Results — Invicta Gun Club

2026 European Championship

4th - 7th June, 2026

Once again, the Great Britain team showed their strength and performed brilliantly in the recent European Helice Championship held in Bologna Italy at the beginning of June. There were over 100 participants from 3 continents with friends joining the event from Egypt and the USA. We had 3 new caps for the event – Trevor Bell, Kevin Flitton and Stephen Malthouse amongst the 21 British shooters.

The event started with the Italian Grand Prix where our new cap, Trevor Bell won the Veteran’s title with a splendid 18/20, Bob Arnold was just 1 target behind and won the silver after a 2-way shoot off. Dionne Rogers was second in the ladies and Chris Potter took Bronze in the Masters category after a 4 way shoot off.

We then had the main event and after the first day of shooting the Europeans, the Match of Nations was held. All the GB teams fought hard, and the results proved that resilience.

Gold for the Masters team - Chris Potter, Howard Batt and Michael Meggison

Gold for the Veterans – Steve Cole, Trevor Bell and Trevor Lewis

Gold for the Ladies – Dionne Rogers, Faye Wills and Jess Swift

Gold for Juniors – Jack Malthouse and Archie Tyler

Silver for the Seniors – Fergus Watson-Hopkinson, Mal Grant and Tim Rickard

Going into the final day and both the weather and the competition was hotting up.

Fergus Watson-Hopkinson led the way as the top British shooter, just 1 target away from the leaders on 26/30, Fergus won a well deserved silver in the Seniors.

Trevor Lewis won silver in the veterans and as the gold medal was won by David Blanc of the USA Trevor Lewis also took the European Champion title.

Big call out to the ladies with Faye Wills taking the European Ladies title with Dionne Rogers just 1 target behind in 2nd place.

Thanks to the ground and all the shooters and supporters, we look forward to the World Championship in Porto in September.

African Championship 2026 - Cairo, Egypt

28th March - 29th March

After a very long journey on Tuesday, we weren’t certain where we had woken up with thunder, lightning and torrential rain. The Egyptians blamed the Brits of course and the ground staff did a brilliant job of clearing the floods 3 times during the first day of shooting. The weather improved in respect of more sunshine but we had some very tricky conditions with the wind, especially on the final 2 days.

I don’t think anyone was poorly, ignoring Phil’s hangover after a night in with a mermaid! Trevor fell off the podium during the award ceremony (or was he pushed??). Luckily, he didn’t sustain any serious injury.

More importantly, the British team won something in all the competitions and all 12 of the British team came home with at least 1 medal.

We started the competition scheduled with the Presidents Cup. There is only one winner in each category for this event, so it was great to see Chris Potter taking the gold in the Masters and Jo Watsn-Hopkinson winning the ladies after a 5 way shoot-off and a call to prayer! Fergus Watson-Hopkinson missed out after an 8-ways shoot off in the Seniors.

Day 2 we kicked off the first day of the Grand Prix of Egypt but also had the team competition. Chris and Jack decided on mixing things up a bit as we didn’t have a fully ladies’ team so all 12 of the Brit team got their chance and all succeeded in the challenge:

- Masters GOLD – Chris Potter, Jack Sparrowhawk & Howard Batt

- Veterans GOLD – Ricky Francomb (on his first trip shooting), Trevor Lewis & Steve Cole

In the final 2 days of the trip, we competed in the 11th African Championship, and it really was a case of good shooting and a lot of luck given the blustery winds. Saying that the targets were all over the place is not an exaggeration!

Stuart King had a brilliant win, taking gold in the Seniors with a great performance. In the Masters, Howard Batt had a great start, but Chris Potter was consistent throughout and just got the edge to take gold with Howard next hit him on the podium with silver. Jo Watson-Hopkinson took 3rd place in the Ladies.

- Seniors SILVER – Mal Grant, Stuart King & Fergus Watson-Hopkinson

- Open SILVER – Dionne Rogers, Phil Negus & Jo Watsn-Hopkinson

Day 3 concluded the Grand Prix of Egypt and again the British team demonstrated their skills once again. Phil Negus lead the way to be in a shoot off for the overall title but just missed out, still a great performance to take 2nd overall. Trevor Lewis was the clear winner in the Veterans as was Howard Batt in the Masters. Jack Sparrowhawk held his nerve to take silver in the Masters after a 4-way shoot off which included Chris Potter. Dionne Rogers won the Ladies Silver after a 2-way shoot off and once again Fergus just missed out on a podium place in the Seniors after a 3-way shoot off.

We also had the Beretta Cup presentation where Trevor won silver in the Veterans, Howard won Gold in the Masters with Chris taking silver.

