West Atholl Rifle Club

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This is an archived page from season 2022. Current main page is available here: MAIN PAGE

Hamish Hunter

We are very sorry to announce the death of Hamish Hunter on Thursday, 5th of January.

Hamish had a very distinguished shooting career and was actively involved from his days at Glasgow Academy until very recently. He shot his first Bisley meeting in 1968 and continued to support that meeting every year until 2018. He was selected to shoot for Scotland in the 1972 National Match and was a team member participating as a shooter or coach each year for the next 40 or so years. He particularly enjoyed overseas tours and was a veteran of numerous Scotland and GB tours including the Palma Match, he shoot TR and MR in places as far afield as the Falkland Islands. He was a winner of the Scottish Meeting, the Altcar Grand Aggregate and the runner up in the 1992 Queens final at Bisley.

Hamish had a particular gift when it came to numbers and was a senior manager at Ernst and Young, this made him well suited to managing club and association finances and he was the treasurer for several Scottish clubs and sporting bodies. He, aided by his Mother, ran the Scottish Meeting at Barry Buddon until it moved to its current home of Blair Atholl where he continued to offer assistance to the meeting organiser.

Through his association with STSF, he became heavily involved with Commonwealth Games Fullbore-Rifle shooting at both the administrative and managerial levels, being overall Shooting Team Manager for the Manchester Games (held at Bisley) in 2002, and thereafter helping run Scotland House, the base for all Scottish CWG athletes, Team PR matters and visitors, at the Melbourne Games in 2006.

The funeral will be held on the 24th January at 15:00 - The Hurlet Crematorium, Glasgow Road, G53 7TH and afterwards at the Dalmeny Park House Hotel in Barrhead.

We’ll miss his (often late!) presence on the ranges.

West Atholl AGM

Dear Members

The 78th Annual General Meeting of the Club was held on 27 November 2022 at Auchterarder Girnal Hall. My thanks to all who attended or sent their apologies. This year saw a return to our full programme of shooting following the lifting of the covid travel restrictions. The weather was exceptionally good for the most part. The passing of our members Raymond Shaw, Colin McEachran and of our well-loved monarch Queen Elizabeth II was recognised.

The Club continues to benefit from the dedication, efficient and untiring efforts of our Secretary Ron and Treasurer/Range and Target Manager John Potter. The Chairman acknowledged the work of the many volunteers who ensured an enjoyable day shooting.

Club subscriptions remain unchanged for 2023

Distance members live south of the border. Student members are under 26 and in full time education.

Method of payment: (a) By cheque: if this is your preferred option please make your cheque out to West Atholl Rifle Club & post to Club Treasurer: John Potter, 56 Olipant Crescent, Glasgow, G76 8PU.

Method of payment: (b) By direct bank transfer, which is the preferred option the sort code & account number of the Club account is as follows: 80-09-41 00928503 If using this method please remember to include your name with the transfer and send email confirmation to jmdpotter@gmail.com.

Please remember that subscriptions must be paid by 15th March and in terms of the new Bye Laws anyone failing to pay by that date will automatically cease to be a member with unfortunate consequences.

Best wishes to all for the festive period and enjoyable shooting in the coming season.

John Macdonald
Chairman, WARC

WARC - 2022 AGM Prize list

Range close down 2022

Weather forecast was wet for most of the day, however, ten stalwart members said Bah! to that and turned out anyway. What happened to the rest no one knows, perhaps word got round that there would be work involved.

On the day, the weather was dry and mild with little or no wind, so those present enjoyed a relaxed shoot of two sighters and as many to count as you like, till 12 noon.

After a short break we de-rigged the targets, took in the remaining wind flags, filled in the stop butt, shut down the water supply and closed down the loo.

Unfortunately, two of the party missed the group photo so thanks to everyone in the photo and to Jim McCall and Paul Sandie who missed the chance.

John Potter

Club Shoot 8 Results

Murray Cup 2022

26 September 2022

The Murray Cup commenced at 900yds going forward to 600yds and then to 500yds.

8 TR, 5F/TR Club Class and 2 F Open competed. A mainly overcast but dry day with the usual tricky wind conditions settling to a constant fresh wind at 500yds.

Kenny MacDonald won the Cup having avoided sudden and unexpected strong wind direction changes which sent others into the white.

Kenny was also warded the Smith Tankard for the highest aggregate score of competitors attending both today and the Tullibardine.

Paul Sandie was first in F Open. The FTR Club Class trophy was again this year by Peter Burbridge.

Thanks go to all who attended and assisted and to John Gaskell for the armoury run.

John Macdonald, Chairman WARC

West Atholl Rifle Club raised a Union flag at half-mast at their long range shoot on 18 September to mark the passing of our Queen. In this small way the Club recognised a lifetime of unwavering service to the nation and the Commonwealth. The members and officers of the club were saddened by the death of Her Majesty The Queen and extend their heartfelt sympathy to His Majesty the King, The Royal Family and all those whose lives she has touched.

God save The King.

John Macdonald, Chairman

Lochboisdale Match 2022

The Lochboisdale Match this year took place on Sunday 4th September, in less than ideal conditions the weather Being very wet. Due to the poor conditions, we shot at 400 hundred yards twice instead of the 400 & 600 yards originally planned. Teams were equally matched both Clubs fielding six members on the day.

