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2009/10 season started last Thursday after a break of four months. During this
time, Guards, the second team at Tiddington's Home Guard Club disbanded
following the departure for the south coast of team captain, Fran Westwood. It
is hoped that remaining shooters will find homes with other teams and not give
up the sport. There was talk of a team from Redditch replacing Guards but it is
reported that they are to soldier on within their own league for another season.The matches last week - Gary Hooper shooting for Binton A got off to a flying start when he shot a possible in the match against Binton B who could only field six shooters. Gary said he hasn't picked up a gun since the end of last season which makes his possible all the more praiseworthy. Alan Dyer also did well with just one of his pellets slipping into the fours to give him 34pts. Binton B's highest scorer was Mike Perry with 32pts followed by Bill Fleming's 31pts. Binton B had only two loose pellets falling into the threes but they were out classed by the A team who had no threes and who shot 221pts to the B team's 205pts.
Home Guard opened the season with a match against Wilmcote. First up was veteran shooter John Maycock setting the standard, scoring 33 to be bettered only by team mate Andy Morris, famed for his scores of 34. Sheila Clarke, having moved from MEB to the Wilmcote team shot a respectable 29. With only two threes on the target, Wilmcote scored a total of 214pts. The Home Guard team played a new recruit, Josh Bridges, who struggled somewhat and ended up having his score scratched, but the rest of the team shot less consistently than might be expected. Their highest scoring shooter was saved till last when Steve Hodges scored 33pts with Bill Gately and Sam Goodman shooting steady 30's. However with too many threes flying about they could muster only 208pts.
MEB shooting at Wilmcote shot against Avenue-RBL. Louise Price and Paul Nixon-Barron for Avenue-RBL both scored 30pts but Paul Clingan's 34 and Kath Williams' 31 put MEB into an early lead. The Avenue-RBL team had difficulty finding the bull and too many loose threes resulted in low scores. Paul Seabury, new to competition shooting suffered mixed fortune on MEB's target. Avenue-RBL saved the best till last when Steve Ray shot 34pts to give the team a total of 198pts. MEB were not without their loose shots but they finished on 208pts and took the match.
Fixtures for tonight (24 Sept) are: Avenue-RBL vs Binton A; Binton B vs Wilmcote; MEB vs Home Guard.
For more info about bell target shooting with an air rifle why not visit our website www.sagl.co.uk.