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GRANT WORKS UNDERWAY -  ALL ABILITY PATHWAYS & SUN SMART SHELTER 

 

Posted 21 February 2023

Last year (2022) we were successful in obtaining funding from the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, Sport and Recreation Victoria - Shooting Sports Facilities Program (SSFP) Round 5 Grants. 

(See previous new article further down.)

 

This funding will allow us to build a new verandah in front of the clubrooms (replacing the existing smaller one).  The verandah will run the length of the club rooms and be around double the current width.  New concrete under the verandah will connect the club rooms to the three shooting grounds making it an all ability access for all shooters. 

 

The first stage of the works were the pathways connecting all three grounds.  See pictures.

The next stage will be taking down the old verandah, preparing the ground for the slab, and the new verandah - works for this will commence once council approve the building permit.

 

Concreting has been done by Dave Collison and his team (DJ & CL Collison Concrete & Kerb)

The verandah will be built by Buffalo Built

 

Special Event - Wheelchair Clay Target Shooting                      Posted 13 October 2022

 

Special Event

 

Wheelchair clay target shooting.

 

Organised by Sport North East.

 

 

Click on the flyer for details.


Ernie's Birthday Tree & Plaque                                                    Posted 05 October 2022

Anton Motha and Steve Tamme have been busy honing their stonemasonry skills at the club. They mounted Ernie's 100th birthday plaque onto a huge rock and concreted the whole lot into the ground beside Ernie's tree.  

 

Back in 2021 when Ernie was given the tree as a 100th birthday gift, Anton suggested mounting the plaque onto a rock. Ernie was most definitely not impressed and certainly let poor Anton know it. I bet he'd be impressed now though.


McEvoy Tavern Sponsors Our Club                                        Posted 22 September  2022

Our Vice Pres. Brian Reid spends far too much time in pubs, but, occasionally, it works out for the better. In this case, his favourite little pub, the McEvoy Tavern in Eldorado, has come onboard and presented the club with some meal vouchers to be used as prizes at competitions. The McEvoy is actually the smallest pub in Victoria. 


Next time you're in Eldi, drop in and enjoy a drink. As well as serving good beer, the McEvoy has also been the source of some of Brian's greatest ideas. He can often be found, sitting quietly in the Einstein Room, contemplating the universe. (Private joke, folks, if you really want to know, ask Brian.)

National Nate - Again!                                                               Posted 15 September  2022

Nate Palubiski is busy young fellow these days. He's just back from Western Australia, where he competed in the Australian Sporting Clay Nationals, a 200 target event held at Echidna Park near Geraldton. Nate shot extremely well, as usual, and can now add SCA Australian Sub-Junior Champion to his growing list of titles.

 

Nate's 169/200 was only 20 targets down on the event's High Gun score and would have placed him 2nd in A Grade. 


More Funding Approved for our Club                                      Posted 13 September 2022

Our Vice president, Brian Reid, has become renowned for his ability to sniff out Government money for the club's advantage. Recently, our treasurer Anita Klima has joined the hunt and, between the two of them, they've been successful in another funding application.

This time, under the banner of the Victorian State Government's Shooting Sports Facilities Programme, Brian & Anita have procured for the club a grant of $45,000 to cover the cost of enlarging the shaded area along the front of the clubrooms, paving that shaded area and running a path from it to all shooting grounds. The club will be required to make a substantial co-contribution to the work; however, without the grant, the work would be well beyond the club's financial capacity. 

In basic terms, the existing roof over the veranda in front of the clubrooms will be extended to a line approximately over the existing scoreboard and will run the full length of the clubrooms. The area under that new roof will be concreted and a path will run across the existing gravel driveway to meet another path that will run along the back of all three shooting grounds.

The project title for the application submitted by Brian & Anita is All Abilities Pathway & Sunsmart Shelter. The State Government's Shooting Sports Facilities Programme is aimed at increasing involvement in our sport by a wider variety of community members, so our club's project, whish is directed at improving access for those not as mobile as others and enhancing safety and comfort in hot summer conditions impressed those making the decisions. The programme has, since its inception in 2014, provided shooting clubs with over $17,000,000 in grants.

There is no doubt a fair lead time on these grants, so don't expect to be sitting under that roof enjoying a cuppa just yet. Nevertheless, Brian and Anita deserve a pat on the back for their effort and the many hours of work that go into grant applications.

Brian's new nickname should be Ulysses S Grant.  Sadly, I can't think of a witty nickname for Anita....

