WLMCPS Soc - Provincial Grand Lodge of West Lancashire

Welcome to the home page for the West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society (WLMCPSSoc). Use the links below to select an appropriate selection from the page.

The History and Mission Statement of
West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society

Since its foundation on 25 June 1986, under the leadership of our popular first Chairman, Past Assistant Provincial Grand Master Frank Cowburn, the West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society, has provided enjoyment and friendship for many clay pigeon shooters not only within our Province but from neighbouring Provinces by way of an Inter-Provincial Shooting Competition which has always been held on the first Sunday in October each year.

The society is honoured by the support it receives from its our newly appointed president, Provincial Grand Master Peter J Hosker, and its vice-president Deputy Provincial Grand Master Brian Gillbanks. The society is also actively supported by its two life vice-presidents Thomas Blackburn and Brian Jackson.

In 2002 and 2004 the society rose to the challenge of organising National Inter-Provincial Shooting Competitions for Freemasons at Hoghton Tower, near Preston. In 2006 the competition was held at Leighton Hall, Carnforth, an occasion which was once more, with the support of many other Provinces, a great success.

In 2009, under the guidance of our chairman Assistant Provincial Grand Master Edward Caulfield, we will once again host a National Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition at Longton Gun Club, near Preston. Longton Gun Club is the oldest established clay pigeon shooting club in the Province of West Lancashire and should serve as a perfect venue for the event.

The society’s primary objectives are to actively encourage newcomers and established shooters by providing a medium for the sport within a safe and friendly environment and to advance relationships within this and other Provinces whilst never losing sight of the Masonic and non-Masonic charities that it actively seeks to support.

The society is proud that with the generous help of the Lodges and Chapters of the Province those charities have received to date in excess of £75,000.

It is some eight years since the inception of the first National Masonic Inter-Provincial Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition which was held at held at Hoghton Tower, near Preston; an idea first thought of by Brian Jackson a Past Deputy Grand Superintendent of the Province of West Lancashire.

This year’s event was hosted by the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London at the famous EJ Churchill Shooting Ground at West Wycombe on Saturday 26 June and with 123 shooters from 13 Provinces competing the scores were always going to be high, just like the temperature - 30 degrees.

Last year the EJ Churchill Shooting Ground was voted the best ground in the country boasting more than 100 stands in six different disciplines.

On arrival at the ground for registration and briefing, breakfast rolls were in abundance with copious amounts of tea, coffee or orange juice. Everyone was squadded to ease queuing and at 9.30 am it was time for off.

The 100 bird competition was held over 12 stands which were faultlessly manned by one trapper/scorer who are all to be congratulated for showing such a great amount of perseverance and patience in the sweltering heat.

The presentation of the clays on each stand had been professionally managed to a high standard. There was also a 10-bird Pool Shoot on hand.

On completion of the course at 1.40 pm our nine-man West Lancashire squad (and WAGs) headed back to the clubhouse for a super buffet lunch which was followed by the results and presentations but first it was the raffle which raised £700 for the RMBI.

All prizes were presented by the Deputy Metropolitan Grand Superintendent of the Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London Charles R Grace. There were many prizes on offer including VIP shooting days at the EJ Churchill shooting ground with tuition and refreshments but the only lucky ticket for West Lancashire was for two baseball caps which were won by Jason Rhodes (as seen in the photo) whose wife Karen had just bought one only a couple of hours beforehand!

Then onto the presentation of the prizes: The team prize based on the top three scores from each Province:

The winners of this year’s incredibly hard fought competition were Surrey with a fabulous score of 256: G Walker 89, G Boxal 85, N Forman 82.

2      Cornwall                                      254
3      Met Grand Lodge of London            246
4      East Kent                                    239
5      West Lancashire                           238

Masonic High Gun on the day was G Walker with 89, West Lancashire High Gun was Jason Rhodes with 81, Guest High Gun was Robert Humphrey with 94, Ladies’ High Gun was Chris Robinson with 70 and Junior High Gun was Stuart Bottomley with 73. Congratulations go to Brian Saidman and his many helpers for fielding such a fine event.

Glynn Wrennall had special thanks to Chris in the Gun Room at EJ Churchill’s for the many technical conversations he had with him and the time he took showing everyone the beautiful Churchill shotguns on display; he was obviously very proud of the high standard of excellence Churchill Gun maker’s strive to maintain.

