eams competed in the first round of the THOMPSON KNOCK OUT CUP – MAYOR’S CHALLENGE CUP last week. Edgar Raymond Thompson, Mayor of Stratford upon Avon Town Council for two years, 1926/27 and 1927/28 presented this trophy to the League which is inscribed “Mayor’s Challenge Cup”. The challenge being to eliminate registered teams on a knock out basis. The first winners were a team from the Talbot Inn in 1929/30. Records are patchy as to previous winners but include teams from pubs and clubs which have long since closed including the Talbot, the Coach and Horses, and Stratford WMC and GPO Clubs. It also records as past winners, teams from the Red Lion, the Windmill Inn and the Royal British Legion which though still in existence are no longer home to shooting teams. Perhaps the most intriguing winners were the Jack Gibbs VIII who won in 1960/61. The League has no other information about this team – Who were they and where did they shoot?

Avon 225 Binton A 231. Binton had the highest team score this week which included 34s from both Chris Reed and Will Cemis who unluckily missed out on maximum points with their final shot. Andy Smith also scored 34 and John Parrott and Alan Dyer shot 33s. Avon’s Steve Ray clocked up his second possible in consecutive weeks and Richard Groom shot a season best of 34, just one away from achieving his first possible this season. A deserved win for Binton.

Binton B 206 Clifford 212. Clifford had only one three on the score card and consistent shooting gave them a solid win over the Binton team. Ian Perkins was yet another shooter who was just one point short of a possible. Chris Green set a high standard when he shot first for Binton, hitting 33, but his team mates were not as accurate getting a smattering of threes and were knock out of the challenge.

Home Guard 215 Avenue 203. Home Guard started well with 34 from Gareth Morris and went on to build on this good start. Avenue were never in contention in this match and were convincingly eliminated from the competition.

MEB 207 Wilmcote 230, There was never any doubt about which team would win this match and Wilmcote gave no quarter starting with scores of 32, 33 and then 34 from Graham East, they took a convincing lead and kept on pushing. MEB shot well, ten more than their season average, but having to take two A N Other scores of 28 against scores of over 30 from Wilmcote meant they had no chance of success.

Report by Juana Everett, to be published on 13th April 2017