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Friday July 7

Toronto

Gary Cassidy, Wayne Quick, Art Grundy and John Ingoldsby arrived at our house, ready to go to the airport. We loaded all the baggage in my "bread truck" for Bruce to drive to the airport. We all then got in John Ingoldsby's van for the short ride to the airport.

We were allowed two bags each, including the rife case. Max weight per bag is supposed to be 30 kgs. Some of us may have been within the limits. F-Class shooters carrying 300 rounds of ammo plus sand bags were not even close.

At the Air Canada check in they just processed all the bags and weight without comment. Going home we will be a bit lighter but the Heathrow staff tend to be more officious. Given the risk of a pending airline strike I suppose a fee for being overweight will be the lesser of the evils.

The Team bookings were a bit scrambled. Two members were booked twice, one was booked three times, and Tony Betts was advised his seat had been canceled by the travel agent. He had to go to another counter and register for a standby by list. He got on.

Saturday July 8

We tagged all our baggage with a two-foot piece of orange trail marking tape. This made baggage retrieval at Heathrow much easier. All our bags were waiting for us at Heathrow, including all the rifles. We were met at the airport by Andy Kolenko who was also tracking down a missing suitcase from his flight the day before. He was informed that his bag had just been located - in Italy!

We had to take our rifles through the "Goods to Declare" line where our rifles were checked to match serial numbers to those on our permits. This went quickly and we left to find Neville Cooper waiting with a "Ontario R.A." Sign. The Team boarded the bus while I went back into he baggage area to find Team Captain Adrian Praysner who was arriving on the Canadian Airlines flight arriving just after our flight. Our plane had left Toronto an hour late so his flight landed about the time we were picking up our bags. I found his bag and rifles so as soon as he came into the hall we were ready for the rifle check.

On the drive to Bisley it was a relief to find that everyone had made the flight in good shape, complete with all bags and rifle cases. (Except Andy's bag visit to Italy.)

The coach delivered us to the Muzzle Loaders Clubhouse. This building is decorated with old artwork, old edged weapons and what appears to be African hunting souvenirs. This is a very old building. It is one of only two buildings moved from Wimbledon. The other building moved was the original NRA Headquarters building, which is now the building used by Fulton's. It has a lounge, kitchen, bar with draft beer and some very small bedrooms. To accommodate the team we have five beds set up in the lounge. We quickly unpacked and went to bed for a nap.

Sunday July 9

The practice session booked for today has been canceled. The NRA booking system may be overwhelmed. Rifles were assembled and taken to the NRA for inspection. Rifle weight, trigger weight and a chamber check to make sure the throat was large enough to avoid pressure problems. All the rifles passed except Wayne Quick's rifles. They both had the Goulan brother chambers which feature a narrow throat of only .2850". The NRA "gauge" (a dummy round) requires a throat of about .3082". Keith Cunningham prepared a special reamer for this eventuality that does not cut anything except the throat. It is designed to be run in until it bottoms on the chamber shoulder.

The weather has been cool and overcast with occasional rain. The forecast is more of the same for a few days. Thank God we have nylon track suits! I am living in mine to keep warm. The suit keeps the wind out. I had seriously considered leaving the track pants at home. Glad I didn’t. The suits also look nice and it makes it easy for us to find each other on the range.

The Texas team has a bright red white and blue jacket and cap they wear on the range. They really stands out. It appears the Canadian team does not have a uniform. I think a uniform helps a team act and think like a Team, instead of a collection of individuals.

The prices here for anything are no bargain. Their price in pounds is about the same as prices at home in dollars. Gas is 85 to 90 pence a litre; about $2.00 a litre!!!! Ammo is 7.60 pounds per box of 20. That's about $1.00 Cdn. a round. The DCRA team report it is shooting very well except for a few rifles with tight throats, which are going to be reamed.

We have got the draft beer machine working but the CO2 pressure is too high. Beer glass is 95% foam. Overheard at the bar. Art Grundy, loud voice, "I could have played for the Red Wings". Soft voice "...But they never asked."

