Well it seems the years are going by even quicker but I guess that’s old news to everyone. 

The past year has certainly been one to remember, sadly for the wrong reasons as we lost both our much loved and respected treasurer, Mike Herod and a new Member, Chris within 9 months of each other. Chris was only with the club for around a year but in that time he made many friends and was always keen to play his part as a member and would attend both the indoor and outdoor sections. His name along with Mikes will be added to the George Wedge Memorial Cup. Mike on the other hand was a long standing member and stalwart of the committee for many years. Those that knew him will recall his ever friendly and welcoming manner and his wonderful sense of humour. This was particularly to be found on the open shoots he attended before ill health stopped him from competing. Whether at the indoor section or outdoors, Mike was never far away and newer members to the club will have missed the opportunity to know Mike and those who did have the opportunity to share a shooting experience with Mike will I am sure, fondly remember those times. This year we hope as many members as possible will attend the George Wedge Shoot and help us remember those whose names appear on the cup. 

Much happier events from last year included the announcement that two of our members Darrel and Rachel had become parents with the birth of Archie, so an up and coming new junior member in a few years time.  Also at the tail end of 2007 was our annual Christmas dinner which was held at the Spruce Goose and attracted around 25-30 members and our Turkey Shoot, a traditional FT style comp which is followed by a hot lunch ably prepared by Jackie and raffle. The 2007 comp had to re-arrange the comp due to extreme weather conditions, the first time we can remember having to postpone this event. Other competitions included a round of the Southern Hunters Series which brought funds to the club and our round of the CSFTA Winter league which eventually saw our club winning division 2 (and getting a score which would have won us 4th place in div 1) and elevation to div 1. I would personally like to thank Rachel, Darrell, Sean, Simon and Nigel for their superb contribution to the team and for allowing the weakest link, me, to turn up and have the occasional go. Our own competitions at Popham were to be the Easter Bunny Bash which again had to be postponed due to a rather heavy “dusting” of snow and the Summer Sizzler. Attendances at the Bunny Bash were down as a result of postponing as the only close date clashed with another competition and people had other pre-booked commitments. Unfortunately the weather conditions were such that we had to cancel due to health and safety reasons. The Sizzler was better weather-wise, but only because the rain was warmer. I can honestly say that I can never remember a year we had so much bad luck with inclement weather, but hopefully this will fair better. 

The 2008/9 CSFTA winter league kicked off at the end of October with what promised to be a strong 2 team’s entry. Last year’s team hoping to build on last years success and a new team entered into div 2. With regards to the competitions, these as always are put on for the benefit of the club and its members. Without these open competitions, club membership fees would almost certainly have to rise and a larger fee would have to be levied for internal competitions. We cannot however run these competitions without the support of the members themselves and unfortunately, with a few exceptions we have to rely on the same faces to set up, run and breakdown the courses. May we ask that, as members you try and support at least one of our Popham shoots when they occur. You don’t have to enter the competition but your help on the day is invaluable. I really can’t stress enough the need for grass roots members to help out as much as possible. In particular, help will be requested for the Basingstoke round of the UKAHFT series which is planned for a Saturday in July. Details of all competition date will be posted shortly or as we are notified of them. During the summer we were able to hold a few informal competitions, especially on the Tuesday evenings which seemed to have a good following. The Mike Herod man v man was a great success and could be made an annual event if enough interest. I would like to pay particular thanks to Dave Paget, Sue Petch and their assistants for the pistol challenge competition held against Meon, now named the Rodent Freedom Front Challenge. Although we lost the trophy on the day, we were the real winners as this was without question the most enjoyable pistol competition I have ever entered. The targets were extremely well placed and challenging without being overly difficult and it just goes to show how some careful thought can provide such entertainment. Well done guys! 

Indoors, we had two teams entered into the NSRA winter postal league with Basingstoke A team getting second place overall in their division and B team getting, if I remember, 4th, narrowly missing 3rd. We also had two members getting through to the shoulder to shoulder national finals of the annual Eley competitions with Paul Mason eventually winning D grade by a good margin. Unfortunately I could only manage 6th position but it took 6 years of attempts to get that far. Well done to Paul for an outstanding shoot. Also gaining success from 10m pistol is junior member Hannah Parker who competes in Modern Pentathlon and Triathlon events. Hannah has competed in many events and has recently represented GB in South Africa and Italy as well as closer to home. 

Away from the competitions, those using the walled garden will have noticed that we have replaced the gun benches and our thanks go to Colin for his hard work in building the racks.  This is part of a general planned improvement we have started which will also see a couple of pub picnic type tables next year to provide some well needed seating and somewhere for non-shooting visitors to rest, referbing of the paving slabs and hopefully roofing in of the new racks to provide some shelter for equipment. We hope to have a working party set up and a list will be available at the club if you have a skill you can offer. Don’t worry if you haven’t though as any help is always welcome. 

The club now has 3 qualified BFTA coaches in the form of Dave, Bryn and myself who can offer assistance to new or established members alike and a number of coaching sessions will be arranged in the New Year. If enough members are prepared to commit and not drop out, at least one of these sessions will be held at Popham Woods where I’ve made arrangements with the land owner to allow us a half day’s use of the woods at a reduced rate. 

This brings us back full circle to this Christmas’s Dinner and Turkey shoot. The Christmas dinner was held at The Portsmouth Arms and although only attended by 12 members, was a great evening with a good meal. It’s a shame that more members were unable to attend but hopefully next year we will see some more faces come along. The 2008 Turkey shoot was again a super morning of informal competition with guests from Meon and North Oxon joining Basingstoke members in this annual event. Top guest went to Clive Turner with Basingstoke’s Phil Cosham getting his name on the top perpetual trophy for the first time with an outstanding score of 27 ex 30. The recoiling rifle honours were returned to some chap by the name of Bob, but the most important aspect to me were the scores in general with members scoring from as low as 4 points up to Phil’s 27 which show that all members attending were prepared to come along and take part for the right reasons, to have fun and mix with other like minded shooters. Those with the lower score’s will no doubt be looking to improve over the next year and those with higher scores will need to practice to make sure they don’t end up getting their backsides kicked.   The competition was followed by the now also traditional jacket spuds and curry/chilli fillings provided by Jackie. 

I think at this time, recognition and thanks should be given to Dave and Bryn for their unstinting hard work in keeping the club clean and tidy and providing facilities on a Sunday morning. There are others to thank as well and my apologies if I haven’t named those individually, but you know who you are so thanks for making this a great club. 

Finally, if anyone has any thoughts about how the club can be improved or if there are any events you would like us to organise, please see a committee member and we’ll see what we can do for you.  

So a Happy New Year to all and happy and safe shooting! 

Bob