OLD GIRLS

'How to be Asked Again How to be the Perfect Shooting Guest' has illustrations by Oliver Preston and is published by QUILLER PUBLISHING (ISBN 978-1-84689-057-4). Rosie kindly sent in the press releases below to the OGA in response to the Christmas email, asking for any special news. She says the book is selling well.

"Game shooting for anyone new to the sport is fraught with potential pitfalls. ‘How to be Asked Again' is a step by step guide to modern shooting etiquette stuffed full of amusing quotes and anecdotes, which will instruct the Gun on how to be the perfect guest.

Knowing how to behave out shooting is absolutely crucial if you ever hope to be asked again. Rosie Nickerson's book is inspired by the fact that so many more people are taking up the sport as adults and may have missed out on the vital apprenticeship in the field as a child. The popularity of driven game shooting has soared. Over one million of us are involved in the sport in this country, which contributes around £1.6 billion to the rural economy. (Source Countryside Alliance).

If proper respect for safety and shooting etiquette is drilled into you from the cradle it becomes second nature. However, few may have had the benefit of an upbringing like this, but anyone can learn the ropes as an adult. The book encapsulates everything you need to know but no one will ever tell you out shooting as ‘you are just expected to know'.

‘How to be Asked Again' has been compiled from a vast array of information from interviews with beaters, keepers, pickers up, shoot organisers and owners. The book covers in a logical way what should happen from the moment you receive a shooting invitation, to arriving at the shoot, shooting safely and courteously, how to mark your birds, what never to say and how to tip the keeper.

Hilarious cartoons by Oliver Preston make ‘How to be Asked Again' a very entertaining book, the perfect gift for any shooting man or woman, either novice Shot or experienced Gun.

Rosie Nickerson is the youngest daughter of shooting legend Sir Joseph Nickerson who wrote ‘A Shooting Man's Creed'. She has been steeped in the do's and don'ts of shooting since early childhood and shot her first grouse at the age of nine. Rosie is a freelance journalist having written for ‘Country Life' and ‘The Field' and was a token ‘green wellie' for ‘Tatler; for a year and more latterly is a regular contributor to ‘Fieldsports'.

Oliver Preston has been cartoonist for ‘The Field' magazine since 1995. His drawings are witty, distinctive and beautifully drawn. Country Life says of Preston's work, ‘Each cartoon is perfectly observed with visual jokes lurking in every corner'. Jilly Cooper is also a fan: ‘Oliver Preston's cartoons bring a smile to my face no matter how often I look at them. The themes are as achingly funny as the drawings are exquisite'. He has published several popular books including ‘Liquid Limericks', ‘Hitting the Slopes' and ‘Shall we join the Men?' "