Over Half Term, following a successful Cadet Regional Meeting, our Shooting team were invited to the Bisley Cadet National Championship Finals where they joined 34 other teams from around the country. The team, The team, WOII Thomas Arthur (Upper Sixth), Sergeant Daniel Wild (Lower Sixth), Cadet Callum Davis (Lower Sixth) and Cadet Filipp Rivanenok (Fourth Form) came away with an incredible result. WOII Arthur, Shooting captain of the second-best CCF and third-best cadet unit in the country, has written a report on the event below.

“Knowing that we were lacking the sharpness required to compete at the very highest level, we spent two days before the competition to hone our skills at Hythe Ranges.  In spite of the weather and some last-minute team adjustments, the training went well and we were in good spirits and looking forward to the Finals.

We packed our bags and set off to Bisley. The plan was a practice at 300 metres, moving up to competitive shots at 300 metres, 500 metres and 600 metres with team and individual prizes up for grabs.

As we prepared to get onto the point, moving all of our equipment off the minibus, the morning weather conditions, despite being somewhat chilly, were favourable.  That being said, ten minutes later it began to rain. We came prepared for this outcome and brought out our standard-issue SVS Shooting team gazebo to prevent rifle malfunction. We, of course, had to immediately move this back onto the bus along with most of our equipment since apparently someone forgot to bring the sides of the roof meaning that a metal frame by itself would offer no protection(!).

Over the course of two days, the team shot well, at 500 metres Sergeant Wild achieved the highest score of all competitors and, at 600 metres, Cadet Davis achieved 35.3, which means he shot a bullseye consecutively seven times in a row, three of which being “V bulls” (a smaller circle inside the bullseye) – a fantastic achievement.

As a final result of our combined efforts, Callum and I were awarded Bisley 100 Badges and in the team competition, we were placed the third-best CCF.  First place was taken by Epsom School A-team and second place was taken by Epsom School B-team. On this technicality, it can be said that the Sutton Valence CCF Shooting team are currently the second-best CCF shooting team in the country.

We eagerly awaited the overall results – this is where the RAF, Sea Cadets, CCF and Army Cadets were ranked – once again, the CCFs proved to be better than all the rest of the teams and the results of the CCF competition were mirrored in the overall results– we came third out of all the cadets units in the UK.

Once again, none of this would have been possible without the efforts of our staff, Flying Officer Westlake and Dr Bromley, Lieutenant Horley, Flight Lieutenant Kitchen, Major Prem, Major Millbery and a cameo from our very own Headmaster himself, Mr Thomas supporting us on the point at Bisley.”