The History of The Schools Challenge

It has always been the policy of Doug and Shirley Florent to encourage newcomers to clay shooting.
They started Have-A-Go Days at The Oxford Gun Company once a month, with in excess of 17,000 people having now taken the opportunity to try the sport.

Also offering the Day Course, One-to-One Lessons and Young Shots' Days, more and more youngsters have been encouraged to take up clay shooting.
Their son David has followed in their footsteps - at the age of 15, at Bredon School, Tewkesbury, he started building a shooting ground for the pupils and staff.
From this he took a team of youngsters to the British Public Schools Championships (Nationals) which is entered by hundreds of children from prep. school age to senior school age, with Bredon's team coming a very pleasing 9th out of an amazing 345 entries!
David then encouraged the school to arrange competitions between Bredon and other local schools. It soon become apparent to David that a lot of schools (particularly schools for younger pupils) would benefit from the chance to shoot in a competition in the run-up to the Nationals.

The Schools Challenge was born! Within 2 years it grew far beyond expectations, with schools coming from all over the country. We believe that this success has been because of David’s imaginative format and the generous support and sponsorship from both the gun trade and local business.