Tom reluctantly has to accept he will be a ‘Senior’ member (old fogey!) of any team he tours with, however on this occasion he is delighted not to be the oldest even though it appears he started shooting before several members of the team were born!
Tom’s first Bisley was in 1978 and he hasn’t missed one since – his first shooting tour abroad was to South Africa in 1984, visiting Rand Rifles outside Johannesburg and Hamilton Range in Bloemfontein (one of a now diminishing group who have shot on that range!). This was the beginning of a long friendship with many South African shooters and which was cemented on his return in 1993 with the GB Team as Adjutant, when he was honoured with Life Membership of what was then SANRA. Tom captained the England Team which toured in 2009 and has visited Bloemfontein on many other occasions, including the 1999 Palma and the 2017 Australia Matches.
After an initial career in the agricultural industry, Tom is now a gunsmith and shooting coach and has been instrumental in encouraging 2 schools to compete in the Bisley Schools meeting after many years’ absence – he was particularly proud to see one of those, Ellesmere College, win the Ashburton for the first time in 2015. He is currently the National Chief Coach for Army Cadet Shooting and works closely with CCRS to promote all Cadet shooting activities. Tom is very much looking forward to visiting the African Continent again, to renew old friendships and make new ones.