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W.L.M.C.P.S.Soc
(West Lancs Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society)

The History and Mission Statement of
West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society

Dates for your Diary

Event Reports

Newsletters

Contact Details

Committee Members (elected at AGM 6th June 2007)

Coaching Clinics

Membership Application Form

The History and Mission Statement of
West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society

Since its foundation on 25th of June 1986, under the leadership of our popular first Chairman, W Bro Frank Cowburn, Past Assistant Provincial Grand Master, the West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society, has provided enjoyment and friendship for many clay pigeon shooters not only within our Province but from neighbouring Provinces by way of an Inter-Provincial Shooting Competition which has always been held on the first Sunday in October each year.

The Society is honoured by the support it receives from its President, Rt W Bro Colin Penty Wright, Provincial Grand Master, and it’s newly appointed Life Vice President V W Bro Thomas Blackburn PGSwdB, Past Deputy Provincial Grand Master, who has had the interests of the Society at heart since its inception, and it’s new Vice President our newly installed Deputy Provincial Grand Master W Bro Brian Gillbanks PSGD. Currently under the Chairmanship of W Bro Eddie Caulfield, PSGD, Assistant Provincial Grand Master it continues to go from strength to strength.

In 2002 and 2004 the Society rose to the greater challenge of organising National Inter-Provincial Shooting Competitions for Freemasons and their guests to compete in at Hoghton Tower, near Preston. Now in the 20th year since our formation, what better way could there be than to celebrate our anniversary than to host the Third National Competition.

This year the competition was held at Leighton Hall, Carnforth, an occasion which was once more, with the support of many other Provinces, an outstanding success.

The Society’s primary objectives are to actively encourage newcomers and established shooters by providing a medium for the sport within a safe and friendly environment and to advance relationships within this and other Provinces whilst never loosing sight of Masonic and non-Masonic charities that it actively seeks to support.

We are proud that with the generous help of the Lodges and Chapters of the Province those charities have received to date in excess £75000.00.

Glynn Wrennall, Vice Chairman

For further information contact :

Glynn B Wrennall
Tel: 01539 443903
email: glynnwrennall@btopenworld.com

Mike Casey
Tel: 01253 403731
email: wlmcpss@gmail.com

Ian Heyes
Tel: 01772 611071

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Membership of the Society

Any one wishing to join the Society and be kept up to date with our events can download the Application Form below and forward it to our Treasurer Dave Potts

The instructions for the form are as follows:-

To download the file - right click on the link below and chose "save target as.." This will allow to to select a location on your PC to save the file.

Or open the form by clicking on it and print it direct from the website

Application Form

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Dates for your Diary 2007/8

Forthcoming Events

Social Shoot 3rd Wednesday of every month at
Kelbrook Shooting Ground at 10.30am

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Committee Members 2007/2008

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Event Reports

Recent Event Reports

Toplands Friendly Shoot April 2008

NGO Shoot April 2008

Provincial Shoot 2008

Christmas 2007 Turkey Shoot

Inter-Provincial Shoot Sunday 7th October 2007

4th National Masonic Clay Shooting Competition

BASC Young Shots Report

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 6th June 2007

2007 Provincial Shoot

NGO Shoot - April 2007

Friendly Shoot - February 2007

Christmas 2006 Shoot

Worsley Grange - 10th Feb 2006

Sportsman's Dinner - 31st March 2006

Ulpha on Sea - 30th April 2006

Annual General Meeting Minutes - 23rd June 2006

Whittington Annual Shoot 2006

Archived Event Reports

Family Fun Day - Furness and South Lakeland Group
24th September 2006

Inter Provincial Shoot 2006 - Longton Gun Club

Turkey Shoot Report 4th December 2005

Family Fun Day - Furness and South Lakeland Group
25th September 2005

Inter Provincial Shoot - Knaresborough

Whittington Annual Clay Shoot 2005

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 24th May 2005

Provincial Shoot 15th May 2005

Turkey Shoot - 5th December 2004

Inter-Provincial Shoot hosted by C & W - 3rd October 2004

Northern Group Family Fun Day at Lindale Gun Club

Presentation of the Group Trophy

2004 Inter Provincial Shoot at Hoghton Tower report

Pictures from the Inter Provincial Shoot at Hoghton Tower

West Lancashire Provincial Shoot Report

Annual General Meeting - held on Friday 25th June 2004

Newsletter Issue 11 (Autumn 2004)

Newsletter Issue 10 ( Spring 2004)

Newsletter Issue 9 (Autumn 2003)

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Newsletter

The Society produces a regular newsletter which is to update members on reports from events that have taken place and advertise forthcoming shoots or socials.

The latest newsletter can be viewed, downloaded or printed using the PDF link below

Newsletter Issue 18 (Spring 2008)

Newsletter Issue 17 (Autumn 2007)

Newsletter Issue 16 (Spring 2007)

Newsletter Issue 14 (Spring 2006)

Newsletter Issue 13 (Autumn 2005)

Newsletter Issue 12 (Spring 2005 )

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Friendly Shoot April 2008

Sunday 13th April saw the friendly shoot at Toplands Farm, Woodplumpton, Nr. Preston.  It was a bit of a mixed bag sort of day with the weather initially, quite cool but blossoming into a bright sunny day.

There is a permanent skeet layout there so most of us took the advantage of a warm up of 25, then on to a fairly testing 50 bird Sporting layout.  25 shooters turned up to take part along with wives, girlfriends and partners then it was off to The Wheatsheaf in Woodplumpton for a rather large bar snack lunch.

The highest gun on the day was W Bro Ian Heyes with a very good score on the day of 41 with Evan Walsh in second place with 40. A raffle was held in the pub which raised £46 and prizes were presented by the Society Vice Chairman who informed everyone of the forthcoming Provincial Shoot at Longton on the 4th May, he thanked everyone for coming and in particular Ian Heyes for organising the event.

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NGO Shoot 20th April 2008

WLMCPSS fielded two teams of five shooters in the National Gamekeepers Organisation regional event at Lindale Gun Club on Sunday 20th April 2008.  The competition was 70 birds sporting made up 30 sporting, a 100 bird 5 man high pheasant flush and a 100 bird 5 man duck flush.  The duck flush was, as usual, difficult but the high pheasant exhilarating, I don’t honestly think that any of our shooters came off that flush without their knees shaking.

Our teams:

The drama continued when Howard’s gun failed to discharge its second barrel, so he can no longer be referred to as ‘one pellet Whitaker’ but has subsequently been renamed as ‘one barrel Whitaker’. 