Our Club Joins the North Wang Art Trail                                 Posted 13 September 2022

 

The Club was approached by the North Wang Community Group to participate in project called Art North & Beyond. The idea of the project is to have outdoor artworks of various types made to commemorate historical aspects of the North Wang area. The artworks will be fixed to fences and gates to form a trail from near the Vine Hotel all the way out to Boorhaman.

 

For the Art North project, the club has chosen to use its logo and whilst from an artistic perspective it could hardly be considered allegorical or symbolic, the piece’s actual construction does represent the club’s strongly held belief in community engagement and seeking broader involvement.

 

The piece was made by young female participants in the Federal Government funded Girls of Steel programme. Local engineering company EVERO is a partner in that programme and, seeing the synergy in the club’s aims and the aims of the Girls of Steel programme, generously put its own group of Girls of Steel to work on our artwork.    

 

 

The steel sign is mounted beside the double gate at the eastern entrance to the club. At the moment, the steel is rather new and shiny, but it is a Coreten type material and will, in time, develop a nice rusty patina. Actually, a rusty patina is every shotgun owners worst enemy. Ooops!

 

Background to the Dick English Memorial Handicap            Posted 13 September 2022

In the process of preparing the article that appeared in last Friday's Wangaratta Chronicle, a few details were uncovered that were not required for piece that got published. It seemed a shame to waste a good yarn, so here below is an expanded version of that Chronicle article.

 

The 17th of September will see the seventh running of the Dick English Memorial Handicap at the Wangaratta Clay Target Club. Dick English was a well-known face around the clay target scene for many years, a long-time volunteer, committee member and life member of the Wangaratta Clay Target Club. In fact, Dick served on the committee with current vice president Brian Reid when Brian was a young man, so that must have been quite a long time ago.

 

The Dick English Memorial Handicap is sponsored by the late Dick English’s brother, John 'Irish Jack’ McGauran. John, having already lost his father some years earlier, was only in his late teens when his mother passed away and it was Dick, 10 years the senior, who stepped forward and took in John and his younger brother. When Dick passed away in 2012, John McGauran approached the Wangaratta Clay Target Club with the offer to sponsor an event to honour Dick English’s commitment to his family and to his club.

 

Dick English was born into a shooting family in Yarram. His uncle, Ted English, had been president of the Yarram Gun Club and at about 8 years of age Dick took an interest in collecting empty shells at the club. His collection grew to include shells from the 1956 Olympic Games.

 

John himself confesses to not being a shooter, but he was impressed with older brother Dick's dedication to the sport. Dick had actually tried to get John interested in shooting many years ago. They went to the Wang Gun Club where Dick proceeded to tutor the young 18 year old John, who managed to hit the first six targets. Dick, rather than complimenting John, criticised his slowness and told John that he'd need to hit them earlier, to which John replied with something along the lines of, "Well, I hit them didn't I?" 

 

That tutoring from Dick stood John in good stead many years later when, in 1965, he took a trip to Nouméa on a cruise ship. The onboard entertainment included a clay target shoot and John managed 3rd place in a field of about 25, no doubt with Dick's advise still fresh in his mind. 

 

The Wangaratta Clay Target Club held the first Dick English Memorial Handicap in 2013 and the event has attracted many respected shooters over the years. The list of previous winners reads like a who’s who of clay target shooting in the region. The inaugural event was won by John Wojcik with 65/65. The following year it was Darrel Hunt who got his name on the shield, followed by Alan Cooper. After a break due to the EPA shutdown in 2016, it was two years in a row for Mick Rowan. In 2019, Graham Coyle, fresh from a few months in the Queensland sunshine, shot a possible to get himself engraved in history. Sadly, that was the last time the events was held, due to a combination of COVID lockdowns and the redevelopment works. 

 

The committee hopes the event will attract a good crowd when the event makes a welcome return to our club's schedule on the 17th of September. The Wang Clay Target Club is proud to honour the memory of such a staunch club member as Dick English and is grateful for John McGauran's sponsorship of the event. 

Dick English Memorial Handicap                                             Posted 05 September 2022

 

September means two things, the weeds are out of control in our yards and the Wang Clay Target Club holds the annual Dick English Memorial Handicap. This year's event will be held on Saturday the 17th of September as part of our usual DTL competition.

 

This renowned event honours the late Dick English and is generously sponsored by his brother, John “Irish Jack” McGauran, who will be on hand to watch the event and present the prize. The winner's name will be engraved on the Dick English Memorial Shield alongside the previous winners, a veritable pantheon of clay target luminaries. 

 

Note that date in your diary. What better way to spend a September Saturday afternoon than by ignoring the weeds and heading out to the gun club? 

