West Atholl Rifle Club

Murray Cup & End of Season Prize List 2011

18th September

Twenty members enjoyed a day of reasonable weather with enough wind to make it interesting, unlike the previous day at the East of Scotland Open where the wet flags hung vertically almost all day.

The target system failed early on due to loss of power to the butts. This was caused by an exhausted battery as a result of: 1.Two full days of use the previous weekend; 2. a full day of use on the previous day; 3. the weather in the intervening 5 days having been very dull; 4. the solar charging panel being shielded from the sun by birch saplings which have grown unnoticed in the past four years. The battery being four years old may not have helped; Huddersfield have to replace theirs frequently. We got going again after some delay. Thanks go to Pete Dingle and his electrical expertise, Peter Burbridge and his saw, David Rowland and his transport and to James Bell who borrowed a battery gratis from the ever-helpful Blair Atholl Garage. The garage are one of our target sponsors; please show appreciation by supporting them when you can (but preferably not by needing your sump repaired).

Working in the butts was less disgusting than it has been recently as the peahen has been removed, so we had to contend with less of the product of her digestive system.

Because of the delay we omitted 400 and shot a further 2+10 at 600 instead of moving back to 900. Most people seemed to enjoy the day despite the problems. This event was the last West Atholl shoot of the season bar the Lochboisdale TR competition on 25th.

I hope everyone winters well, and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the AGM on December 4th.

Keith Baxby
West Atholl chairman