Meet the Team
Captain
Jeremy Langley
Jeremy (a third-generation shooter from Devon) is a seasoned international shot and coach having toured for Great Britain on 18 previous occasions (including five tours to South Africa – spanning three decades). In 2017 he was Nick Tremlett’s Vice-Captain in South Africa where he main coached all three winning matches, including the most recent Australia Match.
As GB Captain for both this tour and the 2024 Palma, Jeremy has been working with a large GB Squad for the last two years. This ‘pre-Palma’ tour is a great way for the team to experience the challenges of shooting in South Africa and Jeremy is greatly looking forward to renewing old friendships forged by many years of international competition.
In his spare time when not shooting or coaching, he and his wife Judy can be found chasing after their two sons Benjamin (16) & Harry (11).
Vice-Captain
Nick Tremlett
GM SB
Long in the shooting tooth is a fair description of Nick – and that was 5 years ago! Shooting at international level since 1976, Nick has the distinction of having toured with GB before most of this team were born. Dabbling in both target and match rifle Nick has won the Queen’s Prize and the Hopton, and a few other trophies along the way. He was captain of the undefeated GB team to South Africa in 2017, a tour during which he also won the South Africa President’s Prize. By profession he is a semi-retired vet, and has had to minister to ailing team members on previous tours – much to their consternation!
Adjutant
Derek Lowe
Derek began his shooting in the cadet force at RGS Guildford, moving on to the Athelings in 1991, Oxford University over 1991 – 1994 and the Surrey county team since the late 1990s. He has been fortunate enough to represent England or Great Britain in various guises in Australia, Canada, Jersey, Kenya, Namibia, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
This tour will be Derek’s 5th to South Africa, and 3rd as Adjutant. Keenest at long range and in a team environment, he also spends a lot of time in match rifle. Aside from coaching and shooting (usually in that order), Derek sits on various committees in order to delay the inevitable moments when he has to leave Bisley. He is an experienced charity trustee both in shooting circles and at the church he attends in central London, and works in corporate finance as a Group Company Secretary.
Coaches
Seth Dowley
Seth started shooting in 2008 at Cheltenham College. During Ashburtons, Athelings and early tours, he found he particularly enjoyed the wind coaching side of team matches. As a result he has gone on to coach his county, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Rutland, as well as England in the National and Mackinnon, and GB in Canada and South Africa. This will be his ninth overseas tour having been fortunate enough to tour with cadet teams, GB U25s and GB.
He attended the last two World Championships in the USA and New Zealand as an U25 and is thrilled to be going this time with the Palma team. He is looking forward to catching up with overseas friends and building on foundations from the 2023 tour.
Away from the ranges, Seth works as an investment adviser for charities, corporates, and private clients and keeps fit with running, hiking and squash.
Matthew Ensor
Matthew started shooting in 1992 at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford. This will be his 15th overseas tour, sixth World Championships and sixth shooting trip to South Africa, having previously visited with GB (2008, 2017, 2023), England (2009) and first with the GB U25s in 2000.
While Matthew has enjoyed a smattering of individual shooting successes, including winning the 2009 Scottish Sword and three consecutive top 10 finishes in the UK Grand Aggregate, he feels most at home wind coaching in team matches. Matthew particularly enjoys the intensity the World Championships and the fickle winds found on the General De Wet ranges in Bloemfontein. He is very much looking forward to combining the two for the first time.
When not on the range, Matthew works in Higher Education and lives in Chelmsford.
Graham Nelson
Graham’s shooting journey started at Stamford School, progressing through university, England U21 and GB U25 World Championships in 2003 and 2007. He has been a regular member of England and GB teams since 2015 both as a coach and as a firer. This will be his third tour to South Africa, his first Palma, and he is very much looking forward to more contact with those tricky Bloemfontein winds and outstanding fellow marksmen.
Graham is the manager of the English Lions talent development squad and the Membership Secretary for the English Twenty Club (the governing body for TR in England).
When not on the ranges, Graham works as a Consultant Anaesthetist with a specialist interest in Oesophageal and Intestinal Failure surgery. At home is his very understanding and supportive wife Sophie and their two children Charlie and Annabelle.