National Nate - Palubiski Performs at Sporting Nationals          Posted 30 August 2022

More of our club members are in the news this week. The ACTA Sporting Clays National Championships were held in Wagga Wagga on the weekend and a couple of familiar names appeared prominently in the results.

 

Nate Palubiski might be only a youngster, but he shot like a seasoned campaigner and finished on top of the Junior category in each of the three individual events held over the three day carnival. 

He was also 3rd in A Grade in the one of the events. Nate spends a lot of time practicing at our club, thanks to Mum and Dad, and all that effort is paying dividends.

 

Nate is now the ACTA National Sport Trap Junior Champion, the Commonwealth Five Stand Junior Champion and the ACTA National Five Stand Junior Champion. Blimey, he'll look like a North Korean army general if he wears all those gongs at the same time. 

 

Rhys McGauran also did well at the competition, although, knowing Rhys, he'll be rueing every missed target. Even getting into the event was a challenge and, with entries to the event restricted, he had to jump through quite a few hoops, but a last minute acceptance saw him on his way north.

 

Rhys finished the three day carnival with a final placing of 13th overall on combined scores, but, more importantly, he is now the ACTA National Sporting Clays A Grade High Gun. 

 

Regular Wednesday practice shooter Alex Mikolajewicz made the trip north for the Nationals, too and acquitted himself well. Alex just loves his shooting and, almost as much, loves a chat, so he'll no doubt bring back a few yarns for next Wednesday arvo at the Wang club.


John Wojcik back from Uni Trench World Championship          Posted 19 August 2022

Our clubmate John Wojcik is back from his trip to Italy, where he represented Australia in the Veterans category of the Universal Trench World Championships. (See 30 June 2022 posting below)

 

The clear message that came through in conversation with John was what a wonderful experience the whole thing was for him. According to John, the level at the competition was extremely high, with the slightest dip in scores punishing competitors and dropping them way down the charts.

 

In John's case, he said that he started off well enough, but slumped in the middle rounds. John suffers from hay fever, but, being the good global citizen that he is, he dared not travel with medicine in his luggage. Unfortunately for him, a summer storm was brewing during the shoot and John's eyes gave him some grief, spoiling a few of his rounds. He managed to procure some antihistamines and finished his competition with a final round of 23/25, which, to quote John, "...is where I felt I should be..."  A final score of 165/200 saw John around the middle of the pack and far from disappointed.

 

Australians did very well at the event, with Horsham shooter Ashley Hawker becoming the 2022 Universal Trench World Champion, winning with 198/200. On top of that, two young Aussie's topped the Juniors table, Gabe Sensi won the Junior World Championship and Acacio Mota was second. Australia also won the Team Championship and the Ladies Team Championship. 

 

John was full of praise for the whole event, the organisation and the facilities, and said that he would strongly recommend competing at the top level to any shooter who feels that he or she is up to the challenge.

 

Cut and paste the link below to see a PDF of the full results. 

 

https://www.fitasc.com/fr/resultats-pdf?competitionID=962&shooter-type=individuel&categorie=8&shootercat=

 

Annual General Meeting                                                                                    Posted 07 August 2022                         

The AGM was held on Saturday the 30th of July. Prior to the election of office bearers and committee members, Anton Motha announced that three nominations had been received for for life membership of the club.

 

The three nominees were Graham Coyle, Bob Pigram and Phil Smith. Unfortunately, and rather ironically given the countless hours (years!) they have all put in to keep the club functioning smoothly, none of the three were able to attend the meeting. Nevertheless, the nominations were well received by the members and unanimously approved. Congratulations and a huge thank you to Graham, Bob and Phil.

 

Anton next updated the members on the club's Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and the Federal Court action taken by Beechworth Tennis Club. He also discussed the Universal Trench, which is almost complete, but still awaiting some electrical components.

 

Nominations for the position of President were called. The current president Anton Motha was nominated, as was Angelo Grassi. The vote was taken and Anton Motha was duly elected to serve another term. Nominations were called for the three other office bearer positions, Vice president, Secretary and Treasurer. There were no new nominations, so the incumbents were deemed to be re-elected to their positions.

 

Nominations were called for General Committee members, but, unfortunately, there were only four members prepared to take on the responsibility. The club's constitution allows for up to ten members of the General Committee. There is a lot of work involved in keeping the club going, so it is very disappointing to see so few prepared to chip in to help. The President pointed out that without sufficient volunteers to run events, there is a real possibility that the club may need to reduce the number of competitions we hold. 

