World Championship - Egypt 2024
October 28th - November 3rd
Firstly, apologies for not writing up this report earlier!
The GB team finally made it to Cairo after a somewhat torturous journey but we wouldn’t have made it had the Egypt Air supervisor not made a significant effort to get the baggage handlers from another terminal to assist - thank you Egypt Air!
The first event of the week was the Presidents Cup with Howard Batt taking the Masters Gold and John Foy winning the Seniors title. Liz and Dionne were in a shoot off for the ladies title but unfortunately just missed out.
Next came the Grand Prix where Stuart King triumphed as overall champion after a shoot off against William Chisum of the USA. Jonti Spilman won bronze in the Juniors after a four way shoot off to settle the silver and bronze medals against Omaya Salim (EGY) who took silver. John Foy remained on form but just missed out on a medal in the Seniors after a seven way shoot off.
The Grand Prix was followed by 10th Africa Championship, contended over 2 days and 30 targets, the first 10 targets were counted towards the team titles for all categories except Mens for which the first 15 were considered. There were some amazing results for the GB team:
Veteran Gold: Steve Cole
Master Gold: Howard Batt
Both took their gold medals by a two target margin.
In the team event:
Ladies Silver: - Dionne Rogers, Jo Watson-Hopkinson & Liz Mulliner
Junior Silver - Jensen King, Jack Malthouse & Jonti Spilman
Masters Silver - Chris Potter, Howard Batt & Andrew Oakey
Senior Bronze - Andrew Stratford, Kevin Tyler & Graham Woodman
On to the main event, the 2024 Helice ZZ World Championships, from a team perspective we had success in all teams apart from the mens where there was significant competition:
Senior Gold - Andrew Stratford, Kevin Tyler & Graham Woodman
Masters Gold - Chris Potter, Howard Batt & Andrew Oakey
Junior Silver - Jensen King, Jack Malthouse & Jonti Spilman
Ladies Silver - Dionne Rogers, Jo Watson-Hopkinson, & Liz Mulliner
Veteran Silver - Steve Cole, Trevor Lewis & Paul Colley
From an individual standpoint, again the GB team finished strong
Senior Gold and World Champion - Kevin Tyler
Veteran Silver - Steve Cole, just loosing out in a shoot-off for gold
Master Silver - Jack Sparrowhawk after a great shoot-off for gold
Amazing performance given we don’t get the chance to shoot as much in the UK as other countries, well done to everyone.
2nd Selection Shoot for the European’s 2025
29th September 2024
Let’s get straight to the point …. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS (with a slight bit of sadness for his tweed cap) to Charles Pomfret for winning the last regular Helice shoot of 2024 at Invicta.
Charles showed his skill, in the increasingly adverse weather conditions, held his nerve, I suspect there was a bit of luck involved but 24/24 was a splendid achievement, he also didn’t complain too much at having his tweed cap shot to pieces.
It was really a day of 2 halves, up until midway we had 6 people on 12/12, then things started to get interesting as the wind increased with a significant level of inconsistency i.e. it was blowing it all directions and making things very difficult for most of the shooters.. Jonti Spilman continued his form with just 1 target away and Mal Grant was also just 1 away and won the Seniors. Cliff Goodwin led the Veterans, Jack Sparrowhawk the Masters and Jack Malthouse the Juniors. Dionne Rogers and Faye Wills were both 3 away to lead the ladies.
See the news section for details on the standings for the European qualification.
Finally a new Trophy - The Ron Smith Trophy - was presented by the man himself, to the highest scoring shooter across all this years shoots at Invicta. The first time recipient was Glyn Barker - many congratulations.
The next and final shoot is the Hurlingham Cup.
UK Championship & 1st Selection Shoot for the European’s 2025
15th September 2024
An Autumnal feeling was definitely in the air on arrival at Invicta, but the sun came through and it turned into a lovely day.. It didn't feel like it was terribly windy, so it was surprising for all that so many disappeared over the fence and disappointing for those impacted (poor Woody with 4 over the fence!).
