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Paradise regained
Since losing his sight three years ago, being part of his local shoot means more to picker-up Brian Little than ever, as he explained to Mike Montgomery when he went to meet him during the season.
Brian Little and his faithful cocker spaniel Slip beat the edges of a drive on a shoot by the Northamptonshire-Leicestershire border. “Go on, Slip! Good girl – get in, find them!” he shouts. Slip darts in and out of the bramble hedges, eagerly looking for birds to flush to the waiting Guns.
Nothing remarkable there, one might think, but Brian is a blind picker-up. He covers the ground with the aid of a stick and the occasional helping word or guiding touch from a fellow beater walking alongside.
The shoot is more than 40 years old and has access to almost 1,000 acres, in small parcels. Brian, a BASC member, has been a part of the 13-Gun syndicate for 25 of those years. Having the land mapped out in his memory enables him to get about with impressive confidence.
It’s a fine November morning, the weather is perfect for shooting; cool and dry and slightly overcast. We are walking along a straight track which used to be an old railway line. When Slip gets a bit too in front for Brian to hear her, he asks: “Is she there? Can you see her?” We tell him she’s in the left or right bank, and if she’s gone on too far, Brian calls her back with a peep on his whistle. I ask him if he thinks Slip knows he’s blind.
“Hard to tell,” he says, “Although I think maybe she does, as she can get away with more than she used to! But she’s a good dog and a great little worker.”
Cherished time in the countryside
After another couple of drives, the Guns and beaters return to the farmyard for lunch and to talk over a successful and enjoyable morning’s shooting. There’s plenty of good-natured banter and Brian comes in for some gentle ribbing as his friends tell me about the times he has fallen over or got a bit lost.
His close friend and shoot captain Pete says: “A couple of times if the guys haven’t been shooting very well, I’ve said to them ‘Come on, buck your ideas up or I’ll give your guns to Brian and let him have a go.’”
And Brian takes it all in good part. He tells me: “I wasn’t a very good shot when I could see. I’d fire both barrels at everything – they used to call me Boom-Boom Little.”
A much-loved and valued member of the team
But it’s clear he is a much loved and valued member of the team – and equally obvious that he really cherishes being with them out in the countryside. Over a plateful of venison cottage pie, Brian talks me through his journey with sight loss.
He had just retired after a long and successful career in IT sales and management when the problems started: “I couldn’t see my mobile phone clearly. Slowly things got worse.”
After being referred to consultants, Brian was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Leber hereditary optic neuropathy. “It turned out I had the worst type, and the consultant told me I would lose my sight rapidly. A cure was a long way off – too late for me.”
‘You’ll always have shooting’
As his sight deteriorated, Brian had to cope with losing his ability to work, to drive, to read, to watch TV – and to go shooting, his real passion. One week was especially tough. He sold his guns and rehomed Darcy, the cocker spaniel he had trained from scratch. The loss of his beloved shooting hit him perhaps hardest of all and he became very low.
In despair, he called his friend and shoot captain Pete and, almost in tears, asked: “What am I going to do?”
Pete said: “It’s OK, Brian, you’ve still got shooting. You’ll always have shooting. Come on, we’ll pick you up on Saturday, we’ll go for breakfast as we usually do and meet up with the guys. We’ll take you out, you can do a bit of beating, you can do some picking up, and if the terrain gets a bit too much, you can stand with one of the Guns. We’ll look after you. How does that sound?”
The camaraderie of like-minded friends
Brian was over the moon. His shooting life began again – as a blind picker-up. He said: “It was fantastic. I went from feeling I’d lost everything to feeling I’d gained everything. It was more than shooting, it was the passion, the friendships I had built up over the years.
“It’s not about killing the bird. It’s the whole day, getting out in the countryside and enjoying the camaraderie of like-minded friends. I really owe shooting. It’s such a lovely shoot here.”
Brian’s story is a perfect illustration of the mental health and wellbeing benefits of being out in the countryside, enjoying sport with friends, as highlighted in the recent Value of Shooting report. He now goes out beating and picking up nine or ten times a year.
A new motivational role
Brian has drawn on his journey for a new role as a motivational speaker. Long experience of giving presentations as a salesman and business leader have given him a talent for public speaking. He now delivers inspirational talks to raise money for Guide Dogs UK. So far, he has raised more than £15,000.
He discusses how to change the odds in the face of adversity. Or, if you can’t, how to work with the hand you’re dealt. Now Brian wants to apply his role as a motivator to shooting: “I’ve done talks for corporates and others; now I’d like to do it for shoots and shooting companies. So, if you want to me to come and take you through my journey, which is inspirational, emotional and uplifting, please get in touch.”
You can contact Brian at brian.little4@btopenworld.com.
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Mike Montgomery
Mike Montgomery has been a journalist for more than 40 years, the last 15 with BASC where he is a communications executive and deputy editor of Shooting and Conservation magazine. He enjoys deer stalking and beating.
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