Charity Clay Pigeon Shoot
Charity Clay Pigeon Shoot for Special Effect
by Ben Procter
On Friday 17th April I was very kindly invited by Reuben Diffey of Property Formula to join him, Ollie Squire of The M Group and William Kirkland of Knight Frank at the inaugural Special Effect Charity Clay Pigeon Shoot.
The turnout was excellent with 24 teams enjoying coffee, pastries and breakfast rolls at the Oxfordshire Shooting School in Enstone before the sport began. With 16 stands and a flurry, there were a great variety of challenges in front of us.
It was great to see some familiar faces, some of whom were giving shooting a go for the very first time. Personally, it was the first time I had shot in nearly 3 decades, and after a few pointers from one of the experts on hand, I got straight into it.
After 8 stands we attempted the flurry and then tucked into an excellent buffet lunch. The lunch break gave an excellent opportunity to hear about some of the amazing work that Special Effect does. They work with individuals and hospitals from across the country and even abroad to help those with physical disabilities to feel more included. A lot of their working focusses on using computer gaming technology to increase fun and quality of life for those who often find life more difficult than most of us.
It was incredible to see videos of their work in action and to hear from some of those whose lives have been improved by the work of the charity. Hearing some of the stories makes it easy to understand why they do their work and why so many people wanted to get involved.
All an excellent lead up to the auction of prizes including a day’s VIP shooting with the Appleton Common Syndicate, a VIP tour for 6 of the Alpine Formula 1 Team headquarters and a corporate hospitality day for 2 to The Oval. People gave generously and a lot of money was raised.
The afternoon saw the conclusion of the competition, with 8 further stands and a few stories from the former coach of the Norwegian national shooting team. We acquitted ourselves fairly well and had a great time.
The day was rounded off with a drink, a raffle and great discussion of how everyone had fared. Congratulations to the team from JPT Builders who narrowly won the day. We came a very respectable 8th.
More importantly, through the generosity of everyone who attended and the sponsors of the day, a huge £46,000 was raised for the charity. Such an incredible amount of money for an amazing cause.
I hope to attend next year, and am sure it won’t be 3 decades before I give it another go! Thanks again to Reuben for getting me back into it and for inviting me along.