Stockwell Day beat out Preston Manning yesterday. Not a word in the Brit papers.

Monday July 10

Not a great day. Beer machine is still dispensing foam. Where is Bill Vincent? The Mechanical Engineer originally tasked to take care of the beer plumbing. We finally got a practice target, number 108, the very last target on Century range right up against the trees. Just as we started to shoot it began to rain. A pattern is developing. Overcast but nice in the morning and rain in the afternoon. The rain starts as a sprinkle and then becomes a downpour.

Clint Dahlstrom won a shoot off at 1200 yards this afternoon, in the rain.

Carol announced last night that booze was available at Canada House (London) for prices running from 6.50 to 10.00 a bottle. "Pounds or dollars?, we asked. "Forgot to ask" she answered.

Dan Stanoev pointed out that either way it was a good deal, so we all wrote out our orders for Adrian who was going into London today. As I type this I see Adrian's list still on the desk. Hope he has a good memory. He left early this morning, before we got up and is scheduled back around midnight, after we will all be turned in.

We have the RAF Match tomorrow morning and the BCRC Team Match tomorrow evening. Both are 300, 500 & 600 yards in teams of eight. The Canadian Under 25 Team guys were around looking to recruit three more shooters to fill out their Team entry in the RAF. I am going to shoot for them, after my coaching duties. It will be the first chance I have had to fire a shot. It would be nice to check my elevations and try the grease. I pulled some RG "Competition" ammo apart. It has neck sealant.

Tuesday July 11

Adrian made it back with our booze order. It was five or six pounds a bottle. Good, but not great prices. Adrian found out that even better booze prices are available at Dawes Hill (a Canadian military establishment). Contacts are Captain Dan Flemming or Sgt. Mellish at 01494795659 (or 660 or 664.)

A hectic day! We shot the RAF Match on Stoney Castle range. To accommodate all the teams they cut the match to 2+10 at only 500 and 600 yards. We picked up some sandwiches and ate on the range.

The Canadian Under 25 Team was short a shooter so I shot for them on the first relay and then coached Ontario on the second. The ammo was not very good and I could not do much with it as a shooter or as a coach. We did not accomplish a lot in terms of building confidence, but we did get to work as a team and establish some elevations.

After the RAF we rushed back to the club house and then went over to Century to shoot the British Commonweal Rifle Club Team Match, 2+10 at 300, 500 & 600 yards. Our shooting was better - better ammo. Again, a good team exercise. Scores were not good. I have not looked at the board to see how we did, but middle of the pack is my guess.

The RAF hosted a reception and BBQ at their club house after the BCRC match. We gave them souvenir Ontario badges and a Ontario T-shirt to Neil Moxon, the match organizer. There was some grumbling with the RAF that the Canadian Team did not enter. The RAF match was started as a RAF vs. Canada match.

This is the first day we did not get rained on.

Wed July 12

Today we shot the Harrison Catering Match. It was 2+15 at 900 and 1,000 yards. We entered two 4-man (person) teams. Jim Thompson coached us. This is a Mackinnon Match dry run. Good thing it was not the match. Only three rifles are shooting real good elevation. Hopefully the ammo will improve. Wayne Quick was high gun, so I think he is getting over having his chamber reamed. Jeremy Langley shot a 150!

About 16 Canadians went off to Buckingham Palace to the Queen's Garden Party. Prince Phillip recognized the hats and stopped to chat.

We went out for dinner to the White Oak pub. That is just past the Volvo dealership. Mediocre food.

Andy Kolenko has been collecting money and stocking the kitchen with bread, cold cuts and fruit. This has become a very relaxed, congenial and supportive team. Having everyone under one roof is very good for building a sense of Team.

Thursday July 13

Warm up matches today and tomorrow. We get to shoot once at each distance before the Agg starts. The match tickets come in a bound booklet. A sheet of labels is used to identify each ticket by match and squadding.