In the end there were a number of shoot off for podium places and also for the overall championship title with Dionne Rogers, Kev Tyler, Al Williams and Richard Cadey having all finished on just 1 target away. In the end the battle was won by Big Al - it was actually the first time Al has won the UK Championship, another great achievement. Winners of the categories were:
Mens
Gold - Al Williams
Silver - Richard Cadey
Bronze - Charles Pomfret
Juniors
Gold - Jonti Spillman (after shoot-off with Jack)
Silver - Jack Malthouse
Bronze - Brad Aubrey
Ladies
Gold - Dionne Rogers
Silver - Meghan Ryan
Bronze - Liz Mulliner
Seniors
Gold - Kev Tyler
Silver - Carl Miles
Bronze - John Foy
Veterans
Gold - Cliff Goodwin
Silver - Paul Crumpton
Bronze - David Court (after shoot-off with Paul Colley & Clive Weston)
Masters
Gold - Ron Smith
Silver - Jack Sparrowhawk (after shoot-off with Andrew & Brian)
Bronze - Andrew Oakey
Thanks to all the team, next event in 2 weeks for the 2nd selection shoot.
See the news section for details on the standings for the European
qualification
On another note …..
Congratulations to Kevin Tyler & family to raised a massive £1,460.00
in sponsorship in memory of his beloved Dad (and amazing shooter) Geoffrey Tyler. The family
completed a 10k Charity
Walk with all proceeds going
to the Alzheimer’s society.
Kevin was very appreciative
to all who sponsored the family,
especially all those from Invicta
Gun Club for their generosity.
The Memorial
25th August 2024
What an interesting day, weather wise!
Before the Memorial shoot we got the opportunity to present the new GB caps with their new vests - well done again to Tristan, Andrew & Jack.
The on to the Memorial shoot - 20 targets which were varied to say the least, right from the start we had some high targets and this was made even more interesting once the wind picked up. Without a doubt some on some of the extreme targets the shooters could have reloaded and they were still in the air. As such many targets drifted over the fence even on first barrel kills and the amount of skill was balanced well with the level of luck.
we ended with a shoot-off for the overall title between Alasdair Williams and Andy Stratford with Andy taking the title as well as the Seniors title.
We also had shoot-off’s for Ladies, Masters and the Juniors.
Ladies - won by Tracey Jeffrey following a shoot-off with Alison Barker
Juniors - won by Jenson King following a shoot-off with Archie Tyler
Seniors - Andy Stratford
Veterans - Steve Cole
Masters - won by Jack Sparrowhawk following a shoot-off with Brian Metson
South East Regional Inter-Counties
11th August 2024
We had 5 teams from across the South East entered into today’s competition. There was no complaining about the weather , except perhaps that it got a little too warm and that a cloud went over Jack Sparrowhawk at the wrong time and led to him missing one target (his only miss of the day)!
As usual, the day went very smoothly and ended in some excitement with a 3 way-shoot off to decide the overall winner after Kev Tyler, Al Williams and Glyn Barker were all heroic and hit all 20 targets of the day.
After it went to miss and out, Al Williams took the title, with Kev 2nd and Glyn 3rd.
Al was also both part of the winning team, with 4 score from 5 to count, the Sussex team only dropped 4 targets between them - well done to Al, Andy Stratford, Cliff Goodwin, Phil Negus and Richard Cadey.
In the individual categories:
Junior - Jensen King (Sussex) - 17/20
Ladies - Dionne Rogers (Kent) - 19/20
Seniors - Kev Tyler (Greater London) - 20/20+4
Veterans - Cliff Goodwin (Sussex) - 19/20
Masters - Jack Sparrowhawk (Greater London) - 19/20
Well done to everyone and many thanks to the Invicta team for another well run event and Graham for sorting out the scores on the CPSA system.
British Grand Prix and Final Selection Shoot for the World Championship
27th & 28th July 2024
What an amazing weekend! The weather was great, the event ran like clockwork thanks to the great organisation by the Invicta team.
