Plumbers’ Clay Shooting Day at Bisley – Saturday 22 February 2025

Plumbers’ Clay Shooting Day at Bisley 

A group of 20 Members of the Company and their guests joined the Master and Mistress at the inaugural Plumbers’ Clay Shooting Day held at the world famous Bisley National Shooting Centre complex in Surrey on Saturday 22nd February.  The idea was sparked by a few Liverymen asking the Master if he intended to have a social event involving shooting and then Liverymen Penny and Simon Malik kindly offering to organise the day. A February date was chosen with some trepidation but, in the end, we need not have worried as the weather turned out to be dry, warm and sunny.

We assembled at the Bisley Shooting Ground’s Pavilion (formally known as the Council Club) for breakfast of bacon baps and assorted pastries at 9am.  The staff at BSG were most attentive and friendly, looking after all our needs. By 10am we were out in the woods having been divided into 4 groups of more-or-less equal capability, each group having a dedicated coach from BSG; Christine took those who were classified as “expert” and Steve, William and Michael took responsibility for the other 3 “less experienced” groups of shooters. Caps, eyeglasses and hearing protection were all provided, along with shotguns, 12 bores for the boys and 20 bores for the girls.

The shooting takes the form of everyone taking turns at a “stand” firing a couple of shots at two clays going in different directions, which is repeated a few times. Once everyone has fired their 10 or so shots at that stand, the group will move on to another stand.  The stands have been set up for differing levels of complexity, some clays going away from the firer, some coming towards you, some crossing left to right and others right to left.  The size of the clay will differ as will its speed, simulating what bird the clay is meant to represent.  We also shot at ground game, rabbits and rats (but they were clays, I promise you!).  We all ended up shooting what is called a flush, where each member of the group shoots in a stand all together and hundreds of clays are fired over you so it’s often a competition of who can get their shot off first.

Our coaches were kind, sympathetic and great at working out why we were missing targets and so correcting our approach for the next shot. Each of us will have shot at least 100 cartridges in the two-hour slot, and although there was no official competition to decide the best shot on the day or who was the winner of the “clay preservation award” each of us shot to the best of our ability and had a number of super “kills” that will live long in our memory.

It was back to BSG for a quick coffee and then off to the White Hart Inn in Pirbright for a most convivial lunch.  The Master took the opportunity there to thank BSG and the super coaches we had, to thank everyone for supporting the day and to seek applications for two upcoming Inter-Livery shooting events, the clay day at West London Shooting School on 14 May and the target rifle shooting day at Bisley on 6 June.  Finally, the Master paid tribute to and thanked the day’s “acting stewards” Penny and Simon Malik, without whom the event would not have been the success it was.

A number present have asked if this could be turned into an annual event, and we will be pleased to do just that in 2026.

Charles Brooks

Master