Southern Counties SG, What's happening?

[ips]

As I've already said I think there's a lot more to it than that. I've just heard a rumour that the hotel is being sold off to one of the chains.

We have a big solar panel farm at Richborough next to where the old power station was, there do appear to be a few people working there but not many.

Doesnt sound good at all then does it.

Anyone got a contact for some straw bales ??

 

[Les53]

Yeah but we are all too old now for standing in a field in the rain and the wind. 

I like me comfy shelters you see

 I'll second that Ian, in fact it would be even nicer if the shelters were heated, possibly with a seat at each firing point for use whilst one is waiting to shoot. :crazy:

 

[Les53]

Doesnt sound good at all then does it.

Anyone got a contact for some straw bales ??

Dorset is full of straw!!!! AND bloody stone walls!

 

[ips]

 I'll second that Ian, in fact it would be even nicer if the shelters were heated, possibly with a seat at each firing point for use whilst one is waiting to shoot. :crazy:

Yes and a toilet in the corner of each heated shelter.............. ever noticed you allways need a pee as soon as you get on your peg ..... or is that just me

 

[ips]

oops we (including hotshot ) seem to have done our usual trick and gone off topic a wee bit.

Beware of the forum police.

Get back on track ... what thread we on  ..... I seem to have forgoton what we were talking about.

Its an age thing.

 

[Les53]

Yes and a toilet in the corner of each heated shelter.............. ever noticed you allways need a pee as soon as you get on your peg ..... or is that just me

Nah it happens a lot as you get older! By the time you get to the toilet you've forgotten what you went there for any way! :resent:

 

[Growl]

I meant for a lager sporting ground to install and start offering OT and Skeet not to just utilise the gear on sporting, an established ground with some funding help (Olympic or otherwise UAE included) should be able to provide a great far reaching facility.

 

[Les53]

I meant for a lager sporting ground to install and start offering OT and Skeet not to just utilise the gear on sporting, an established ground with some funding help (Olympic or otherwise UAE included) should be able to provide a great far reaching facility.

Yes Graham, that would be a good idea.

 

[Darkside]

List price for just the OT traps/acoustic/system is £24,500 before building work...

 

[Les53]

oops we (including hotshot ) seem to have done our usual trick and gone off topic a wee bit.

Beware of the forum police.

Get back on track ... what thread we on  ..... I seem to have forgoton what we were talking about.

Its an age thing.

Sorry?Wot? Who are you? Who am I? Where am I and what am doing here? Why did you bring me to this place? :laugh:

 

[Growl]

Sorry about the typo, i did mean larger not lager, now if I'd put Guinness I'd not have corrected it

 

[Growl]

I'll see what happens with the lottery this weekend, always did like it down south.

 

[Les53]

List price for just the OT traps/acoustic/system is £24,500 before building work...

OK sounds like a reasonable price, when can you start the work Darky? How much guarantee do you give? How long will the building work take and what is the cost, will you provide your own tea and coffee?

 

[Hotshot100]

Doesnt sound good at all then does it.

Anyone got a contact for some straw bales ??

Yeah, the big round ones so us oldies can shelter behind them!! :haha: :haha:

 

[Les53]

Yeah, the big round ones so us oldies can shelter behind them!! :haha: :haha:

 That sounds like a plan Rog!!!

 

[Hotshot100]

 That sounds like a plan Rog!!!

Getting back on topic though !! :nyam: :nyam: Yes it is sad that we are probably going to lose one of our best facilities but the reality is that no private individual, multi millionaire , or not can afford to subsidise our sport. Obviously selling the hotel and turning the shooting ground over to electricity production will give a far better guaranteed return on the owners investment than shooting ever can.

Maybe the CPSA and all of the other shooting organisations should amalgamate and set up a National Shooting Centre somewhere in Central England where all of the international and Olympic discipline competitions could be held. I don't think that sporting needs this as we have plenty of good sporting grounds in the country that are of a high enough standard to hold any competition, this probably also applies to skeet.

