Rivington Riflemen - Derian House Charity shoot 2010

[Dave Ramshead]

Better late than never.... and not too late to promote a good cause

Sunday 22nd August
Event report:
Rivington Riflemen Charity shoot on Behalf of Derian House Children’s Hospice.
There’s nothing quite like being stirred enough to put pen to paper for a really deserving cause, this is just one of those occasions where some of the general good eggs of the air gunning community shine through, taking the time and effort to organise a day in support of Derian House Children’s Hospice.

A little background information on the charity - Derian house provide medical care and support to the children and families diagnosed with terminal illness, part of the role is to try and put some fun and laughter into the lives of the people affected in an attempt to make the most of today – as tomorrow maybe too late.

To give a general idea of running costs, this year the charity needs funding of approximately £1.8 million to meet targets, of which only 10% is provided for by government funding, the balance is raised through charitable events, personal sponsorships and legacies.

Rivington Riflemen have run an event in support of this charity for many years now, raising thousands of pounds along the way, this year is no exception hosting the event at their picturesque Turton Tower range.

Over the years the club has varied the shoot format a little to try and entice a wider air gunning audience, this years event was laid out and promoted as a HFT competition, using the popular UKAHFT format but also welcomed FT shooters by adding a separate dedicated class. It’s something that is pleasing to see when you look down the firing line and witness a wide variety of equipment and styles used in the two disciplines competing on the same course.

During the week leading up to the event, the club jungle drums had been beating with rumours that Rivington had recruited the services of the (evil) master course builder himself – Dave Benyon. I’m pretty sure it gives Dave personal pleasure to see the look on competitors faces when they address a target with the “how the blazes do I get that” look on their faces!

Weather for the day was forecasted to be dry, mild with a slight breeze – near perfect air gunning conditions, but in true northern tradition a heavy downpour just before the safety brief had everyone rushing to get kitted up into their wet gear. At this point I thought I’d wimp out and take full advantage of the club facilities by perching on a seat under the covered booking in area, just as I was thinking “it’s great here”, I leaned back and had my neck filled with water running off the roofing sheets….(insert appropriate expletive)….. oh well, smile, it’s for charity! The pre safety brief sudden downpour was the only one of the day which dried really quickly due to the slight breeze and mild temperature. This meant most competitors spent the next 3 hours in full wet gear and getting a little warm – instant boil in the bag air gunners, nice!

Sure enough, the course really didn’t disappoint……. The first half of course shooting across what competitors were calling “the bowl of doom” due to being the cause of many ruined score cards. These were targets that actually looked straight forward until you got into the firing position and started to read the shot history on the target. When you were stood awaiting your turn, you could feel a slight left to right quartering breeze against your cheek, which would naturally require compensating by aiming a little left. The shot history painted a picture that a lot of shooters were overestimating the amount of windage required for a clean hit due to large groups of misses to the left of the disc.

This particular group of targets accounted for 4 of my 7 misses on the day and to rub salt in the wounds all 4 misses were on consecutive targets! So, what was the lesson to be learned? As I explained the wind at the firing line was left to right, but in the “bowl of doom” the wind was swirling and pushing the pellets right to left, all the shooters who had been compensating to the left had their shots pushed further left and off the disc. The wind pixies had been up to mischief and had a field day.

The second half of the L shaped course involved the firing line being turned 90 degrees to section 1, this time shooting over a deep gulley into a wooded area. Again the wind was more than enough of a problem on it’s own without the devious targets. The influence of Mr Benyon was clear to see, shooters querying how targets were made to look so difficult but were all checked and exactly as per the format rules.

This section claimed another 3 shots from my score, one of which being a really disappointing 20yard free stander……grrrrr! School report should say must try harder.
What were the scores for the day? Dave (cuddles) Taylor took the win with an impressive 56 ex60, followed by young Sam Oultram (junior) and Dave Benyon. Sam and Dave both scored 55, but the cool headed junior kept his nerve to take the place in a sudden death shoot off. Nicely done young man!

I managed to take the win in the small FT class, having been loaned a Daystate GP for a while, so a massive personal thanks to Sam Barr for this.
Special thanks must go to Rivington Riflemen for really making the effort to give something back to this deserving charity. Derian House can be contacted through their website: www.derianhouse.co.uk

The 2011 charity shoot is on 4th September

[I. J.]

Cheers Dave for a great report.

As you state - this years charity shoot in aid of Derian House on Sun 4th Sept.

See you there!

ATB
Ian

[Raygun]

Good write-up Dave.

Very good of you to do it.
Dave B's assistance was very much appreciated and "things were learned"

ATB
Ray.

[Amac]

Just thought I would mention that it was Ian that poured a cup of water down the back of your jacket Dave, hes like that.
Lets hope that this years charity shoot proves to be as good if not better than last years, and a great write up by the way.
Andy