National School's Meeting, 2008

This year was the third time the contingent had entered a team for the National School's Meeting, which takes place at Bisley Camp in Surrey, the home of shooting sports in the UK. The team contained some new firers, taking part in their first competition, and a few Bisley veterans. Shooting at Bisley is unlike any shooting the contingent normally takes part in, as it is at a longer distance, and in a different format to what many of the shooting team were used to.

The first day of the meeting was a practice day intended to give the cadets a chance to familiarise themselves with the Camp and the way the competition was going to be run. The weather was warm and dry, giving almost ideal conditions for the firers to check that their weapons were set up correctly. The team fired at the standard Bisley distances of 300, 500 and 600 yards, the same distances they would be shooting over the next few days. The next two days counted towards a few minor competitions, but ultimately were preparation for the main event of the meeting, the Ashburton Day.

Ashburton Day is named after the most prestigious competition that takes place at the School's Meeting, the Ashburton Shield competition. This is a team open to one team from any school in the UK, and is different to other competitions in that the firers have to be coached only by cadets, and not by officers or members of adult staff. The other competitions running on this day were the School's Fours, a team shoot shot alongside the Ashburton, and the Spencer-Mellish, a shoot for team captains shot after the conclusion of the Ashburton.

The team performed well during all of Ashburton Day, carrying out their duties quickly and efficiently, and shooting at a high standard. The weather was not as forgiving as it had been the previous days, with variable winds and a few patches of light rain, but the coaches and shooters were up to the challenge and maintained the high scores they had been getting the days before.

After the conclusion of the Ashburton, it was time to shoot the Spencer-Mellish. This shoot is more challenging than any other, as the firer has to coach himself, and fire more ammunition than would normally be used, making it a test of stamina as well as shooting. For CPO Qaisar, shooting this competition was especially important, as it would be the last time he shot in a competition as a cadet. He managed to come away with the respectable score of 45.2, one which he felt very proud of.

Later that night, the contingent received the results of the competitions. The Ashburton team had come 39th, an improvement of two places over last year, and CPO Qaisar had come 23rd in the Spencer-Mellish, a very pleasing result. The greatest achievement of all, however, was the School's Fours team, who had managed to come third, quite a feat considering this was the first time the contingent had entered this particular competition.

Congratulations go to the entire team for their admirable performance at the Meeting. The team consisted of :

CPO Qaisar (Captain),
Sgt Swift (Vice-Captain),
FS Thelwell,
Sgt Walsby-Tickle,
Sgt Thomson,
LdR Macaulay,
Cpl Ince,
Cpl Ramsbottom,
LCpl Gould,
JCpl Attwood,
Cdt Langan,
Cdt Robinson,
Cdt Thomas