The morning started cool and light drizzle. The second relay got some real rain, then it slowly cleared with some sun in the late afternoon. The weathermen says that the weather will get worse and stay that way for a couple weeks. Something to do with a high stalled over Greenland.

I have been concerned about how Carol and Adrian will get on shooting F-Class. Their first match was the Hutton at 900 yards. They came off with a 50.8 and a 50.7. Carol converted a pair of 5's. She though I was kidding when I said to only convert V's. Carol finished the day with a 149.19. She is top F-Class shooter on the team. I am top target rifle with a 142.14. Our shooting performance is till the pits. Gary Cassidy changed rifles. A little fiddling is underway but for the most part we all know the problem is the nut behind the butt. I managed a 50.7 in the Hutton but followed with a stunning (stunned) 47 at 600 and a 45 at 500. Carol and Adrian shot 49's. I guess I can stop worrying about them. Hopefully all the stupidity will be out of my system by Agg time.

Some of the readers may be wondering where we are. The Muzzle Loader's Rifle Ass'n of Great Britain is in the old Exhibition Hut. Where is the Hut? Think of the NRA building. Next to the NRA is a large lawn where the scores are posted and where the Gurkas used to beat retreat. At the far end of the lawn, towards Stikledown, is a single hut - the ORA Team Hut. Out the back door we see the front door of Surrey. Out the front door we see the big prize giving tent, across the street.

The DCRA BBQ was tonight. Carol and Adrian went over to make the presentation of the hooked Ontario rug she made. We were advised that our team was not invited due to a space problem. She has just come in and reported that the food was expensive and not very good.

Friday July 14

We shot the two final warm ups and then the first Grand Agg match, the Daily Telegraph, 15 at 500 yards.

Carol continues to amaze me. She shot a 49.6 at 1000 yards (second place) a 50.7 at 300 and a 75.14 at 500 (1st place). I gave her a hard time over the 75.14 because the "5" was a converted sighter.

Adrian is shooting very well, too. He has shot possibles and two matches with a miss. Both misses at 500 yards. The first time he fired and he target went down, but they could not find the hole. I assume it was on the line somewhere or through the spotter. The NRA does not have a rule about holes in Spotters. The second miss was a shot in the sky as he closed the bolt. We added a little weight and sear engagement to the trigger (a 6.55 x 55 Savage). The rifle will now lift the NRA trigger weight. That should stop the problem.

The 1000 yard match was cold and windy. How windy was it? Well, the 50 round plastic ammo boxes were blowing over! (With 12 rounds of RG in them.) Strong wind from about 11 o'clock with a quick fishtail. Carol's 49 there looks great. (I shot a 37.)

Mike Hockings had a good shoot at 900 and a bust at 1,000 (scored 3). He was convinced the ammo (he's shooting the 7.62 RG) would not work at 1,000. This seemed unlikely, so we checked his scope with a collimator. His movement stopped at 900, so we shimmed the scope base with some metal from a Barcardi rum bottle top. This should solve the problem. Hope he is on for his first shot at 300 tomorrow.

Keith Cunningham and Linda Miller dropped by and gave us a "Mental Management" presentation. That seemed to go over well. Some of the Under 25 Team joined us.

The presentation was devoted to the mental mechanics of the shooting process. Deep breath, target number seen through the front sight, level the rifle, center, center, center - bang! I found myself following this process and it made shooting easier.

Saturday July 15

It is a good thing that Mike Hockings' first match with the newly shimmed scope was at 300. His first shot hit the target frame. After that he was OK (75.8V) and he was also on at 900. There is lots of adjustment for 1,000, too.

Carol and Adrian continue to shoot very well. Adrian shot possibles at 300 (75.12V) and 500 (50.9V). At 900 he shot a 48.2V.

The NRA gave an "International Reception" in the big tent across the street. I went in soon after it opened and all the food was gone and the line up for free beer was the length of the tent. One bar only. Most of us promptly returned to Ontario House where we socialized with some guests.

After the Reception an army band beat retreat. This was well done and enjoyable. The Team had the best seat in the house from the veranda of the club house.

