b'THE ELLESMERIAN89I wrote last year that we had one of the strongest squads for someThere have been some notable individual successes during the years and we were looking forward to realising our potential inyear. Toby Baillon, Kezzie Hutchings, James Caldwell, Harry Evans national competition and particularly the Ashburton Shield. Sadly, likeand Anna Maughan were selected to shoot for England in the most sports we were thwarted by the pandemic. The Ashburton andInternational Postal Match. Toby and Kezzie gaining full A colours Schools meeting were cancelled for the second year running and weand James Caldwell B colours. Harry and Anna were highly were unable to hold any shoulder-to-shoulder matches.commended. This is the strongest showing the College have had in this event for some time, certainly for England. However, we were able to compete in the British Schools Michaelmas league, which is run postally, the targets being shot at school and thenFrancine Gilmore has performed extremely well on the National Stage sent away to scorers. Our A team was strong, with Toby Baillon, Kezziethis year with her pistol shooting, finishing as top junior lady in the Hutchings, Harry Evans, Anna Maughan and James Caldwell all insummer and featuring highly in the senior competitions as well. particularly good form. Mention must also be made of a recent Old Ellesmerian, Alan Bain. Alan has continued his high level of shooting since College and has successfully trialled and been selected to represent Great Britain in the Pershing Match in 2022 in the USA. This is the pinnacle of smallbore team shooting and an exceptional achievement.We look forward to, hopefully, a fuller sporting season next year and a return to the Schools and Ashburton events at Bisley in the Summer.Tom RylandsShooting Coach Toby shot consistently well to top the national averages and Ellesmere won Division 1 very convincingly, beating Greshams and Wellington College to the top spot. The College B team also shot extremely well to finish second in Division 2 to a strong Abingdon team.Unfortunately, there was no further competition for our teams for the rest of the year. The British Schools Pistol championships were also affected with the regional heats being cancelled and the whole event went postal. Ellesmere had strong contenders for both Individual and Team prizes. Francine Gilmore and Ed Astbury qualified strongly for the finals and along with Josh Norris and Bea Taylor in the intermediates, and James Caldwell and George Joynson in the seniors, we were through to the team finals as well.The Finals were also run postally with competition cards being sent out for the competitors to shoot at home or at school. Scores were high and the Intermediate team were narrowly pipped to the title, finishing 2nd overall. Individually Francine shot extremely well to take Silver. The Senior team shot very well indeed and came out worthy winnersthe first time Ellesmere have taken the senior trophy.'