Jason Pepera-Hibbert
Jason began shooting at Wellington College under the watchful eye of Nigel Ball, another member of the team. As a 2016 Atheling, Jason became obsessed with wind-reading and team coaching.
Whilst studying at Exeter University, Jason spent his holidays going on tour with the NRA team 2018 and the GB U25 Team to the World Championships in New Zealand 2019 where he placed 4th individually and 2nd in the team match (as a shooter!). If you’ve ever talked to Jason, you would know he loves difficult and changing wind conditions, so naturally his favourite range to date is Trentham, NZ.
As a reserve, Jason is looking forward to working with such a strong team in an effort to help the team win back the Palma Trophy for Great Britain.
Bill Richards
SM SB
This will be Bill’s fifth Palma Match, as well as being his fifth tour to South Africa, but will be his first as the Main Coach. Although coaching has been at the centre of each of these Palma matches, Bill has picked up a few individual shooting medals along the way and has desires to add to these in 2024.
One of the knock-ons from Covid was the rescheduling of the Palma from April into March. As a teacher, this placed both the 2023 and 2024 tours in term-time and Bill is extremely grateful for the understanding shown by Bede’s School in allowing him the time away from school to compete.
One of the things that Bill tells his students, (in jest!), when they have to miss a lesson due to a sports fixture is “don’t bother coming back unless you win!”. What’s good enough for them…
Firers
Jack Alexander
Jack Alexander started fullbore shooting at the age of 13 under the supervision of his father, leading on to a number of years shooting with Wiltshire ACF. As with many of his shooting friends he caught the bug and never looked back. Jack went on to shoot for Ireland followed by his first GBU25 tour to America 2015, where he took part in his first World championships, picking up individual and team golds. Jack’s other individual shooting highlight is representing Ireland in two Commonwealth Games.
Outside of shooting Jack has a plumbing business. He also likes to find as much time as possible to head in to the mountains to hike, climb and take part in many outdoor activities.
David Armstrong
SB2
David first started shooting at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, in 1983 and has shot the Imperial Meeting at Bisley every year since, apart from 1997 when he was working in Tokyo. This will be David’s 10th GB tour, and a long awaited return to Bloemfontain having only visited twice before in 1999 as an individual alongside the last SA Palma, and ten years later in 2009 with the Old Guildfordians team.
David’s top achievements to date include making 21 Queen’s Finals (coming 2nd twice, most recently in 2012) and 17 top 50 finishes in the Grand. He has been part of the winning GB Palma Teams in Ottawa in 2007, Brisbane in 2011 and Camp Perry in 2015, and is very much hoping to make the 2024 Palma team. Away from Bisley, David is an accountant for the Civil Aviation Authority, managing a government-backed trust fund.
Nigel Ball
GC SM SC
Nigel began his shooting career in the Royal Navy and shot very successfully with a variety of service weapons. After winning the Queens Medal with his SLR he looked to branch out into other arenas and began serious target rifle shooting. A successful GB team to Canada in 1991 gave him an appetite for touring and he has been in several teams since, taking him to various parts of the globe.
He relishes big team shooting, has been lucky to have been involved with GB Palma since 2003 and thoroughly enjoys the cameraderie that makes up this type of team. When he has spare time he enjoys a glass of red wine, good food and training the next generation of GB shooters.
Glyn Barnett
GM3 GC3 SC3
Glyn is an Emergency Medicine Consultant and is planning not to use his medical skills whilst on tour.
His first Bisley Imperial was in 1985 at the age of 14 and earned his Great Britain Cap in 1990. He’s been fortunate enough to have toured many times, but mostly in the 20th Century. This will only be his third tour in this Millennium, all of which have been to the General De Wet range. He holds 4 “Palma” Team medals, 4 Commonwealth Games medals (including Pairs Gold in 2006) and is one of 5 people to have won Her Majesty the Queen’s Prize 3 times. His family of girls (and The Dog) keep him on his toes and in his rightful place in the pecking order.
Matthew Button
SB
Matthew started shooting at the age of 14 as part of his Duke of Edinburgh’s award, following his father and grandfather into the sport. He continued shooting through school (winning the Ashburton with Oakham) and while studying medicine at London University. During this time he managed to combine his overseas elective with the 1995 Championships in New Zealand and returned 24 years later for the last Palma match. He has competed on GB tours in South Africa twice previously, but not since 2006 and is very much looking forward to returning.
