Inter-Livery Sports Update

INTER-LIVERY SHOOTING

The Inter-Livery Clay Pigeon Shoot took place on 16 May at Holland and Holland in West Ruislip. Once again, The Clothworkers’ fielded three teams of four guns each: A (Chris Horne, Charles Houston, Simon Purefoy and James Horne), B (Beadle Michael Drummond, Master Jonathan Portal, Chris Remers and Oliver Hartley), and C (Owen Turgoose, Ralph Anderson, Will Portal, and Giles Malyon). However, they did not place in the competition with 114 teams. Still, Team B achieved an impressive 74/80 in the Flush.

It was the second consecutive year that the Master-Elect (John CoombeTennant, 2018, and Sir Jonathan Portal, 2019) joined the team, and the first time a member of staff (the Beadle) participated. The event attracted five ‘new guns’, which Team Captain Charlie Houston is hopeful of welcoming to future events, and also offered the opportunity for two pairs of fathers and sons to participate.

The other shooting event of the summer was the Rifle and Small Arms Event at Bisley. Charles Bowerman, Nicholas Horne and Andrew McClintock represented The Company at the Sniper Rifle at 300m; the Full Bore Rifle at 900m over open sights; the .22 Rifle; and of course the six shooter, Black Powder Revolver at 15m. A new event this year was the ‘running boar’. The RAF and The Bakers’ Company provided superb organisation and hospitality, as in previous years.

Of the three guns, only Charles had shot for The Company before (Team Captain Charlie Houston tries to rotate ‘new guns’ through this event). The team scored very well throughout the day. They were awarded the trophy for the best team at the Black Powder Revolver, and Charles Bowerman was recognised as the Best Individual overall by a large margin. At the end of the day, the team was ranked fifth out of 15 teams.

2019 Clothworkers’ team for the Inter-Livery Clay Shoot this past May.

GREAT XII SAILING CHALLENGE

This annual event, in the first weekend of June, was well organised, as usual, by The Ironmongers’ Company. The racing was run by the Seaview Yacht Club, Isle of Wight.

This year, in addition to the two teams of four, we also entered the Mermaid Class for the main part of the event – we were very pleased that Tom Tibbits was able to bring his family’s beautiful yacht over to participate in the race. The cruiser team consisted of Tom Tibbits, Susannah Broome, and Lucy Rawson with her husband, Marc Kernick. The Mermaid team included Andrew Strang, Amy McVittie, Katie Hirst, and Jonathan Portal (then Master-Elect). The second Mermaid team was Annabel Yonge, Sarah Churton, and John Coombe-Tennant (then Master) with his son, Matthew Coombe-Tennant. Team Captain Andrew Yonge was excited to recruit teams with both Freedom and Livery members.

The Mermaid race consisted of four races, with each team competing twice. The first team sailed in sunshine, but with very light winds. While The Clothworkers’ had a great start, they struggled to get around the buoy. With the tide pushing them back and the wind fading, they finished the race lower down the order. The Cruiser team also had a frustrating moment during their race, when they caught the line of a lobster pot around the keel – slowing them down somewhat!

The Cruiser team.

Overall, Clothworkers earned a respectable ninth place. Team Captain Andrew Yonge is aiming for the ‘most improved’ team prize next year. But it’s not all about winning; the event is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the fellowship of other Clothworkers and build ties with members from other livery companies. Approximately 200 people – competitors and their supporters – enjoyed the informal supper on Friday and the formal dinner on Saturday, when the racing event was over.

We are always looking for more sailors to join the team, so if you know your spinnakers, jibs, sheets and booms, then please get in touch with Andrew Yonge about joining us in 2020. Contact information for our inter-livery sports is on the back cover of this edition.

The Mermaid teams (together).

KATIE HIRST & NICHOLAS HORNE FORM BOULES DREAM TEAM

This past July, Katie and Nicholas travelled to Exeter expecting to have a lovely day with the host company and its visitors. They didn’t expect to take home the boules trophy – a glass decanter filled with the ash from 400 boules jacks.

The tournament was hosted by the Incorporation of Weavers, Fullers and Shearmen (Exeter), marking the 400th anniversary of the company’s Royal Charter. Traditionally, the company would host a boules tournament for its own members. However, to help celebrate this exciting milestone, they invited a number of ‘related’ livery companies from London and beyond. Katie and Nicholas faced off against opponents from The Drapers’, Weavers’ and Woolmen’s Companies from London, and triumphed over The Worcester Clothiers to be named champions.

Nick said, ‘It was a great day and wonderfully different...Having not played boules for years, I’d forgotten how competitive it could be. Nonetheless, Katie and I seemed to click as a team, and I think this helped us towards our very unexpected and incredibly surprising win.’ Nick described their winning performance among the livery company ‘visitors’, which led to a final match against the ‘winning’ team from the host company’s own ranks.

Katie said, ‘It was immense fun. I don’t think I stopped grinning all day.’ She was impressed with the organisation that went into the event, meeting the group at the quay in Topsham before getting ferried off to a sand bank in the middle of the River Exe. ‘We feasted on pasties and beer, and then played six other teams...It was very tricky on a mixture of hard and soft sand, so a lot of luck was needed! By the end of six matches, every team had become more competitive (and more accurate), and Nick and I were now, from nowhere, talking boules tactics.’

Our duo had to adjust to further challenges when the group was ferried back to the mainland, and the Turf Hotel, for the final match on hard and fast grass, but they pulled ahead to win by one point.

Katie and Nick with their boules 'trophy'.