Re Irish Tom:
The following is from a press release by British Association of Shooting and Conservation in 2001 when it was put on permanent display at the headquarters in Rossett.
"In the 1930s the gun was bought from a professional wildfowler in Ireland by Stanley Duncan, founder of BASC's predecessor WAGBI (The Wildfowlers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland). It was regularly used by by Stanley Duncan from 1936 until the second world war. After that it was acquired and used by actor James Robertson Justice during his many wildfowling exploits on the Wash. It even spent a night at the bottom of the river Welland, to be retrieved at low tide the next day. For a number of years the gun was lost, but is believed to have had a brief incarnation as a builder's scaffolding pole. Now of too large a bore to shoot waterfowl legally, it was rediscovered in an Inverness boatyard in 1981 and restored before being presented to BASC.
Keen southcoast wildfowler Lee Freeston has raised funds from fellow wildfowlers across the country to put Irish Tom on permanent display, with the final amount needed coming from the recent East Coast Wildfowlers' Conference. The conference also donated 100 to the Wildlife Habitat Trust, the conservation fund for sporting shooting in the U.K., which has so far made possible the investment of over 1m in land and habitat conservation.
Tony Laws, Director of Conservation at BASC said "We are delighted that the East Coast Wildfowling Conference has made these two important contributions. One will allow the final preservation of part of our sporting heritage, the second will contribute to the future of our sport and our countryside" "
