CLRA Shooting Competition 08

On the 19th and 20th of April, the Birkenhead School CCF shooting team took part in its third County of Lancaster Rifle Association Cadet Rifle Meeting, which took place at the Altcar Ranges at Formby, near Southport.

The team, consisting of shooters from both Birkenhead and Upton School, left for the ranges on Friday evening, arriving early to make sure that we got ourselves some good accommodation, or at least, as good as could be expected at an Army Barracks. It was therefore a pleasant surprise to find some newly refurbished billets waiting for us, with some beds that felt a lot more comfortable than what we were used to in previous years. We spent the Friday evening briefing up the new members of the team on what to expect, and doing some last minute revision of marksmanship principles.

After waking up at 0600, the team were ready nice and early, and managed to beat the usual thirty minute breakfast queue completely. There was a lot of pleasure taken in seeing everyone else queueing outside in the cold, while we were inside in the warmth enjoying our food. After breakfast was over, we headed back to our billets, packed up our range kit, and moved to the armoury to draw our weapons, after which we moved to a troop shelter to set up our weapons. The interesting thing here is, the troop shelter was on B range, and we were shooting on C range, so none of the other units gave it a second look. So we had a rather large, and most importantly, warm room in which to prep our weapons and get briefed up on the day's events. There was going to be ten shots fired at 300yds distance per firer, after which we would drop back to 500yds and have a practice competition, firing nine shots.

We set up our firing point, and started shooting at mid-morning. I had decided I would spend the entire day coaching the entire team, and was pleased to see a high level of commitment and professionalism on the range. Everyone settled down to the routine nicely, scoring well on the practice shoot, and setting themselves up with a nice foundation for the competition the next day. After the day's shooting was over, the team went for a night out to Southport, which was spent bowling, eating ice cream, and terrorising the staff at the local McDonald's. We got back to our accommodation at about 2300, exhausted from the day's shooting and from the mayhem we unleashed upon the unsuspecting people of Southport.

After another early start, and a similar cunning trick involving the troop shelter, we got set up on our firing points at 300yds. Birkenhead was firing on lanes 13 and 14. Not exactly a lucky pair of numbers, but we decided to ignore it and press on. The shoot was going to take the form of what is known as a “two and ten,” that is to say, each person would fire two spotter rounds to guage the wind, and ten further shots that would count for the score. When we were setting up the point, myself and Cpl Walsby-Tickle, who was coaching on lane 14, realised that the wind was being rather peculiar. Due to the arrangement of trees on a neighbouring range, the wind that was coming from roughly 7 o'clock was being bent to come from 9 o'clock in the region of the 200yd point, but still coming from 7 o'clock at the 300yd and 500yd points. This presented us with a unique situation, where even the smallest variation in wind speed could cause our shot fall to move by as much as four inches on the target. The more significant changes were capable of moving it by about eighteen inches, so this put a lot of pressure on both firers and coaches to maintain tight discipline and keep a keen eye on the range flags. Which would have been a superb idea, had there been any. Instead we had to base it off one flag down next to the targets, and what we could feel on the firing point. It is at times like this that coaches become grateful for the innate sixth sense they develop for picking up changes in the wind, and the two of us were able to get our firers onto the target from their two spotters, and start to clock up some high scores.

After a superb performance at 300yds, we moved back to 500yds and prepared for what we knew would be a challenge with the strange wind pattern. Thankfully, the range staff had enough consideration to put a flag at the 300yd firing point to give us a little bit more information to go off, but even so, at t his distance the wind was able to easily move shots from between six inches to three feet. I was proud and impressed to see not a single firer break their discipline, everyone kept their finger off the trigger until they were confident that the wind would not drop. After everyone had finished, we packed away our kit and cleaned our target rifles in the same troop shelter that had served us both morning, before attending the awards ceremony.

The first prize to be announced was the Formby Cup, the individual competition we had all taken part in. First prize unfortunately went to a firer from Lancashire ACF, but it was well deserved, with a score of 90.5 earning him the win. Second place went to myself, with a score of 88.2, and third place went to another of our firers, Matthew Swift, with a score of 88.1, a superb effort as was expected from a shooter of Swift's high calibre. After this, the Cadet Pairs were read out, with third place being taken by J Walsby-Tickle and T Ince, only narrowly missing out on first by 12 points. The best was still to come. Our eight man team, made up of 4 veterans, and 4 completely new firers, had managed to pickup third place in the Red Rose Challenge Cup, which was an aggregate of the scores of our eight firers. This was a pleasant surprise for all of us, and I think stands as a testament to the dedication and enthusiasm of the younger firers from Upton School, who kept a smile on their faces and braved some of the worst competition weather seen at Altcar in recent seasons.

The team is now training in preparation for the National Schools Meeting, held at NSC Bisley in Surrey. The NSM is a week of some of the most challenging shooting available to cadets, and we will be competing for top honours. If our performance at the CLRA is anything to go by, we will not be coming back empty handed.

The team, led by PO S Qaisar, consisted of Sgt J Thelwell, Ld/R J Macaulay, Cpl T Ince, Cpl M Swift, Cpl J Walsby-Tickle, Cdt C Langan, Cdt C Madden, Cdt A Thomas, Cdt L Williamson, with FSgt J Barnes and Cdt E Pemberton providing invaluable help with the equipment and organisation of the weekend.