DOUBLE BEDS ARE COMFORTABLE

151 shooters turned up in good sunny conditions to represent their counties in the latest round of the Directors Trophy with the East Midlands Intercounties Sporting team trophies up for grabs at the well-manicured grounds of Sporting Targets, although we were sadly one county light with Norfolk failing to put a team in to any category.

Although I never shot the event as I am still making my way back into shooting after a prolonged injury and a couple of surgeries the course appeared to be gentle at first, and then winding up the levels of difficulty as you progressed. I’m sure many shooters got to halfway feeling good as their scorecard was building into a good round, only for the tower section to sort a good few out, there was certainly something for everybody and sensibly set to cater for the varying levels of ability.

DRINKS ALL ROUND FOR ANDREW CLIFTON (BEDFORDSHIRE)

In the final reckoning Suffolk Seniors held the lead narrowly over Cambs by just two points and as both sets of shooters watched the scoreboard ticking over the final Bedfordshire score came into leapfrog both and take a victory with a comfortable advantage of 7 clays. So, its many congratulations to Andrew Clifton 97, Dave Ferriman 92, Steve Whinnett 88, Scott Shuckford 88, Stuart Earl 86, Will Haupt 85, Gavin Smith 84 and Stephen Smith 83.

DAVE MORGAN SHOWS ISABEL RUSSELL THE ROPES WITH HIS NEW BERETTA STEALTH

Although with the disappointment of coming in as runners up I am pretty sure Team Suffolk will be satisfied by the result which will doubtless give them more valuable Directors Trophy points once we complete the calculations, so again we extend our many congratulations to the Suffolk Senior team consisting of Puff Baker 94, Stuart Smith 90, Josh Nunn 88, Adrian Cook 84, Andy Stephenson 87, Chris Willis 86, Michael Hermitage 84 and Suffolk Chairman Darren Parsons 84.

BIRTHDAY GIRL GEORGINA BARRETT (RIGHT) WITH SAIRA BOARDMAN

In Ladies it was more of the same for Bedfordshire with a two clay win over nearest rivals and neighbours Northants, Becky Elmore was the top scoring lady on the day with a superb 85, and with Paige Britsch scoring 66 the Bedfordshire duo just crept over the winning line to make it a double victory on the day for the hosting county.

JUNIOR TEAM CHAMPIONS (LINCOLNSHIRE)

In Juniors it was great to see the Lincolnshire team win after so many years of domination in this category by Cambridgeshire, Northants, Norfolk and Suffolk, in fact this could be their first ever victory, our records stretch back about 20 years in our almost 50 year history and they certainly haven’t won since then, so congratulations to Kallum Burrell 84, Alex Horton 84, Jack Page 70 and Callum Burgess 59 for such a sterling effort. Although the Lincs juniors took the glory of a team victory they couldn’t claim the Junior High Gun title as that went to young Henry Bevan from Suffolk who recorded a remarkable score of 93 that placed him with the joint forth highest score in the competition, a superb effort.

JOHN WELLS AND STEVE BRIGHTWELL WIN AGAIN FOR LEICS

Finally, and certainly not least the Veterans title once again went to the Leicestershire team of John Wells 96, Steve Brightwell 93, Dave Heath 88 and Stephen Dyson 83. I’m not sure how many times Steve and John have led the line for the Leicestershire team, but chatting afterwards I think the pair of them could open a distillery in Scotland with the amount of whiskey tumblers they have accrued over the years, I know as the English Sporting team manager for the region they are the first two names I look to pencil in, and they rarely let you down, well done lads, and well done Leicestershire.

ALL ABOARD FOR DAY TRIPS ROUND RISLEY

Once again, we would like to extend our thanks to Andrew, John, Angela and all the team at Sporting Targets for another well-run event, it’s a beautiful ground, a great course and the food, coffee and welcome are excellent.