Team A as expected exceeded themselves despite Howard’s handicap with 110 on the sporting, 64 on the duck flush and 88 on the high pheasant.  114 won the sporting competition so you can see how close they were.  Evan Walsh was joint 2nd High Gun with a fantastic 28 out of 30, well done Evan. Team B scored a creditable 73 on the sporting, 55 on the duck flush and 73 on the high pheasant flush.

Lunch, a very large cottage pie with pickles and mushy peas, was served at the Endoor Club with 2nds and 3rds available to those who could.

Congratulations to all who took part.

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Provincial Shoot 2008

The West Lancashire Annual Provincial Shooting Competition was held at The Dolphin (Flying Fish) Shooting Ground, Longton, Near Preston on Sunday 4th May.

The weather, yet again, was mixed to abysmal with wind, snow, sleet, rain and just that little bit of sunshine to brighten up the day. The Dolphin continues to be a much improved shooting ground offering a 50 bird sporting competition and a permanent DTL layout. The sporting was extremely testing with many high and distant birds travelling at speed which soon sorted the men from the boys – so that’s me back in short pants. 

Numbers were a little down from previous years with 26 shooters competing. Maybe the Bank Holiday or the uncertainty of the weather could have had something to do with that.  However, the High Gun of the day and the winner of the Harold Naylor Trophy was Evan Walsh with a score of 38 with Jason Rhodes in second place with 35 and Ian Heyes in third place with 31. 

Evan Walsh receiving the Trophy

The Veteran Trophy was won by Lloyd Davies with a score of 33.  The Thomas Williams Novice Trophy was won by David Barlow with a very respectable 23.  The Guest High Gun and FITASC Trophy was won by Colin McLean with a score of 28. The Brian Naylor Trophy for the Group which had supported the Society the most in the last year was awarded to the South Fylde Group and was received by the Society’s Secretary Mike Casey for presentation, by arrangement, to the Group Chairman W Bro Eric Picton. And finally, the very special prize of the White Stick was presented to Andrew Gunning whose score of 6 supported everyone else.

All the prizes were presented by Glynn Wrennall, the Society’s Vice Chairman, who thanked everyone for supporting the event especially those who had brought along raffle prizes and Ian Heyes for organising the event.  The raffle raised £67.

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Turkey Shoot 2007

For those of you old enough to remember the Irving Berlin classic “Isn’t it a lovely day to get caught in the rain” written for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and recently re-released by Diana Krall.  Well all those who attended the WLMCPSS Turkey shoot on Sunday December 2nd could all have joined in the chorus which should have been rain, hail, snow and wind.

I have not been to the Flying Fish for a long time and had consequently forgotten how exposed (that’s how bad it is) it is to the weather.  Nevertheless some 29 members and their guests, wives and girlfriends all braved the climate to put on a show and form a healthy band.  The competition was a 30 bird sporting although there was nothing sporting about it when you had to ask if the clay had come yet – you know you have a problem.

The highest scorer was Keith Webber with 23 out of 30 with Lloyd Davies (pictured  with his freshly shot turkey) a very respectable second with 22. However, the turkey presentation is always made in reverse order so Keith Macklin won the white stick with a score of 5, he also won the raffle, co-ordinated by our Treasurer John Hammond, of a beautiful bunch of flowers generously donated by our Secretary Mike Casey and as everyone had brought a prize so everyone left with one.

A super shoot at the Fish and we all dried out in front of the lovely fire which created a great atmosphere.  Congratulation to our Shoot Captain Ian Heyes for organising the wonderful event where everyone’s a winner. The raffle raised £75.00 to help swell the charity account for dispersement at a later date.

It was on the turkey shoot this year
That the rain poured faster than the beer
It was a wet, cold and windy day
And you had to squint to see a clay
The rain was blown into your face
And clays were blown at a very fast pace
But none the less we stood our ground
We had the shoot and looked around
To see that most enjoyed the meet
In spite of wet face, trousers and feet.
High gun Keith scored the best
With Lloyd just behind followed by all the rest
Prizes were given and raffle tickets sold
And soon we forgot about the rain and cold
Trigger fingers cold and jerky
Makes you wonder who is the turkey?

Dick Walmsley

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BASC Young Shots - 14th July 2007

The Society Chairman W Bro Eddie Caulfield, Assistant Provincial Grand Master, along with several members of the Committee went along to Blackpool Gun Club, Back Lane, Singleton to attend one of the BASC Young Shots days and to witness first hand the coaching provided and the high standard achieved by the girls and boys.

The day started with a two hour coaching and safety tuition followed by lunch and a 75 sporting bird shoot concluding with a 50 bird flush under the personal supervision of BASC coaches on a one to one basis. The discipline, behaviour and attitude of the girls and boys was a joy to see and at the conclusion they were all presented with competence certificates. One lucky young man winning a 100 bird day driven pheasant shoot at Tatton Hall in Cheshire and the runner-up receiving a 50 bird day on a private syndicate at Clitheroe (all of which was cleared with the parents beforehand). 

It was a pleasure to watch and our congratulations to the North Western Director of the BASC Phillip Pugh, wife Jean and personal assistant Steve Woodhall on providing such a wonderful day for so many.

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Friendly Shoot

Sunday 18th of February saw a wonderful turnout of over 30 members and guests at Wyreside Gun Club, St Michaels, Nr Preston for a friendly 50 sporting bird competition.

The conditions were super for the time of year, warm with clear blue skies and hardly any wind.

After the shoot it was back to the Horns Inn Churchtown for an excellent Sunday lunch.  Trophies were presented to W Bro Lloyd Davies as winner with 46 out of 50 and the runner up W Bro Glynn Wrennall (the Society Vice-Chairman) with 43 by W Bro E C Caulfield Asst PGM.

A raffle for a bottle of whisky was won by one of the guests and raised £43 for our charity coffers.  It was a wonderful entertaining day for all who attended.

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CHRISTMAS SHOOT

Sunday 3rd December 2006

31 Members and guests braved the elements to take part in the Christmas turkey shoot, and yes a turkey was one of the prizes. The 30-bird shoot took place over 7 stands.

Overnight gale force winds failed to subside but fortunately they blew the rain away to leave the weather bright and sunny with a very strong cold wind.

As was to be expected the targets at the Dolphin were even more testing than usual. I say as usual as I was disappointed to see that only 2 Stands had been completely changed from those we shot in October. You would have thought that we would have learnt how to hit them by now but no more were missed than hit.

The day was enjoyed by all who took part and it was nice to see some new members as well as guests shooting with us.

Scores were low  (I am still blaming a faulty gun and sever weather) with even our best shooters struggling to put in a good score.

Our new Shoot Captain Ian Heyes put in a late appearance, and was in time to shoot the layout and organise the prize giving.

As usual we retired to the Dolphin Inn for lunch and prize giving and traditionally prizes were awarded in reverse order with ‘least coming first’ .