 

The club's committee now consists of:

 

Officers of the Club:

President: Anton Motha

V. President: Brian Reid

Secretary: Linda Motha

Treasurer: Anita Klima

 

General Committee: 

Ian Auranaune

Graham Coyle

Alison Harwood

Phil Smith  

 

Environmental Management Plan                                                    Posted 06 July 2022

As part of the long-running procedures resulting from the original EPA lead contamination shut down way back in 2016, the Wang Clay Target Club is subject to an EPA approved Environmental Management Plan (EMP). 

 

The actual EMP is yet to be finalised, but once it is, it will provide guidance and a regulatory framework for how the club conducts its activities. A draft EMP was shown to the committee some weeks ago and a sub-group of WCTC committee members was formed to negotiate the final version of the plan. 

 

In the past couple of weeks, that WCTC sub-group has held meetings with the RCOW and with the environmental consultant responsible for drafting the EMP. The document is very large and quite complex; however, all parties involved are striving to simplify the EMP and minimise the burden on the club. The most recent meeting was held yesterday, the 5th of July, and the sub-group members feel that some progress is being made in making the final EMP workable for the club. 

 

It is important to understand that the imposition of the EMP itself is not negotiable. Any person, group or business that has been the subject of an EPA Clean Up Notice, as WCTC was, will inevitably be subject to an EMP. 

 

John Wojcik to Represent Aust in World Championship              Posted 30 June 2022

Speaking of Universal Trench, John Wojcik, is off to Italy to shoot in the 40th running of the Universal Trench World Championship. John was selected to represent Australia in the Veterans category at the big event, which will be held at the Umbria Verde shooting complex near the city of Todi, about 100k north of Rome.

 

The Umbria Verde Shooting range looks very flash, boasting a 33 room hotel, a swimming pool (don’t forget your Speedos, John), spa and massage facilities, restaurants, bars, and even a stock maker and a gun shop selling every brand of ammo in Italy. Oh, it also has 6 Uni Trench layouts. Jump online and have a look.   http://www.umbriaverdeshootingrange.com/en/

 

John leaves on the 30th of July and will be joined on the trip by another local shooter Bob Lieta, so we wish the boys good luck on their quest for international success. Let's hope John brings home some trophies to go with all those African mounts from his safari days.

Redevelopment Works Update - Universal Trench                        Posted 24 June 2022

Darren Gephart and his team of Dylan Gephart and Jack Scott have been hard at it in the Uni Trench bunker, mounting the shiny new Laporte traps. As usual with Darren, the job will be done properly and the club will benefit from having accurately installed equipment that meets all the standards and complies with all the regulations.

Advice From Local Divisional Firearms Officer                                      Posted 06 June 2022

Our Vice President, Brian Reid, had a courtesy call from Andrew Auhl, the local Vic Police DFO last week. Andrew wanted to update Brian on a few matters regarding firearms security and storage. Andrew has urged all firearms owners to be vigilant in securing and monitoring their firearms at all times, particularly at practice days and competitions.  

Redevelopment Works Update - Universal Trench                         Posted 20 May 2022

There has been good progress made on the Ground 2 Universal Trench layout. Concreting is finished and the general structure is close to completion. Anton Motha was out at the club today with the contractor responsible for the detailed fitout and trap mountings. No definite completion date as yet, but it's all looking good. 

Redevelopment Works Update - Universal Trench                         Posted 18 May 2022

The skies over our Universal Trench have finally cleared and given the Elite Building & Construction Services boys a chance to finish the concreting. They have almost completed their part of the overall project. The next step will be the detailed fit out, to be completed by a different contractor.


Redevelopment Works Update - Universal Trench                         Posted 12 May 2022

The Universal Trench on Ground 2 appears to be going along well at the moment. As can be seen from the photographs, the roof and the front doors are on and the area in front of the trench is formed up ready for concreting. At the moment, the weather is being far from cooperative, but it is still hoped that the main structural aspects will be completed by the end of may. After that, the task of mounting the five traps can commence.

Game Management Authority Visit                                                 Posted  12 May 2022

The Game Management Authority visited the club on Wednesday the 4th of May to do some shooting. Shooting some video, that is. Well-known Wang Clay Target Club member Scott Henshall, a Game Manager from the GMA's Benalla office, and Kurt Murphy, a Game Manager from the Bendigo office, visited the club to shoot some short instructional videos to be posted on the GMA website.

Keep an eye on the GMA website to see our club up there on the big screen, or the small screen....


Redevelopment Works Update - Universal Trench                         Posted 24 April 2022

We haven't seen much news on the website recently about about progress on the redevelopment works. That's because there hasn't been much progress until the past few weeks.

