Far from a pleasant day in Glen Innes on Saturday with only 6 members in attendance.
Two members braved the exceptionally wet Range 2 and contested a 25 Yard Service Pistol Match while another member sort the warmth (questionable) of the Air Range and contested an Air Pistol Match and surprisingly returned his best score for many months.
The grounds were far too wet to undertake any of the ground work still to be completed but trenches were cleaned to allow water out through the new ground water drainage system and a couple of other minor issues resolved before an early mark was taken to get away from the miserable conditions.

Only one match contested yesterday under coaching conditions, however, further headway was made on the major drainage project. 
The storm water pipes outside the Ranges have now been extended to their full length and a significant portion of the trench filled in. Hopefully, the remainder will be filled next Saturday if the ground dries out a bit more.
We also hope to be able to lay the pipes and install the pits inside the ranges and restore the ground, however, that is also subject to favourable weather conditions.
For those intending to shoot a match next Saturday, the Match of the day will be Standard Pistol contested on Static Targets.

Opening the new range building is now one step closer with 12 members putting in a mammoth effort amid light showers to install the drainage requested by Council with 4 members attending Sunday to make the final connections for the roof water into the water tanks. Unfortunately the weather was not kind on Sunday with persistent rain and about 50% of the storm drainage is yet to be covered and the ground will need to be graded when it eventually dries out.
It is hoped that installation of the remainder of the drainage can be completed next weekend.
Two members did contest a Ladies Air Pistol Match before Lunch on Saturday and both were happy with the scores they returned.
A new member also took part in a practice Ladies Air Match under instruction as she progresses towards applying for her Probationary Licence.
​Match of the day next weekend for those intending to shoot a match will be Centre Fire/Sports Pistol

Finally back to update on progress after several weeks away.

Work is progressing slowly on completion of our new 25 metre range building with the targets all now reconnected and operational as well as the wall between Ranges 1 and 2 only requiring a few more pieces of trim to be installed and the door fitted.

We have a big day planned for this Saturday to lay all the drainage pipes required by Council as a condition of approval of the new building and then raking and levelling the ground to make it safer to mow when the grass re-establishes in Spring.

Hopefully, the baffles will be re-installed in the next couple of weeks with the new bay dividers shortly after and the new facility can then be used.

Last Saturday saw a reasonable turnout at the Club with 8 members and 1 visitor in attendance.

Four Air Pistol matches and one practice match were contested before lunch followed by five members contesting a Sport Pistol/Centre Fire match in the afternoon

Another small turnout with 6 members in attendance.
Dick and Michelle contested an Air Pistol Match before lunch before joining Charles to contest a Standard Pistol Match after lunch. Dick recorded a significant Personal Best in Standard Pistol after a significant PB in Air Pistol several weeks ago (for which I have only just received the scores). 
Further work was also undertaken to complete the new range building with the new dividing wall within the building only a couple of hours from being completed now.
The next major job to be undertaken is to complete all the drainage and ready all the disturbed soil for "grassing up".
​Members are looking forward to finally seeing this new building project completed.

A couple of weeks have now passed with very little happening at the Range due to a number of factors including all ranges being closed for Easter
Outside of Easter, work continued towards completion of the new range building with the wiring for the timers refitted on 2nd April, removal of some debri on 9th April followed up by installing the new shelves for the timers, shortening the timer leads and testing of the wiring and frame machinery last Saturday.
Thanks to the efforts of Bob, the new wall between ranges 1 and 2 now has been painted with the two final coats of paint ready for installation of the pre-painted timber trim next weekend.
​A New door will be constructed and fitted over coming weeks to complete the wall.
We still have a couple of BIG weekends to go to install the eyebrow baffles and bay dividers and complete the drainage to Council requirements. 
​Hopefully, this essential work can be completed over the next 3 or 4 weekends and we can once again return to shooting 25 metre matches on turning targets.

A mixed attendance yesterday with seven members in attendance and four members contesting an Air Pistol Match before Lunch.
After Lunch, it was necessary to undertake some "creative" temporary Drainage to prevent further erosion pending the full and permanent installation of the Council directed drainage of both range and roof water.
We were also able to prepare several areas in readiness for installation of the wiring between the timers and the targets and then undercoat the new wall dividing Ranges 1 and 2.
​Whilst progress is a little slow at present with the fitout, we edge closer to competing on these ranges in the near future

There has been very little competition at the Club over the last two months as we strive to have our new 25 metre range building completed and operational again.
This building has been a two year tiring and frustrating project since obtaining the original quotes and applying for a grant to finance the new building, going through all the processes and getting to this point.
Approval to proceed was given to the Contractor in mid January, 2021 after which there has been numerous delays as a result of COVID, getting plans drawn, gaining approval from Crown Lands (Crown Lands were fabulous and approved the emailed plans within the day and waived their usual consent fee of $95,00) and then Council to the construction plans and then actually having the building constructed between periods of very wet weather. We have also been frustrated with some component price increases of up to 100%.
To try and keep within the quoted budget, members demolished the old building and removed all refuse from the sight which saved in excess of $5,500 in Contractor costs and has kept the building within $1,200 of the original quoted construction price, however, additional drainage for both ground and storm water required by Council has caused additional unplanned costs of approx. $2,500 with the drainage to be completed and inspected prior to Council granting final "sign off" on the building.
The construction of the Building is now complete and the power and lighting all fitted and connected and the majority of the earthworks "roughed in".
Over recent weeks, members have been constructing and installing the new steel seating, installing a new dividing wall between the two ranges (within the new building) and reconstructing portion of the brick wall that collapsed in a storm after the original building was demolished.
We now have the significant drainage to install (as directed by Council) and then need to install the new bay dividers, re-wire the power from the timers to the Targets and re-install the eyebrow baffles to a position which will comply with FAR requirements before the building can again be used. Hopefully, these works will be either completed, or very close to being completed, by the end of April, 2022.
Fair to say that visitors to our Range for the September, 2022 Open should be suitably impressed with the new facility.

Only two matches were contested last Saturday and one Ladies Air Pistol Practice Match, however, this was due to the day being a designated Working Bee and Committee Meeting
Scores for the two completed Air Matches are now added to the results page.
The working bee was very successful with Ranges 2 and 3 mowed along with the two car parks and the verges of the entry road and areas around the Air Range through the efforts of eleven members. Some areas are still "Off Limits" as a Construction Zone with the Contractors still going on the new Range 1 and 2 building. We are told this will be completed this week ???? and the Electrician should be available the following week to restore power. Members are certainly looking forward to completion of this project which has dragged on for so long due to circumstances beyond our control.
Next weekend would have been our traditional February Open event with visitors from far and wide and a good income earner for the Club.
Unfortunately, this had to be cancelled due to the Construction of the new building suffering numerous delays.
​Club members will contest a Centre Fire/Sports Pistol Match with timing by whistle on static targets as the replacement match of the day

For the second week in a row, we have had a reasonable attendance with nine matches and one partial air match contested.
Standard Pistol was again contested on static targets with a whistle for timing and this worked much easier than trying to contest a Centre Fire/Sport Pistol match in the same way.
Although Dick was not totally happy with his partial air match scores, he did manage to score a Personal Best in the Standard Pistol Match.
Charles spent several hours on his 4wd bike spraying fence lines and weeds in the carpark as well as a previously unknow infestation of St Johns Wart saving many hours work with hand held sprays to achieve the same result.
We have a planned working bee next weekend to mow the ranges, carparks and road verges, tidy up all the edges and generally have a good clean up. This would normally have been our weekend to prepare everything for our February Open which was reluctantly cancelled due to delays in construction of the new building on ranges one and two.