A raffle raised £55.00 and thanks must go to all who brought prizes, especially W Bro Mike Pinckard, ‘Shootin’ Starrs’, for the donation of fabulous shooting goodies, as well as Sue & Lawrence Alston for organising it.

Thanks to all who attended we hope to see you all on 18th February next year at Tarnacre Farm, St Michaels.

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Whittington Shoot 2006

One Saturday 29th July the WLMCPSS fielded two teams in the Whittington Charity Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition held by the kind permission of Lord Reay : one captained by W Bro Howard Whittaker and the other by W Bro Ian Heyes.

The shoot consisted of an individual 40 bird sporting competition and then a 100 bird grouse flush which was particularly difficult but very exciting.  At the conclusion of the competition we were then invited to take part in a 100 bird 2 man duck flush, which was fine for the shooter in the right hand cage – as for the shooter in the left had cage - enough said.  The ticket price included a suckling pig roast lunch and there was a super raffle and silent auction.  Last year the event raised £4900 and it is hoped that this figure is exceeded this year.

Howard’s team had a combined score of 98 and 48 in the flush and Ian’s team comprising of W Bros: Eric Nixon, Lloyd Davies and Glynn Wrennall had a score of 116 and 54 in the flush.

The winner of the individual sporting event was Tom Robinson with 38 out of 40, with Kevin Mayor 2nd and Mike Robson 3rd with 37 after a shoot off. The Young Colts prize went to Crabtree juniors, the Ladies Trophy to Sue Rook and the Team Trophy to Malmo Guns with a score of 128.  The flush was won by Crabtree A

Overall a splendid day out in the north Lancashire countryside.

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Ulpha on Sea

This years West Lancashire Provincial Shoot was held at Lindale Gun Club, Meathop, Nr. Grange over Sands (signposted Ulpha) on Sunday 30th April.

Whilst most of the county was experiencing a wet day the cooling breeze and the excellent climate of the gulf peninsula provided a wonderful sunny day as we gazed across the estuary towards Arnside and the Knott.

38 competitors, members, guests and veterans took part in what proved to be a challenging shoot over 5 stands of 5 pairs of different degrees of skills.  There was also a 25 bird compact sporting layout which was organised as a fascinating game of snooker whereupon after shooting a red you could pick a colour of various degrees of difficulty from an easy yellow to a much more difficult black (the harder the bird the higher the score).

The Society Chairman W Bro Brian A Jackson presented the trophies assisted by the Society Secretary W Bro Mike Casey as follows: The Thomas Williams Novice Trophy was won by Mrs Cath Read with a score of 8, the Veterans Trophy was won by Bro Lloyd Davies with a score of 40 and the Harold Naylor High Gun Trophy was shared by W Bro Ian Heyes and Mike Casey jnr. with a score of 39 each.  The Brian Taylor Group Trophy was presented to Bro Chris Horn of the Furness and South Lakeland Group in recognition of the sterling work they had done for the Society during the year. The High Guest Gun was Mr Keith Webber with a score of 41 out of 50. 

The Society Chairman then closed by thanking everyone for attending, wishing them all a safe journey home and looking forward to seeing everyone at Leighton Hall.

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Sportsman's Dinner - 31st March 2006

145 gentlemen attended the bi-annual Sportsman’s Dinner of the Society which was held on 31st March 2006, at Wellington Park, Leyland where a super five-course dinner was provided.

On arrival at the dinner table everyone was asked to place £2 in an envelope with their name on it with a chance of winning a pair of wonderful Nikon Sportstar Binoculars kindly donated by Wilkinson’ Cameras, this raised a magnificent £290.

There was then a thrilling game of stand up bingo for a bottle of 10 year old Glenmorangie, organised by W Bro John Hammond, and ironically won by our MC for the evening W Bro John Henry Mayor.

The principal speaker for the evening (ex Royal Navy submariner) Stan Taylor then amused the audience with his anecdotes and tales at the conclusion of which he received a standing ovation.

There was then an auction of sporting memorabilia with a Man. City signed football raising £61, a Blackburn Rovers ball raising £60 and a Wigan RLFC ball raising £50. The highlight of the auction was a Hole Pennant from the Father and Son Challenge Pro Am pairings in Florida, mounted in a wonderful frame and signed by Vijay Singh, Bernhard Langer, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Kite and Curtis Strange just to mention a few names.  This, however, sadly didn’t reach its reserve but a private sale is currently in the offing.

It was then time for North Eastern comedian Max Peters who was very well received.

There was the a Chorley Swindle (sorry raffle) for a beautiful, bright yellow, remote controlled Ferrari which raised the magnificent sum of £265.00

The Society Vice-Chairman then thanked John Henry and W Bro Kevin O’Brien for MC’ing the event, W Bro Ian Heyes for his organisational skills and all his committee members for their efforts.  He went on to advise the audience of the forthcoming National Shoot to be held at Leighton Hall, Carnforth on 18th June towards which the proceeding of the night’s  event were to go, helping raise the amount to be given to charities on the day.

Finally he wished everyone Good night and a save journey home.

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Worsley Grange Away Day - February 2006

Worsley Grange Gun Club on Sunday 10th February saw the first in a series of Away Day events where shooters from other Provinces are invited to come and shoot a bit and eat a bit so to speak.  The shoot a bit this time was in the style of a 50 bird Sporting on a super layout of a similar standard to Kelbrook and the eat a bit was in the form of a carvery lunch at the John Gilbert pub next to the M60 motorway junction.

There were shooters from East Lancashire, Cumberland and Westmorland and West Lancashire in attendance this time. Whoever named Manchester the rainy city certainly got that one right and many of our competitors were held up on the motorway due to a serious accident (our thoughts go out to those involved and their families).

The winner, taking the trophy and the whisky, was Bro Lloyd Davies with a score of 43 out of 50, runner-up was our Shoot Captain, Mr High Gun himself, W Bro Mike Clowes with 38 and Mike Casey jnr was 3rd with 28.

From a wet and misty Manchester morning there was a little ray of sunshine on everyone’s faces as they left the pub looking forward to the next event.

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Turkey Shoot 2005

On Sunday 4th December over 30 members and their families went along to the Flying Fish Shooting Ground at Longton to enjoy the annual Turkey Shoot.  We were still happily enjoying the freakish weather we seem to enjoy these days and it was no surprise to have such a warm, mild day – Longton Marsh is well known as a wet and windy area.

The shoot was of a particularly high standard with a couple of easy stands and a couple that sorted the men from the boys. The competition was a 30 Sporting Bird and the Masonic high gun was W Bro Paul James with a score of 25.  The high score on the ground was a magnificent 29.

