2009 Inter-Livery Clay Shoot Report
John Naylor – 2009 Winner of the Bodin Cup
SHOOT REPORT
This year the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers Shooting Society entered three teams for the 16th Inter-Livery Clay Pigeon Shoot at the Holland and Holland Shooting Grounds in Northwood. The event was held on Wednesday 21st May with 99 teams representing 53 individual City Livery Companies.
Whilst Fan Maker team scores were down compared to those of 2008, it was the opinion of all concerned that the targets were as difficult as could be recalled in any previous year.
As our highest placed liveryman (16th= overall) with 56 points (out of a possible 80), John Naylor was presented with the Bodin Cup for the second year in succession. Congratulations to John who equalled his 2008 score - a considerable achievement particularly since Chris Parr, the event organiser, later confirmed our suspicions about the quality of this year’s birds, mischievously declaring that ‘things were a little harder but a lot more fun.’
Worthy of special mention is Peter Dove’s individual score of 51, his highest yet in many years of participation in this event. Also of note, the Fan Makers Team 1 missed just 14 targets when scoring a magnificent 66 out of 80 in the Team Flush. The final overall team positions in the competition were Fan Makers Team 1 : 15th; Fan Makers Team 2 : 49th; Fan Makers Team 3 : 95th.
Overall team scores (out of a possible 400) for the day were:
Fan Makers (1): 267 points
Fan Makers (2): 223 points
Fan Makers (3): 150 points
The Shooting Society was delighted to welcome Liverymen Terry Lee and Colin Bramall who are newcomers to this competition, together with our guests, Jonathan Ramsey (for a second year) and shooting novice, Florentina Festerling. All entered into the spirit of the occasion and we look forward to them reappearing next year.
Useful tip: Non-shooting Fan Makers should consider booking their holidays around the date of the Inter-Livery Shoot. Tempting fate, I know, and please don’t think that the Society’s members are a self righteous bunch, but who can remember this event being held on a day when the sun didn’t shine? To further show our good fortune, who can explain, on an otherwise cloudless day, a scattering of cumulus fortuitously appearing just as the three Fan Maker teams were striding towards the notorious ‘High Pheasant’ on Stand 8. With the sun’s blinding rays temporarily blocked, we were able to see these challenging targets with ease and all seemed set fair for a reasonable showing. Irritatingly, the scoring in most cases failed to live up to our high expectations with the majority of the birds drifting away with the clouds, untroubled, in the direction of Bedfordshire.
Each year the organisation of this competition improves with slick movement between stands and a welcome absence of queuing for breakfast and lunch. The hog was back after the electrical failure last year and the economic recession appears not to have dampened the livery companies’ enthusiasm for this worthwhile charitable event. Excepting the Bodin Cup, no awards for the Fan Makers this year, however, two lucky team members departed with prizes from the lunch-time raffle. All in all, it was a very successful day out.
Those representing The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers at the 2009 Inter-Livery Clay Shoot were: ‘Captain’ Jeffrey Bines, Michael O’Shea, John Naylor, Terry Lee (all Team 1), Peter Dove, Mike Lakin, Mark Taylor, Jonathan Ramsey (guest) (all Team 2), John Hughes, Phoebus Theologites, Colin Bramall, Florentina Festerling (guest) (all Team 3).
The 2010 Inter-Livery Clay Shoot will take place at the Holland and Holland Shooting Grounds on Wednesday 19th May.