A tale of Cornish Summer Slinging… In Devon, they put the clotted cream on their scones first, then add the jam. In Cornwall, they put the jam on the scone first, then the cream. Get seen doing it the wrong way in either county and they absolutely know you are not a local.
And there’s the thing, for while holidaying in the South West is a joy that leads to the UK’s most generally impressive traffic jams in the summer peaks, getting there is fair old drive. And these days we are seeing enough enthusiasts on the ground for there to be regional splitting going on. The Scots have their ‘Clan’. The UKSA is for the lads who do their thing Oop Yorkshire way and these folks are in the land of the rum smuggler and beyond the motorways’ end. Heck, they just wanted their own event.
A single day thing, they got heavily into it and have made significant investment in banners, a pop up branded gazebo, logo’d up attire and the equipment to run cornish summer slinging shoots. They worked out sensible rules and have a good relationship with the landowners. (Family!) Best of all, being deeper into the tourist zone and being just one day, they managed to interest a burger van in attending!
Here is the skinny on who and how and why, from slingshot enthusiast and crucial cog, Joseph Richards.
“Being keen catapult/slingshot shooters and having definitely gone catapult crazy, we decided to put on a catapult competition for the cornish boys and girls. Everyone in our area who is into catapults was keen to get involved. It was held on the 24th of August, with overnight camping the night before for those that wanted it. We had a great evening, with barbecuing and a singsong! The location was near Redruth on a farm belonging to family of the organisers.
We had various sponsors who donated some lovely prizes with great thanks to them. As said, everyone was keen to get involved with the setting up of the event. It was a team effort and it could not have happened without everyone’s help.
We had just two categories, a youngsters’ class for under 14s, which everyone enjoyed and not a computer game in sight! And men and women shooters, both in the same class this year. But next year we will have separate classes. There were plenty of competitors and spectators, too. (Very few wives or spectators at the ESF thing, has to be said. The Cornish Elite event was a new novelty, after all… Ed.)
The shoot could not have gone any better, other than the weather being a bit windy with a few heavy showers getting us. Everyone did a brilliant job, especially the under 14 kids. Romey Matthews, a keen lass who won Juniors, even went on to beat everyone in the Polo Challenge! That’s the shoot at a Polo mint, to smash it as soon as possible after the start moment. Even the adults couldn’t touch her. She smashed it in 2.1 seconds! (Her dad hit his Polo at 3 seconds, odd!) A proud moment! We would like to thank everyone involved with the first ever Cornish Elite Catapult comp especially all the sponsors. It can only get bigger and better. All in all everyone had a fantastic day.
More images from a great day out!
See you all next time, from the Cornish Elite Catapult Crew for more Cornish Summer Slinging!
I would like to thank everyone that was involved in the Cornish Elite catapult comp. It was a banging day! And we couldn’t have done it without you guys: James Tippett, Pat Cathy Matthews, Daniel Richards, Darren Jones, James Franner, Steven Putman and Josh Symons. Sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone…
Massive thanks to our sponsors; Kieran Lee, and Kieran’s catapult bands, who sent a ridiculously generous stash of bands, bandsets and amber belt reels. Gadget Shack who are working with us on new 3D printed spinner targets and Patrick Mathews and his wife Cathy who were major on the organisation side. Also an especially big thank you to Henry Mush, Andrew Mush and the family for providing the field and Malcolm Bickham for the burger wagon. It was a great turn out and nice to see the kids getting involved. Hopefully we can do bigger and better things for next year.”