The competition was only ever meant to be a bi-annual event but there are now so many Provinces queuing up to host the event that it was decided that the Province of Middlesex will host the event next year at either the same venue or at Bisley (yet to be confirmed) with Cornwall the year after that with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire chewing at the bit. A warming thought for the founders of the competition as it continues to go from strength to strength.

Anyone wishing to join the society and be kept up to date with its events can download the application form below and forward it to the treasurer, John Hammond

To download the file - right click on the link below and chose "save target as.." This will allow you to select a location on your PC to save the file.

Social Shoot 3rd Wednesday of every month at
Kelbrook Shooting Ground at 10.30am

WBros: Chairman: Assistant Provincial Grand Master Eddie Caulfield, Glynn Wrennall, Ian Heyes, Mike Casey, Keith Nuttall, John Hammond, Mike Clowes, Alex Hammond, Harold Carter, Evan Walsh, John Taylor, Dick Walmsley, Mick Woods, Lawrence Alston, Richard Dennison.
Bros: Alan Whittle and Gordon Brererton
All of whom are members of the Society

Apologies have been received from;
Past Deputy Provincial Grand Master Tom Blackburn, Past Grand Superintendent Brian A Jackson and WBro Danny Chester

The Chairman welcomed all the members to the Annual General Meeting and thanked them for turning up.

He said that this must be one of the first annual meetings of the aociety that the Past Deputy Provincial Grand Master had not attended. Tom had a heart attack after the last meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge. He has been discharged from hospital after a heart bypass two weeks ago. I am sure that we all wish him well and a speedy recovery.

The minutes of the previous annual general meeting were read by the secretary and on a proposition from Mick Woods seconded by Lawrence Alston were confirmed by all brethren present at that meeting and signed by the chairman as a true and correct record.

Chairman WBro E C Caulfield Said that this is always more a thank you speech than a report. He thanked all the officers of the society for all their hard work during the last 12 months.

Thank ‘you’s’ over he was disappointed that we did not win the Watson Eden Trophy at the Inter Provincial Shoot, held at Knaresborough, last October but was pleased to see that it was won by a new Province to join us – Well done North Yorkshire. We will get it back this year.

Treasurer WBro J Hammond
The treasurer gave out copies of the accounts and invited questions.
He advised the meeting that the financial position of the society was sound with £13,400 in the charity fund and £1,800 in club funds.
He explained that he had opened a deposit account for the charity money but unfortunately this had not received much interest.

As auditor of the accounts Mike Clowes paid tribute to his co-auditor Bro Ian Walton who had done a tremendous job in auditing the accounts and apart from advising minor changes in procedure he reported that the accounts were in order.

On a proposition by Dick Walmsley seconded by Lawrence Alston the accounts were adopted

Secretary WBro M Casey
The secretary reported that membership of the society continues to grow steadily with 40 Life members and 38 annual members. This is compared to 38 life and 27 annual last year. In addition we have tw Life Vice Presidents and two Honorary Members - no change from last year.
Two of the annual memberships are associate members from East Lancashire and it is hoped that they will form the start of an East Lancashire Society who can then join us for the annual Inter Provincial shoots

The monthly shoots at Kellbrook are not being supported as they were. On the other hand our competitions and friendly shoots are receiving more support, perhaps because they are held on a Sunday.

The level of support, in the form of patronage, from Lodges and Chapters, although in line with donations to the Golf and Bowling Societies, is not as high as we could hope for. Perhaps it is time we adopted a pro-active approach and visited Lodges and Chapters and groups to explain the work of our society.

As you are all aware the National Championships are on 27 June and the level of entries is causing concern. If any West Lancashire members are intending to shoot please enter as soon as possible.

Far be it from me to keep bring items of concern to this meeting but the society is healthier and stronger than it has been for a good number of years and looks to continue enjoying the sport of clay shooting & fellowship of like minded people for many years to come.

Shoot Captain WBro I R N Heyes
The Inter Provincial Shoot was hosted by the Province of Yorkshire West Riding at Knaresborough Gun Club with 57 shooters taking part. We were pleased to meet for the first time a team from the Province of North and East Riding, who turned out to be very good shots. They took the first place trophy with a score of 220 out of 250 with the Province of West Lancashire coming second with 214. We were cordially invited to present the trophy at Acklam Lodge 6248 in Middlesbrough and enjoyed a very pleasant evening.

