Welcome To The Armstrong`s Website.
As far as shooting is concerned, I owe any meagre success to my coaches........... Jim Scaif,(club coach) Barbera Whillis,(Regional Coach) Les Cotteril,(National Centrefire coach) Alan Westlake,(National Standard Pistol coach) Tom Redhead, (National Olympic Rapid fire coach) Squadron leader Leatherdale NSRA) and my long suffering wife and family.I started pistol shooting in 1985 after being introduced to a pistol club by a fellow member of a radio club that I attended.
Luckily it was just about the best club that I could have found, being run by a dedicated U.I.T shooter.
After learning the basics, I went along to a regional squad meeting and met the regional coach, I was trained further in the use of the hand gun. The aim by then was to get into the National Squad and shoot for England and Great Britain.
I was selected for the GB. squad in 1988 and shot for England and Great Britain at international events around the world, until the government banned pistol shooting in 1997. My main event was Centre Fire Pistol, but I was also a member of the Olympic Rapid Fire Squad and the Standard Pistol Squad.
SO HOW DO YOU GET INTO THE NATIONAL SQUAD?
Ok, so I did the work and the training,shot the scores at BBC competitions, read the books and found out about the sport. Total dedication is required if you want to get to the top in any undertaking.
However you do have to take things into your own hands. I waited and waited for a GB trial, but it did not come.
I decided to go to a squad meeting at Bisley and see what could be done. I knew that the whole GB squad would meet once a month at the BPC Clubhouse at Bisley for an official training session.
I went along and stood about with the squad members. Paul Leatherdale, Carol Page, Alan Sutton, Jim Harrison etc. etc. all of my hero`s. The squad was taken to a room in the BPC for a talk. The coach at the time Alan Westlake, eventually asked me who I was and what I was doing there.
I told Alan that John Chandler from SERPS had sent me and had said that he would mention my coming to him (Alan). So I was allowed to stay.
We went over to the range after the talk and John Chandler turned up there. I had sent him a letter asking to be given a trial and when I went over and told him who I was he said, oh, you made it then". That went down well with Alan and again I was allowed to stay.
The standard pistol squad was shooting a trial for the Nordics that morning and I shot in the trial with the squad. My score was the highest a 568. I never shot that before and I never shot it since. Just lucky I guess. I think the coaches were happy. In the afternoon we shot a Centre fire Pistol trial, again for the Nordics. I managed to win that one. Things turned out ok. Alan asked me back for the next months squad meeting. Eventually I was sent to SERPS for a trail and got into the squad officially. The moral of the story must be, if you want it go and get it. I could not wait to get the national flag on my shooting case. It`s been there ever since.
When the government banned my sport, UIT Target shooting and wanted me to hand my guns in, I had them deactivated so that I could keep them, deactivation certificates are shown above for interested parties.
I took these pictures of some of the medals, just as they hang in a room. Mainly shooting,but some for road racing, won by myself and my wife Anne.
The MMCC (Manx Motorcycle Club) medal on the Combined Services pennant (middle picture) has nothing to do with shooting. It is in fact a medal from my days of the Isle of Man Manx Grand Prix races, held in the misty September days on Monas Isle. Years are shown with bars below the medal. 1964 1967 1968 all on Beart Nortons.
The National Pistol Squad and the sport in general.
Shooting was very good to me and I gave it everything I had in return. I did the work, put the hours in and had some great moments. I was 49 years old when I joined the squad, far too old really, but I altered the date on some document, making me younger and I got away with it. I was shooting 22 hrs a week and traveling to Bisley the home of shooting 750 miles round trip just about every weekend. The squad was brilliant. Members all had their very interesting individual quirks and hang ups, some of them lived near Bisley and were public school or at least upper class individuals. None of them were ordinary
I remember some of the pistol shooters from when the sport was in it`s hay day, not in any particular order, Jim Harrison, David Levene, Alan Sutton, Andy Lamont, Ray Duckworth, Jeff Robinson, Mick Gault, Paul Leatherdale, Carol Page, Barbara Barber, Margaret Thomas, Laura Elsworth, Steve Penglelly, Mike Jay, John Rolf, Dick Fillery and of course myself Tom Armstrong.
I eventually obtained "A" squad status in three squads, Centre Fire, Standard Pistol and Olympic Rapid Fire and got paid to do it, although the payment never covered the expense, it did help. My most successful discipline was Centre Fire, coached by Les Cotteral. Best results a 582 record, shot at the NPA annual meeting Bisley and the British championships title about 1995 / 96. Shooting went pear shaped when Les died suddenly and other people took over. It was never the same and eventually banned by the government in 1996 / 7.
There were some world class shooter in the squad at this time. Possibly the best Mick Gault. John Rolf and Mike Jay were also brilliant shooters, never given a fair crack of the whip.
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