I know that this would mean a lot of travelling for some but many of you are already doing this any way. This is just my own take on the matter but would solve some of the problems surrounding these less well supported disciplines that are not commercially viable.

 

[Les53]

Getting back on topic though !! :nyam: :nyam: Yes it is sad that we are probably going to lose one of our best facilities but the reality is that no private individual, multi millionaire , or not can afford to subsidise our sport. Obviously selling the hotel and turning the shooting ground over to electricity production will give a far better guaranteed return on the owners investment than shooting ever can.

Maybe the CPSA and all of the other shooting organisations should amalgamate and set up a National Shooting Centre somewhere in Central England where all of the international and Olympic discipline competitions could be held. I don't think that sporting needs this as we have plenty of good sporting grounds in the country that are of a high enough standard to hold any competition, this probably also applies to skeet.

I know that this would mean a lot of travelling for some but many of you are already doing this any way. This is just my own take on the matter but would solve some of the problems surrounding these less well supported disciplines that are not commercially viable.

This is what the NCSC was originally supposed to be as far as I remember. At the time I seem to remember one or two complaints from guys up north saying that it was too far south to be a "National" clay shooting centre, and of course they were right too. At the moment it seems as though the sport is mostly relying on businesses to supply Olympic facilities in general and the owners of those businesses will only do it if they can make a decent return on their investment. If we were to centralise the Olympic diciplines at any particular ground, it will always put some people at a disadvantage as far as travel is concerned. I guess an easier, but more costly way to do it would be to regionalise it. So each region of the UK could have a regional Olympic facility. But I wonder where the funding would come from? I am rather curious as to how such things are done in other countries, such as Italy, Germany, France, Spain etc. The majority of clay shooters in the UK do not shoot Olympic disciplines of course, so are they not shooting them because of a lack of facilities in their areas, or are the disciplines too difficult to shoot or what? Who knows, I certainly don't that's for sure! In the past I have shot pistol and rifle, most of the shooting is done in clubs which seem to be owned/run mainly by the club members, however the costs associated with operating rifle and pistol clubs is, I would imagine, far less than Olympic clay shoots, there is a lot of machinery involved in Olympic clay shooting as we know. Many rifle and pistol clubs operate indoors, so land is not always an issue, well not until it comes to things such as long range full bore rifle. If we carry on as we are, the Olympic clay disciplines will end up as elitist forms of clay shooting, only to be shot by those who have a ground near enough or those who can afford the time and money to travel to grounds which are miles away! This is hardly a way to nurture new growth and new talent in the Olympic diciplines of course.

 

[ips]

Excellent idea hotshot however midland based would be better for us oop north in fact lancs would be even better. Cpsa should invest in an existing ground maybe even a sporting ground to assist financially to install 4 trap trenches. Job done.

Cant see it though.

What a pity that the dozy Olympic comitee didnt do that for 2012 instead of wasting all that money building a temp ground. Beggers belief really.

 

[Hotshot100]

Quite right Les. I believe that the reason that the facilities were built at Bisley, please correct me if I'm wrong, were actually for the Commonwealth Games when they were held in Manchester. The only reason that they had to be built at Bisley was because the then Chief Constable of Manchester refused to allow the shooting to be held there. I imagine that it was after this that adopted it as the NCSC.

The idea of regional centres is great but I do wonder if they would attract enough participants to make them viable.

This should have been shootings legacy from the Olympics.

Thanks Lord Coe. you sat there and did nothing whilst your own sport of pistol shooting was banned and now you've done the same to our Olympic discipline shooters.

 

[Richard59]

So the likelihood is that less than 1 year after the Olympics a facility used extensively as a practice venue will close, Mr Coe had multi millions ( billions) of taxpayers and lottery funding at his mercy and this is part of that ( his ) much trumpeted legacy.