Congratulations to Seth Smith, Mike Williams and Daniel Johnson on achieving new personal best scores yesterday.

Only two inners separated Meredith Ackrill and Evan Little for top honours overall yesterday, 100.6 and 100.4 respectively – great shooting!  Erin Little scored best in B Grade with 98.6 followed by Craig Fair and Mark Riley both with 96.3.  Casey Israelson continues to score well in C Grade, this week scoring 97.4 while Inge Little had the next best score of 93.2.  The best four scores in D Grade this week were recorded by Seth Smith 94.2, Mike Williams 93.4, Ethan Haigh 92.1 and Cassie Truscott 91.0.  And “best on the rest” was Jaz Hamilton with 89.1 followed by Harrison Jones with 87.0.  Meredith Ackrill’s 200.13 was highest in the 20-shot competition, followed by Evan Little with 198.12.

Four Brooklyn shooters travelled over the hill to the Masterton Open Champs on Saturday.  This was good opportunity to gain range experience for those competing in the upcoming Teams of Ten match being held at that range on 11 May.  With its bright green backboards and bouncy top mound, this range is a little different from others.

Wellington achieved a good win against Horowhenua in their annual pre-Teams of Ten match.  Congratulations to Meredith Ackrill on achieving the highest score overall, and what a score – 398.29!!! including her first 200 of the season.

Thanks to Erin Little and Stephen Thessman for organising closed champs targets, which will be located on the table beneath the scoreboard each week.  The deadline for Round 1 is Sunday 19 May.  Please ensure you double-check your name on the back of the target.

Shooting Stuff and Target Shooting New Zealand provide good quality shooting equipment which may be of interest for current members using club equipment.  A good starting point is a jacket, sling, glove and swivel, and possibly a scope, all of which come in a wide range of prices.  These also make good birthday or early Christmas presents!  If assistance is required with sizing or products, please ask a senior member at the club.  Links can be found on our club website.

Brooklyn are responsible for cleaning the range and social area during May.  This requires weekly removal of rubbish and recycling, refilling soap and paper towel dispensers, and hand towel and tea towel laundering, along with a one-off full clean of the social area and range which will be undertaken on Sunday 26 May at 7pm.  Regular shooting will commence 30 minutes earlier at 6pm on this day to allow time for the clean.  Could all members please ensure they add this date to their calendars as the more hands available to do the work, the quicker it will be done.

The club has a Feinwerkbau rifle available for rent to any member holding, or on the pathway to obtaining, a firearms licence.  The rental agreement runs until 31 March 2020 with rights of renewal after this time.  A proportion of the rental fee shall be used as a contribution towards purchasing the rifle if the member wishes to buy it at a later stage. The benefits to the renter are numerous, to name a few:

• the rifle is the preferred make and model used by many up and coming shooters
• it has many parts that can be adjusted to get a better fit between rifle and shooter
• exclusive use of the rifle during the year.

Upcoming events:

• Thursday 2 May, 7.30pm, Round 1 NDC.  Open section: Meredith Ackrill, Bex Gibbs, David Grain, Mark Riley.  Composite section: Dianne Grain, Erin Little, Evan Little.  Junior section: Casey Israelson.  Emergencies: Mark Baines, Craig Fair, Ethan Haigh.  On call: Seth Smith.
• Friday 3 May / Saturday 4 May, Wellington Central Club Open Champs.
• Wednesday 8 May, 8.15pm, Interclub, B Grade vs Melrose (C Grade and Open Grade have byes).  Team to be named Friday 3 May.
• Saturday 11 May, 8.30am, Teams of Ten, Masterton.  Team (in seeded order): Meredith Ackrill, Bex Gibbs, Evan Little, Mark Riley.  On call: Mark Baines.
• Thursday 16 May, Round 2 NDC.  Team to be named Monday 13 May.
• Saturday 18 May, Poroutawhao Open Champs, Poroutawhao, Levin.
• Sunday 19 May, deadline for Round 1 closed champs.
• Sunday 26 May, 6.00pm start to allow cleaning at 7.00pm.