NEWS / REPORTS DECEMBER 2009

Welcome to our eighth WCTSA shooter profile and what a Christmas treat we have for you - one of our top Welsh Lady internationals - Ann Butler.  Ann is a regular team member of the Welsh Ladies DTL team  - representing Wales on National, European and World stages.  Recently in 2009 Ann qualified in top qualification spot for the Welsh ladies team and was highest scoring Welsh lady in the home international and was part of the Welsh ladies team who took silver medal position.  Her individual performance resulted in her winning the Glan Clwyd cup at the 2009 home international - this was on the back of her winning the overall ladies high gun in the 2008 home international against all other home nations.  Ann's success though is not just at national level, she has had much success at counties level.  She has been a regular member of the Mid-Glamorgan DTL team who have had their fair share of victories and this year she has managed to be crowned Welsh Counties ladies champion - three years in succession - some record indeed !

After such a build up (and many other successes that have not been mentioned) - I'm sure you are looking forward to reading the full shooter profile - so over to Ann Butler:

Ann>>  DTL – Having only shot DTL I would at some point, like to give ABT a try.

Question 2. What type of gun are you using?

Ann>>  I started shooting with a 686 Sporter. I now shoot with a Beretta DT10.

Ann>>  When I first started I tried a few different cartridges but have for some time now I have been using Eley Superbs 7 1/2.

Question 4.  What's your background in shooting, when did you start, where did you start?

Ann>>  It all started with a lesson booked by my husband simply because I said ‘I fancied a go’.  Bitten by the bug, I joined Nelson Shooting Club shortly afterwards.

Question 5.  List of your achievements to date?

Ann>>  I gained a County Badge in first year of shooting 2004 (this was my first big shoot, was I nervous). First cap in 2005 having qualified for Wales every year since. High gun in Ladies British Open in Loch Ness Scotland 2005, going on to have high gun over 2 days. Very proud to be selected Association Personality of the Year in 2005. High gun in Ladies Home International in Bishops Mountain Ireland 2008, going on to win British Championship with the Welsh Team (what a great weekend). Qualified for World Championships in Australia 2006 and Ireland 2008.

Question 6.  Most memorable shoot/performance?

Ann>>  My most memorable shoot has to be the first time I shot as part of the Ladies Welsh Team in Loch Ness Scotland 2005, a moment I will never forget. As for performance, it has to be going into my last line at the Home International in Bishops Mountain Ireland 2008, it had to be ‘straight’ to win and it was.

Question 7.  Who are your close shooting friends?

Ann>>  I will need to elaborate a little here as many friends have been made all over Wales and further afield.  I have to mention the bond and friendships made with everyone who travelled to Australia for the World Championships in 2006.

Butch and his wife Lorna hold a ‘Cancer Research’ charity shoot annually in Brecon. It is great to meet friends and many friendships have been forged over the years. This is one of the first dates entered in my diary. 

Many friends have been made at Nelson Shooting Club my first shooting ground.  However the people I need to mention are Lynne Turpin and Brendan Jones, Gail & Phil Morgan, Tony Clough and his wife Pam.

Question 8.  Influences, coaches or people who've helped your shooting?

Ann>>  Many people have given me encouragement along the way for which I am very grateful, not least to say my husband, his support is second to none.  Phil Morgan is one person who has given me a great deal of time and advice not only at the grounds but is always on the end of the phone when I need to run things past him.  His advice has been and continues to be invaluable.

Question 9.  Top tip for your chosen discipline?

Ann>>  Try not to over complicate things and enjoy yourself.

Question 10.   What are your hopes for the future ?

Ann>>  Unfortunately the recession hit us, just as numbers in our sport were growing. The hospitality market was probably doing a great deal to raise not just numbers,  but also the sports profile.

I would like to see more youngsters shooting and given as much help as possible - after all they are the future.

Ann>>  I hope to continue to represent my Country and County and as much as I would like to compete successfully the most important thing this that I look forward to my shooting and continue to enjoy it.

All of us here at the WCTSA would like to thank you for a very interesting article Ann.  May we wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and successful new year and we wish you every success for your shooting for the future.  We look forward to reading about many more of your successes in the Welsh news in the future.