We kicked off Saturday with the first day of the British Grand Prix with 18 targets, by the end of the day we had 9 people having just dropped 2 targets - Liz Mulliner, Richard Cadey, Howard Batt, Alan Rowley, Carl Miles, Archie Tyler, Andy Stratford, Jonti Spilman & Martin Jeminson. Only 1 person, Alasdair Williams dropped just 1 target and leading the way was Kevin Tyler on a straight.
Due to the amazing organisation we finished Saturday with the Miss & Out competition which turned into an epic event. Liz Mulliner continued her form of the day and was the last remain lady taking the Ladies title. After 12 targets and still quite a few in the race the distance from the targets was increased, after a few more the targets were slowed down to make it more tricky and again the distance was increased. After 17 targets we had a winner - the legendary Howard Batt.
On Sunday we continued with the final 12 targets for the British Grand Prix as well as the results of the team selection and the Coronation cup (the combined scores from the English open and British GP). We had a number of shoot-off to complete before all the results were finalised but the clear winner was Kevin Tyler who continued his form from Saturday and only dropped a single target.
Overall Champion - Kevin Tyler
Mens
Gold - Richard Cadey
Silver - Rob Mulliner (following a shoot-off)
Bronze - Alasdair Williams (following a shoot-off)
Masters
Gold - Howard Batt
Silver - Jack Sparrowhawk
Bronze - Chris Potter
Veterans
Gold - Steve Cole
Silver - Paul Colley (following a shoot-off)
Bronze - Trevor Lewis (following a shoot-off)
Seniors
Gold - Kevin Tyler
Silver - Andrew Stratford
Bronze - Graham Woodman (following a shoot-off with Glyn Barker & Carl Miles)
Juniors
Gold - Bradley Abrey
Silver - Jonti Spilman
Bronze - Archie Tyler
Ladies
Gold - Liz Mulliner
Silver - Jo Watson-Hopkinson
Bronze - Dionne Rogers (following a shoot-off with Jane Bell & Faye Wills)
A further shoot off was required between Alasdair Williams, Kevin Tyler & Rob Mulliner to decide the winner of the Coronation Cup - no one could stop Kevin Tyler taking the title following his performance during the weekend.
Following all the results of the British Grand Prix and a couple more shoot-offs, the teams to represent Great Britain as the Helice World Championship in Cairo later this year could be announced:
Mens - Rob Mulliner, Alasdair Williams & Tristan Lambert (New Cap)
Ladies - Dionne Rogers, Jo Watson-Hopkinson & Liz Mulliner
Juniors - Jonti Spilman, Jenson King & Jack Malthouse (New Cap)
Seniors - Andrew Stratford, Kevin Tyler & Graham Woodman
Veterans - Steve Cole, Paul Colley & Trevor Lewis (New Cap)
Masters - Howard Batt, Chris Potter & Andrew Oakey (New Cap)
Well done to everyone!
3rd World Selection Shoot
7th July 2024
I don’t think anyone expected the crazy events of the 3rd World Selection Shoot.
The weather conditions we had at the last selection shoot continued, with light rain showers turning to torrential rain storms followed by bright sunshine making everything steam! Unfortunately this created havoc with the generator and the rest of the equipment leading to a temporary melt down.
Without the superhero efforts of the team led by Charles, Bob, Ron and Chris we might have had to abandon the day, but they were able to fix the generator and change all the equipment to get us back shooting. However things were still not quite right and the Helice committee made the decision to cut the number if targets to count towards the selection to 12 in order to make it fair to all those shooting (results can be found on the News page). 18 targets in total were shot by all and congratulations go to Jonti Spilman for just dropping 1 to finish on 17/18, there were a number of others that finished on 16/18 including John Foy, Rob Mulliner, Graham Woodman & Mal Grant.
Thanks to all the team and everyone who stayed to the end to help clear up, all the team at Invicta and we look forward to the British Open and final World Selection shoot in 3 weeks
CPSA English Open & 2nd World Selection Shoot
16th June 2024
With the exception of a hail storm or snow we had all other weather conditions for the English Open & 2d World Selection shoot, with some of the scores reflecting the ever changing conditions.