Hannah Cook
Hannah’s introduction to shooting sure isn’t the norm. At the tender age of 7, she could be found shooting tin cans in the garden, but was finally taken to a ‘real club’ at the age of 11. At the age of 14, she got the ‘Bug’ for international shooting, and competed at the 2006 World Championships in both 50m prone (Junior Women’s), and 300m (Senior Women’s). While studying at Wellington College, she began her Target Rifle career, breaking her Tyro at the first attempt. The Team to South Africa is her debut on the GB Target Rifle stage, and she is hoping to bring some of her extensive GB knowledge with her.
Off the range, Hannah can be found donning on her Physiotherapy uniform and working on a respiratory ward.
Toby Cubitt
Toby shot his first Imperial meeting in 2017. His first tour was with the UK Cadet Rifle Team to Jersey in 2018, was an Atheling in 2020 but the tour was cancelled due to Covid. Covid also stopped him from visiting South Africa with the GB U19 team, and instead he toured to Blair Atholl for the 2021 Scottish Open. Whilst in Scotland he won the Scottish Grand Aggregate only dropping 2 points to score 523 out of 525. His 2022 Imperial was by far his best year, as he finished top 50 in the Grand for the first time, and received his first England cap in the National match.
Theo Dodds
Theo started shooting with an air rifle in his back garden at the age of 4 but more formally got into the sport at the age of 13 at Tonbridge School. He got his first opportunity for a Great Britain tour with the GB U21 team to the 2015 World Championships and has been progressing through the teams with a tour to South Africa with the GB U25s in 2017 and the New Zealand World Championships in 2019.
A keen Smallbore shooter, he became the youngest in history to “do the double” by winning the Earl Roberts and the X Class Grand Agg in the 2019 Bisley Smallbore Meeting.
In 2021 he received his first GB Cap in the Kolapore team, something he is extremely proud of. Now an Officer in the Royal Navy, Theo is very grateful to receive support from his Service as he aims to secure a spot in the Palma team in 2024.
Tom Drysdale
Tom started shooting with the Air Training Corps at the tender age of 13, initially very unsuccessfully. With persistence and training he improved enough to gain a place on the 2006 Athelings team for his first overseas tour. Since 2006, Tom has toured a further nine times to all major countries on the international scene, representing GB Under 19, GB Under 25, GB and England. Tom’s notable successes to date include finishing in the Top 50 of the Grand Aggregate at Bisley for the last eight years with a 3rd place finish in 2020. Tom’s continued development has seen several individual wins at Bisley over the years and he completed the ‘Big 5’ in 2017 becoming only the 100th person to shoot all five matches.
Tom currently works as a Project Manager in London. Away from the range Tom enjoys playing and watching football, gaming, and hitting the gym.
Chloë Evans
Chloë first picked up a rifle in 2008 at Gresham’s School under the leadership of Freddie Grounds. Since then, she has been lucky enough to tour Jersey, Canada, West Indies and USA representing OGRE, GBU25 and GB. Chloë represents Norfolk & Wales and is especially proud to have been part of Wales’s historic first win in the National in 2016.
In 2022, Chloë was honoured to be selected to shoot the Kolapore, made her 7th HM Queen’s Final and made the top 10 in both the Grand Aggregate and the St George’s Final. This will be Chloë’s 3rd Great Britain tour but her first visit to South Africa and she is greatly looking forward to the challenges Bloemfontein holds. Away from shooting, Chloë is a keen reader and avid sports fan (particularly rugby) and more recently, to stave off lockdown boredom, got into running.
Rosanne Furniss
SM
Rosanne started shooting in 2005. After 10 years focusing on Match Rifle following graduation from university, she restarted Target Rifle in 2019 and has enjoyed the opportunity to shoot for England in the National and Mackinnon, and shot for GB for the first time in the Kolapore Match at Bisley in 2022. Rosanne is looking forward to joining the team in South Africa for her first target rifle overseas tour, and to experience shooting target rifle outside of Bisley.
Aside from shooting, Rosanne works in consulting, supporting health and care systems across the UK to implement change.
