he Whitbread Individual Competition got underway on 8 November at Snitterfield Social Club. Jamie Clarke powered his way through a preliminary round and the first round with mini possibles scoring 25.3 points in both matches to come up against his brother Ashleigh in the second round. Ashleigh shot 25.3 which put Jamie out of the competition when he missed a bull and ended on 24.4 points. Andy Smith and Andrew Clingan also shot mini possibles in their matches scoring 25.4 and 25.2 respectively in the first round. They came up against each other in the quarter finals with Andy Smith coming off best with 24.3 to 22.2 points. Chris Reed won both his matches in which he was drawn against team mates Will Cemis and Bill Gately with solid scores of 24.1 and 24.3. He will meet Andy Smith, another team mate, in the semi final. Steve Ray won a preliminary round with 23.1 then his first round match with 23 points. In the quarter final he met Paul Clingan. Both shooters finished with 23.1 points and the match is to be re-shot when the competition resumes on 13 December at Snitterfield Social Club.

Avenue vs Avon. In what proved to be a close match both teams enjoyed the night’s shooting. After two shooters, the scores were even at 63. After three Avon were in the lead by one and after four it was Avenue in front by one point. Then after five, the scores were even again at 157. A strong finish from their final shooter put Avon back in the lead with 190 which put a lot of pressure on Avenue’s final shooter who shot for only the second time this season. The top score of the night was 33 which came from Alan Crichton and Steve Garlick for Avenue and Avon’s Alison McMillan. Avon won with a final score of 218 to Avenue’s 216 points.

Binton A vs Binton B. Both teams shot very well in this match with Chris Reed getting his first possible and good supporting scores of 33 from Gary Hooper and Will Cemis, Binton A won with 226 points. Binton B shooters Joe Powell shot a personal best of 33 and Steve Hodges shot a season best of 33 but with six shooters and an A N Other score of 28 they came off second best with 211 points.

Clifford vs Home Guard. Clifford were on form with Trevor Morris starting the match off with a season best of 34 followed by career best scores of 33 from Ben Withers and Martin Robinson and 32 from Matt Carvell. Home Guard had a strong start and finish though with Tom Morris and Alan Brookes shooting 33 and Gareth Morris and Andy Morris both getting 32. The visitors scrapped a win with 216 to 215 points.

Wilmcote vs MEB. There was never any doubt about which team would win this match. Wilmcote took no pity on the ailing MEB team with possibles from brothers Adam and Jamie Clarke bringing their tally of maximum points this season to four and ten respectively. MEB’s Paul Onions and new shooter M Brewis managed 31 each but out classed the final score was a decisive win for Wilmcote 227 to 197 points.

Report by Juana Everett, to be published on 17th November 2016