After the first shoot West of Scotland were ahead, scoring 423.53v against West Atholl on 403.30v. On completion of the second shoot, West Atholl scored 429.32v against West of Scotland on 423.53v. West of Scotland won the match with an aggregate score of 849.91v to the West Atholl aggregate score of 832.65v.

Highest scorers were, Claire Halleran, West of Scotland high scorer with 75.15/74.7 = 149.22v. West Atholl High scorer was Peter Glen with 73.6/73.7 = 146.13v. Both high scorers won a suitable bottle of Spirits, but unfortunately did not open them to help relieve the aches and pains of their fellow team members. Bottles kindly donated by John Gaskell, West Atholl team Captain.

Club Shoot 7 Results

The last club shoot of August was well attended with a particularly high turn out of TR shooters. Conditions were challenging, strange winds were responsible for a number of the points dropped but the midges were probably responsible for many more.

Tullibardine 2022

In addition to the usual silverware awarded at this year's Tullibardine competition we had a bottle of Tullibardine whisky for the winner of each class, thanks to the generosity of the distillery in response to a request from John Rankin. Here is the enhanced trophy table at 1100 with the range and lower Glen Tilt basking in brilliant sun.

Club Shoot 6 Results

Club Shoot 5 Results

Club Shoot 4 Results

Claire Halleran Wins the Grand Aggregate at the Scottish Open

West Atholl Rifle Club would like to congratulate Claire Halleran on winning the Grand Aggregate at the Scottish Open. Claire also won the Friday aggregate.

Well done, Claire!

Entries for the Tullibardine are now open.

Keith Baxby has kindly offered to run the meeting again this year, please send your entries to him directly.

The entry form is available here:  ENTRY FORM and  ENTRY FORM.

Club Shoot 3 Results

Club Shoot 2 Results

West of Scotland Open Meeting

This years Open meeting was held one week later than usual and unfortunately clashed with a Match Rifle shoot at Bisley, as a result, our numbers were slightly down this year.

We had a good contingent from Dollar Academy, all shooting fullbore rifle for the first time and all achieving very good scores. Congratulations to Harrison McCaig for winning the QI competition dropping no points to make a score of 105.16v.

Weather was dry (most of the time) and wind was light but tricky at long range on Sunday.

Chris Cairns shooting FTR at the meeting for the first time entered Saturday only, however, after winning the QI and Saturday Agg. he successfully negotiated permission from his wife to attend again on the Sunday and went on to win the FTR Grand Agg. Well done Chris and thanks to Mrs Cairns for granting permission.

Many thanks to all who supported the meeting after the two year Covid 19 break, we look forward to seeing you again next year and feel free to bring a friend.

Thanks are also due to everyone who helped rig the range, change targets, set out flags etc. willing helpers make all the difference to the smooth running of the meeting.

Regards,

John Potter

Colin McEachran QC MBE

I am very sorry to announce the death of fellow member Colin McEachran QC MBE. Colin died at home on Saturday 21 May.

Colin was actively shooting until very recently and worked tirelessly to help our sport in Scotland. He started shooting at Glenalmond College and continued at Oxford University where he shot in the Chancellors Match against Cambridge in 1960 and 1961. He came second in the Grand Aggregate in 1966 and represented Scotland in the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch where he won a silver medal. A veteran of many of the great matches such as the Empire match, the Kolapore and the Palma, Colin was a mainstay of numerous GB teams and tours. He shot his first National match for Scotland in 1961 and would represent Scotland on a further 23 occasions in the National and 20 occasions in the MacKinnon. Colin also turned his hand to Match Rifle and shot for Scotland in four Elcho matches. Chairing the Scottish Rifle Association between 1981 to 1990, Colin was also heavily involved with the organisation of Commonwealth Games shooting events and was Director of Shooting for the 1986 Edinburgh Games, he was also the Scottish team manager for the for 1998 games in Kuala Lumpur.

Colin was vice chair of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland from 1991 and then Chairman from 1995 to 1999. He was instrumental in bringing the primary disciplines together to form the Scottish Target Shooting Federation, an organisation he was to chair between 2002 and 2006.

Latterly, Colin was instrumental in the formation of STS, which would become the new umbrella organisation for target shooting sports in Scotland. In 2018 Colin received the MBE for services to Target Shooting and to Commonwealth Games Scotland.

We also knew Colin in his professional capacity as a QC, a respected lawyer and Senior Counsel at the Scottish Bar.

He will be fondly remembered as the “Wigless Wonder”.

First Club League Shoot

Our first club league shoot of the 2022 season was well attended by lots of familiar faces keen to return to some form of "post" covid normality. The weather was kind to us and the target systems worked well thanks to the work carried out over the non shooting months by John Potter and his group of willing helpers. Plenty of cobwebs were blown away but scoring wasn't as high as some might have expected on such a calm day, the flags were still hibernating and failed to really indicate what was happening with the wind.

Work Day on the 6^th of March, 2022

Eleven members answered our request for volunteers to replace the centre rubbers on all targets. Six members offered their apologies for various reasons, and the rest of our able bodied members kept their heads heads down! We could not have asked for better weather for the work in hand and in the event we completed all targets including refitting the heat shields and top channels. The system will be tested next Sunday afternoon, the morning will be spent completing the mantlet steps, raising the short range wind flags and other small tasks. Thanks are due to all the volunteers for freely giving up their spare time to refurbish the targets.

West of Scotland Rifle Club Spring Meeting Entry Form

The entry form for the West of Scotland Rifle Club Spring Meeting is available here:  ENTRY FORM