So it was off to the pub for a spot of lunch and the presentation of the prizes.  As is the custom of our Turkey Shoots everyone brings a prize so everyone leaves with one, presented in reverse order so that the lowest shoot of the day has first choice and so on with the winner actually choosing last. The lowest score and the winner of the competition was Rachel Chester (daughter of the infamous Danny) with a worthy score of 5 out of 30.

A wonderful day at a great shoot, in great company with an excellent pub lunch.

See you next year.

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Family Fun Day - 25th September 2005

Sunday 25th September was the day the Furness and South Lakeland Group held their annual clay pigeon shooting ‘have a go’ Family Fun Day under the directorship of W Bro Alan McDougal. Alan was ably helped along by his wife Christine, W Bros Gilbert Bushby, Jim Richards, Gary Neale and his wife Eileen and Mr Chris Slater who offered professional tuition and gun safety to the many novices who turned up on the day.

The day was a little overcast with the occasional heavy shower and it was a little damp underfoot, but that did nothing to dampen the spirits of the many families who came along to have a go. The highest score of the day was shared equally with 27 out of 30 by W Bros Ian Shaw and Keith Webber. Then it was back to the Angler’s Arms at Haverthwaite where 48 brethren, family and friends sat down to a roast beef dinner, presentation and the raffle. There were many winners, well everyone really, because we all had such a good time and helped raise £164.00 to go towards the presentation to charity at the National Masonic Inter-Provincial Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition at Leighton Hall, Carnforth next June.

Congratulations Furness and South Lakeland Group.

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“A reet gud doo in Yorkshire”

18 West Lancashire Clay Shooters went along to Knaresborough, nr Harrogate to compete in the annual Inter-Provincial Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition known as The Watson Eden Trophy – and what a day we had. The weather was bright and sunny with blue skies, quite a contrast to what we had experienced in Lancashire all week. There were 4 stands of 5 pairs in the competition and a 10 bird Pool Shoot.

The Knaresborough Gun Club has recently suffered from planning problems and has made a wonderful job of restructuring the layout and the provision of a compact sporting layout. The highest score in the Pool Shoot with 10 out of 10 was Martin Benson, and in joint second place with 9 were J Barker, G Bucks and our own Alex Hammond. The High Gun of the day, winning the Yorkshire West Riding Trophy, was W Bro Nigel Hurst with 31 out of 40. The West Lancashire High Gun was shared By W Bros Ian Heyes and Harold Carter with a score of 30 and Cumberland and Westmorland’s High Gun Trophy was won by W Bro A Farish with 28.

The scores for the Watson Eden Trophy were as follows:

Cumberland and Westmorland 120
Yorkshire West Riding 145
West Lancashire 162

A convincing win for the West Lancashire Team of Ian Heyes – 30, Harold Carter – 30, Paul James – 28, Alex Hammond – 26, Lloyd Davies –24 and Glynn Wrennall – 24.

A super lunch was provided at The Bay Horse in the beautiful West Riding village of Goldsboro, famous for being the home to royalty, where Stuart Cowley and his team were thanked for their sterling work at the ground.

The venue for next year’s shoot will be discussed at our next Committee Meeting but will be held on the 1st Sunday in October 2006 and hosted by West Lancashire.

Many thanks to our hosts, Yorkshire West Riding, who gave everyone “a reet gud doo in Yorkshire”.

Harold Carter, Dr John Watson YWR and Ian Heyes

Dr William Watson YWR, Glynn Wrennall and Dr John Watson YWR

Alex Hammond, Ian Heyes, Harold Carter, Glynn Wrennall, Paul James
and Lloyd Davies

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Provincial Shoot 15th May 2005

The annual West Lancashire Provincial Shooting Competition was held this year at The Dolphin Shooting Ground, Marsh Lane, Longton on Sunday 15th May.

38 members and guest turned up to compete in the 30 Sporting Bird Competition, which was shot over 7 different stands.

The winner of the members shoot was Bro Lloyd Davies with a score of 23. The Guest trophy went to Mr S Gorry with a score of 27. The Veteran’s Trophy was presented to W Bro Mike Casey (the Society’s Secretary) with a score of 19 and the Novice Trophy was presented to W Bro Dave Potts with 5.

It was decided that because of the large amount of support received from the South Blackpool Group of Lodges to the Society that the Group Trophy would be presented to them in the presence of their Group Chairman on some future occasion.

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Pictures from the Inter Provincial Shoot at Hoghton Tower

North West Air Ambulance trailer presented by the PGM at the 2004 Inter provincial Clay Pigeon Shoot at Houghton Towers (see report above)

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2004 Essex Club Championship

On Bank Holiday Monday 31st May a team of 5 Shooters from West Lancashire travelled down to Stapleford Tawney in Essex to compete in the Essex County Championship. Well not quite, they actually run a separate Masonic Competition within the county event.

Stapleford Tawney set in rolling countryside is only 18 miles from London and has its own private airfield where collectors of old and rare planes like Tiger Moths etc. fly them up in the air with what did not look like the greatest of ease but more like a wing and a prayer.

On our arrival at the ground several Essex shooters greeted us accompanied by their Provincial Grand Master Rt. W Bro Sir Neil Thorne OBE TD DL and his wife who proved excellent company.

The competition was not difficult but we must not have travelled well. Out of the 100 bird shoot Harold Carter was the High Gun with 74, Ian Heyes second with 73, Mike Clowes third with 67, Glynn Wrennall fourth with 59 and Mike Casey fifth with 56 a total of 329 out of 500, which came in at a respectable third place in the competition.

After the shoot Sir Neil kindly invited us to join him for lunch at the airfield restaurant. In all a wonderful day out and well worth the journey.

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West Lancashire Provincial Shoot

The West Lancashire Provincial Shoot was once again held at The Blackpool Gun Club, Back Lane, Singleton, which is now under new ownership. First impressions are that a lot of time and effort has been spent on general maintenance with lots of new trees and shrubs spread around the grounds and even flower borders. All the grassed areas are well kept and a new clubhouse has been constructed – we wish them well for the future.

The competition was hard fought with over 20 masons taking part. It was good to see old friends again and even better to welcome back a few faces from the past who, had all turned out to enjoy the friendly rivalry on a glorious sunny Sunday afternoon on the Fylde.

The results were as follows THE HAROLD NAYLOR TROPHY for the High Gun was won this year by W Bro Ian Heyes with a magnificent 34 out of 42, W Bro Tony Curtis was runner-up with 33 and W Bro Glynn Wrennall third with 31. The T WILLIAMS TROPHY for the best Novice was won by W Bro David Glover and THE VETERANS TROPHY was won by John Kirwan. The Group Trophy known as THE BRIAN TAYLOR TROPHY, which is presented annually to the group which has given the most support to the Society, was presented to the Chorley Group, in their absence, in recognition of the assistance given by W Bro Robin Morris in finding us so many new members and for his generous donation of prizes at the recent Sportsman’s Dinner. Finally the raffle was won by W Bro John Hammond who won back the bottle of whisky he had so kindly donated.

