The National Masonic Championships come home after 15 Years.

Entries are now OPEN

The National Masonic Championships, started by West Lancashire in 2002 have not been held in the 9Province since 2008. During the last years we have travelled as far a Cornwall and Norfolk with the shortest journey to Skipton in West Yorkshire. But it is now coming back to the Dolphin Clay Target Centre at Longton Near Preston.

The Dolphin hosted the competition the last time we held it in 2009. West Lancashire were granted the shoot in 2020 but had to cancel because of the Covid outbreak

The ground is situated on farm land which was reclaimed from the adjacent salt marshes. It was originally started by the local Wildfowling club in the 1950’s with permission from Old Max Drelingcourt, the grandfather of young Max who runs it now, and who farmed the land.

Although the site is flat, they do have a 60 foot high tower and also a 30 foot tower helping them provide a good variety of target. The ground offers Sporting, 2 x DTL layouts and ABT as well as separate stands for novice tuition which they also provide. The sporting is usually 80 birds which is shot over 10 stands with the DTL and ABT running as 25 bird   re-entry pool events.

The sporting layout is changed for every shoot, which they think helps keep people interested in coming back week after week and has gravel paths to all the stands. Our sporting targets probably err more towards the challenging than the softer type, though they do try to provide a balance! Normal shoots are more of a social affair than serious competition which helps to keep things light hearted and enjoyable. The ground is long established and has a good following of regular local shooters, many of whom started their clay pigeon shooting with them.

The Province of West Lancashire looks forward to welcoming Masonic shooters to the “Nationals”

Nationals and Entry Form Available (pdf) Here