shooters who slipped into the threes with their scores of 27 and 28 respectively. Alan Dyer and Will Troth from Binton brought the match to an end with scores of 30 and 31. Both teams dropped their lowest score, to finish on 225 for Binton and 222 for Wilmcote. Binton regain pole position at the top of the league.
Home Guard were without their top shooter Colin Fulford when they shot against Avenue-RBL. Louise Price shot first for the visitors and was happy with her score of 30 which was matched by Richard Mills of Home Guard. Paul Nixon-Barron also shot 30 which put Avenue-RBL into the lead by just one point after Jackie Mills shot 29. Steve Everett struggled to find the bull but managed 29. Irene Parsons who recently achieved a personal best had difficulties, shooting two threes and a bull for 27. Jo Everett and Bill Gately also shot a three but pulled it back with a single bull for 28. Sam Goodman kept out of the threes for his 30 which took Home Guard into the lead by two points after Peter Mole had mixed fortunes with his score of 25. Dee Green and Ben Goodman should have had higher scores but each dropped a three for 29. The pressure was on the anchormen for both teams. Steve Hodges for Home Guard shot 30 to give his team a total of 203pts. Steve Ray snatched back the necessary points and with his 33 gave Avenue-RBL a total of 204pts and their first victory in the league this season but it does not lift them from the bottom of the table.