46 Years' Service

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30892, 27 October 1965, Page 15

46 Years' Service

CPORTSMEN come and go ° but Mr J. Clark, who has been secretary of the Sydenham Rifle Club for the last 46 years, seems to go on for ever.

Indeed, so permanent a fixture has Mr Clarke become, that it is unlikely that he could get out of the job even if he wanted to do so.

“I cannot get out of it now,” he says. “They tell me it is automatic. But I like going out with the lads.”

Mr Clark has been secretary of the Sydenham Miniature Rifle Club since 1920 and of the Sydenham Rifle Club since 1921. He was also a secretary of the Christchurch Miniature Rifle Association for many years. Although he was appointed secretary immediately after his return from World War I, Mr Clark has only been club champion once in all his years of service. He was club .303 champion in 1925.

“I never was one of the top-notchers by any means,” he says. “In those days there were A grade shots and tyros, and I was a tyro.” However, he represented Canterbury several times with a .303 and was fifth in the Canterbury championships one year. Mr Clark has not shot for many years. Born in Amberley and brought up at Akaroa, he has lived all his adult life in Christchurch. He had never shot a rifle until the war. He first belonged to the Christchurch Club, but soon shifted to the Railway Club which combined with Sydenham in 1920. He is the only survivor of the 1920 Sydenham Club. There is one thing that Mr Clark emphasises strongly; in his opinion the standard of shooting in Christchurch is far higher today than it was when he was shooting competitively.