All the British team performed well, and it was great to see everyone taking home a medal. Our Egyptian hosts were very welcoming as always and the entire event was well organised. We look forward to next year.

World Championship 2025 - Ghedi, Italy

31st August - 7th September

The 2025 World Championship took place in Ghedi, Italy at the beginning of September and, as per usual form, the GB Team didn’t disappoint considering the amount of practice compared to other nations.

The first competition in the schedule was the Sporting Ghedi Cup which was slightly earlier than initially planned so some people had not yet arrived. Despite the change in date there were still 100+ competitors from many nations including GB, USA, Egypt, Belgium and of course the Italians across all the categories.

The GB participants finished strongly with both Riccardo Verrilli and Jo Watson-Hopkinson just one target away on 11/12. This meant Riccardo took 2nd place in the open and Jo first in the ladies. Unfortunately, there was no podium presentation so no pictures!

Next up was the Presidents Cup by which time many more people had arrived, so the participation was stronger. Again, there was no prize giving and no results posted so it’s not clear how the GB team finished.

Thursday arrived and the start of the three main events began, starting with the Italian Grand Prix.

This was held over 2 days and resulted in a massive achievement for Tom Gridley with the only straight, 20/20, of the competition and as such he took the title outright.

Howard Batt did what Howard Batt does, and I don’t mean sleep, but shot well to take the Gold in the Masters category. Jack Malthouse won Silver in the Juniors against some strong competition and Dionne Rogers took the silver in the ladies following a brief shoot-off.

Following the completion of the Italian Grand Prix on Friday night, the World Championship Match of Nations took place. Conditions were tricky, whilst it had been windy all day, into the evening the wind picked up, and the light faded. The format was also slightly different this year with all the team members shooting at the same time rather than rotational in-between other nations. The GB teams were picked to go seventh (where 7+ nations were shooting) which meant in most categories we shot last.

The Masters team – Chris Potter, Howard Batt and Jack Sparrowhawk – were first out and first to return victorious as the World Champions, beating the Italians by 1 target.

Next to go were the Veterans – Paul Colley, Cliff Goodwin and Trevor Lewis – they made it to a 3 way shoot off but unfortunately lost the Bronze to the French.

The Senior team – Andy Stratford, Mal Grant and Stuart King – fought well to gain a Bronze medal.

The Juniors – Jack Malthouse and Jess Swift – had an almost impossible task as a 2-person team competing against other nations with 3 people and unfortunately they couldn’t pull off a miracle and make it to the podium.

The Ladies were next up with Dionne Rogers leading off followed by Faye Wills and Jo Watson-Hopkinson who was the last of all the ladies shooting. They were all very very happy to find themselves World Champions having beaten the Italians by 1 target.

The Mens team – Charles Pomfret, Tom Gridley and Riccardo Verrilli were the last out in tough conditions with gusty winds and poor light and unfortunately didn’t make it to the podium this time round.

With the start of the weekend came the big event – 18 targets on day 1 and 12 on day 2. Many of the GB team were in medal positions at the end of day 1, Dionne continued to shoot well and was the only brit to make it to the podium with a well-deserved Bronze in the ladies.

During the prize giving on Sunday evening, Beretta Cups were awarded for the highest point accumulated across the European Championship held in June at Le Touquet and the World Championship. The GB team took home a number of tropies:

Howard Batt – Masters Gold

Chris Potter – Masters Silver
Steve Cole – Veteran Silver
Dionne Rogers – Ladies Silver
Faye Wills – Ladies Bronze
Jack Malthouse – Junior Bronze

Well doe to all the participants and we look forward to more international success in 2026. Thank you Graham Woodman for all the great photos.

British Grand Prix & Final Selection Shoot

9th & 10th August, 2025

What an amazing weekend of shooting, the weather was lovely, the ground was beautiful, the targets were great – it ran like clockwork that’s to all the preparation by the Invicta team.

Saturday was a little cloudy to start with which reflected in some of the score for the earlier squads, and the breeze was a little variable which resulted in a few lost to the fence. By the end of the day Paul Crumpton led the way having only dropped one target, many others were only 2 away from perfection for the main event and it remained wide open for the team selections.

At the end of Saturday the Miss-and-Out was held, with only a few survivors left, Ron Smith dropped his target to be eliminated, Chris Potter and Fergus Watson-Hopkinson were victims of the fence to see them go out of contention which left Andy Stratford to hit his next target which he successfully did with his first barrel. The ladies title went to Dionne Rogers following a very brief shoot-off with Jo W-H.