As can be seen from the photographs above, the Universal Trench layout on Ground 2 is finally moving along. The actual sub-surface structure was completed at the beginning of April and the Steel roof supports went in a week or so back, so we should see more obvious changes in the near future.  

The traps have been procured, so as soon as the structural work is completed, the comparatively delicate task of mounting and calibrating the traps can begin. As with the DTL and Universal Skeet equipment, this task will be undertaken by an appropriately qualified person and done to the highest levels of accuracy. 

DTL Competitions to Restart in April                                             Posted 07 March 2022

We had hoped to restart DTL competition in March, but it will have to wait until April. A combination of some engineering setbacks and the date clash with the recently announced duck season have made the delay unavoidable. Please note that the return of DTL competitions in April will coincide with the Easter weekend. 

Sporting Clays Competition on Sunday 13 Feb                        Posted 01 February 2022

After a two year absence, competitions are finally returning to the Wangaratta Clay Target Club. The club will restart its competition calendar with a 100 Target Sporting Clays event on Sunday the 13th of February. The event is open to members of the main shooting organisations; Sporting Clays Australia, ACTA, F&G, SSAA. The office will be open to take nominations from 100 and competition kicks off at 1100. 

For the time being, it is only possible to host Sporting Clays events, but the club is confident that Down the Line competitions are not far off and it is hoped that they will return as early as March.

Phil Smith, Graham Coyle & Ian Auranaune have been going over the equipment to make sure it's ready for the big day. After so long, let's hope that the wildlife hasn't made their homes in our traps. 

Keep an eye on the club’s website for further information. 

North Wang Community Group Australia Day Event                 Posted 29 January 2022

The North Wang Community Group held its Australia Day celebrations at our club on Wednesday the 26th of January. Although our club's involvement was limited to providing the venue, the event certainly provided a good opportunity to show the locals the work that has been done over the past 6 months. 

Thanks to our VP Brian Reid and treasurer Anita Klima, who acted as the club's liaison with the NWCG in organising the day's activities.

DTL Back for Wednesday & Saturday Practice Sessions         Posted 21 January 2022

Thanks to a lot of hard work from Darren Gephart, RCOW and the contractors, we now have DTL available for practice on Ground 3. The same team is now working to get Ground 1 DTL operational, too.

The new layout has been thoroughly measured and tested to ensure compliance with the regulations and has passed all checks with flying colours. Anton & Matt Motha were at the club today testing the system. The boys shot a few targets and Anton says it all runs well and the whole layout on Ground 3 "...feels great..."

Now that DTL is available, we will revert to our usual practice schedule from this week, Saturday the 22nd of January. That is to say, Wednesdays will be Sporting Clays and DTL. Saturdays will be DTL only. There is the possibility that Universal Skeet may be available on some Saturdays, depending on the availability of volunteers too run it.

Wednesday & Saturday Practice Sessions Update                    Posted 12 January 2022

Work is currently underway to reconstruct the DTL subsurface bunkers on Grounds 1 & 3. We have been assured (There's that word again...) that the work will be completed and that both DTL grounds will be available for our use by the 3rd of February, which, as the more erudite reader will know is Setsubun. An omen, perhaps?

In the meantime, Wednesday practice will consist of Sporting Clays only, with the slight chance of Universal Skeet if Ground 3 is clear of construction equipment.

Saturday practice will be only Universal Skeet, as Graham Coyle will be on his own for the next two Saturdays. It is entirely unreasonable to expect that Graham, on his own, should set up Sporting Clays for Saturdays; however, he has said that he is prepared to do so if there are at least two volunteers who are prepared to guarantee their assistance with both setting up from around 1230 and packing up at the end of the day, around 1730.

This website will be updated within hours of any further developments, so keep an eye on it to stay up to date with changes. Information received from other sources is most probably inaccurate.

DTL Practice - This Saturday the Last for a While                     Posted 06 January 2022

This Saturday, the 8th of January, will be the last DTL practice session for at least a couple of weeks. There will be no DTL available from Monday the 10th of January, 2022.

Work is expected to start on the DTL facilities on Grounds 1 & 3 on Monday the 10th of January and the club has been assured that at least one ground will be available within 2 weeks. In the meantime, the club is looking at what practice facilities can be provided for those 2 of 3 Saturdays when DTL is out of action. Sporting Clays MAY be possible, but that would depend on the number of shooters using the facilities and, of course, the number of volunteers available to set up and pack up. 

The club thanks members and visitors for their tolerance and understanding. We have, over the past few years, seen many similarly assured deadlines come and go. Let's hope that this one will go to plan.