On the 14 November, the society hosted a gentleman's evening here at Wellington Park. They raised approximately £500!
The following shoots were held at similar grounds to the previous year:

We also had teams taking part in the National Gamekeepers Shoot at Lindale gun club and the Rotary Club Shoot at Catton Hall.

He was pleased with the number of members and guests turning up and participating at this year's shoots, on average there have been 25 - 30 at each shoot.
Shooters Evan Walsh and Jason Rhodes have had consistent high scores all year so well done to them.

Position	Name				Proposed by	Seconded by
President	Provincial Grand Master Peter Hosker				Ex Officio
Vice President	Deputy Provincial Grand Master Brian Gillbanks				Ex Officio
Life Vice Presidents	Tom Blackburn Brian A Jackson				Elected for Life
	Past Provincial Grand Master Colin Wright				Mike Clowes				Mike Casey
Colin Wright was duly proposed and seconded as a Life Vice President of the Society for all the support he had given us during his tenure as Provincial Grand Master. The meeting unanimously elected him to this position
Chairman		Eddie Caulfield	No other nominations. Elected unopposed
Vice Chairman		Glynn Wrennall
Treasurer		John Hammond
Secretary		Mike Casey
Assistant Secretary		Alan Whittle		Ian Heyes				Mike Casey
Alan Whittle was duly proposed and seconded and elected as Assistant Secretary with a revised role.
Shooting Captain		Ian Heyes	No other nomination. Elected unopposed
Newsletter Editor		Dick Walmsley	Glynn Wrennall				Lawrence Alston
WBro R Walmsley was duly proposed and seconded and elected as Newsletter Editor
Members 1		Phil Gunning		Proposed en bloc by Harold Carter, Seconded by John Hammond and duly elected
2		Keith Nuttall
3		Richard Dennison
4		Mick Woods
5		Lawrence Alston
Co-opted Members 1		Mike Clowes		Mike Clowes and Danny Chester were proposed as co-opted members by Mike Casey Seconded by Lawrence Alston and duly elected
2		Danny Chester
Auditors 1		Ian Walton		No other nomination. Elected un opposed
2		Mike Clowes

There was no proposition to set the subscription fee by the treasurer John Hammond. The Subscription fee remains at £8.00 for Full or Associate Membership and £50 for Life Membership.

2010 Festival                 £10,000.00
Brian House                  £1,000.00
Zoe’s Place                   £1,000.00
B.A.S.C.                       £1,000.00

These amounts were proposed by Richard Dennison and seconded by John Taylor and agreed by the meeting.

Dick Walmsley proposed that if more funds were available, during the next 12 months, we should increase the amount donated to the 2010 Festival, with a further donation, at the treasurer’s discretion. This was seconded by Mick Woods and agreed by the meeting.

The Society produces a regular newsletter which is to update members on reports from events that have taken place and advertise forthcoming shoots or socials.

The latest newsletter can be viewed, downloaded or printed using the PDF link below

The Christmas Turkey Shoot at the Flying Fish was a great shoot – 50 sporting birds over nine stands and you could honestly say that they threw everything at us, rabbit, batou, mini and teal to mention just a few. Like the rest of the country there had obviously been a lot of rain as the going was very soft underfoot and quite muddy in places. There had been a large Charity shoot, for ‘Help for Heroes’ the previous day so the trampling of many wellied feet probably did the damage.

The weather was exceptionally kind and it is always a treat to see the many skeins of geese flighting at a safe distance over the Ribble Estuary, some of about 30,000 out there at the moment.

A total of 23 shooters turned up to compete in the Masonic competition. The Fish were also holding their Christmas shoot and although there were a lot of people around there was no waiting or excessive waiting.

Then it was back into the pub for a hotpot lunch and the presentations. High Gun on the day was Jason Coxhead, who was shooting with his father so he had to behave, with 41 out of 50. But as is the custom of the Turkey Shoot the prizes are awarded in reverse order, so the lowest score gets the best prize. This year’s winner with one out of 50 was J Lomax from Wigan who took home the turkey.

Thanks to Evan Walsh for bringing along five Masons from Wigan which helped to swell the numbers. We hope they enjoyed themselves and will come again.

Let me start by telling you about Sandy Shiach. Sandy was born in Scotland, served with the Greater Manchester Police, married a Bolton lass and retired to Gilcrux, near Maryport where he subsequently joined Alauna Lodge No 8808 in the Province of Cumberland and Westmorland. He was secretary of the Cumberland and Westmorland Clay Pigeon Shooting Society for almost 20 years until ill health forced him to step down. How’s that for a candid history?