All prizes were presented by W Bro Philip Gunning, the Society Vice-Chairman with the Society’s Chairman W Bro Brian Jackson in attendance.

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Annual General Meeting - held on Friday 25th June 2004

1. The Meeting was opened by the Chairman of the Society W Bro B A Jackson PJGD who welcomed everyone and thanked them all for attending. He explained that the reason for the change of date was to allow the Treasurer extra time to finalise the Accounts after the National Shoot.

2. The Minutes of the previous A.G.M., already circulated, were approved by the meeting.

3. There were no matters arising from those Minutes.

4. In his report the Chairman thanked the acting Treasurer for standing in at such short notice and congratulated him on his sterling work done over the year. The mid-week shoot at Kelbrook Shooting Ground on the 3rd Wednesday of every month had proved a great success. He praised Robbie McBride on the excellent work he had done on cataloguing the Society’s Archives and he went on to say that the Society greatly appreciated the support it had received from the P.G.M. Rt W Bro Colin Penty Wright and concluded by congratulating Peter Wilson on celebrating his 50 years in Freemasonry whilst thanking him for his generous donation he also wished Mike Casey a happy 60th birthday that he was celebrating at home with his family.

5. The Secretary K Langshaw reported that there had been a reduced number of shooters at Blackpool Gun Club at the Provincial Shoot and that he thought it was now time for change of venue and asked if anyone had any ideas for increasing the attendance.

6. The Treasurer D Glover reported that the use of email would substantially reduce the Society’s postage costs currently running at £250 per year, before going on to explain his restructuring of the Society’s Accounts.

He said that there had been some concern over the flexibility of the Grand Charity Relief Chest but the situation had been resolved and it was agreed that £1600 be held back from the Fund and kept in the current account to assist with any costs incurred in organising any future event. The Sportsman’s Dinner had proved a great success and it was no surprise that the Accounts were approved and a letter of thanks was on its way to the Auditors.

7. The Shoot Captain M Clowes reported that he was pleased with the Hoghton Tower Shoot and had found the administration there superb. He reported that five shooters from the Province had had a wonderful day in Essex at their annual shoot being personally welcomed by the P.G.M. Rt W Bro Sir Neil Thorn OBE, DL, TD. He went on to say that the Provincial shoot had been a success despite the fall in numbers and that this year’s Inter-Provincial Shoot was to be hosted by Cumberland and Westmorland at Penrith Gun Club on Sunday 3rd October.

The Vice Chairman P Gunning congratulated everyone on their efforts and thanked the large army of volunteers. He was pleased to report that the general feedback from the visitors was that the Society had gained a lot of credibility by organising such a huge and successful event. He went on to say that the P.G.M. wished to express his thanks to everyone for their hospitality and generosity.

8. There were only two changes to the Committee with Keith Nuttall standing down and the Editorship of Newsletter being passed to Mrs. Cath Reed.

9. There was to be no increase in the cost of subscriptions for this year.

10. After the events held this year and taking into account the £15,700 already donated at Hoghton Tower it was agreed that a further £300 be donated to The Game Conservancy Trust for their work in regenerating the countryside, £500 to the Bowland and Pennine Mountain Rescue Team, £250 each to The Friends of Ecclesholme and The Friends of Tythebarn making a total for the year of £17,000 with a further £1,000 to be allocated in the future.

11. The Chairman recommended that a sub-committee be formed by Glynn Wrennall, Dave Glover, Ian Heyes and Mike Clowes to find ways of increasing attendance at shoots. Dennis Reed suggested that better communications with new members should be introduced. Glynn Wrennall reported recent acknowledgments from Freemasonry Today and MQ Magazine and hoped to receive future editorial in their magazines. The Chairman is to organise a trip to a Lodge in West Yorkshire to present the Trophy to the winners of the Masonic Team Trophy event at Hoghton Tower. Finally a letter should be sent to all group Chairmen to thank all the volunteers from their groups for their assistance at Hoghton Tower.

12. The Provincial Shoot for 2005 is to be held on Sunday 8th May at a venue yet to be decided.

13. The secretary concluded by asking that the usual assistance on the annual Post Night in January would be appreciated.

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Inter-Provincial Shoot 3rd October 2004

The small Cumbrian hamlet of Bowscar on the A6, 3 miles north of Penrith is the home of Penrith Gun Club, which was this year’s venue for the annual Inter-Provincial Shoot. Bowscar has a population of almost 40 people and lies on moorland at the foot of the unforgiving Alston Moor, famous for steep, winding roads, snow poles and unwelcoming weather. For the past two months it has also suffered the tail end effects of hurricane this or hurricane that, so it was very lucky or perhaps an intervention from above that organised a window in the weather between 9.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. on Sunday the 3rd of October – believe me this could only happen in Cumbria.

The Gun Club is a small personal affair whose members were kind enough to provide 40 Sporting Birds none of which were particularly difficult to hit and an 8 bird Pool Shoot that proved to be quite testing with W Bros. P James, A Peel, N Pickering, K Graham and Howard (one pellet) Whittaker were last seen escaping the field with prizes.

Taking part in this year’s competition were the Provinces of West Lancashire, Yorkshire West Riding and our hosts’ Cumberland and Westmorland. East Lancashire unfortunately couldn’t enter a team this year.

The High Masonic Gun of the day was W Bro Paul James of West Lancashire with a score of 37 and the Guest High Gun was Bob Steventon also with 37. The results were as follows: in 3rd Place Cumberland and Westmorland 165 out of a possible 240, 2nd place Yorkshire West Riding with 178 and the winners of the Watson Eden Trophy with 198 were West Lancashire whose members were W Bros. P James, M Clowes E Nixon, G Wrennall, H Whittaker, L Davies. (I Heyes also had the same score, but only 6 count).

After the shoot it was off to the Stoneybeck Inn for super bar snacks and light libation where W Bro Keith Graham our shoot organiser thanked everyone for travelling to Cumbria and then invited W Bro Richard Parker PJGD, Deputy Grand Superintendent of the Province of Cumberland and Westmorland and Chairman of the South Westmorland Group of Lodges to present the prizes. The pool shoot raised £74 and the raffle £105 helping towards an overall profit on the day of over £340.00, which is to be donated to charity in the very near future.

An excellent day, one of great fun and camaraderie and a marvellous charitable achievement. Well done Cumberland and Westmorland.