It went to the last 2 targets, out of 20, to determine the winner with both Alastair Williams and Lennie Abrey having dropped just 1 target out of 18. Alastair was first up and unfortunately missed one of his last 2 targets, Lennie held his nerve and got both making him the 2024 Junior and overall champion. After a 4 way shoot off for 2nd and 3rd overall, Jonti Spillman took 2nd place and Mal Grant 3rd. Mal also won the Veterans title.
It was a similar story for the ladies with both Dionne Rogers and Tracy Jeffrey both 3 away after the first 18. Dionne missed one leaving Tracy a chance but it wasn’t meant to be with Tracy missing the final 2 targets, Dionne winning the title.
A shoot off was required for the Super Vets between Paul Colley and Howard Batt after both finished 4 away - Howard went on to win the title.
The categories were based on CPSA categories rather than the FITASC ones we usually follow, just in case you were confused!
Thanks to all at Invicta, the catering was amazing as usual although they did run out of burgers! Organisation of the event was exceptional and it seems the trappers were even having a trench party in between the speedy reloading of the traps over 1,200 times!
Look out for the update on the World Selection rankings which will be posted on the News page.
Have-a-Go, Pairs, 410 & Doubles
2nd June 2024
We finally had some good weather to go alongside some fine shooting!
Many new faces turned out to have a go at Helice which was great so see, we hope that they visit again in the future.
Following the “have-a-go” we proceeded with the Pairs competition which led to shoot-off’s for both the overall winner and the Ladies. For the Ladies, Dionne Rogers triumphed to take the Ladies title. For the overall winner, Ben Wilkins on his first try at Helice, took the title with a slightly lucky target dropping out just before it hit the ground.
In the 410 competition, it looked like it was going to be a 5 person shoot off until the last person stepped up and scored a magnificent 4/5 - nice shooting Chris Potter!
Finally we had the Doubles, again this went to a shoot off after several of the teams missed one of the last couple of targets! In the end Andy Stratford and Alastair Williams retained their title and took the win.
After the money and trophies were awarded, it was be able to wish Chloe Pomfret a happy birthday.
Thanks to all the team - ground management, trappers, scorers and catering - looking forward to the next event in 2 weeks time which is the English Open and 2nd World Selection shoot.
European Championship - Portugal
April 29th 2024
After 10 years away it was great to be back in Portugal for the Helice European Championship held at Clube Industrial De Pevidem. Many thanks to the club for making all of us so welcome.
Great Britain had 34 shooters represent the country with a total of 230 shooters from 12 counties. The weather was not kind, with torrential rain throughout - worse that the typical English weather!
The event kicked off with the preliminary club shoot with Jo Watson-Hopkinson taking the ladies title after a shoot off and Jack Sparrowhawk won the Masters.
This was followed by the Presidents Cup and after a 5 way shoot off in the Ladies event Liz Mulliner took the gold
In the Portuguese Grand Prix we saw many shoot off which resulted in further success for the GB team.
Ladies Silver - Dionne Rogers
Masters Gold - Chris Potter
Masters Bronze - Andrew Oakey
Veterans Gold - Cliff Goodwin
Seniors Bronze - Glyn Barker
In the team events, most GB teams made the podium:
Junior Bronze - Jonti Spilman, Archie Tyler & Jensen King
Ladies Bronze - Jane Bell, Liz Mulliner & Faye Wills
Masters Bronze - Howard Batt, Jack Sparrowhawk & Chris Potter
Veterans Bronze - Steve Cole, Paul Colley & Cliff Goodwin
Seniors Bronze - Donovan Jenkins, John Foy & Tim Rickard
In the main European Championship event, our star of the day was Jonti Spilman who took the Junior title with an amazing 29/30 despite the conditions, Jonti just missed out on a podium place in the open competition.
Cliff Goodwin retained his European title by a significant margin, 6 targets ahead of 2nd place on 28/30.