Other than the fact that there are a few more teams here, including Under 25 teams from Australia, Canada, the US and South Africa, nothing so far has made this a special Bisley. Next week we have a concert and fireworks. That will be different.

Sunday July 16

The Grand Agg leader board is up. David Crispin, a Brit now working in Rochester is the leader with 1 off. Williamson is second with the same score. Alain Marion is 18th, the only Canadian name I recognized. Others on the board are Pintard, Bromely and Jeremy Langley, in about 5th place. The board goes down to 6 off. I am sure lots of 6 off did not make the top 50.

The atmosphere here in Ontario House is relaxed, friendly and supportive. Perhaps the best I have ever experienced. We chose the Mackinnon and Overseas teams today. The choices were basically based on gun score and reflect who was shooting well.

Mackinnon (15 @ 900 & 1,000)
Art Grundy
Stan Wiktorowski
Gary Cassidy
Dan Stanoev

Overseas (10 @ 300,500 & 600)
Art Grundy
Stan Wiktorowski
Gary Cassidy
Andy Kolenko

This is a Kolapore rehearsal. If one of these shooters has problems, we have a real problem because these four are doing significantly better than shooter #5. I am the top gun here and it has been suggested that I shoot. I will not do that unless there is a lot of team pressure to do so. I came as a Coach and the others came as trigger pullers.

Carol has cleaned the day - three perfect scores. (50.6, 75.15 & 50.5) This is the first time in her life she has ever cleaned a day. She has an excellent 6.5-284 rifle and very good ammo. However, we have had four days of headwind and quick fishtails, so she is still reading the wind well and making the most of her rifle. There are some very strong F-Class shooters here who take this game seriously, such as John Knight. They are asking who the "Carol Bullock" on the prize list is. She will probably make the cut for the George's with her 75.14V. I'm not kidding about the "probably" because there are only five places for F-Class and there will be some 75.15's and some other 75.14's.

Monday July 17

The George's 2nd is posted. All 73.9's are in. F Class needed a 75.13! Making the cut are:
Dick Moore
Roger Mullin
Jim Bullock
Stan Wiktorowski
Stephanie Ramsay
Carol Bullock - F-Class (75.14)

This morning we shot the Wimbldon at 600. Common complaint was that it was a very light wind and the shots went everywhere. Tom Maynard shot a 50 to prove that the rest of us can't handle easy conditions. I got a 45. Carol (of course, it seems) shot a 50.6V.

We shot the Jr. Mackinnon. Third place with a 381.31. Three points behind Queensland. Zimbabwe was second.

I plotted and Jim Thompson called wind. The conditions were light and switchy, as they have been all week. The guys shot very well. Jim called the wind very well. If we had to do it again I would not change a thing. At 1000 we had some kind of vertical wind and we had to move the shooters down two minutes over the match. With shooter three it cost us points. With #4 we recognized the problem after the first high inner and moved down two minutes after shot 1 and then bulled out.

The Overseas Team Reception was held tonight. It was a great success. Shooters came early and left late. Each country had tables with food and drink. The West Indies had a wonderful rum punch or Appleton Rum and Coke. Very popular. They also had loud music and the place was hopping. Carol was behind the West Indies bar and dancing. A great effort that put the feeble NRA reception to shame.

Tuesday 18 July

I shot the 300 Queens I at 8:00 and am now off until 2:00. The conditions continue to be very light and easy. I continue to overcorrect and to wind myself out of the bull. Wayne had magpies high and low. We are suspicious his front action screw is bottomed. He has gone over the Canadian Pavilion to grind a bit off the screw.

Adrian shot a 35.6V. Carol has not come back and must have stayed on the range to shoot the next distance. Carol is on the Leader Board. They have F-Class posted. Szabo is first (a Canadian, I think) and John Knight is third, and Carol is fourth. They have not posted the F-Class scores, so I don't know how close she is. She has only dropped three points to date, so she can't be too far behind. If conditions stay easy she won't be able to move up.