Paul James, Lloyd Davies and Mike Pinkard all West Lancashire

R Parker PJGD Deputy Grand Superintendent of Cumberland and Westmorland
presenting Watson Eden Trophy to Mike Clowes
Shoot Captain of West Lancashire

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Family Fun Day - 10 th October 2004

Sunday 10th October 2004 saw the Northern Group Family Fun Day at Lindale Gun Club, where masons are encouraged to bring along family and friends to have a go at clay pigeon shooting.

The event was organised by W Bro Alan McDougall and his wife Christine who were ably assisted by Bros Gilbert Bushby, Jimmy Bernie and W Bro Gary Neale. There was also a coaching stand run by Chris Slater offering advice on gun handling and safety, which proved to be extremely popular.  

The afternoon was a great success with around 30 people taking part. We were extremely lucky weather wise, the rain managed to hold off although the wind was quite cool which I suppose is to be expected at this time of year.  

It was then off to the Angler’s Arms at Haverthwaite where 45 of us sat down to enjoy a wonderful roast beef dinner and to sample the extensive range of cask beers on offer. The joint High Gun of the day with 28 out of 30 was W Bro Ian Heyes and Bro Ian Shaw, but the winners drawn at random from all the entries (as the Northern Group do to be fair to the novices) were W Bros W Phillipson PPrJGW and John Birkett PPrSGD.  

The shoot and raffle raised the magnificent sum of £113.50, which was donated to the WLMCPSS to be added to their charitable donations fund for distribution in the near future.  

Thank you Alan and the Northern Group for a great day out.

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Presentation of the Group Trophy

On Tuesday 6 th October 2004 W Bro Philip H Gunning PAGDC, Vice Chairman of the Society and W Bro Ian Heyes PPrSGD, representative of the Society for the Leyland Group went along to Westhoughton Masonic Hall to visit Chorley St James Lodge. Phil Gunning gave a talk on the history of the West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society and an introduction to game shooting. At the conclusion of which he presented the Brian Taylor Group Trophy to W Bro Robin Morris, the Director of Ceremonies of the Lodge and the representative of the Chorley Group, for the sterling work he had done for the Society and to acknowledge the support of Chorley Freemasons. (The Group Trophy is presented annually to the Group who have best supported the Society).

W Bro Morris then very kindly donated two signed footballs to the Society (Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers) to be used for fund raising at some future event.

Then it was off to the festive board, which Westhoughton Masonic Hall is famous for.

Congratulations to the Chorley Group and Robin.

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Turkey Shoot - Flying Fish, Longton - 5th December 2004

The annual ‘Turkey’ shoot was held this year on Sunday, 5th December, at the Flying Fish, Longton, Preston. As most of you know, this was not to shoot the Turkey for Christmas Dinner, but to win one by shooting at clay pigeons - which are much smaller than turkeys, and so harder to hit…..

There were not many of us shooting (possibly due to the change of date) but it was a very nice day, weatherwise, although quite windy (which of course affected the shooting!! - that’s my excuse, Ed) The event was enjoyed by all who took part.

It was a 30 bird shoot and the results were as follows :-

• Ian Hayes 20
• Steve Coombes 19
• Mike Clowes 18
• Robbie McBride & 17
Mike Casey Snr.
• Kevin Langshaw 15
• Mike Casey Jnr. & 11
Lawrence Alston
• Cath Read 6
• Dennis Read 2

The prizegiving was held in the Flying Fish with all participants bringing a prize and being chosen in reverse order, so that the losers got first choice.

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Whittington Annual Clay Shoot

The 3rd Annual Whittington Clay Shoot was held on Saturday the 30th July 2005 by kind permission of Lord Wray, all proceeds to be equally distributed between North West Air Ambulance and the Countryside Alliance.

The competition consisted of a 40 bird-sporting shoot: 1). High Pheasant (very). 2). Whispering Woodcock. 3). Driven Grouse. 4). Mixed Bag which was a 200 mph virtual rabbit / wallaby between 3 and 4 feet off the ground and a disappearing snipe. There was also a 100 bird 4 man flush.

The event attracted over 140 shooters including nine members of the WLMCPSS none of whom wish to openly discuss their scores. The top score for the sporting competition was 36 out of 40 and the Patton Bridge team, won the flush for the third year running, with 94 out of 100 (they were incredible to watch).

Nevertheless there was a wonderful hog roast by courtesy of Pigonaspit, adequate bar facilities and a splendid silent auction.

Congratulations to John Bell and Jason Dakin for putting on such a challenging competition and raising £2200.00 we look forward to seeing you again next year.

(From Left to Right) Ian Toomey, Stan Barr, Howard Whittaker,
Neil Forsyth and Glynn Wrennall

(From left to right) Tom Blackburn, Ian Heyes, Phil Gunning and Eric Nixon

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Furness and South Lakeland Group
Family Fun Day - 24th September 2006

This years Furness and South Lakeland Group Family Fun Day was held at Stan’s Shooting Ground, Back of the Fell Road, Lindale, Grange over Sands on Sunday 24th September.

After violent storms the night before it became one of those lovely crisp, warm September days. There was a 30 bird sporting competition with a beginner’s tuition stand once again manned by Chris Slater who offered friendly helpful advice to would-be clay pigeon shooters.  Then it was back to the Anglers Arms at Haverthwaite for our usual roast beef dinner.

After the meal the Vice-Chairman of the Society W Bro Glynn Wrennall thanked those brethren who had assisted in the preparation, running and clearing away of the National Competition at Leighton Hall in June.  He then congratulated W Bro Alan McDougall and his wife Christine for all the effort they had put into making the Fun Day such a success and Bro Jim Richards and John Martin for helping them.

The high score of the day was won (unusually) by the Society’s Vice-Chairman but because the Furness & South Lakeland Group always do things a little bit differently all the score cards were put into a basket and the two winners drawn at random managed to win a litre bottle of wine each.  Along with the raffle the event raised the wonderful sum of £174.00 which has been passed to the Society’s charity account. 

Alan was then presented with the Brian Taylor Group Trophy to be held for 12 months by the Group which had contributed the most to the Society during the past year.

Everyone was then thanked for coming along and making the annual event such a success and reminded of the Inter-Provincial Shoot to be held on the 1st October at the Flying Fish at Longton.

See you next year.

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Inter-Provincial Shoot 2006

The 21st Inter-Provincial Shoot, this year hosted by West Lancashire, was held at Longton Gun Club, Nr Preston on Sunday 1st October.  Weather conditions were perfect although the ground provided a challenging competition for the 53 brethren who took part.  Whilst all the birds were hittable it was difficult to find any level of consistency hence the varying scores.

The facilities, although I have said it before, are now excellent with 30 or 50 sporting bird, DTL and ball trap competitions as well as a separate coaching stand for novices or even experienced shooters who have perhaps just got into bad habits. 

