This year’s Derbyshire Charity Clay Shoot took place at Chatsworth with BBC Countryfile’s Julia Bradbury acting as Master of Ceremonies to 180 guns in five person teams drawn from across the country
Shooting took place in the morning in heathland on the Chatsworth Estate with the fundraising effort continuing through the afternoon and evening with a grand auction and gala dinner and dance. Chairman of Sotheby’s Europe, Henry Wyndham, took bids for the ‘top 15’ lots in front of 450 guests with another 50 lots going to electronic auction.
Many of the donated auction lots were of the ‘money can’t buy’ variety, such as a long weekend at Villa Louise in Burgundy with wine sampling at two of the region’s greatest ‘monopoles’ or a trip to Los Angeles with tickets for this year’s Emmy Awards.
A total of £250,000 was raised and will be distributed to local good causes including The Children’s Hospital Charity, Arthritis Research UK, Cavendish Cancer Care and the Devonshire Educational Trust.
One of the largest charity clay shoots in the country, the shooting was organised by sporting agency E.J. Churchill and included five simulated ‘100 clay’ drives and a ‘top gun’ pool shoot. Chatsworth’s participation was headed by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire’s son Lord Burlington but neither he nor his team managed to win any of the shooting prizes – a failure he put down to having ‘missed all the warm-up sessions I’d planned.’
The Derbyshire Charity Clay Shoot began in 2003 with around 75 participants and two auction prizes. Having moved around Derbyshire it has settled at Chatsworth since 2011 and now draws up to 200 guns for a fun day’s shooting as well as hundreds of guests to the auction with its associated fine dining and evening entertainment. Organised by volunteers, it has now raised a total of more than £1.25m for local charities. Next year’s event is scheduled for Saturday 9th May and interested parties are invited to contact Sally Eustace at sally@dcclayshoot.org.uk.
