von Challenge: Stratford went into the second leg of the Avon Challenge three points behind. Evesham had a slow start but in contrast, Stratford started in almost perfect fashion with 34 from Jamie Clarke and 35 from Andy Smith. Evesham clawed back some points when John Richards and Adie Lewis shot 33 and 35 respectively. Stratford’s Alan Crichton in his Avon Challenge debut just missed out on a possible scoring 34. Stratford pressed on including a 34 from Alison McMillan to take back the reins in the next part of the match outscoring the Evesham team. The match became quite tense as did the atmosphere in the room when Evesham’s last shooter, Jamie Beadle scored 34 leaving Will Cemis, Stratford’s captain and last shooter needing 31 to draw the match or 32 to win. He stepped up to the plate, and notwithstanding the pressure he must have been feeling, shot a fantastic 33. This handed Stratford a five point victory and crucially a two point win overall to retain for the third consecutive year, the Avon Trophy, presented by Bob Beasley in 1993/94. The Bill Amos trophy for the best individual shooter was won by Evesham’s Adie Lewis who recorded a possible in each match, a combined score of 70 out of 70.

hitbread Individual Trophy: The first rounds of this year’s competition were shot at the Home Guard Club, Tiddington on 28th January. A few late withdrawals left the competition a bit bare but the standard of shooting more than made up for this. There were five preliminary matches which saw Karl McMillan eliminate teammate Sam Green. John Maycock and Wayne Harris had a close match with Wayne winning through to the next round by one point when he scored 23 points. The next did not disappoint either when Alan Crichton, still on a high from Monday night’s inter league match scored 24.4 missing the last against Adam Clarke’s 23.2. Very consistent shooting throughout. Lester Langford in his first individual tournament did well scoring 21 but team mate Graham East went one better with 22 points. Andy Smith against Derek Powers was a strange match. Derek Powers shot either 5's or 3's to score 21.2 but Andy Smith coming back into top form shot 24.3 for his place in the next round. Sammy Skye Unitt and Chris Reed got byes into the next round as neither of their opponents turned out on the night. In round 2 Karl McMillan came up against an inspired Ashleigh Clarke who scored 24.1 missing the bull with his first pellet to go forward into the quarter final. Wayne Harris and James Wilby shot a tightly contested match with Wayne scoring 23.3 to James's 22.2. Clarke will meet Harris in the next round.

Alan Crichton got a bye as Colin Fulford was unavailable as did Andy Clingan as his opponent was still ill from the previous week. Sammy Skye Unitt was drawn against the more experienced Will Cemis. Will went first and scored a 22.1 which Sammy equalled. In the reshoot, Sammy went first but only managed 19.1 which Will found easy to beat with a great score of 25.3 which proved to be the only mini possible on the night. Crichton meet Cemis in the quarter final. Richard Groom and Graham East shot a very tight match with both shooters scoring 22.1 causing another re-shoot in which Richard had the better score 23.1 to Graham's 20.0. Andy Clingan will meet Groom in the next round. Binton A shooters Chris Reed and Andy Smith shot against each in a match which all came down to the last shot. Chris went first and scored a competitive 24.1 which was outdone by Andy’s 24.2 his last shot was a 5.1 to land his victory. Paul Onions shot consistently to score 22.1 to put out Bill Fleming who just could not get a bull and had to settle for 20 points. He will meet Andy Smith in the next round.

The competition will be shot to its conclusion at the Home Guard Club, Tiddington on 18 February.

ebley League Week 3: Binton A vs Binton B: Binton A got off to a flying start with 34 from Chris Reed and the only possible of the week from Andy Smith. Will Cemis also shot 34 but with having to give 18 points to Binton B they always had an uphill struggle. Binton B’s new shooter Joe Lewis and Steve Hodges both shot 32s and Chris Green and Ian Powell 31. Both teams had six shooters and A N Other scores of 28 to finish Binton A 223 and Binton B 230 points. Clifford vs Avon: There were a number of loose shots on the home target for Clifford. Trevor Morris hit mainly bulls for 32, Jay Morris shot 31 and Ian Perkins and Martin Robinson shot 30. After discounting the lowest of their eight scores and adding on the ten point handicap from Avon they finished on 216 points. The Avon team kept their shots centred hitting only bulls and fours. Colin Fulford and Richard Groom both missed possibles by just one shot and Bill Fleming shot 33. Avon’s accuracy deserved to win the match with 227 points. Home Guard vs MEB: In this match three shooters, brothers Gareth and Tom and their father Andy Morris were all unlucky when they missed possibles by just one shot. Katie Barrett shot well scoring 33. All the team kept out of the threes to score 225 points. MEB only had four shooters. Derek Powers lifted his game to shoot 31 and Paul Onions shot mainly bulls for 32. The other team members had some loose threes. They had to take two A N Other scores and with 22 handicap points they managed 220 points leaving Home Guard with a solid win. Wilmcote vs Avenue: Wilmcote had eight shooters who all kept their eye on the bull. With only one score below thirty which was scratched they sailed home against Avenue despite giving away a 16 point handicap. Adam Clarke, Lester Langford and Jamie Clarke all shot 34s. Graham East shot 33 and in only his second match Max Langford shot 32. Avenue had only two shooters who kept out of the threes, Alan Crichton who shot an impressive 34 and James Wilby with 32. It was a well deserved win for the home team.

Tonight four preliminary rounds in the 4 A Side Charity Competition take place with Dad’s Army shooting at the Home Guard Club against Clifford; MEB vs Binton Badgers and Wilmcote Lads vs Avon-a-Laugh will shoot at Wilmcote and Avon-a-Sighter vs Binton A2 at the Avon Sports Bar.

The League will be hosting a Charity Quiz, and Bingo evening at Wilmcote Social Club on Sat 20 February at 7.30pm aiming to raise funds for Mind, Stratford Hospice and Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. A number of generous donations have been received for an Auction to be held and prizes for a raffle will be welcome.

Report by Juana Everett, to be published on 11th February 2016