So on Sunday, 17 May a Memorial Shoot was held in his honour at Penrith Gun Club with all the prizes donated by his widow Virginia. It was an interesting and friendly shoot with many competitors attending from all over the country including a group of shooters from the Clay Shooting Club of The Greater Manchester Police Authority who had the pleasure of working with Sandy for many years.

The competition was 25 DTL, 25 ABT and 25 Sporting. The Sporting was almost a compact layout and very pleasurable. Our scores out of 75 were Mick Woods and Ian Heyes with 64 each, Evan Walsh with 61 and Glynn Wrennall with 56. The High Gun on the day was J Singleton of Lancaster who only missed ONE bird in the shoot off.

There were lots of bacon sandwiches flying around along with homemade, cakes, biscuits, pies and sandwiches and a fascinating tombola with 5 tickets for a £1.

Now when you look at the picture of the shooters with all the prizes you would naturally think that they had shot well and won the competition, but the whole truth and nothing but the truth is that all that silverware, wine and boxes of cartridges were won on the tombola, honest!

The proceeds of the day amounted to the magnificent sum of £1034 which, on the wishes of Virginia was split 50/50 between the Renal Unit at Carlisle Infirmary and the Eden Valley Hospice.

By kind invitation of the Rotary Club of Frodsham and Helsby and by Bill Auckland, Past Second Provincial Grand Principal of the Royal Arch, the West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society sent along two teams to compete in their annual competition held at Catton Hall Shooting Ground on Friday 12 June.

The owner, and keen Rotarian, Michael Mann, provided a friendly relaxed 75 sporting bird shoot per man for teams of three members. Catton Hall is a well kept professional shooting ground with heavily wooded and lawn areas which naturally lend themselves to an excellent sporting layout.

The society fielded six willing volunteers to compete on the day. Team A - Mick Woods (47), Evan Walsh (56) and Graham Brererton (40) finishing third and Team B - Harold Carter (43), Dick Walmsley (46), Mike Faulkener (51) just three points behind. It was then onto the clubhouse for refreshments and a super lunch followed by the presentation of the trophies. Everyone had a wonderful day and a special thanks to the Frodsham and Helsby Rotary Club for their hospitality.

This year’s Provincial Shoot was held on Sunday 10 May at the Flying Fish (or The Dolphin to the non-believers), Marsh Lane, Longton in preparation for the National Shooting Competition to be held in June this year. We were once again fortunate with the weather with bright blue sky and just a light wind. I know I keep harping on about The Flying Fish Shooting Ground but it really has come along way in recent years.

The competition was held as a 30 Sporting re-entry layout but with first scores to count. Sadly there was a low turnout this year for whatever reason but as always those that did appear were without doubt the quality. It was wonderful to see Tom Blackburn around again supporting the event after his ‘funny do up the Amazon’ as he put it and to welcome back George Houghton, a once proud East Lancashire Province shooter who has recently started to shoot again after a long illness and better still he has recently joined a West Lancashire Lodge at Westhougton.

Now to the competition, excellent birds, seven stands, perfect conditions, so what went wrong? Personally I think everyone was enjoying themselves too much and not concentrating.

On to the presentations which were made by the Society Vice-chairman Glynn Wrennall at The Rams Head Hotel, Longton where everyone enjoyed an excellent carvery meal.

The Brian Taylor Group Trophy was presented to David K Rhodes of the Lancaster Group for the support that they had given the society over the past year.

The Veteran’s Trophy was won by Mike Casey snr. Well Mike Casey jnr. Just wasn’t old enough was he? I suppose I’d better mention his score of 20 (out of 30).

The Thomas Williams Novice Trophy was won by Graham Brereton who only started shooting this year with 13 out of 30. Graham, although an East Lancashire Mason, is a member of our society who brought along another two members of his Province as well.
The Guest Trophy was won by Austin Coxhead, a guest of Ian Heyes and a regular supporter of our events with a score of 21.

This year’s Harold Naylor High Gun trophy was won by Jason Rhodes with a remarkable recovery after the Lindale Shoot with a score also of 21.

And the main presentation of the day – the dreaded White Stick was earned by David Rhodes with a magnificent score of five – yes five!

