BLOG

Well the last training week (also known locally as the Imperial Meeting) recently passed and the squad seems ready to tour. Particularly heartening is the fact that David Armstrong, Emma Nuttall and Nigel Ball (who had all missed recent training weekends for various reasons) seem to be back with a bang, with all three making the Queen’s Final – one of them having left hospital purely to do the Queen’s! Most notably, David hadn’t shot all year and came 7^th in the Grand, picking up four individual trophies on the way, including the Corporation on a day that ‘Corp’d’ many people.

All in all, from a shooting perspective, it was a successful meeting with something like 7 individual trophies picked up, four in the top 50 of the Grand (Jon Underwood 7^th, David 8^th, Jane Messer 18^th and Angus McLeod 34^th), nine in the Queen’s Final (all finishing in the top 50 with honours going to Angus placed 6^th) and seven in the St George’s Final (top gun was Jane with 5^th=). The excellence in individual shooting was also recognized by eleven (plus one reserve) appearances in National teams, nine (plus four reserves) in Mackinnon teams, one in the U25 and four of the Kolapore team (Jane, Martin Townsend, Angus and Jon U.). Things look good for the tour, and Ian Shaw and Angus are so keen that they have decided to do a little extra practice at Barry Buddon before flying out, collecting Commonwealth Games bronze medals on the way and impressing the Captain who was doing their scoreboard.

When not on the range during the Imperial Meeting, we spent time completing a series of fundraising activities in preparation for the tour. The team sold all 2,048 entries to the It’s a Grand Knockout competition: some cadets and less experienced shooters were eager to capitalise on their ‘T’ Class handicap in a bid to win £250, while other friends around Bisley Camp in higher TR classes were also given the ‘option’ to enter. The team was also pleased to raise extra funds via the Auction of Promises in the Umbrella Tent, alongside the Palma Squad and the GB U25 and Veterans teams. This took a further chunk out of our fundraising target. OTF Swindle entries were also sold throughout the meeting, with the team helping towards a record number of entries. Factoring in adverts from the brochure and other efforts, the fundraising project has come a long way in the last few months.

With work supplemented by the usual bonding opportunities that Bisley is known and loved for, as well as official attendances at the NRA Overseas Teams Reception and drinks at the Canadian Pavilion, the Imperial was a fun extended training session.

Bring on the tour!