On the 'Sport' of Shooting.
A shoot at Dunley c.1943. The woman is Patrick's sister, Sylvia, holding 'Danny'. Photo by Patrick. My earliest memories of shooting are of standing still in a hide at dusk, being careful not to show one's face to the pigeons flying home to roost nearby. I held a 4.10 and later a 20 bore and any birds I succeeded in getting were taken home and hung in the game larder and later plucked and gutted ready for the table. They would be cooked in an old blue casserole with vegetables and a large sprig of thyme, and thus we ate pigeon at least once a week in the winter months, My father Patrick learned to shoot while a pupil of Percy Bragg at Headbourne Worthy and shot regularly with his friends and later at Litchfield and the neighbouring estate of Dunley with his step-father-in law Sir Alfred Herbert . He was fortunate enough to be given a beautiful pair of Holland & Holland 'Royals' by the then owner of Litchfield, Charles Carey Druce, which he used all his li...