The raffle was organised by our treasurer John Hammond and raised the sum of £76 which included a £10 donation from Lawrence Alston, a partner in Coaching Clinics, the society’s coaching wing who assisted two novices on the days.

Sunday, 19 April brought around the annual National Gamekeepers’ Organisation Regional Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition held at Lindale Gun Club, near Grange over Sands where The West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society was fortunate enough to be invited to enter two five-man teams of shooters.

The competition was a 30 bird sporting (a hard pair of almost spring teal, a pair of crossing birds r-l, and a ABT bird going away with a crossing l-r bateau) and then on to the exciting bit. The first of the 100 bird flushes, which they called a duck flush and we called the theme from Star Wars, was to say the least a little bit tricky and then the grand finale was the pheasant flush – WOW!!

That was one to get your knees shaking. It’s always an amazing feeling when you have the cartridge, the right way round in your hand, and you can’t make them fit into your gun for shaking. The pheasant flush is a fantastic experience which seems to last 20 minutes, but it in reality it’s all over in three.

Well somebody had to win and it definitely wasn’t us. The Duke of Westminster Cup was won by the Egglestone Moor Syndicate (which I am told is somewhere near Barnard Castle) with a score of 115. The Carr’s Animal Feeds High Gun Trophy with scores out of 30 on the sporting was won by Sam Newsham with 27. Our own High Gun was yet again Evan Walsh, who you will remember as the man with his barrels on fire, with 23. I refuse to mention anything about Jason Rhodes’ 17 his face said it all. The Hi-Fly Shield for the highest score on the pheasant flush was the Crabtree Syndicate with a score of 99 out of a possible 100. The duck flush was won by the Wyresdale Syndicate (featuring our very own Richard Dennison on Thompson sub machine gun as back gun) with 83.

This year, for the first time, due to the sad loss of John Bell, a trophy was donated in his memory and was won by Turton A. There were two shooters under the age of 16 competing this year and the organisation hoped that there would be more in the future.

The presentation and raffle was once again held at Endmoor Club, near Kendal where everyone enjoyed an enormous hotpot, pickled onion and beetroot lunch, oh and a few beers too. It was a wonderful day for the 100 men and women who took part and one our members will have fond memories of for a long time to come.

After all the rain and what seems a very long winter over 20 shooters from the WLMCPSS went along to Toplands at Woodplumpton, near Preston for a 50 bird sporting and a 25 bird skeet shoot on 5 April.

As all I’d come for was a bacon butty, which they had stopped making, I should have known then…….

I personally started with the skeet not having shot it for some time and I found it quite refreshing and a good laugh with the rest of the squad but that was probably because I shot it well.

It was then onto the first stand of the sporting where cries of “what was that?” and “where is it?” did it for me and consigned me to my fate.

The second stand was ABT where we all stood looking at the birds, with 28” barrels and skeet chokes, as they turned right or left landing in Blackpool or Chipping or even further away then that.

The third stand was a reasonable settling duck and a disappearing crow but I am afraid after that it all went down hill.

Despite the good weather the sporting was a hard shoot which reflected in the scores although the High Gun of the day with 40 out of 50 was Jason Rhodes. Second was hot shot Evan Walsh the man with his barrels on fire with 30 followed closely with a host of 29s and 28s.

Lunch afterwards at The Wheatsheaf was good and the raffle made £50 for the society with the winner of the whisky being Dick Walmsley.

The bi-annual Sportsman’s Dinner was held at Wellington Park, Leyland and got off to a great start when after a roast beef dinner guests were invited to play a game of ‘heads and tails’ with guest Mick Creer winning the prize of £50.

Liverpudlian comedian Al Nolan brought tears to the eyes with laughter. Time then for the sporting memorabilia ‘Chorley Auction’ with interesting items such as a signed golf hole pennant from the father and son classic golf tournament at Augusta, Georgia with names such as Lee Trevino, Vijay Singh and Arnold Palmer; a framed collage of sporting signatures and moments from Liverpool Football Club; and a Bolton Wanderers signed football. The auction raised £232 and Ian Heyes who won the football immediately re-donated it to raise another £31.

The guest speaker of the evening Steve Smith, barrister and criminal lawyer, talked extensively about the highlights of his career to the amusement of the audience. He also donated two signed copies of his latest book which raised a further £40.

To conclude the evening there was a whisky raffle with bottles donated by the society and group officials and 13 lucky winners went home with bottles.