After the social board which was held at The Golden Ball pub where the home-cooked food was extremely reasonably priced the Vice-Chairman of the Society announced the results of the competition calling upon W Bro Eddie Caulfield PSGD, Assistant Provincial Grand Master of the Province of West Lancashire to present the trophies:

3rd place – the Cumberland and Westmorland team with a total of 84 out of 150 were W Bros: Glynn Wrennall 24, Alan Farish 28 and Keith Graham 32.

2nd place – the West Lancashire team with a score of 98 were: a number of brethren scoring 31 including W Bros: Mike Casey, Lloyd Davies and Richard Myerscough, Ian Heyes 33 and (West Lancashire’s High Gun) Alec Hammond 34.

1st place – and winning the Watson Eden Trophy – the Yorkshire West Riding Team with a score of 102 were W Bros; Mike Jefferson 27, team captain William Watson 29 and Nigel Hurst with a magnificent 46 out of 50 – the highest score not only for Yorkshire West Riding but for the whole competition.

What a wonderful day out for all with entries and the raffle raising in excess of £274.00 for the Society’s charity account.

Presentation to High Gun West Lancashire - Alec Hammond

Presentation of Trophy to Yorkshire West Riding

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NGO Annual Shoot

The National Gamekeeper’s Organisation held their Annual Northern Clay Shooting Competition at the Lindale Gun Club on Sunday 22nd April 2007 with 150 guns taking part.  The competition comprised of four stands of sporting birds making a total of 30 very challenging targets and then two 100 bird flushes, one a very high pheasant and the other a duck flush which without exaggeration might as well have been a Star Wars re-enactment with Darth Vader on the buttons.  The highest score on the sporting was Colin Breaks of Kendal with 23 out of 30 and the Patton Bridge Team won both flush events, the highest score being 88 out of 100 on the pheasant flush.  Unfortunately the chairman of the NGO did not announce the score on the Star Wars flush. 

WLMCPSS fielded a team of willing shooters – W Bros: Howard Whittaker, Glynn Wrennall and Ian Heyes and Bros: George Marland and Lloyd Davies.  To put things into perspective our highest score was 17 out of 30 by Howard and the lowest being me our Vice-Chairman with 13. I also admit to an almost acceptable 68 on the pheasant flush and a not so acceptable 46 on the duck flush. And just to rub salt into the wounds it rained all day even if the excellent hotpot lunch at Endmoor Club where we met for the raffle and presentations helped ease the pain.

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Provincial Shoot 6th May 2007

Do you remember all that good weather we had in April and early May well it all changed on Sunday 6th May – the day of the West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society’s annual Provincial Shoot.  This year held at Toplands Farm, Woodplumpton just north of Preston with a 50 sporting bird competition and the option to shoot 25 skeet.  The sporting consisted of eight stands of birds which the wind made extremely twitchy.

The Thomas Williams Novice Trophy went to Ian Walton with a very creditable 25 out of 50.  Ian, who was accompanied by his son, hasn’t been shooting long and 25 was a very acceptable score. The Guest High Gun with a superb 41 out of 50 was Keith Webber a well seasoned shooter. The Veteran’s Trophy was won by Harold Carter with a score of 32 and The Harold Naylor High Gun Trophy was won by Evan Walsh with a score of 39, the runner up was the Society’s Vice Chairman Glynn Wrennall with 35 and Ian Heyes and Alex Hammond with 34. The Brian Taylor Trophy which is presented annually to the Group Representative whose Group has given the most support to the Society during the past twelve months was presented to Richard Dennison for the Lancaster Group. And finally a special prize of a beautiful shiny white stick, introduced this year for the best trier, but unfortunately also the lowest scorer, was presented to Kirsty Allen with a score of eleven.

Once again out thanks go to all of those who supported us and the staff at The Wheatsheaf, Woodplumpton who provided a great pub lunch for us all. The raffle raised £125 for the Society’s charitable coffers, our thanks to those who so generously donated prizes.

Bro Evan Walsh winner of Harold Naylor Trophy

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IN MEMORIUM
Bro Steve P Anderton Duke of Lancaster Lodge No 1353

"After a long illness Steve Anderton died in the Royal Lancaster Infirmary at the age of 59.  Steve was Northern area representative for Eley for 15 years and helped organise the major clay pigeon shooting competitions that Eley sponsored - in particular The Rolex British OT Grand Prix and numerous charity shoots attended by the Royal family and celebrities.

He knew every gunsmith for miles around and travelled vast distances visiting clients and shooting grounds. 

In 1970 He qualified as a F.I.T.A.S.C International referee, one of the first in the country. He was also Team Manager for the successful Great Britain teams that travelled to Switzerland and Spain. Steve also was an excellent game shot.

Masonically he put his experience to good use and was the Lancaster Group Representative on the West Lancashire Masonic Clay Shooting Committee and joined in many of the Provincial & Inter Provincial shoots

As a tribute to Steve - through donations - a memorial trophy has been bought and an annual ABT clay pigeon shoot will take place at the A6 Clay Target Centre, Westhoughton on Sunday June 3."

Our thoughts are with his long time partner Sue and his brother John

National Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition

Leighton Hall Carnforth Lancashire
18th June 2006

Leighton Hall
Third National Masonic Inter-Provincial Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition
and

Charity begins at Holme

Well Holme is approximately 4 miles east of Yealand Conyers, Carnforth as the crow flies and actually has nothing to do with this report but charity has …..

After a blistering week with soaring temperatures it was hard to imagine what was to come on Sunday 18th June – dull and light showers early morning turning to heavy showers by 11.00 a.m. which lasted for the rest of the day.  Nevertheless, the wet north Lancashire weather did nothing to dampen the spirits of the 240 competitors who turned up from all over the country to compete in our 100 sporting bird competition.  No less than 16 Provinces were represented from far and wide including Cambridgeshire, Middlesex, Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London, Northern Ireland, Herefordshire, Surrey and Staffordshire to mention a few.  The results for the Masonic Trophy (out of a possible 300) were as follows:

The event was complimented with a visit from the members of the West Lancashire Masonic Car Club who were happy to display their beautiful vehicles.  The BASC North of England Director, Mr Phillip Pugh was in attendance with a display showing the good work the BASC organisation does both in the field and with its youth education programmes and there was a very popular suckling pig roast

Preceding the presentations within the entrance of the Hall there was an introduction by the Chairman of the West Lancashire Masonic Clay Pigeon Shooting Society W Bro Brian A Jackson which concluded with a presentation of a cheque, from the Society for £10000.00 to the New Masonic Samaritan Fund 2010 Festival, to the Provincial Grand Master who was pleased to accept it and in return presented the Society with a Gold Patron Certificate. There then followed the presentations by the Provincial Grand Master of West Lancashire Rt. W Bro Colin Penty Wright and his wife Mrs Kathryn Wright to the representatives of the following charities:

To Mr Bill Holmes, the Chairman of the Trustees for the Brian House Children’s Hospice on the Fylde - £5000.00.