DTL Now Available on Ground 3                                               Posted 14 December 2021

Thanks to a lot of hard work by local tradie Darren Gephart and his team, assisted by Anton Motha, we now have DTL available on Ground 3. Graham Coyle & his grandson Paddy also lent a hand and, along with Anton shot a round of DTL on completion to test the layout. As stated in the news item posted on the 11th of December, the current DTL is a temporary measure to allow us to start practice sessions again.

For the time being, we will be running DTL and Sporting Clays on Wednesdays. Saturdays have traditionally been DTL only. Our future schedule will depend on whether or not there are enough shooters interested in shooting Sporting Clays and, more importantly, enough volunteers to run it.

As always, the best way to keep up to date with changes is to keep an eye on the website.

Bad News for Redevelopment Works                                       Posted 11 December 2021

Unfortunately, the progress on the DTL traphouses promised by the Wangaratta City Council last week has not materialised. The club was assured by Council that Grounds 1 & 3 would be completed by mid-December, then that was revised to completion by Christmas 2021. However, when the club's president and VP made enquires on Thursday as to why the work had not started, they were informed by council that the contractor and the Council are currently in dispute over technical aspects of the work.

The club's executive has strongly advised the council that we are not happy with the lack of progress and the constant changes to completion dates for the works. The frustration and dissatisfaction felt by the members was also conveyed to the RCOW representatives.

Obviously, the situation cannot be addressed before the end of the year. To minimise further negative impact on the club, the RCOW has agreed to engage the club’s nominated builder to install the DTL trap on Ground 3 at their (RCOW) cost so as to allow us to at least run DTL practice sessions until the dispute is solved. This is a temporary measure, as the DTL trap mounting positions will need to be modified at a later date (As early as possible in the new year) to comply with ACTA competition rules. All such future work necessary to comply with ACTA regulations will be completed at the Council's cost. 

The club has, on several occasions, deferred reintroducing Wednesday practice sessions due to being told that work was about to commence in certain areas of the grounds. RCOW has now been informed by the club that Wednesday practice will recommence from next Wednesday, the 15th of December.

Note that the only disciplines available for practice will be Sporting Clays and Universal Skeet. The availability of DTL for practice sessions is dependent upon the club's nominated builder's progress.

Wojcik Wins at State Carnival                                                  Posted 10 December 2021

WCTC member John Wojcik made the most of his trip to Echuca for the VCTA State Carnival last week. He won the veterans category in the first event on the card, the Champion of Champions. Shooting 25 targets each of Double Barrel, Single Barrel & Points Score, John's final tally was 147/150, after hitting 24/25 in the shoot-off.

John also took out the veterans category in the Victorian Postal Teams competition with a score of 245/250.

The double Barrel event gave John another chance to shine. He shot a possible, 50/50, and went into a shoot off consisting of four squads. Sadly, the competition was so hot that John's Herculean effort of 116/117 only netted him equal 4th place. Still impressive, nonetheless.

 To top off a very successful few days, John was listed in the Veterans team to represent Victoria in the 2022 Trap Nationals.

Cathedral College Students Visit                                              Posted 09 December 2021

It's always great to see juniors at the club and it's even better when they come as a properly organised school group. Cathedral College in Wangaratta obviously believes in giving its students a well rounded education and in providing them with a broad range of experiences. 

Fourteen students and two teachers visited our club on Wednesday the 8th of December. For most of the group, it was their first chance to sample clay target shooting and, for some, their first experience with firearms in any form.

Our VP, Brian Reid, was on hand to coordinate the day, ably assisted by Graham Coyle, Bruce Henshall, Phil Smith & Peter Sunderland. Club member Scott Henshall was also there in his capacity as a local GMA officer and he provided the kids with a safety briefing and a run down on the GMA's functions. Quite a few of the kids went away with GMA brochures and expressed their intention to obtain game licences.  

As for the shooting, it all went very well indeed. A three trap mini Sporting Clays layout was set up on Ground 3 and the students were required to call for their targets, so, within reasonable limits, they had a realistic experience. All of the students managed to break some targets and some of them showed quite good skills, with a few scores approaching double figures. Luckily, Luke the teacher also showed goods skills, so adult pride was saved.

The club would like to thank Cathedral College for trusting us with such an important task as introducing youngsters to firearms safety and to the fun of clay target shooting.

See the PHOTOS tab for more pics of the Cathedral College group.

Redevelopment Works Update                                                  Posted 04 December 2021

Progress has been slow over recent weeks and, apart from the sheds on Ground 1, there hasn't been much physical work done. Nevertheless, there has been quite a bit happening behind the scenes. The Rural City of Wangaratta (RCOW) and the contractors have been busily sorting out technical details and are now ready to get stuck into finishing the DTL on Grounds 1 and 3.