Alastair Haley
Alastair didn’t start fullbore shooting until after graduating from the University of Southampton, although he shot .22 for a number of years prior, and was captain of the university smallbore club. Electing to shoot for Wales, he has 18 National Match appearances, and a few less Mackinnon caps. This will be his 11th overseas tour, and his 4th as a member of the GB team. It will also be his 3rd visit to Bloemfontein, having been part of the Welsh team in 2003 and 2009.
He is grateful to his wife Laura, for staying home to look after his son and two dogs!
Nick Healy
Nick started shooting in 1998 with the Army Cadets in Northern Ireland and has since represented the Athelings, Ulster, the British Army, the UK Armed Forces and Ireland.
The highlights of Nick’s shooting career include coming 4th in the final of HM Queen’s Prize in 2017 and being selected as reserve for Northern Ireland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Nick is particularly excited for his first GB cap to come as part of the Palma Squad.
He is fortunate enough to have toured South Africa before with the Army and is looking forward to returning to Bloemfontein – the biltong won’t eat itself!
Jon Kent
Jon started shooting at Epsom College in 1999. Since qualifying for the final of HM Queen’s during his second Imperial Meeting in 2000, Jon has toured with teams to Australia (as an U25), Canada (as an Atheling, U25 and full GB cap), and South Africa with the England Rifle Team in 2004. He has been a member of the winning World Championship teams for both the England U21 (2003) and GB U25 (2007).
When not shooting Jon can be found running his company, intheOffice. In his spare time he loves travelling with his wife and cycling.
David Luckman
GM2 GC3 SM SB3 SC6
David will be touring South Africa for an eighth time having first visited with the Great Britain team 25 years ago. He is looking forward to the opportunity to catch up with friends both local and from other international teams following an unforeseen four year break from touring.
David’s successes include winning HM the Queens Prize (twice), Grand Aggregate (3 times), the St George’s (4 times) and four Gold Medals at the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. In 2015, after a long eight years, he finally managed to shed the title of ‘the oldest ever World Individual Long Range rifle champion’ but his new long term goal is to one day regain that title.
David started shooting with Sedgemoor Target Shooting Club and represents Somerset. He is married to Susie and they live in Bristol with their son Thomas and daughter Sophie. When he has time, David is a keen sports player and enjoys cycling, tennis, and swimming.
Chris Mitchell
Chris began shooting at the Oratory School in 2003 before continuing at Exeter University. A good few years later and Chris has shot with both England and GB both on home soil and abroad. He is the Berkshire County captain and part of the Cardinals rifle club. Chris is looking forward to returning to Bloemfontein having last shot there with the GB U19’s in 2009.
Outside of shooting Chris works as an engineer for London Underground. Having tried his hand at most other sports and convincing himself that shooting wasn’t taking up enough of his time, Chris can be found running marathons, ultramarathons and the occasional triathlon.
Parag Patel
GM GC5 SM SB2 SC2
Parag first started shooting at Epsom College and his prodigious talent was in early evidence as he won the Canadian Grand Aggregate as an Atheling in 1994. This is his 14th tour with the GB team. Accomplished in both team and individual shooting, Parag has shot in all ‘Big 5’ matches with 69 appearances to date (including the last five Palma matches). His proudest individual accolade is having won the Bisley Grand Aggregate a record of five times 2001, ‘03, ‘20, ‘21 and ‘22.
He has also represented England in 4 Commonwealth games with a tally of 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.
When not on the range, Parag is an ear, nose and throat surgeon. He and his wife, Urvi, have three young sons, so he has little time left for golf. For the meantime, all his slicing is therefore done with a scalpel.
Toby Raincock
A product of Epsom College shooting and part of a winning Ashburton Team on three occasions, Toby first toured to Canada with the Athelings in 1993, returning there 2 years later with England. He then embarked on a series of successful tours with GB to America, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, including three victorious Palma matches. He has also participated in many Mackinnon, National and Kolapore Matches, proudly Captaining the latter to a tense win in 2019.
When not on the range, Toby has been known to swing the occasional golf club, although these days, his two young sons seem to occupy more of his non-shooting time. During the week and to earn some money to pay for his shooting tours, Toby is the CEO of Shard Capital Partners, a wealth management firm, based in the City.
