A busy day at the club yesterday with 26 shooters, all shooting at least two cards.  Thanks to everyone for pitching in and ensuring things ran smoothly.  The new social nook was a great space for our mid-evening supper and catch-up – all members are welcome so don’t feel you have to rush away after shooting your cards.

Congratulations to Cassie Truscott, Ryan Day and Daniel Johnson on achieving new personal best scores yesterday.  It’s great to see so many new shooters taking on board coaching tips and showing continual improvement.  If you’d like equipment checked or have any queries, please don’t hesitate to ask any of our senior members.

Meredith Ackrill’s 99.7 led Master Grade this week, while Evan Little finished three inners ahead of Ross Little in A Grade – 98.5 and 98.2 respectively.  Erin Little was top shot in B Grade with 98.5 followed by Dianne Grain with 96.6.  In C Grade Emily Lockery led with 95.2 while Inge Little’s 92.3 was next best.  Top shots in D Grade this week were Cassie Truscott 96.4, Seth Smith 92.2, Ethan Haigh 91.0 and Ryan Day 90.2, with many others scoring in the very high 80s.  Best on the rest were Harrison Jones 94.3 and Jaz Hamilton 92.3.  Evan Little top-scored in the 20-shot competition with 197.9, followed by Meredith Ackrill 195.12 and Bex Gibbs 195.10.

Wellington had a difficult first round in the National District Championship (NDC), competing against both the mighty Waikato and neighbouring Hutt Valley.  There were many highlights for Wellington, particularly a win in the composite section against both teams, giving Wellington 8 points and 5th place on the ladder.  Congratulations to:

• Evan Little – top score overall with 298.18 including 100.6 – and a mention in the Division 1 top scores section nationally
• Meredith Ackrill – 100.7
• Erin Little – 99.6
• Ethan Haigh – new PB 94.3.

Bex Gibbs and Mark Baines competed in the Wellington Central Open Champs on Saturday.  This was the first open champs for both for many years, and while neither were in the prizes, both achieved a 99 on one of their cards – well done!

A reminder that all competition scores need to be recorded from 1 April to 30 September.  If you haven’t started doing this yet, please use the emailed blank spreadsheet.  This is broken into four sections: club 10-shot scores, club 20-shot scores, championship scores and representative scores.  Simply type in the date in the applicable section, the event if relevant, the number of cards shot, and the whole number score (not inners).  The spreadsheet will calculate your average and determine your grading for next season.  It is much easier to keep this up to date each week than to try and find scores at the end of the season.

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 (https://www.bsrc.org.nz/index.php/links1).

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.

Upcoming events:

• Wednesday 8 May, 8.15pm, Round 1 interclub, B Grade vs Melrose (C Grade and Open Grade have byes).
• 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.
• Monday 27 May, Round 2 interclub.  7.45pm C Grade, 8.45pm Open Grade (B Grade have a bye), both vs Wellington Central.  Teams to be named Monday 20 May.