Sunday was brighter from the start and the 12 targets left to shoot were done quite speedily with Al Williams the clear champion of the British Grand Prix title with a glorious 28/30. However, a number of shoot-off’s were still required to finalise the podium places.

First up was Archie Tyler and Jack Malthouse to decide on the gold and silver in the juniors. Both missed their second targets out, but Jack held on to take the win. Next up were Rob Mulliner and Kev Flitton to decide the silver and bronze in the Men’s category, both missed their first targets out and it went to sudden death, Rob unfortunately missed his fifth target and Kev went on to take the silver.

Kev Tyler was up against Andy Stratford to decide the silver and bronze in the Seniors, a short shoot off with Kev missing his first target after Stratty had got all 3 of his. In the final shoot-off for the British Grand Prix, Chris Potter and Jack Sparrowhawk were in a decider for the silver and bronze in the Masters. Again both missed their first targets out and Jack went on to beat Chris.

The final results were as follows:

Overall Champion – Al Williams

Mens:
Gold - Al Williams
Silver – Kev Flitton
Bronze – Rob Mulliner

Seniors:
Gold – Stuart King
Silver – Andy Stratford
Bronze – Kev Tyler

Veterans:
Gold – Paul Crumpton
Silver – Paul Colley
Bronze – Bob Arnold

Maters:
Gold – Howard Bat
Silver – Jack Sparrowhawk
Bronze – Chris Potter

Juniors:
Gold – Jack Malthouse
Silver – Archie Tyler
Bronze – Jess Swift

Ladies:
Gold – Dionne Rogers
Silver – Tracey Jeffrey
Bronze – Jane Bell

The British Grand Prix was also the final selection shoot for the World Championship to be help in September in Ghedi.

2 shoot-offs were required to finalise the teams, first was the Men’s team where 2 places needed to be decided between 4 men – Tom Gridley, Kev Flitton, Charles Pomfret and Phil Negus – with Tom and Charles hitting all their targets, they joined Riccardo Verrilli to make the team.

Graham Woodman and Mal Grant also needed a shoot off to decide on the last place for the senior team, 8 targets each and the place went to Mal Grant.

The teams for the World Championship are:

Mens – Riccardo Verrilli, Tom Gridley & Charles Pomfret

Seniors – Stuart King, Andy Stratford & Mal Grant

Veterans – Cliff Goodwin, Trevor Lewis & Paul Colley

Masters – Howard Batt, Jack Sparrowhawk & Chris Potter

Juniors – Jack Malthouse & Jess Swift

Ladies – Dionne Rogers, Faye Wills & Jo W-H

Special congratulations to Riccardo Verrilli and Jess Swift as new caps.

Good luck to everyone travelling to Ghedi

In the last presentation of the day, Charles Pomfret made a special announcement in his personal sponsorship to Ron Smith, many might know Ron doesn’t always like to pull the second trigger, with the kind 2nd Barrel Cartridge Sponsorship from Charles he doesn’t have an excuse not to pull the trigger!

Brilliant event, lots of fun but also a significant amount of effort from many people to set everything up and run the event so many thanks to all involved.

Finally, not only does Woody keep us straight with the competition scores, he also takes some great photos - this weekends pictures can be found here - 2025 British GP

3rd Selection Shoot for the 2025 World Championship in Ghedi

Apart from snow we had all sorts of weather conditions - heavy rain and wind but ending up warm and sunny (but still windy). The conditions created some tricky targets and quite a few ended up over the fence unfortunately for some.

That didn’t stop John Foy, having drive back from Scotland overnight after representing England in the DTL Home Internationals, who led the way and only dropped 1 target for an excellent win. All the scores and the latest standings for the qualifications can be found on our News page.

The final selection shoot, as well as being the British Open is at Invicta on the 9th & 10th August, please contact tracy to get booked in.

2nd Selection Shoot for the 2025 World Championship in Ghedi

A very very warm day with much welcomed ice creams delivered by Sue towards the end of the day.

Some excellent shooting with Fergus Watson-Hopkinson & Graham Woodman both ending on 19/20 - all the results which can be found on our News page.

The next selection shoot is at Invicta on the 20th July, please contact tracy to get booked in.

1st Selection Shoot for the 2025 World Championship in Ghedi

A mixed day of various weather conditions leading to some interesting results which can be found on our News page. Congratulations to the top 5, all 3 away from a straight - Mal Grant, Riccardo Verrilli, Charles Pomfret, Al Williams, & Cliff Goodwin.

It was great to see some new faces, as well as the seasoned Helice shooter, this was the last shoot before the European Championship and we wish all those people attending the very best of luck.

The next selection shoot is at Invicta on the 29th June, please contact tracy to get booked in.