Dave Rose
A self confessed shooting and touring addict, Dave is delighted to be involved with the Palma team again and is looking forward immensely to returning to South Africa, for the first time since 2009. Dave seems to have acquired the Adj title over the last few years but is glad to have handed over the reins for this one!
Dave started shooting at Epsom College where he finished as the Captain in a record setting year with the second of two Ashburton wins, continuing at Southampton University and The Old Epsomians. Focussing on Fullbore in recent years he has toured overseas 12 times and visited all the major shooting nations around the world. To date the high point is being part of the victorious Palma team in 2015 in the USA.
Dave is an Operations Director, lives in Surrey (& Edinburgh) and spends a lot of his time finding slots in the diary to enable him to go on tour.
Tom Rylands
SC
Tom is no stranger to South Africa, having first shot there in 1984 at Hamilton. This will be his 5th GB tour to the country, having also captained an England Team in 2009. Tom has been part of 5 Palma Teams and 6 Australia Match teams and looks forward to the strong competition he knows will be present in Bloemfontein. Tom is also Team Manager for the GB Under 25 Team and is excited at the prospect of bringing more young shooters to competition in South Africa. He is also known to spend a fair amount of time making ammunition and fettling rifles!
Rick Shouler
GM
Rick started shooting at Oakham School in 1993 and shoots for Nottinghamshire county. This will be Rick’s 4th GB tour to Bloemfontein, making up approximately half of all his overseas tours with GB. It is fair to say he absolutely loves South Africa and being able to compete with the very best competitive shooters.
Rick has had success both individually and in teams. He was part of the GB team in the 2008 Protea match and England team in the 2019 America Match. Individually in the UK he has won the David Hossack salver (2017), The St George’s (2018) and, perhaps most notably, the H.M. Queen’s Prize in 2021. He has also had success in Bloemfontein, winning the Free State Open and winning a tie shoot with a borrowed rifle and a jacket that he couldn’t button up!
Rick is really looking forward to representing GB again and relishes the challenge ahead.
Paul Sykes
SC
Paul started shooting with his father, having spent many a year at Bisley “on holiday” as a child. In his early years, he captained The Perse School and University of London. His first shooting tour to South Africa was in 2004 as Adjutant of the GB Under 25 Team. He gained his first senior international honours as part of the England National Match team that same year, first toured with GB in 2008 and made his first Palma Team in 2011.
After a brief hiatus flirting with the world of cycling and writing his PhD thesis, Paul returned to shooting in 2018 with a bang finishing 4th in the Grand Aggregate and completing his “Big Five” following selection for the Kolapore Match. He topped this by winning the Silver Cross (2nd in the Grand) the following year, his highest individual honour. Other highlights include seven top 50 Grand finishes, 13 HM The Queen’s finals and winning the Welsh Open. This is his fourth GB tour and fifth trip to South Africa.
Away from shooting, Paul is a Consultant Colorectal Surgeon at the Queen Alexander Hospital, Portsmouth. In what little spare time he has, he enjoys skiing down big mountains and cycling back up them.
Jon Underwood
GM GC2 SM2
Jon’s passion for target shooting started at the tender age of 11 at Aldro School on a 20 yard range in a converted greenhouse. Jon continued to enjoy the sport, learnt about fullbore shooting and ‘Bisley’ when he moved to the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, continuing at London University.
Jon has achieved a number of notable successes over the years including winning the Grand Aggregate in 2005 and 2009, the HM the Queens Prize in 2006, and most recently the Governor General’s Prize in 2019. He has also been a member of many successful teams representing England and Great Britain. As a regular tourist, the enforced break from touring during the pandemic was the longest time he hasn’t been overseas so he is delighted to be returning to Bloemfontein just over 8 months after a trip to Canada with the 2022 GB team.
Back home, Jon looks after his family business interests in Surrey, including a tool hire business and property rental business. In his ‘spare time’ has returned to RGS Guidford to help coach the school’s rifle team. Jon also has the responsibility of looking after Ted – ‘The Underdog’!
