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Shield matches were suspended last week so that the annual competitions for the
Ladies Rose Bowl and Youth Cup could take place at Wilmcote Sports & Social
Club.The competition for the Ladies Rose Bowl came into being in the mid 1990s and is the brainchild of Suzanne Storm who not only competed in bell target shooting but also shot clay pigeon. She instigated the competition and won it for the first three consecutive years, 1994/95 to 1996/97. She then left the area, moving to Scotland but before leaving, generously donated the cut glass Rose Bowl as a perpetual trophy specifically for ladies who shoot.
Michelle Dale won the trophy in 1997/98 and has won the competition an impressive nine times altogether including three consecutive years from 2006/07 to 2008/09 and she has held it from 2010/11 to the present. She was one of only four ladies who entered the competition this year trying to make it three in a row again. Warnings of snow and ice deterred other eligible shooters from attending.
The competition is shot in two halves with five pellets on each of two targets. A “clean” bull, leaving no mark on the target, scoring 5.1 points and a “dirty” bull, leaving a small mark on the target, 5 points. After the first half, Michelle Dale was in second place with 22.1 points. In the lead was Andrea Norris, currently one of the league’s most consistently accurate shooters, with 23 points having shot three bulls to Michelle’s two.
Jackie Mills, an experienced shooter, who won the rose bowl in 2000/01 and again in 2002/03 and Mary Kent, a new shooter this season, also took part in the competition but the bull eluded them all but once and with a loose shot each, their hopes of success were dashed.
In the second half, both Andrea and Michelle shot a bull to start then a four followed but three more bulls. However, all but one of Andrea’s bulls were clean whereas Michelle shot only two clean bulls which gave her a total of 46.3 points. Andrea with a final score of 47.3 won the competition and the Rose Bowl.
The competition for the Youth Cup, an impressive trophy, is shot under the same rules as the ladies competition and again there were only four entrants.
Joshua Bridge and Haydn Taplin, cousins, who shoot for Home Guard; Jamie Clarke, who only started bell target shooting last September and who is proving to be a confident and competent shooter and Will Cemis who won the competition in 2007/08 and again in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons and who was looking to make it three in a row.
Jamie Clarke and Will Cemis were three points ahead after their first five pellets. Both shooters having shot a clean bull, then a four, then a dirty bull, followed by another four and finally a clean bull for Jamie Clarke but a dirty bull for Will Cemis to give them 23.2 and 23.1 points respectively. Joshua Bridge and Haydn Taplin could not pull any points back in the second half and fell out of contention. Will Cemis was annoyed with himself when he started his second five shots with a four but he went on to shoot a bull, a four, a clean bull and finally another four for 22.1 points which gave him 45.2 points overall. Jamie Clarke started his second five shots with two dirty bulls, followed by a four, another bull and finally a four for 23 points. He won his first trophy by just one point with 46.2.
The second leg of the Avon Challenge against a team representing the Evesham League which was due to be shot on Monday 21 January, was postponed due to adverse weather conditions. Weather permitting, matches tonight will be Binton A vs Avenue SSC; Clifford WMC vs Binton B; Home Guard vs Wilmcote and MEB vs Avon.
On Tuesday 29 January, a representative from each team will compete for the Roderick Baker Cup at Binton Social Club.