The Grand is lead by three shooters at -6, including Jeremy Langley. Alain Marion is at -7 and Eric Pintard and David Crispin are at -8. I did not notice any other Canadians on the Board.

The cars on the range are interesting. It is clear that shooting here is not a poor man's game. There are a lot of expensive cars, including Range Rovers, Jags, BMW's, Mercedes. There are two TVR's, three Loti (two Super 7's and an Elise) a new MG rear engined sports car and a Porsche Boxter.

The ordinary cars are Toyota Tercel sized or Toyota Corolla sized. There are a lot of hatch-backs and station wagons to get maximum volume and space inside the small cars. A Camray would be a big car here. Gas is 85p a liter which is about $2.00 Cdn a liter. I am driving the team diesel 12 passenger bus. It is easy on fuel and is quite nice to drive, except for the narrow roads and driving on the left. It reminds me of my "bread truck" at home.

The morning was cool and clear. Literally not a cloud in the sky. By afternoon it was cloudy and then overcast. A beautiful day for shooting. The Corporation was shot in the lightest conditions ever seen. The morning and early afternoon relays had to deal with almost three minutes of wind and it dropped in the late afternoon to exactly nil.

We were treated to an air show today. We think it was a rehearsal for the Farnborough Air show. A jet aerobatics Team did their show with one end of their performance over Bisley. Then there were several formations of biplanes. One flight was large twin engined bipes. No idea what any of them were.

Carol dropped a point in the Queens 1. A 104.19 would be a great target rifle score but it is a disaster for her. The guys she is competing with at the top of the Agg would not have dropped a point. The shot dropped was a scary shot out the top, so I decided to clean the barrel, just in case. After it was cleaned I fired a fouling shot with some extra moly on it. The concern was what will happen at 1,000 yards with a freshly cleaned barrel. I watched Carol shoot the Corporation. The two sighters were both V's. So were the next seven shots. Shot 10, for a 50.10 V in the Corporation was a high 4. She is disappointed. I am too, because she would have made a very interesting shoot-off. I assume some other "F" Class shooter shot a 50.10.

Carol made a good recovery by shooting a 35.7 at the 600 yard Queens I. The cleaning may have helped.

All 103's made the cut for the Queen's II. I am surprised that the score is so low. It was so easy a 103.15 would have been more likely. There is a strong feeling that this lot of ammo is dodgy. I got funny high and low shots, as did many others.

Queen's II
Fazal Mohideen
Stephanie Ramsay
Art Grundy
Roger Mullin
Ric Melling

We went out for dinner with General Hall and his wife Roberta. He is interested in hunting and shooting. Tomorrow we will try to get him a NRA membership card so he can shoot the McQueen. That is the sniper rifle at 200 yards at the Hun head in the castle target.

Wednesday 19 July

Nick shot the McQueen. He was impressed with the Accuracy International but shocked at the price.

This morning we shot the final match of the Grand - the Prince of Wales. 15 at 600. I shot quite well but the group was bigger than the bull. Reminds me of IVI.

Carol had problems (turned the knob the wrong way) and finished the Grand with a 72. This places her fifth in the F-Class Grand. Pictures and interviews were conducted for Precision Shooting.

In the afternoon we shot the Overseas Match. 7 shots at 300, 500 and 600, teams of four. Jim Thompson coached and called the light and variable winds very well. We shot well and finished in third or fourth. Zimbabwe won it.

Thursday 20 July

This was a long hard day. We shot the Millennium Match, 2+10 at 300, 500 & 600 and 2+15 at 900 and 1,000. Two targets. I coached one and Jim the other. We had one shooter sneak through the sight checker with the wrong elevation. He set the correct elevation for a rifle back at the clubhouse. We had a lot of flyers which made the coaching more difficult. Three wind zeros were out from one to three minutes. At 1,000 yards I had shots going high with Gary. He said they were good shots. I kept cranking him down butnothing happened. I finally asked him to check his sight to make sure I had not turned it the wrong way. I hadn’t. When Dan startedto have the same problem I cranked him down two minutes immediately, and it worked. Vertical wind?? We finished about seventh.

