The teams second training session of the year started off with a quick briefing in the BCRC (British Commonwealth Rifle Club) before heading straight out to 300yds to start a busy day of shooting. Much to the surprise of many members the weather was actually quite good and the sun was out. As a result the smell of sun cream was quite intense (as was the sight of some team members in short shorts…)
The weather clearly had a good effect as the majority of team members were assembled on the range at the correct time (some even with time to spare) however, an important component for the morning was forgotten. Plot sheets. A quick realisation and subsequent delegation was made by the captain and 10 minutes later the plot sheets arrived just in time for 2 minutes to message 1. Despite being blue sky and sunny the wind was fairly strong and managed to blow the Vice’s hat off a few times, once onto a shooter. (Strike 2 for the management). In the end, instead of taking it off and being done with it, the hat was firmly secured onto the Vice’s ear defenders, thus ensuring it remained well and truly attached for the morning. Needless to say it was a struggle to get it off at lunchtime.
A number of team drills were practised over the course of the morning (3 shoots at 300yds) such as volley pilots, sighters out of turn and some distraction techniques, namely getting showered with shotgun pellets from the clay pigeon range (this was not planned by management). After an exhausting morning of shooting and sunbathing, it was back to the BCRC for a beautiful lunch prepared by the Captains wife, Susan. This consisted mainly of bread and cheese (3 different types of cheese!) with some fruit and yoghurts etc. Luckily the weather stayed sunny so a number of the team soaked up a few more rays in the BCRC garden.
After lunch there was a Canada Match practice (2 and 10 at 300, 500 and 600 yds) where every aspect of the match was practiced, right down to plotters shouting out (to whoever was there) that they were converting sighters or firing sighters out of turn etc. The shooter turnaround was quite fast but there were some waits and stops in the shoots to make it more challenging for both shooter and coach. The markers were going full tilt to keep up with the speed of our shooting and in their haste they managed to de-rail one of the targets which meant one of the team had to aim at target 3 targets over from the original. Despite all the sun, there was no sign of Tony Fresco’s ice cream van, much to the disgruntlement of the team. However, after the shoot ended there was a debrief accompanied by tea and biscuits in the BCRC. Following GBRT tradition, team reserve Mick Silver achieved the highest score of the day, and indeed the only 150. Management thus redeemed themselves of their earlier misdemeanours, by having had the foresight to have already promoted Mick to the main team.
After a quick shower and change the team met up at Hogleas Hall for a BBQ lovingly prepared by Susan (again) and cooked mainly by Dom de Vere and Alastair Brown and anyone else that cared to join in. (Man make fire. Man cook meat). The meat feast consisted of huge chunks of lamb, burgers, sausages and kebabs, and was amply washed down with some fine wine and copious quantities of beer. A number of the younger (and pseudo younger) members of the team inevitably decided to put on a mixture of 90s acid house and early 2000s trance rave music much to the disgust of other team members. The night ended early for some but not quite so early for others, which was evident the next morning.
Sunday saw the team out at 1000yds in the morning and it was still sunny! Also, the majority of the team was on the range at the correct time, which was an improvement. At the moment the NRA are slightly short of markers which unfortunately made the marking very slow and inconsistent as there were a few message 4s and pulled targets. As a result, the shoot was slow and frustrating for all involved, although the sun made this somewhat more bearable. However, fearing we might be experiencing the only British summer we were likely to have in 2013, much distaste was expressed at the lack of Tony Fresco’s ice cream van for the second day in a row.
Lunch was again in the BCRC and organised by Susan (many, many thanks!). The Vice lost his targets plot sheets and subsequently blamed everyone else for having lost them. A surprising number of the team “definitely had them last” leading to a great suspicion that perhaps the Vice might have forgotten them somewhere. Although, in his defence, he hadn’t (unlike Saturday morning…) and the plots were found. And then used in evidence against us, as our team debrief largely consisted of a jolly good telling off for us all being terrible at plotting.
Lesson duly learned, the team headed out after lunch for Commonwealth Match practice (2 and 10 at 900 and 1000 yds). As it was still sunny (shock) a group of team members took it upon themselves to practice volley pilots in the form of rehydration. “10….5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HYDRATE”. It was quite effective, if tinged with a sense of sadness at the continued lack of Mr Fresco.
At 1000 yds the conditions became a little more difficult and there were a number of waits and stops as the wind kept going through zero and back again. Also, it started to get a little bit warmer, too warm for some of the team. Henryk requested his trousers be pulled down to cover his ankles as the sun was burning them and Roo got water poured on him to cool him down during his shoot. This seemed a good idea at the time; however, when he stood up the water has congregated into a rather unfortunate location on his trousers.
At the end of the match there was a debrief and some positive feedback from the management. The team was definitely coming together and beginning to function more coherently. Finally, as we were all packing away our kit, Tony finally arrived, and there was much rejoicing.