Essex V East Kent

Eleven hardy souls headed off to the crossing between Kent and Essex on Saturday 31st August preparing for our annual shoot against our colleagues from the “other side”. We enjoy two shoots every year with our Essex brethren, one here in East Kent and the other on their home turf. The day begins with a hearty breakfast at the Black Bull public house in the village of Fyfield close to the shooting ground where both squads fuel up for the challenge. Then it off to the ground for the shoot which is held over 10 stands and 100 clays, the targets are many and varied consisting of simulated bird flights as well as the rabbit clays which are rolled along the ground at quite a speed.

The squad was made up this year of our members team plus our honouree members from the Cliffe Taliban, a group of clay shooting friends that we have shot with for a great many years and a guest brother.  After a great shoot where many clays were broken and several missed it was time to return to the club house for a reviving cup of tea while the scores were collated and the winners announced, the score are taken from the top three shooters in each squad and this year it was East Kent 217 clays Essex 221 clays so Essex win this year’s home shoot by 4 clays.  A marvellous days shooting in great company but we will look to reverse the result next time.