Dorchester Rifle & Pistol Club

Amicale des Tireurs Bayeusains v.Dorchester R&PC at Bayeux

Owing to a sudden medical emergency the Dorchester Rifle and Pistol Club arrived in Bayeux last weekend [6-8 July] for the annual rifle and pistol competitions between the twin towns one shooter short in each team. The Amicale des Tireurs Bayeusains agreed to provide the extra shooter, and this was done by drawing a coloured ball from a bag after six French shooters had completed their shoots.

The first competition, held on Friday evening, was the 10m air pistol, with a total of 30 scoring shots giving a maximum total for each shooter of 300. Bayeux took the first three places [Fabrice Goulet 265, Michel Huart 262, Jean-Jacques Durand 261] and even with the help of Jean-Pierre Bouin’s 253 Dorchester’s 1177 could not match Bayeux’s 1273

Following a typically French evening of hospitality with their hosts extending into the small hours, the Dorchester shooters tackled targets at 100m and 50m early on Saturday morning in the prone .22 rifle competition. The covered firing points provided some protection from the hot sun, and Ian Davison was some way ahead of the field [393] with Paul Cooke [388] and David Jenkins and Richard Burden [384] providing solid team support. Jean-Jacques Durand [383] drew the coloured ball and Dorchester had the top five shooters, winning by 1932 from Bayeux’s 1805.

Lunch was hosted by Michel Huart in a marquee in his garden. Afterwards the 25m black powder pistol competition, using replica historic arms similar to those used for duelling, or by highwaymen, was shot with the protection from the burning sun of a covered firing point. Bayeux are traditional strong in this competition. However, Fabrice Goulet, top scorer on 88, drew the coloured ball and became a member of the Dorchester team. Scores were close, with Bayeux recording 412 and Dorchester 406, the main difference being two scores of 87 from Bernard Hamel and Jean-Pierre Bouin.

The Police Pistol competition, using centre fire revolvers not available in Britain, is shot on targets advancing from 25m to 15m, and then to 10m. Dorchester shot well and with Ian Davison taking top score [195], drawing Marco Dalpont [189] as their fifth shooter, and Steve Maros shooting 186 they took the top three places and the match with 868 against Bayeux’s 771.

The traditional evening gathering and meal was held in the relaxing surroundings of Michel Huart’s garden and marquee. A celebratory cake provided by Gill Carter had candles added and doubled up as a birthday cake for Jean-Pierre Bouin.

Marie-Claire France recalled that the twinning stemmed from the Dorset Regiment being the first British regiment ashore at Asnelles on D-Day, and Richard Burden presented all the French shooters with poppy pin badges to remember the centenary of the final year of the first World War.

Visits were made to the Medieval Festival in the centre of Bayeux, the smallest British War Cemetery [47 graves] at Jerusalem near Tilly sur Seulles, and the site at Pointe du Hoc above Omah Beach where the US rangers had a difficult time.

Richard Burden, Chairman
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Score Sheets