By the end of the shoot the team was shooting better as a team and zeros were set for tomorrow for the Kolapore.

This evening we enjoyed a RAF demonstration sky diving team that dropped into Stikledown. This was followed by an excellent concert by the RAF band. They concluded with the "1812" backed by fireworks. Words cannot describe the feeling of sitting on the 1,000 yard mound with your friends on a quiet evening and a nice sunset. The music started with the Light Calvary Overture and finished with the 1812. Two of my favorites.

Friday 21 July

We shot the Kolapore. Trigger pullers were Art Grundy, Gary Cassidy, Stan Wiktorowski and Fazal Mohideen. Three 145's and a 146. This placed us about sixth.

After that Match we shot the George's II. I used more grease on my ammo than before and got a better group. Scored a 75.6 This gives me a 149 and a ticket to the George's III.

After the George's those who qualified for the Queens II. 10 at 300,500 and 600. Stephanie is the only one from this Team that made the finals. Ric Melling shot off for the last place and did not make it. I have heard that seven from the Canadian Team made it, but Alain Marion and Scott Murray did not.

Tonight we had a great BBQ. Dan and Andy went to town and bought pork chops, sausages, hamburgers and corn. Dan did an excellent job a chef and we had quite a few guests drop in for a drink and bite. This team experience would have been different (for the worse) were it not for the initiativeand work of Dan and Andy.

Saturday 22 July

8:30 a.m. George's final at 900 yards. Shot a 70 with two groups. Second group was just out of the top. This was just like the experience I had coaching Gary and Dan in the Millennium Match. I am now pretty sure the problem was a too big front aperture that picked up the ground in the bottom of the sight picture. Result is high shots that won't come down when I crank the sight. This may be caused by changes in light. Match was interesting with more wind than we had all week. Wind was still from the right, which is unusual here.

10:00 a.m. Senior Mackinnon team Match (900 and 1,000). Great Britain first, Australia second and Scotland third. Canada shot well but had a disaster with one shooter at 1,000. Don't have the details.

Took the bus back to the rental agency. Glad to get rid of it. It was an uncomfortable experience having to drive such a big vehicle on the wrong side of the road.

3: p.m. Queens Final Did not see the 900. Took the van back. At 1,000 watched Bob Pitcairn shoot a brilliant 74 in the wind running around 10 minutes. (The way I read wind, that is a plus or minus 5 minute guess.) Stephanie Ramsay was only shooter from our Team to make it. Her 1,000 was excellent. Some other big names had a handful of 4's and 3's in the latter part of the shoot. Her 71 looked very good. The 4’s were close to the bull.

The Queens has been won by a 20 year-old Scottish shooter, Joanne Hossack. She was an Atheling in Canada very recently. Fine looking blond lady. She should be front page news in the Brit papers and help restore some image to shooting. She is only the second female to win. (Marjorie Foster the other.) She is also the second youngest. (Youngest was Pvt. Ross in 1806).

I was using my binoculars to watch the Queen’s leader board. Hossak was on the board all day within striking distance. I did not know who Hossak was. After we heard that Joanne Hossack had won I still did not know who she was. I was watching through the binocs when the third place person, then the second and then Joanne came up to receive the Queen’s badge. I immediately recognized her as a young lady I had spoken to briefly on the range and as a recent Atheling.

We are now dressing for the prize giving. Carol claims our Junior Mackinnon team will be invited up on the stage for our third place. I don't think so, but have to go get dressed. I will try to get this e-mail out right away.

The whole team is tired and "shot-out" and looking forward to going home tomorrow. We were advised today that the Surrey police will have our rifle permits ready on Monday. (We leave on Sunday.) Carol has photocopies. I can tell she has a lot of experience at Adjutanting (Agitating?)

