But today the rain continued unabated.  We moved seamlessly from breakfast to a generously extended smokoe, at which we ate our hosts out of homemade Anzac biscuits and drank them out of tea.

Pugsley Bedraggled

As we continued to eat our way towards lunchtime, many in the GB team were starting to express concerns about our hosts’ relaxed attitude to not shooting.  Many of the Aussies were seriously disappointed not to be able to shoot their interstate match, which for non-Woomera shooters should have been the highlight of their year.  But the organisers remained sanguine about the weather as the GB team invented a range of technical solutions to enable us to shoot tomorrow.

Little Kevin did us the best lunch yet with limitless supplies of hot sausages, after which the course of fire for the interstate match was announced – it was reduced from 2&15 at 1000, 1100 and 1200 yards for teams of 4, down to 1&10 at 1200 for a single nominated firer.  Top scorer was Tom Smith with 49.5, but the match was won by Barry Southern with 49.4 as all the GB teams were disqualified for not being Australian.

Just before dinner Loulou Brister announced the team for the Woomera Match as follows:

·         Captain                         Loulou Brister

·         Match Adjutant          Andrew Burgess

·         Coach Target 1           Nick Tremlett

·         Coach Target 2           Derek Lowe

·         Shooters Target 1       Ted Hobbs; Alex Cargill Thompson; Tom Smith; Paul Monaghan

·         Shooters Target 2       Jim McAllister; Julian Peck; Simon Whitby; Tim Kidner

·         Reserves                       Will Meldrum; John Pugsley

·         Plotter Target 1          Richard Whitby

·         Plotter Target 2          Will Mott

With the team announced, we set off to the QRA for an early dinner, at which what the day lacked in shooting it certainly made up in prizes.  The prizegiving and speeches started early before dinner, continued through dinner and went on late.  The Aussies transformed the QRA with red tablecloths and decorations, and hosted us to a dinner cooked by Little Kevin who excelled himself.

Prizegiving was a complex affair with the provenance and recipient of each prize detailed extensively to the assembled shooters and guests.  There were prizes for each shoot, for each daily aggregate, for each distance aggregate – for Open class, Reserve class and F class – and many more prizes and speeches for competitions, and recognitions of all those involved in making it all happen.

Many people expressed their gratitude to the National Rifle Association of Australia, the Queensland Rifle Association, the Queensland Match Rifle Association and the Queensland Match Rifle Team.

Particularly memorable prizes included:

·         John Kielly – Dunny role holder

·         Richard Whitby – Coprolite

·         Loulou – Lazy Susie

·         Quintessentially Australian engraved handpainted penholder plaques for all the team

Si Whitby didn’t blog today!