It’s a Sling Ting!
When I was deeply involved in car audio, it was the era of the standard-sized head unit or car radio. This fuelled break-ins to cars like petrol on hay bales. These days, it’s whole cars! The literally useless ‘Keyless Entry’ technology has fuelled the same misery of theft, but on an epic scale. The insurance companies simply spread the costs to us all and so do not care about the explosion in thefts of cars. The car makers get to sell LOTS more cars because of it, (the car radio business’ biggest trader, Sextons, had multiple shop branches and a central phone control room with two dozen staff, all taking calls about radio thefts and arranging replacements at their shops – GREAT BUSINESS!) so they love it too!
This car radio theft business tended to teach the perpetrators how to break into cars and the next level was to TWOC, or Take Without Owner’s Consent. They would joy-ride these cars, and dump them. It was about having a laugh and not about the big criminal business of sending cars abroad, stacked into containers that are simply too numerous to customs check them all.
Something that seemed to work, was setting up mechanics’ garages, that could take these nerks under their wing and teach them how to fix cars. It gave engagement at street level and as it was a minority, if a busy one, it really helped. I now, many years later, know for a fact that one participant in the Essex Arena ‘Mean Street Cruise’ events that I was compere for, who would arrive in an oldish car and ‘drive it like he stole it’, had in fact stolen it. I would have been mortified and feel stupid for not knowing.
Now, a change is happening in the slingshot scene, thankfully. What was once just the ‘big’ organisations running events, have been replaced with an increasing number of little clubs. It has to be said that this is partly due to the rugged individualist nature of catapults. Just like boxing, we had competing organisations, like The BCA and the UKSA. However, the one thing neither could do, even when there was a coalescence into the single England Slingshot Federation, or ESF, was to run indoor events. Never any proper announcer, just a bloke shouting now and again, or perhaps a megaphone you might miss if you were not in the room at the time, and using up venues like Kleenex. Despite serious warnings about the behaviour of adults flinging cigarette butts about entrances to sports halls where they had major issues with it, or the literally uncontrollable behaviour of feral kids who simply couldn’t just for one day, not shoot out windows in buildings or cars, lost us venue after venue.. after venue.
Thus it became pretty much only possible to run a catapult competition outdoors, with HFT or Hunters’ Field Target simulations, just like the field archery scene. This has been good.
There is an elite of DOERS! Stuff ‘elite shooters’ ( a nonsense term in a scene of so few people overall, if you ask, me, and just about their damn egos…) these are people who have created relationships with fishery owners, riding stables properties and woodlands, to hold regular events at their clubs. They set up courses of metal targets that go DINGG! when you hit them, and run competitions or friendly shoots regularly. They are starting to get to know each other and in a purely organic growth, are beginning to visit each other, all merched-up with their branded club shirts on, for friendly but intense contests.
And here is where it gets cool! Kent is sadly, a hotspot for antisocial catapult crime. We keep seeing horrors involving tame creatures being harmed in streets and public parks, and bragged about as if it was cool or clever. They might as well be assaulting babies and bragging about it. If that sounds like I am angry about it, it’s because I AM.
But Lee “Sling Ting” Harrison, an intelligent fellow (who is the kind of ‘sparks’ that makes sure any possible power outage at hospital, doesn’t simply kill everyone in the Intensive Care Unit – all about battery banks, generators and emergency instant switches) has secured a lovely spot for his West Kent Catapult club. And he has been approached by the Kent Police.
The easiest thing is for you to watch this video..
The Kent force have been in touch and are keen to have him promote an alternative for the ASBO kids they catch. There is a need for an outlet, like the mechanics’ school-garages for the oily bits lads, but with catapults. There is talk of an amnesty to hand in the heavy duty tube cattys, in return for an invitation to the club and Lee is ready to put in extra time to take the youngsters around the course after the club’s doings.
They even have a budget, for Lee to get set up to join them in Tunbridge Wells town centre during half term, to educate and direct these kids towards the club scene. They need somewhere to shoot. They will enjoy the bragging rights if they win and best of all, it will work towards ameliorating the horror situations of hurt swans at the country park. They have issues with uncontrolled dogs and frankly idiots who think it’s acceptable to steal carp and water birds to eat at home. You want to see the anger this has caused in fishing. I have seen RSPCA video of inspectors raiding homes where they are obviously stewing a swan. Let alone their particular regally protected status over and above the wildlife act.
So, the Sling Ting is about catapult positivity and I think it’s brilliant.
Best of all has been the deeply pragmatic approach of the officers involved. They want to make a real improvement, rather than merely punish the perps, and I am 100% behind that.
I have kind of been expecting this from day one, as after all, the mission statement for Slingshot World, written and published on day one of the website, before any magazine got published is: “Slingshot World is about EVERYTHING good to do with rubber-powered weapons – catapults.” And this is definitely a Sling Ting for the better!
