March/April 2009 - New Zealand Clay Target Association

President’s Report
In early February Jan and I were
honoured to have been invited to the
Wanaka Gun Club 50th anniversary.
On Friday night we had the dinner
and presentations which involved the
induction of two life members. Peter
Cooke and Ray Anderson received
the medals for outstanding service
to the club going right back to the
beginning. This is a club that is lucky
enough to own its own 43 acres of
land, clubrooms and over the years has
replaced most of the traps with new
and also built new lanes, traphouses
and skeet towers. The club has a very
good base of workers that want to make
it work and have succeeded in later
years. Congratulations to Wanaka and
its members for this achievement and
thank you for the enjoyable weekend.
The stories from the older members on
the goings on over the years are great
to listen to. The shoot on Saturday
was very well supported from far and
wide with present and well-travelled
members attending.
On a sadder note the Stewart Island
club is no longer. With only one official
member, Russell (Badger) Squires and
with Ron (Fatty) Dennis leaving the
island, it was decided to close the club
down. For those who have attended the
Island shoots over the last 25 years, I’m
sure that many a memory can be had.
The infamous Joe Cave Ball Trap which
could be called ‘The Beast’, the crayfish
and mussels at will while the shooting
was on, and, of course, the odd tipple
at the after match function. I’m sorry to
see it all go and I wish Ron and Russell
all the best in the future and thanks for
a good time.
Late last year New Zealand was
awarded the World English Sporting
Clay Shoot. Whilst we were in Ireland
we put the case forward to the World
Body and were duly awarded the
championship. The application was put
in on behalf of the TVDA. This will be a
huge undertaking and will need plenty
of support from all quarters. The time
of year still has to be determined but
should be in the early part of 2011.
Recently TVDA held the 5 stand and
Nationals at Paeroa. Twenty squads
of National and International shooters
were treated to a great week’s shooting
of well-set targets and a well-run shoot.
I was rapt to see Barry Williamson attend
and shoot and assist our sponsors. Jeff
Wells, a well known sporting shooter,
was once again a generous sponsor of
the week under the banner of Kilwell.
Martin Coe, once again with his Beretta
New Zealand Company, generously
sponsored two guns for HOA 5 stand
and Sporting, the guns going to Des
Coe and Paul Dunnett respectively.
Special thanks to both sponsors from
the shooters and the NZCTA for their
continued support.
Still on Sporting, the next big event is
the FITASC Oceania Championships to
be held at Rotorua. A busy time for the
shooters and organisers. Good luck to
all those who attend.
At the Secondary School Nationals
and more recently the Sporting Clay
Nationals, it became evident that
Secretary’s Notes
Postal Shoots:
Results for the Hawkes’ Bay Shield postal
event must be sent to the National
Office no later than 5th March. The
Office will be unattended from Friday
27th February so please either ensure
they are at the Office before this date
or give them to me at the DTL Nationals
as the results will be announced on
Friday 6th at the NZ Points Score
Championships presentations.
Club shoot Results:
All clubs are asked to email their
club results to the National Office,
rather than send in paper copy. This
should be sent as a Word Document
attachment. The format for these is
outlined in the “Advice for Clubs about
Gunshot reports and results” that is on
the NZCTA Rules and Forms page on
the web site. Thank you to all the clubs
who send results in this way.
people have not been making sure that
any score they shoot at matches must
be entered on their handicap card. This
leads to embarrassment and frustration
when people feel they should be picked
in a team or have a higher ranking. It
is the shooter’s responsibility to make
sure they have their score entered
correctly.
Late January saw one of the best
turnouts for a long time at the North
Island DTL Championships held at
Waikato. 175 shooters stretched the club
to the max but all the Southland boys
said it was one of the best they have
been to. Great weather, good targets,
good camaraderie and all with brilliant
shootoffs. 52% of the Single Rise entries
shot possibles with the shootoff going
to 497 over 2 days. Congratulations
to Colin Waghorn and commiserations
to Tony Truss, a fantastic effort. And
the High Gun for the weekend, just 2
points down, would be one of the best
ever scores. Congratulations to Ross
Ellis from Tauranga for his efforts.
Things have been pretty quiet on the
home front recently but with a pretty
full on couple of months ahead of us
I look forward to getting back into
it. I always enjoy the Nationals and
look forward to catching up with the
shooters from the other end of the
country.
Trevor Manson
President.
Next Issue Close Off Date:
Copy for the next issue (May/June) will
close off on 1st April. No late copy will
be accepted. All clubs hosting Open
Shoots and Association Championships
must advertise these in Gunshot.
Buy/Sell Column in Gunshot:
Members are reminded that the Buy/
Sell Column in Gunshot is free to
financial members. All advertisements
must be sent to the National Office,
either by email or in writing, before the
close off date.
Adrienne Sears
National Secretary.
Gunshot 7