Henry Watson was a member of the Athelings team in 1967. He had not expected to be in the ‘Michael Faraday’ VIII but the Long Branch .303 rifle he was lent by the Canadian authorities for the Connaught meeting was so much better than the No4 SMLE he had used in Scotland and at Bisley that his scores improved dramatically.

Henry enjoyed his first shooting trip to Canada so much that he resolved to do it again as soon as he could. Sadly his non-availability during twenty-odd years in the Royal Navy and his inability to shoot sufficiently accurately during a subsequent spell in the Defence Industry forced him to change careers again to become a Sports Therapist and Masseur. This sorted the availability, improved his fitness and he only needed to admit that he needed glasses both for ordinary life and to be able to see the foresight clearly to solve the problem.

He could now see clearly, hold his heavy new rifle steady and all he now needed to do was to persuade the team management that they needed a Piper and a lifelong connoisseur of Malt Whisky to add further style and distinction to an already capable and highly social team.

Born in Glasgow, he started his shooting education at Glasgow Academy, continued it at St. Andrews University and learned about 4.5 inch calibre guns in the Royal Navy. During the 1982 Falklands war he made the startling discovery that some targets retaliate! His ship HMS Antelope sank with his bagpipes and rifle bolts incinerated on-board. Having replaced these he specialised in Communications and Electronic Warfare and finished his Naval career ten years later in charge of such matters for the UK and NATO in the North Atlantic Command. During this period he also managed to regain his place in the Scottish Team Squad

Henry now lives close to Bisley, in Guildford, so he has ample opportunity to learn and refine all the best excuses for not hitting the V-bull. He hopes not to have to use too many of them during this trip