DEREK OLIVANT MEMORIAL ABT 

HELD AT NOTTINGHAM & DISTRICT GUN CLUB

ON 24TH SEPTEMBER 

 

CLAY SHOOTING RAISES A MASSIVE £1,360 FOR PROSTATE CANCER IN MEMORY OF DEREK OLIVANT

 

Derek Olivant was one of Lincolnshire's finest ABT shooters but for those of us who still hold Derek in high regard he was not only a first class shot but also a thoroughly likeable person who would go out of his way to promote the sport he loved and was always pleased to help anyone to improve.  He would therefore have been delighted to see youngster, Jack Brazier, win the superb Derek Olivant Memorial Trophy this year. 

 

JACK BRAZIER

The weather conditions, on the day, were very challenging to say the least.   The day started with low, grey cloud which made the first layout something of an eye sight test and although it brightened up a bit later the stiff breeze played havoc with the targets, particularly if they went any distance.  There was some very good scoring from the likes of John Winn, Andy Jackson, Chris Tate, Alan Fowkes and Allen Warren all of whom finished on 86 but Jack's young eyes and quick reactions held him in good stead as he finished 2 targets clear of these to take the trophy.  Jack was also the highest scoring junior so added the junior prize of cartridges to his haul for the day.

 

The Derek Olivant trophy can only be won by a Lincolnshire shooter but Derek is not just remembered in Lincolnshire so for those who are out of county Lincolnshire CPSA sponsor prizes of cartridges for the overall high gun and the lady, junior and veteran winners and Carl Smith at Nottingham & District Gun Club sponsored a high gun trophy for the overall winner and that person was none other than Derbyshire's Dave Hinchliffe with a top line score of 91.

Dave Hinchliffe - Overall High Gun on score of 91 and veteran high gun

Ladies high gun was Olivia Stevens.  Olivia gained her first cap for England this year in the DTL team but today proved that she is just as competent at ABT scoring 79, beating another Notts lady, Alix Gregory, by 2 clays.  Olivia was not able to be present at the presentation having shot off (no pun intended) to Orston to shoot Sportrap.

Although we, along with our hosting grounds, like to provide a good solid ABT competition in which Derek would have been pleased to participate the real focus of the day is to raise as much money as we can for Prostate Cancer UK.  They say that 1 in 8 men will get prostate cancer and when you look around amongst your friends, family and fellow shooters it is a believable figure as so many either have it or are being treated for it so Lincolnshire CPSA are pleased to be able to do what we can to provide them with funds to continue with their life saving work.

 

Like so many championships and registered shoots this year, entry numbers were down on previous years but, even so, £210 was raised from the levy charged on the day.  On top of this NDGC's Linda Hewkin had been working her socks off for about 3 weeks before hand selling raffle tickets and, boy, can she sell tickets.  For such a worthy cause she has absolutely no shame when it comes to extracting money from anyone who walks through the door and if you go through more than once she will get you both ways.   The end result was a massive, eye-watering £885.  Thank you to all those who donated raffle prizes but a special, special thanks to Linda for all the hard work she put into it - it has made such a difference to the overall sum raised.  With some individual donations of cash the final total for the cheque was £1,305 but further donations were received after the presentation to bring the final total to £1,360.

 

Linda Hewkin "Raffle Ticket Seller Extraordinaire"