Joanne was carried into the prize-giving tent by an all young-lady entourage. Good for them! After the prize giving she started the tour of club houses. She came here while most of us were at dinner. We managed to receive her. Adrian welcomed her and Tom Maynard served her friends draft beer. The beer machine ran dry after almost all had had a small beer. Later Tom Maynard and Wayne Quick were busy washing all the glasses

The prize-giving was a bit disappointing. We did not get called up. We knew that we did not win but had at least hoped our third place would be worth something.

By the end of the Grand and by the time the Team matches started we were shooting much better than on the first day. To a degreeeach of us was breaking good shots that were out of the group. I had several “Sighters from Hell” (three minutes apart!). Mike suggested that I try more grease. I did and promptly shot a 75. The flyers were high and low in the bull instead of inners.

Keith Cunningham reports that Alan Marion thinks that not only must the throat be deep, but it must also be wide. Our throats are.3085” and Alain suggests .3095”. When I get home I am going to shoot some RG through a scoped rifle off sandbags and compare dry versus greased.

Sunday 23 July

We spent last night and this morning packing. I had some problems finding room for the 200 rounds of RG purchased here. I had asked the Team to buy practice ammo and to grease it. This is fairly expensive stuff (about $1.00 Cdn. a round) and the NRA won’t take back the left overs because it has been greased. I bought it back so they are not stuck with it. (My permit includes a provision for ammo.) The 6.5 - 284 and 6.5 x 55 we brought over has been shot so I can take RG home. The 6.5 ammo is still in the original plastic boxes. My baggage is lighter, but the bulk of the boxes is still there. I will wear my shooting coat. That should free up some space.

A coach took us to Heathrow. At $20 per person it is worth it. A taxi would cost more and some of us would have got lost trying to drive ourselves. Air Canada routed us to a special “group check-in counter”. They complained that we were not booked as a group, which caused them some problems. Two of the check-in ladies were fantastic. Some of our bags were not only over-weight but so big that they would not fit on their scales. They had a role of “Heavy Load” warning stickers and just tagged our bags and re-routed them for manual handling instead of through the counter and on to the conveyer belt. Adrian Praysner was scheduled for a Canadian Airline flight two hours later. He was advised it was running a few hours late so the wonderful check-in lady got him on our flight.

Tony and Mike got Helga the Horrible who proceeded to insist that their bags were each 5 kilos over-weight so they would have to unload their bags and put some stuff in a card board box. She also discovered that they were not listed for the flight. While she was away trying to find them a seat another baggage guy came around and solved the overweight baggage problem by taking it away and putting it on the plane. She was annoyed when she came back to discover we had solved the problem. Tony and Mike got seats. In fact, Mike traveled in comfort - Business Class. Tony was just happy he was not left behind. The check in ladies and the baggage guy that did so much for us were given Ontario pins. The check-in lady suggested that when we get home we use one of our rifles to shoot our travel agent. She says we should have been booked as a group. As it was some of us were booked several times and others not at all.

The baggage guy collected all our rifles on a cart and trundled them off to Customs, where we one by one opened our cases so they could record the make and serial number of the rifle we were shipping out. A sign on the wall reminded us that it was an offense to assault a Customs Officer. We were there in plenty of time, so it was just one more thing to do. Our only concern was the fact that we did not have the originals of our permits as we were supposed to. They accepted the photocopies with only a little grumbling.

Our flight was on a 747. Head winds were only 40 knots, so it was faster flight than usual. I reads the Brit papers on the plane and was surprised to see no mention of Bisley or the Queens win by Joanne Hossack. Too bad. A picture of a beautiful women beating 1700 men would have been an interesting story and a good PR opportunity. When we landed we had to run our rifles through the customs x-ray to basically prove that we had rifles in the rifle cases. Seems strange, but it was quick.

I now close this Diary. We have tried to share this with as many readers as possible while we were in Bisley. Hopefully you have come to the conclusion you have missed a good trip. Speaking personally, it was probably the smoothest, most cooperative team I have ever been on. I am disappointed that we did not do better in the team matches and have made note of my own failings as coach in that regard. I hope we go back - soon.

Jim Bullock

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