Club President Anton Motha and VP Brian Reid have been in constant communication with the RCOW and the contractor over the past couple of weeks and have been told that the DTL will be up and running as soon as possible. In fact, representatives of the RCOW have assured Anton that the DTL on Grounds 1 and 3 will be completed by the middle of December.

Keeping The Club Tidy Thanks To The RCOW                        Posted 02 December 2021

Thanks to a generous grant from The Rural City of Wangaratta (RCOW), the club is now the proud owner of this magnificent new wad collector. 

The wad collector is a sturdy commercial strength machine and has a small 4 stroke engine to drive the rotary broom. It will certainly make life easier for the club when it comes to keeping the grounds looking good and also complying with our EPA commitments. 

The Wangaratta Clay Target Club would like to thank the RCOW for providing the financial support to facilitate the purchase. 


Universal Skeet Used For Practice Session                            Posted 13 November 2021

Saturday's foul weather turned the surface on parts of Ground 3 to porridge. The club's premises are still technically under the control of the redevelopment contractor and we have an obligation to limit damage to the grounds, so it was decided that Sporting Clays practice was not viable.

Graham Coyle had fine tuned the Universal Skeet control console and the traps are securely mounted, so we ran that new discipline for yesterday's practice session. The rain and drizzle persisted until about mid-afternoon, but a number of experienced shooters like Ian Auranaune, Russell Barnes, Graham Coyle, Bruce Duncan, Gil Farrish, Bryce Robinson, Phil Smith and Rob Steel gave the new system a workout. We were fortunate to have shooters with such broad experience at a variety of clay target disciplines on hand for the first real use of the club's long-anticipated Universal Skeet facilities. Even Ernie Williams left his throne in the office and came out for a shot.

Brian Reid, an experienced skeet shooter himself, got some good feedback from the shooters. Many commented on the fact that the targets are certainly different to traditional skeet and a bit tricky at first, but they enjoyed the new challenge and are keen to master it. 

Simon Palubiski and his keen as mustard son Nate made the trip down from Rutherglen for a shot. According to Simon, young Nate is happy with any sort of shooting and is always ready to try something new. When asked his thoughts, Nate said it was good fun and he is looking forward to coming back for more. By the end of his three rounds, Nate had manged 18/25, not bad at all for a junior shooter on his first attempt in far from ideal conditions.

Universal Skeet Trials Successfully Completed                     Posted 12 November  2021

A few brave (and waterproof) members of the committee were at the club this morning to put the new Universal Skeet system on Ground 3 through some preliminary trials. The great news is that it all worked reasonably well for its first run.

Club Vice president and well known skeet shooter Brian Reid said that the Bowman traps functioned very well and all targets were thrown within the FITASC specifications. There were some minor hiccups with the control console and the target sequencing that still need to be fine tuned. Brian said that Universal Skeet was a lot of fun to shoot and, given that the shooters are around 5 metres further back compared to the more traditional style of skeet, it will require a slightly different technique, as well as different chokes.

Work is continuing on the final mounting of the traps and the development of the control system and the club hopes to have Universal Skeet fully operational and available for practice sessions in the very near future.  If there is enough interest, and if the weather cooperates, the Universal Skeet may even be fired up for a demonstration at Saturday practice tomorrow.

Check out the video above to see our VP Brian Reid smacking targets at today's trials. Hard to see in the video, but Brian was on fire and shot like a champion.

Shooting Again at Last                                                                Posted 31 October  2021

The hills (well, North Wang paddocks at least) were alive to the sound of music yesterday, 12 gauge music, that is.  After a break of 10 weeks, the club finally recommenced practice sessions. A good turn out of 13 shooters took advantage of the perfect conditions to shoot some sporting Clays on Ground 3. A few familiar faces and a couple of new faces, too, with some travelling up from the big smoke to enjoy a shot after a long lockdown. 

Practice sessions will follow that same format, SC on Ground 3 on Saturdays, for the foreseeable future.  As work progresses on the other grounds, the practice schedule may change to incorporate other disciplines on other grounds.

As they say in the classics, watch this space. 

Practice to Recommence from Saturday 30 October                Posted 28 October  2021

Finally, we can start shooting again. The major redevelopment works are far from over, but, with the cooperation of the contractors (Enviropacific) and the RCOW, we are now in a position to restart practice from this Saturday, the 30th of October, 2021.

Practice sessions will run on Saturdays only, from 1330 ~ 1730. Facilities will be limited and we can only shoot Sporting Clays on Ground 3 for the time being. The layout will need to be configured to make sure that targets stay right away form the areas still being worked on, but at least we can shoot. Yahoo!