Andrew Oakey maintained his form and won silver in the Masters with Donovan Jenkin taking silver in the Seniors category
The weeks event resulted in Beretta cups, awarded to those who have the
highest accumulative scores:
Veterans Gold - Cliff Goodwin
Masters Gold - Chris Potter
Masters Silver - Andrew Oakey
Masters Bronze - Howard Batt
Junior Gold - Jonti Spilman
Ladies Bronze - Liz Mulliner
Open 4th place -Cliff Goodwin
A great performance by the Great Britain Team!
Hurlingham Side by Side Championship 2023
15th October 2023
Lovely sunny day for this, the final championship of 2023.
Good entry all suitably dressed for the occasion.
Results as follows:
Champion - Tim Rickard
Ladies - Dionne Rogers
Veterans - Cliff Goodwin
Junior - Archie Tyler
Doubles - Nat Foy
Ladies - Dionne Rogers
Overall highest score from the season - Richard Cadey
An amazing BBQ, courtesy of Charles Pomfret and Phil Negus with lunch from Chloe and Helen.
Food was brilliant, company was great, weather was perfect if a tad windy.
In all a perfect day to end 2023 ZZ season.
Thank you to all the staff at Invicta Gun Club.
UK Championship 2023 and 3rd Selection Shoot for European 2024
1st October 2023
An excellent day with a good entry and perfect weather.
A few shoot offs to select places.
Results:
Champion - Andy Stratford (with the only straight of the day)
Mens
Gold - Trevor Hawkins
Silver - Rob Mulliner
Bronze - John Foy
Ladies
Gold - Jane Bell
Silver - Liz Mulliner
Bronze - Tracey Jeffrey
Juniors
Gold - Archie Tyler
Silver - Jonti Spillman
Bronze - Jenson King
Seniors
Gold - Andy Stratford
Silver - Donovan Jenkin
Bronze - Kevin Tyler
Veterans
Gold - Paul Crumpton
Silver - Howard Batt
Bronze - Jack Sparrowhawk
Masters
Gold - Chris Potter
Silver - Peter Negus
Bronze – Ron Smith
In all this was a good day, the ground looked great thanks to Ron Smith and Charles Pomfret with lots of the usual camaraderie, excellent food (thanks to Chloe and Helen), Great cake supplied for Paul Jeffery’s birthday.
Thanks to Team Invicta for another perfect day.
British Grand Prix 2023
5th/6th August 2023
Saturday, cold, very windy, buckets of rain – total rubbish.
Shoot ran well despite, 18 targets today – all pleased to go home!
Sunday was sunny, warm with a glorious sky for the final 12 targets.
Results:
Overall Champion - Alasdair Williams (after shoot off)
Mens Champion
Gold - Alasdair Williams s/o
Silver - Tom Gridley s/o
Bronze - Richard Cadey
Ladies Champion
Gold - Lesley Goddard
Silver - Faye Wills s/o
Bronze - Tracey Jeffery s/o
Junior Champion
Gold - Archie Tyler
Silver - Jonti Spillman s/o
Bronze - Jensen King s/o
Senior Champion
Gold - Carl Miles s/o
Silver - Alan Rowley s/o
Bronze - Mal Grant
Veteran Champion
Gold - Cliff Goodwin s/o
Silver - Steve Cole s/o
Bronze - Jack Sparrowhawk
Masters Champion
Gold - Peter Negus
Silver - Chris Potter
Bronze - Brian Metson
The atmosphere was great, the food was awesome, courtesy of Chloe Pomfret and her sidekick Helen.
The shoot ran perfectly courtesy of the team at Invicta.
New scoring system electronically organised by Graham Woodman.
Other wonderful people, Tracey Jeffery, Jo Watson-Hopkinson, Trappers, Paul Jeffery, Ron Smith, Charles Pomfret, Richard Cadey and of course Sandie Buckler.
Thanks to Team Invicta for a very successful championship.
Memorial Shoot
Pat Lynch, Fred Nurse, Cyril Adams and Geoff Tyler
23rd July 2023
Strange assorted weather, rain, clouds, sunshine etc, good entry with a perfect results.
