What do you get if you have a couple of old lamposts, a fair assortment of scrap iron, some wood, and a passion for Field Gunning? The answer is you are in the Navy Training Corps with a couple of near replica 12 pounder Royal Navy Field Guns. The origin of Royal Navy Field Gunning dates back to the Boer War, when ships guns were put onto carriages and pulled overland by Royal Navy sailors to relieve the town of Ladysmith which was besieged by the Boers. Out of this grew the Field Gun Competition which ran annually at the Royal Tournament in London until 1999 when the event became the victim of Government Cuts.Many people lament the passing of the Command Field Gun Competition, although it is still performed by the Portsmouth Action Field Gun, and Wellington College CCF.

So what do you do when you have two replica 12 pounder Field Guns? The aim is to have two gun crews running against each other by the spring of 2011, in a straight forward competition with no obstacles. Two bookings for 2011 are already in place. Once this has been mastered, then walls will be added, hopefully by 2012. The ultimate aim is to do the full competition with walls and chasm. Only very Senior Cadets will be eligible to run, with the team being made up mainly by young Instructors, as Field Gunning is considered to be the toughest team sport in the world. Many things have to be put in place before this happens, but when the aim is complete, one more Royal Navy Tradition will be kept alive.

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