Results of the NGO Golden Grouse Competition 2022

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On 6^th June the National Gamekeepers Organisation held the prestigious Golden Grouse Competition at Thimbleby Shooting Ground, North Yorkshire. The sun shone making the event even more enjoyable than usual!

Phil Thompson, the shooting ground manager and senior instructor, set up a fantastic layout with his the help of his team, consisting of 12 stands, a pool shoot and a team flush. All this was set within Thimbleby Estate and surrounded by thousands of acres of stunning countryside, Thimbleby Shooting Ground lies in an idyllic rural setting within the North York Moors National Park.

The guns started to arrive at 9am and checked in at the beautiful new shooting lodge. After shooting the competition the lodge was the perfect place to sit down, unwind and catch up with friends over a coffee and a bacon bap.

The ethos of the Golden clay competitions is to get people together: the NGO doesn’t see them as a money making venture, they are run for our members to enjoy. That is why we work so hard to keep the price down to a minimum.

We have always been very lucky to have hugely generous sponsors, and without their generosity we would struggle to keep the price to what it is. These sponsors either gave prizes, paid for the trophies or gave a cash donation so that the competition could run without losing money.

This year we realised that we can't keep everyone happy. We received complaints that we were not supplying cartridges, even though we had never said we weren’t; then we received complaints that we were only supplying 21g cartridges. Apparently some people feel that these are no good: but the fact of the matter is that they are the same for everyone, Phil Thompson had ensured that every clay in the competition could be shot with a 21g cartridge, and the budget is £50 per person. If you are in any doubt about the value for money that you get by participating in an NGO Golden Clay Shoot then do the maths and work out how much it costs to supply 100 sporting clays, a bacon or sausage bap, trophies, expendables etc, etc, and you will soon see that they only go ahead due to the very generous support of our sponsors.

This year's sponsors were:

L & A Dent who paid for the trophies, and also gave cash prizes for the junior competition

St David's Vets who part-funded the cartridges

Plugzz, who donated prizes

Sindermill dog food, who donated prizes

Harkila, who donated prizes

Zoli, who sponsored the pool shoot

The results for the competition are:

Golden Grouse:

• 1st Jake Gargett                 85                              
• 2nd Michael Smith            84        2^nd after shoot off
• 3^rd James Gott                   84        3^rd after shoot off

Supporter

• 1^st Scott Shuckford          96       
• 2^nd Mike Booth                 95
• 3rd Frank Lowrison          93

Ladies

• • • 1^st Emma Lowrison          86
• 2^nd Amanda Knight          70
• 3rd Jessica Walledge         61

Junior

• 1^st Jamie Steele                  79        1^st after shoot off
• 2^nd Anthony Clarke           79        2^nd after shoot off
• 3rd Tom Wilkinson            74

Veteran

• 1^st Les Rushworth             88
• 2^nd Tim Castleman            81
• 3^rd Steve Morton               75

Side by Side

• Due to a miscalculation, we have a joint first between
• 1^st John Pearson and James Lacey   
• 2^nd Michael Bell                 75
• 3^rd Andrew Stringer          68