English Twenty Club ‘Spring ‘ Meeting report

Competition Secretary Martin Liversage reports from this years delayed spring meeting

*The meeting was the first to use the NRA’s new COVID secure procedures*

Postponed from the usual May bank holiday, the competition went ahead on 15^th and 16^th August. The new dates meant a change in format, in foregoing The Cortis, we had a conventional QI, QII and QIII format.

What became the first Open Meeting of the season meant the event was popular and a full entry of 120 firers took to the range on Saturday morning for 2 sighters and 7 shots to count at 300, 500 and 600 yards.

No fewer than 13 people managed to score 105, the best of which was Parag Patel with 17 v bulls, counting out Steven Thomas with a clean shoot at 600. A further 24 people dropped just one point each during the morning.

The Saturday afternoon brought a Queens II format and with it some different names at the top of the prize list. Top of the shop was Major James Cook with a 150 and 25 V bulls, counting out Theo Dodds on the same score with a 50.8 to Theo’s 50.7 at 600 yards. 13 people in total scored a 150, with a further 19 people dropping one point each.

Just 4 people managed to navigate the day without dropping a point, the first three of which each had 36 V bulls. David Nuthall finished the afternoon with a 50.5, David Luckman with a 50.6 and the Saturday Aggregate went to Nigel finishing 50.7. Vern Putter, the only O class in the top 10, was the fourth shooter to go clean.

Sunday morning provided favourable scoring conditions for the first detail, with a light, readable fishtailing wind, which became friskier during the second detail. James Shepherd took the honours with a 75 and 12 v bulls, one V Bull ahead of Steve East. A further 9 people went clean.

On to The Final at 1,000 yards and the wind balanced out across the morning shoots with the first detail generally considered to be trickier than the second. Only 3 people managed a full house. Tom Drysdale with 9, Steven Thomas with 10 and David Luckman topping the prize list with 11 V Bulls.

This brought about the completion of the Sunday Aggregate. James Shepherd was second on the morning, dropping just one point and David Luckman, with a pair of 75.11s took the Sunday Aggregate.

Henry Day managed to secure sponsorship this year from Opticron, who donated a good quality scope which was awarded to Chris Vonchek. Chris was the top Tyro for the meeting, finishing 50^th in the Grand Agg and higher than a number of accomplished shooters. A 73 at 1,000 yards was a particularly fine shoot.

The top cadet, and winner of the Donegall Badge was James Burch. The Booth Cup for Top O Class was awarded to Rich Stewart, who finished 6^th in the Grand, dropping only 5 points along the way. Top U25 and 4^th overall, dropping just 3 points all weekend was Charlie Dart, an outstanding performance.

Third in the Grand Aggregate, dropping just 3 points was Tom Drysdale scoring 402 and 53 V Bulls, second with the same number of points and 7 more V Bulls was Hannah Pugsley.

The winner of the Grand Aggregate, and not dropping a single point during the weekend was David Luckman with a score of 405 and 58 V Bulls. This is the 4^th time that David has lifted the trophy.

As someone wrote on social media after the shoot “it’s difficult to beat someone who doesn’t drop any points”

The meeting adopted the NRA processes for Covid19 and social distancing that are to be used for the Imperial Meeting. Feedback from the competitors was that it worked well and gave no cause for concerns.