James Watson
With seventeen previous England and GB Tours, James is now amongst the more seasoned members of the team. He has shot in South Africa and specifically Bloemfontein on nine occasions, the most recent being for the 2017 Australia Match. A member of the last four GB Palma Teams, James also earned his “Big Five” Matches badge in 2011 and captained Great Britain for the Kolapore match in 2021. Individually, his most recent success was winning the Gold medal in the 800 yards aggregate at the 2019 World Championships.
James works for Amazon in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) business enabling customers to run their computing in the cloud. At home, he is married to Ellen with two children Eddie and Zoë who keep him on his toes.
James has missed touring over the “Covid years” and is looking forward to seeing many familiar faces back on the General de Wet ranges.
Reserves
Henryk Golaszewski
SM
Henryk started shooting small-bore and full-bore at age 14 as an Air Cadet on 1344 (Cardiff) Squadron. He entered his first Imperial Meeting in 2003, was selected for his first Welsh National cap in 2007 and has been on the Welsh National and Mackinnon teams ever since. Individually, he won HM the Queen’s Silver medal in 2016 and won the Canadian Governor General’s Prize Gold Medal in 2013, finishing with a 75.0 at 900m.
Henryk has toured to South Africa with the Welsh Rifle Team in 2009, to Canada with the Athelings in 2006, 2013 with the GBRT and as the Adjutant of the Athelings in 2016. He also really enjoys touring to the Channel Islands, visiting more than 10 times in the past 15 years.
Henryk graduated from the University of Glamorgan with a BSc (Hons) in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering and currently works for British Airways Maintenance Cardiff as a Licensed Aircraft Engineer on the Boeing 777 and 787 fleets. He still volunteers with the Royal Air Force Air Cadets as a Flight Lieutenant within the Marksmanship and Competition Team.
Jemima Hince
Jemima began shooting in 2016 under the tuition of Nigel Ball whilst at Wellington College. Her love for touring started in 2017 with the UKCRT tour to Jersey followed by GB U19 to South Africa and the Athelings tour to Canada the next year, where she shot the America match for GB U25.
Jemima earned her first England cap on tour to Canada in 2019 and followed that with National Match caps in 2021 and 22. She returned to Canada in 2022, gaining her first GB cap. Not able to get enough of touring, Jemima has competed individually in Scotland, Jersey and in 2022 travelled to Phoenix for the Southwest nationals. Having enjoyed the experience so much, she returns to Phoenix in 2023 before flying to South Africa as part of the GB Under 25 Team.
When not shooting, Jemima enjoys coaching cadets and in the rare occurrence she is away from the ranges, she is completing her final year of a Chemistry degree at Surrey University. When time permits, she can be found sailing or walking her Labrador.
Jane Messer
GC SB SC
Jane has won a number of individual competitions, including the Grand Aggregate at Bloemfontein and the Grand Aggregate and St George’s at Bisley (the Sovereign’s Prize still eludes her: only second to date).
However, Jane prefers team shooting and has been fortunate to have toured widely. She has represented Great Britain in South Africa on five occasions and England once. Arguably, the most successful was the 2017 team but undoubtedly the greatest fun was her first visit in 1993 under Bob Stafford’s captaincy, along with 2023 teammates Jeremy, Tom Rylands and Nigel. One of Bob’s aims was to introduce his young team to Africa and he certainly succeeded in sharing his love for the continent.
Matt Purdy
Matt started shooting at Gresham’s School aged 13 and progressed up the cadet world. He was an Atheling in 2010 and was selected as a member of the GB U19 team to South Africa in 2011. Matt got his first GB cap in 2012, touring to Canada and the USA under the captaincy of a certain Jeremy Langley, subsequently touring South Africa in 2013 with England.
Matt joined the Army in 2014 and since then has regularly shot, and coached, for the Army team, touring South Africa in both 2018 and 2019. Matt was reserve for the 2019 Palma team to New Zealand and is looking forward to returning to South Africa in 2023 with the Army Team.
Chris Watson
GM GC
Chris is no stranger to touring, having shot in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, USA, Canada, Trinidad, Barbados and the Channel Islands. His last outing was to the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, returning with a Silver Medal. He has represented GB and Wales in Big 5 Matches more than 50 times, with two successful Palma caps, has 18 Queen’s Finals under his belt and most recently, has taken on the captaincy of Wales.
