Sharp Shooters

Yesterday I went Clay Pigeon shooting in the Buckinghamshire countryside for my friend Adrea's birthday. As anyone who has played cricket with me will know I have terrible hand eye coordination. I was a bit nervous at the prospect of not hitting a thing. The pressure mounted when my Aunt told me that a relative in 18th Century had their profession listed on the census as a Clay Pigeon shooter!

Twelve of us met at Marylebone Station with picnic hampers and cool bags. We started with a couple of bottles of champagne on the train. Probably not a good idea when you are about to hold a gun! We arrived at College Farm in Long Crendon to a very friendly reception. We were split into two teams and proceded to shoot at five stands.

Each stand provided a different challenge. Arcing clays, clays going away from you, moving from right to left, going vertically upwards etc.. We had six practice shots and then four competition shots at each stand which contributed to your overall score.

It started well as I hit my first two practice shots and then proceeded to miss everything. After the second round I was last with a score of one out of eight. I discovered that I can't close just my right eye without also horribly squinting my left eye as well. I improvised myself an eye patch out of my hancerchief before the third stand, which turned my luck. I finished with nine from twelve clays.

We celebrated with our picnic, a couple more bottles of champagne and then walked back into Long Crendon to watch the rugby at a pub.


The eye patch


Clay Pigeon


Ex-clay pigeon. The eye patch proves effective.

I'm very excited as I have two weeks off work starting tomorrow. This is going to allow me to do lots of things, such as attend the Brockley Central drinks, catch up with friends I haven't seen for a while and paint my bedroom. Look out for actions shots of the progess. (I bet you can't wait!)