Both Fred Nurse and Geoff Tylers family were in attendance as usual
Results:
Champion - Jack Sparrowhawk (5 way Shoot for the Cyril Adams Trophy)
Seniors - Carl Miles (Fred Nurse Trophy)
Ladies - Faye Wills (Pat Lynch Trophy)
Juniors - Archie Tyler (Geoff Tyler Trophy)
Veterans - Jack Sparrowhawk (Fred Nurse Trophy)
Masters - Brian Metson (Cyril Adams Trophy)
A nice day with excellent company and wonderful catering thanks to Chloe Pomfret and her trusty sidekick Helen
Thanks to all the team at Invicta for an excellent day
Miss and Out and British Pairs
2nd July 2023
Great day in glorious sunshine for the Miss and Out and British Pairs
Together with a Have a Go Day which was very well attended
Miss and Out – Kevin Tyler
Many fell at the first hurdle leaving a long shoot off between Andy Stratford,
Kevin and Archie Tyler culminating with Kevin taking the title.
Ladies Miss and Out - Tracey Jeffrey
British Pairs – Cliff Goodwin
Another long shoot off between Cliff Goodwin and Kevin Tyler with
Cliff taking the title.
Ladies British Pairs – Dionne Rogers
In all this was a very nice day.
Thanks to Team Invicta.
European Championship 2023 Ghedi Italy
1st – 4th June 2023
Good event with teams in all categories, weather was lovely, company great.
Grand Prix of Italy Results:
Winner - Andrew Stratford
3rd - Alasdair Williams
Junior Winner - Jensen King
European Championship Results:
Mens Team Gold - Tom Gridley, Richard Cadey and Charles Pomfret
Individual Veteran Champion - Cliff Goodwin
Ladies Team – Silver Medal
Jane Bell, Jo Watson-Hopkinson and Dionne Rogers
Junior Team – Bronze Medal
Jensen King and Bradley Abrey
Senior Team – Silver Medal
Carl Miles, Andrew Stratford and Kevin Tyler
Veteran Team – Bronze Medal
Steve Cole and Paul Colley and Cliff Goodwin
South East of England Championship and SER Counties Championship
21st May 2023
Excellent turn out for these events. /weather was glorious at 8-10am and then got colder and more cloudy as the day went on. By 4pm it was freezing !!!
Lots of shoot offs.
South East of England Champion - Glyn Barker
Ladies - Faye Wills
Junior Champion - Bradley Abrey
Veteran Champion - Cliff Goodwin
Masters Champion - Chris Potter
County Titles
Sussex - Phil Negus
Kent - Glyn Barker
Surrey - Steve Cole
Greater - London Kevin Tyler
Essex - John Wilmott
Oxfordshire - Stuart King
It was a good day despite the cold and helped by the wonderful catering of Chloe and Helen.
Thanks to the team at Invicta for making it all happen.
4th and final Selection Shoot for European Championship
14th May 2023
Excellent day, weather turned out warm and sunny after a chilly start.
Teams for the European as follows:
Mens Team
Charles Pomfrey, Richard Cadey and Tom Gridley
Senior Team
Kevin Tyler, Andy Stratford and Carl Miles
Veteran Team
Cliff Goodwin, Steve Cole and Paul Colley
Ladies Team
Dionne Rogers, Jo Watson-Hopkinson and Jane Bell
Junior Team
Jensen King. Archie Tyler and Bradley Abrey
English Helice Championship and 2nd Selection Shoot for European Championship
16th April 2023
After a week of heavy rain the shoot was blessed with a warm and sunny day.
An excellent entry of 50 odd shooters.
Many shoot offs with a very late finish!!!
Results as follows:
English Champion - Kevin Tyler
2nd - Andrew Stratford
3rd - Charles Pomfret
Ladies Champion - Jo Watson-Hopkinson
2nd- Dionne Rogers
3rd - Jane Bell
Junior Champion - Lenny Abrey
2nd - Jensen King
3rd - Bradley Abrey
Veteran Champion - Kevin Tyler
2nd - Andy Stratford
3rd - Donovan Jenkin
Super Veteran Champion - Cliff Goodwin
2nd - Paul Colley
3rd - Steve Cole