To Mr Phillip Pugh, Director North of England BASC for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation Young Shots Programme - £1500.00.

To Annie Mawson for the Sunbeams Music Trust which helps to educate disadvantaged and severely handicapped children through music - £250.00

To Mrs Reynolds of Leighton Hall charity of choice the North West Children’s Support Group - £250.00.

And to Mrs Kathryn Wright’s charity of choice – Breakthrough Breast Cancer - £250.00.

A total of £17250.00.  I am reliably advised by the Treasurer of the Society that once the final sums are added up we can also expect to donate even more money to charity.

The Provincial Grand Master continued the presentation of the prizes to the winners of the various competitions:

V. W. Bro. T. Blackburn presents the Trophy to Jessica Campbell

Rt W Bro Colin Penty Wright Provincial Grand Master of West Lancashire presents the Masonic Team Trophy to V W Bro Peter Baker Dep PGM of Middlesex

Mrs Kath Wright receives the Ladies Trophy from Rt W Bro Colin Penty Wright

W Bro Howard Whittaker (joint 3rd place) receives the Masonic Runners Up Trophy

K A Ellis from Cambridgeshire receiving the Trophy for the Masonic High Gun

Winner of the Guest Trophy Mr A Wright and Rt W Bro C P Wright

Results 2006 (Microsoft Excel File)               

I wish to enjoin with our Chairman W Bro Brian Jackson in thanking all the committee, the helpers, the scorers, the car park attendants, the caterers and their staff, indeed everyone who worked so hard to make this wonderful venue work so well for the Province of West Lancashire in promoting such a prestigious event. What a marvellous achievement and a wonderful opportunity for everyone to renew acquaintances and to forge new friendships.

Congratulations all!

Glynn Wrennall
Vice Chairman
June 2006

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4th National Masonic Clay Shooting Competition

The 4th National Masonic Clay Target Shooting Competition was hosted by the Surrey Masonic Sports Association at the prestigious Canada Lodge, Bisley on Saturday 25th August 2007.

Bisley has been the home of shooting since 1860, previous to which the military ranges and major sporting events had been held on Wimbledon Common. It was only as the fast growing city of London engulfed Wimbledon that a new home had to be found, Bisley being chosen over several other locations. The Canada Lodge was constructed by the Canadian forces stationed in England before the 1st World War using materials and furnishings imported from their home country to create a home from home for the troops.

The competition was set over 17 stands, mostly of three pairs, with a novice stand and a pool shoot, and whilst a 100 bird competition demands a high level of concentration there weren’t any birds that could be considered as outrageously difficult.  There were nine competitors from the Province of West Lancashire, who were cheered on and encouraged by their enthusiastic Chairman and Assistant Provincial Grand Master W Bro Eddie Caulfield PSGD, most of whom had stayed overnight in or around London with the rest driving down early Saturday morning. The weather, for the first time that week in Surrey, was a scorching hot summer’s day with little wind and absolutely no excuses for poor performances.

So now the scene is set I suppose you would like to know the results.  The West Lancashire teams, whilst enjoying much camaraderie shot well and represented their Province admirably, the individual scores are as follows:

All prizes were presented by the Provincial Grand Master of the Province of Surrey the R W Bro Eric Stuart-Bamford.  Surrey provided us all with a super buffet lunch with a Jazz Band, a bar and draught beer provided by Hogs Back Brewery.  There was also a vintage car display. At the end of the presentations there was a raffle and charity auction helping to swell the coffers for the day.

The Province of Surrey and all those who assisted, especially W Bro Mike Bushby and the Provincial Stewards Lodge worked so hard to make the event such a great success with ten Provinces and over 150 competitors taking part, are to be congratulated for hosting such a super competition and a wonderful day out

Cornwall's Winning team

Canada Lodge, Bisley

In Action !

A Well Earned Rest

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Inter-Provincial Shoot Sunday 7th October 2007

This year’s competition was hosted by the Province of Cumberland and Westmorland at Penrith Gun Club, Bowscar set in a wonderful and wild moor land landscape.  The event consisted of a 25 bird down the line pool shoot which certainly warmed everyone up and then onto a 40 bird sporting.  The sporting consisted of 5 pairs of birds from over your head – on report, 5 pairs of driven grouse, 5 pairs of left to right crossing birds - on report which were quite testing, and the ones that the competition results seem to hinge on and 5 pairs of a rising, flying away bird also on report.

The attendance was exceptionally encouraging with a splendid turnout from the hosts Province’s shooters which if anything overwhelmed the day. Refreshments were available at the Gun Club but lunch was served afterwards at the Sour Nook Inn, Sebergham, nr Carlisle where everyone enjoyed either the roast beef or lamb lunch.

All prizes were presented by Mrs Margaret Graham who kindly donated a Trophy to the Cumberland and Westmorland highest three scorers in memory of her late husband W Bro Keith Graham who had for many years been a keen ambassador for the Province at all the Masonic shooting events. The results of the competition are as follows:

The Watson Eden Trophy:  3rd Place Yorkshire West Riding with 177
                                     2nd Place Cumberland and Westmorland with 180
                                     1st Place West Lancashire with 206 all out of 240

(The winning team for West Lancashire – Glynn Wrennall (36), Howard Whittaker (35), Evan Walsh (35), Ian Heyes (35), Mike Woods (34) and Mike Clowes (33).

The Les Jennings-Hoole Trophy for the High Gun for West Lancashire – W Bro Glynn Wrennall with 36 out of 40

The High Gun for Cumberland and Westmorland – W Bro Steve Swatts with 36

The Keith Graham Trophy - W Bros: Steve Swatts, John Fisher and Keith Robinson

The Lawson Cup for the High Gun for Yorkshire West Riding – Bro Steve Thackeray with 37

25 Bird DTL Pool Shoot - there were 4 winners who each received £20 each for shooting 25 straight:
            Yorkshire West Riding                      Steve Thackeray
            Cumberland and Westmorland           Joe Gibbons
            West Lancashire                            Alex Hammond
                                                              Kevin Hogg

The Atkinson Shield presented to the Lodge who have provided the most support for the Cumberland and Westmorland Clay Pigeon Association during the year was presented to Sir Galahad Lodge No 5897, Carlisle.

Congratulations to W Bro John Hunter of Wigton St Mary’s Lodge No 6537 and his team for working so hard and for providing a fun day for so many brethren and their guests and for raising £624.00 for charity. It was a wonderful day out, enjoyed by all.

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