COVID-19 is still a major concern and the infection rate is climbing in Wangaratta and district. Accordingly, we need to maintain our vigilance and make sure that all VicGov regulations and our club rules are followed.  

WCTC Redevelopment - Beaten by the Weather                       Posted 20 October  2021

Unfortunately, the very wet start to October has caused yet more delays to work at the club. Fortunately, the majority of the groundworks, including the concrete shooting lanes, were completed prior to the latest wet period. Unfortunately, the next stage after that was to be the construction of the subsurface parts of the traphouses on Grounds 1 and 2. Wet weather and soggy soil are not conducive to good quality concreting, hence the delay.

A significant amount of time has been spent on the contaminated soil mound in the paddock. This may seem to some to be diverting attention form the actual redevelopment work at the club. However, the environmental work is integral to the overall project and, to some extent, the completion of the shooting grounds depends on the successful completion of those environmental requirements.  

It's also worth remembering that Enviropacific, the main contractor, is restricted to five workers onsite at any one time. That has meant that, for example, when the electricians are in to do wiring, the concreters/builders have not been able to make progress on their tasks.

Nevertheless, there is progress being made, just not as quickly as we had hoped. We hope to be in a position to start fitting traps on Ground 3 in the next week or so.

 

WCTC Redevelopment - ...and then it Rained and Rained             Posted 08 Oct  2021

Just when things were starting to build up some momentum, nature jumped in and literally threw a wet blanket on us. The actual construction work on Ground 3 has been completed, but the long period of wet weather that straddled the end of September and early October has caused delays to the pouring of concrete on Grounds 1 and 2.

The wet weather also delayed the earth works on Ground 1 and left the newly levelled soil in a rather fragile state. This has meant that we now need to give the freshly landscaped area around the traphouses time to firm up before the task of mounting the traps can be started.

When the work is eventually completed, we will need to have all the grounds inspected and recertified by the Victoria Police Licencing & Regulation Branch. Until such approval is received, no shooting can be done at the club.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that the weather cooperates with the contractors.

WCTC Redevelopment - Light at the End of the Tunnel?             Posted 24 Sept  2021

COVID Lockdowns, wet weather, construction industry personnel limits and even an earthquake! It seems that every possible hurdle is being dropped in front of us at the moment, but the club's committee, the contractors and the RCOW project managers are all jumping those hurdles on our way to completion. 

There have, of course, been setbacks to the original schedule, but, all things considered, it's amazing that the RCOW & Enviropacific have managed to stick as close to it as they have. As of this week, the contractors hope to have their part of Ground 3 finished by the end of the month. After that, the club will engage appropriately qualified tradies to install the traps and ensure their compliance with ACTA & SCA regulations.

A number of new traps have been ordered (see 28 August funding news below) and we look forward to seeing them soon; however, anyone who reads, watches or listens to the news will know that there are all sorts of shipping delays happening around the globe these days. 

All going well (in this crazy 21st century world? Yeah, right!) we could be shooting on Ground 3 by the second week of October. Our ability to restart practice sessions will depend on the cooperation of all members and visitors. The failure of any person to comply with the COVID regulations will definitely jeopardise our operations. 

WCTC Redevelopment - Getting There in Spite of COVID           Posted 16 Sept  2021

The recent VicGov announcement that construction industry tradies will be restricted in their travels will undoubtedly have an effect on our works. Prior to that announcement, the contractors were already working under strict guidelines that have limited the total number of workers allowed on site to 5 at any one time.

Nevertheless, the Enviropacific staff and their sub-contractors are doing their best to keep our redevelopment work on track.

You can see more pics of the progress so far in the PHOTOS tab of this website.

WCTC Redevelopment - A Hole Lot of Progress                           Posted 09 Sept  2021

One might consider it rather difficult to get excited over holes in the ground, but, in the case of our club's redevelopment, those holes signify progress. All traphouses, including the underground structures, have been removed and the new traphouse sites have been prepared. The concrete shooting lanes have also been poured on Grounds 1 and 3. Have a look at the PHOTOS tab to see more pictures of the recent work. 

Some shooters will undoubtedly lament the fact that, with the easing of VicGov COVID regulations in the regional areas, our club is unavailable for any form of shooting. However, as stated in the 05 September article below, by the contractor making the most of the COVID Lockdown and bringing forward the work on Ground 2, we will actually gain a couple of weeks further down the track. 

Wangaratta Clay Target Club inc.

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Wednesdays

1330 ~ 1730

 

&

Saturdays

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