Finally the society vice-chairman, Glynn Wrennall, thanked everyone for their support, with the proceeds going in to the coffers to be shared between Masonic charities and north west children’s charities at next year’s national shoot he then bade them all good night and a safe journey home.

According to Bro Rudyard Kipling East is East and West is West but on this occasion he got this one wrong when Ian Heyes, Mike Casey and I made our way up the M6 to Tebay and across Stainmore Gap to the small fishing village of Middlesbrough.

The truth is that Yorkshire North and East Riding won the Watson Eden Trophy at the Inter Provincial Shooting Competition in October and our Shoot Captain who shall remain nameless, but his wife is called Mrs Heyes, forgot the trophy so as a compromise he offered to present it to the winning team at a Lodge meeting of their choice. So after a kind invitation from their Shoot Captain, Mark Roberts, we went along to Acklam Lodge No 6248 which meets at Middlesbrough Masonic Centre where we witnessed things just a little bit different to what we are used to. Their hospitality was superb and with the festive board being their Christmas meeting it was exceptional with as much wine and whisky that anyone could desire. The Christmas pudding was heralded into the festive board, in the dark, by the members all singing ‘we all like figgy pudding’. We were then entertained by a talented young lady soprano to add to the Christmas atmosphere.

In the Junior Warden’s Toast to the visitors he asked the WM’s permission to echo all the visitors’ names around the four walls of the Lodge. Permission being granted he then read out all the names, ranks, Lodges and Lodge numbers, which raised cheers from the hosts of each one. There were 32 visitors present that evening from 19 different Lodges and it was wonderful to see Dr Watson from the Yorkshire West Riding shooters accompanied by brethren from his own area.

Presentation time finally arrived and Ian Heyes was asked if he would be kind enough to present mementoes to all who had taken part in the competition from the winning Province, a rose bowl to the High Gun and the Watson Eden trophy to their Shoot Captain, Mark Roberts – a job Ian relished.

There were many replies from the visitors and the evening concluded with Auld Lang Syne and the Tyler’s Toast. One interesting observation at the festive board, although there were many, was that the WM announced that next month’s meeting was to be a Third Degree and a form was passed around the members for volunteers to do whatever job they liked in the ceremony. A wonderful evening of Masonic hospitality at its best. Congratulations and thank you Middlesbrough.

And finally our heartfelt thanks to the guards on sentry duty at 1st Battalion of the Royal Mercian Regiment, Catterick Camp for their directions back to Scotch Corner, which we had missed, and also for lifting the barrier to allow us to turn around easily. Yes, it was the same guy who forgot the Trophy who was doing the driving.

On Sunday 18 April the WLMCPSS fielded two teams in the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation northern heats at Withets Clay Pigeon Ground, Over Kellet, near Carnforth. The weather conditions were fine, the country having enjoyed a dry spell for the last couple of weeks. The competition comprising of five-man teams competing for the Duke of Westminster Trophy. The shoot was a 100 bird duck flush that seemed to rattle a few cages and proved to be somewhat difficult. Then there was a 100 bird pheasant flush complete with an exocet going down the far right hand side which was obviously not only missed but not even seen by most.

There was then a very good 30 bird sporting layout over four stands; high pheasant, springing teal, overhead pigeon with a springing teal, and a rabbit with a settling duck; but with 26 teams shooting there was always going to be a queue. Refreshments on site were good and plentiful with a suckling pig roast for lunch. So sadly this year no prize ware, cup or shield just 10 worn out clay busters ready to join the traffic queue on the M6 southbound. Incidentally Mike Pinckard won a bottle of Glenmorangie in the raffle.

Team A: Jason Rhodes, Evan Walsh, Ian Heyes, Graham Brereton and Mike Casey jnr. scored 109 out of 150 with Jason and Ian tying for High Gun on 25. They also scored 80/100 on the pheasant flush and 66/100 on the duck flush. Jason managed to get through to the very testing finals of the pool shoot but was pipped at the post.

Team B: Colin McLean, Mike Pinckard, Mike Casey snr. Dick Walmsley and Glynn Wrennall pictured with Dick’s grandson scored 81/150 with 71/100 on the pheasant flush and 50/100 on the duck flush. Their High Gun was Mike Pinckard with 23.