Seasons Greetings

On behalf of myself and the WCTSA may I wish all of our members, staff and grounds a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

To all of our Welsh shooters - may you have the best of luck next year - I hope your clays fly true and your breaks be balls of dust !

I would also like to thank all the contributors who had made this website what it is today.  As we come to the end of another year, it's often time to reflect on changes and the future.  When I took on this role over 4 years ago, we were lucky to have 100,000 hits a year to this website - but today we are touching nearly 1.5 million a year - with our peak month of July getting 250,000 hits for one month alone !  This is quite some increase in traffic to our site and this has got to be down to the increased content that has evolved.  So thank you one and all and I hope you continue to support this site into the future - it is after all only as good as you make it and you have made 2009 a particularly good year for this website !

Best wishes to all

David R. Lea  (Webmaster)

ABT Shoot Report - Nelson Turkey Shoot
 

DTL Shoot Report - Mid Wales Shooting Centre Christmas Shoot
 

A break in the rain produced a cold, but very reasonable day for this annual pre Christmas event held at Mid Wales.  Attendance is always good at this shoot and this year an incredible 26 squads turned up - meaning over 120 shooters were here to battle it out for some excellent Christmas prizes.

The hospitality from the Williams family was superb, with mulled wine and mince pies dished out throughout the day as well as the usual hot drinks and great carvery for hot sandwiches, all this warmed up many a cold shooter throughout the day.   

With so many squads - there was always going to be some people shooting in failing light - but there could be no quotes from the excuses book today as the overall winner of this shoot was to be one of the very last shooters out on the ground.  In less than favourable light conditions, top English shooter Paul Chaplow finished his day on an incredible 100/299 and as such had a car full of meat, wines and spirits to take home:

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Welsh shooter Phil "Magic" Morgan and English shooter Shane Smith - shared the runners up spot overall (first place in AA class) - hot on the heals of Paul Chaplow with scorings of 100/298 each.  Shane had gone home during the presentation, but Phil kindly posed for the camera for us:

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EL Davies (100/296) and I Ainsley (99/296) took joint third in AA class.  C Douthwaite took 5th with 100/295 and RJ Haines took 6th with 99/294.

In A class J Clarke, PA Hodges and B Jones shared first place - all scoring 99/295.  W Cliffton took 4th in A class with 99/294, M Moxlow took 5th with 99/294 and P Mills took sixth with 99/293.

In B class J Clarke won with 98/290.  SA Jones took second place in B class with 97/288, RC Lewis took third with 98/287, A Burden took fourth with 98/286, J Smith took fifth with 96/286 and in sixth place was BW Griffiths with 96/285.

Finally onto C class and the winner was JL Richards with 93/275.  In second place was RC Jones with 94/273, third was A Williams 90/268, fourth was PRW Greenow with 91/266, fifth was I Davies with 90/264 and in sixth place was IL Roberts with 90/259.

     
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Many thanks to the Williams family for another enjoyable end to the down the line season. 

Merry Christmas and goodwill to all !

National Skeet Competition Information
 

There will be a North Wales V South Wales National Skeet 100 bird Registered shoot at Mid Wales Shooting Centre on January 10th.

For further details contact Huw Evans on 01490 420609.

The second 100 bird shoot of the winter series, held by kind permission of Mike and Margaret Amodeo, was wet and windy to say the least. Not ideal conditions, for skeet and big scores were not to be expected, with the exception that is of one talented English shot!

First round saw only one straight, by Andy Pearce, and a 24 posted from John Thomas. Many were struggling to shoot a 20, severely hampered by the wind. After, the first two rounds Andy Pearce was in pole position with a 49. Followed by John Thomas on 46, Aled Jones 45 and Alan Parkin on 44.
The final scores saw Andy Pearce shoot an incredible 98 to take first place, excellent shooting given the weather conditions. Second place went to John Thomas 92 and joint third, on 90, Lloyd Handley and Mark Davies.

It was encouraging to see more shooters turn up to shoot this, the second shoot of the winter series. Thanks to everyone who braved the conditions and especially the English shots making the journey across the bridge, returning with a good share of the prize money!!

 

Brian Davies has uploaded the new classifications which are valid from the 1st December 2010.

They can be viewed from the Averages section of the drop down menu, or here: