Nine Lancashire Masons flew to the Island of Jersey in order to support in the inaugural shoot for the newly formed Jersey Masonic Shooting Society at Lecq Shooting Ground.
We arrived on Thursday and met Louise Jennings-Hoole, who had travelled from Basingstoke, at our hotel. The weather was hot and sunny for the Practice on Friday and the views from the ground spectacular and after a slow start we managed to equip ourselves well. Some of the other masons who travelled from the mainland were also there hoping to see how West Lancashire were doing.
Getting back to the hotel we had to be ready to leave to attend the meeting of Provincial Grand Lodge of Jersey in the famous Jersey Temple. The eight who attended received a warm welcome, a reserved seat and an individual mention from RW Bro Kenneth Michael Rondel the Provincial Grand Master during his introductions. After the normal business of Provincial Lodge we received an interesting paper by W Bro Rupert Hague Holmes titled ‘The fallen twenty’ the story of the Jersey Brethren who made the ultimate sacrifice in the Great War.
With only 11 Lodges in the Province the Appointments and Promotions did not take long with 24 Brethren receiving an acting appointment only 14 of which were first appointments for the others it was ‘second time around’. One Past Rank appointment and 16 promotions completed the investiture of Officers.
On Saturday the sun of the previous two days was blown away and we faced rain, followed by rain, followed by rain. After a hearty breakfast we boarded the same taxi for a trip to the opposite end of the island back to Lecq shooting ground for the competition.
A slow start necessitated by faulty traps meant we started late and found that we were all split up in different squads. Had the weather been fine we could have enjoyed the spectacular views from the new stands in use for the competition, instead we could not even see the sea from the cliff edge.
We had no idea how we were doing until we reached the clubhouse wet, cold and hungry, to compare notes and stories of clays hit and missed.26 entries from 5 Provinces completed the entry with West Lancs having the largest contingent with 8 shooting.
The top scorer was John Perin from Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London with 82. Our own Jason Rhodes was second with 80 and Sam King from GMet third on 78. The Deputy PGM Graham Leonard Spence, one of the competitors, congratulated the winners and a sum of money was given to the charity of their choice in lieu of prizes. London won the Team Competition with 301, West Lancashire 2nd with 279 and Jersey third with 239.
The top 4 West Lancashire shooters making up the team were:
As you can guess a late night out followed the competition and we all learned a new game from Richard. He must not have understood his own rules properly as he lost every round.
Of course the weather changed on the Sunday and the heat was cracking the pavement. Some of our party took a tour of the island and either got the wrong bus or miss timed the trip whichever it was they had to be rescued and brought back in time for the taxi to the airport.
As this was the first time the Jersey Masonic Clay Shooting Society had held an event West Lancashire were proud to support this initiative and hope the see Jersey competing at future National Championships.
Thanks must go to RW Bro Kenneth Michael Rondel the Provincial Grand Master for his welcome; W Bro Jerry Courvain for his assistance with permits; Jack and Cathy Hanby on the ground: Andy McClement our official photographer and last but not least all those who travelled to represent the Province of West Lancashire.
