from there to the skeet shooters of 1936 by Harry 
     
     Tidmarsh and the stories that Eardley Hyndman must 
     
     have told his son Bob--to 1945, when Ollie Harper sold 
     
     the ideas of skeet shooting to new counterparts—-these 
     
     are a part of the reason for today's success-—~It's 
     
     called "heritage," and plays a much greater role than 
     
     one might imagine. 
     
    
   
   
    
     There always have been cycles of activity, both 
     
     high and low, and there always will be. Whether the 
     
     extremities are of one or one hundred years' duration 
     
     is totally dependent on enthusiasm, individuals, and 
     
     circumstance. Looking back on the first 'Belvidere' 
     
     Club, their demise seems to have been caused by a 
     
     decline in organized activity. With no emphasis on 
     
     young shooters, time simply erased enthusiasm. With 
     
     "Newstead' it was circumstance, in the form of the 
     
     First World War, as it was with the Club in 1936 when 
     
     World War II intervened before it really got started. 
     
     The Club we enjoy today has had some close calls, but 
     
     there was always that spark glowing somewhere that 
     
     came to life in time to prevent a possible total 
     
     collapse. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Today, the Club has never been healthier, and the 
     
     cry, "Pull," kindles excitement not only among the 
     
     participants but also those standing or sitting on the 
     
     veranda, or in the clubhouse playing crokinole or 
     
     cribbage, awaiting their turn to challenge the fast 
     
     moving clay pigeon at station # one. There have never 
     
     been more young people involved, and if there isa 
     
     top-end crest ahead, and experience says there is, my 
     
     bets are that it might not occur before the turn of 
     
     the century. 
     
    
   
   
    
     On Wednesday, July 4th, 1984, clay target 
     
     shooting will celebrate a Centennial on Prince Edward 
     
     Island. It will be 100 years, to the day, from that 
     
     Friday afternoon, in 1884, when Doctor Ernest 
     
     Blanchard, stamp dealer Bill Hobkirk, lawyer Francis 
     
     Haszard, and American Consul William Worden raised 
     
     their shotguns and took those first shots in the 
     
    
   
   
    
     --249--