Tamar Valley Association for Shooting & Conservation: A Brief History of the Association

In late 1960, shooting and fishing friends John Dingle and Michael Beer took the first steps to establish what was at first called The Plymouth and District Wildfowling & Rough Shooting Association.

After advertising, six people turned up to the YWCA meeting rooms near the Plymouth Hoe, and the club was formed. The aims were:

to uphold the highest standards of shooting
to obtain shooting rights
to be able to buy cheaper shooting equipment and cartridges
to have the friendship of like minded people
to become affiliated to the Wildfowlers' Association of Great Britain & Ireland (WAGBI) and be covered by their insurance scheme.

A Treasurer was elected and all six attendees paid a £1.00 subscription.
It was hard going at first and the Treasurer gave up after six months, but slowly the membership grew during the nineteen sixties and seventies.
A method of recruiting new members was established at that time and is still in place today. Every prospective member is interviewed by the committee and assessed to see if they understand the game laws, the open and closed seasons for the various species, their attitude towards gun safety, their willingness to help the Association, and other important factors that aim to ensure we can gain and keep the trust of farmers and landowners.
By the nineteen eighties and nineties the Association had become well established and was affiliated to WAGBI (which later became the British Association for Shooting & Conservation).
The Association has always been primarily a live quarry shooting club, but does have an annual clay competition, which is now held in the Spring, just before the AGM, when the trophies are presented.
Over the years we have been known by three different names; the first we have already mentioned, the second was when we became The Tamar Valley Wildfowling Association which was very popular with members and we are still known in some quarters as The Tamar Valley Wildfowlers even though wildfowling is only a small part of the shooting we offer. WAGBI became BASC and we followed the trend to include the word 'conservation', hence our present name.
We endeavour, at all times to maintain good relations with the police, conservation bodies, NGOs, government agencies and other clubs and associations.
And, finally, and most importantly, we have always been an organisation for every man and woman who is genuinely interested in shooting and the countryside. All members have equal rights to participate and use the association shoots. There is no 'senior member' prioritisation or a 'club within a club' and consequently little or no resulting friction.
We participate annually in the Devon Wildfowlers' & Shooting Times Countryside Quiz, and have won the trophy on five occasions, as well as being runners up several times.