This year’s annual Inter-Provincial Shoot, hosted by the Province of West Lancashire, was held at Lindale Gun Club, Ulpha, near Grange over Sands where copious amounts of coffee and bacon sandwiches were on offer from early morning. There were 55 competitors from six Provinces: Cheshire, East Lancashire, Yorkshire West Riding, Yorkshire North and East Riding, Cumberland and Westmorland and West Lancashire.

The competition consisted of a 50 bird sporting layout, five stands all of five pairs: two easy, two hard and one very near impossible (at this time of year no one shoul complain but the sun was in your eyes). The pièce de résistance was an exhilarating 60 bird driven pheasant pool shoot.

After the shoot it was back to the Gilpin Bridge Inn for some fine ale and a very popular roast dinner.
All prizes and trophies were presented by the society chairman Eddie Caulfield assisted by the vice-chairman Glynn Wrennall. The winners of the pool shoot in reverse order Richard Dennison and Evan Walsh, Dr William Watson and David Marlow, and with 48 out of 60 Jason Rhodes ably assisted by Glynn Wrennall.

Cheshire - R Kelly - 40
East Lancashire - G Brererton -27
Yorkshire West Riding - N Hirst - 44
Yorkshire North & East Riding - P Wheater - 46
Cumberland and Westmorland - Gareth Jones - 31
West Lancashire joint - Jason Coxhead & Evan Walsh - 38

                        4th       Cumberland and Westmorland           127
                        3rd        Yorkshire West Riding                        177
                        2nd       Yorkshire North & East                       208

This year’s winners with 215 were Evan Walsh, Jason Coxhead, Jason Rhodes, Ian Heyes, Mike Casey and Glynn Wrennall from West Lancashire.

The proceeds from the raffle for the gallon of brandy and other donated prizes along with the money from the shoot and pool shoot amounted to £300 which has gone into the society’s charity account for distribution next year. A special thank you to Andy, Mark and Becky of Lindale Gun Club and to all those many volunteers to numerous to mention.

All in all a wonderful day out for everyone and next year’s shoot will be hosted by the Province of Yorkshire North and East Riding.

Assistant Provincial Grand Master Eddie Caulfield presents the Watson Eden Trophy to Ian Heyes and the other members of the West Lancashire team, left to right, Evan Walsh, Jason Coxhead, Jason Rhodes, Glynn Wrennall and Mike Casey.

Unfortunately this year our annual friendly shoot at Woodplumpton had to be cancelled at short notice due to noise problems at the ground and it doesn’t seem to be re-opening any time in the near future.

Shoot captain Ian Heyes hastily rearranged an alternative day at the Hesketh Bank Shooting Ground which has a custom built layout complete with the same computerised system as at Kelbrook. The shoot showed imagination on a compact ground, with what looked like a skeet layout under construction. There were a total of six stands with a good variety of quite tricky targets.

The high gun on the day was Jason Rhodes with a creditable 41 out of 50 with the runner-up Evan Walsh, who everyone tried so hard to put off with his converted golf trolley/gun carriage, with 36.

The Hesketh Ground sold a fab bacon sandwiches and a very reasonably priced all-day full breakfast. The one criticism Glynn Wrennall had was that for the first time in over 40 years of shooting how many shooters just ejected their used cartridges onto the ground instead of using the bins provided.

This year’s Provincial Shoot took place at the Flying Fish, Marsh Lane, Longton.

There were 23 shooters and their guests from East Lancashire and Cheshire took part in the 60 bird sporting bird competition over eight stands requiring various skills with a good mix of batou, mini and midi clay targets just to fool the eye. Overall the shoot was of an excellent standard and well worth the visit.

The Harold Naylor Trophy was presented to the High Gun on the day Jason Rhodes who scored a very creditable 52, with Jason Coxhead the runner-up with 48 and Evan Walsh third with 45.

The Veteran’s Trophy was won by “one pellet” Howard Whitaker his one pellet strategy working well for him again with a very creditable 46. The Thomas Williams Novice Trophy was presented to Steve Hallam with a score of 20 along with the White Stick to assist him finding his car in the car park. The Guest High Gun was Colin McLean with a score of 35. The Brian Taylor Group Trophy which is presented to the group which has shown the greatest support to the society over the past 12 months was presented to the Leyland and District Group.

All the trophies were presented by the Shoot Captain, Ian Heyes assisted by the vice chairman Glynn Wrennall whilst negotiating a rather large hotpot lunch at the Dolphin Inn adjacent to the ground.