Bruce Anderson

Bruce Anderson, born in Hamilton in 1929, was 44 years old when he competed in the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games.

Anderson’s family lived in Hamilton until he was 10, then bought a farm at Te Pahu, just north of Cambridge. Anderson finished his education at Hamilton Tech, then worked on his parents’ farm. Later he formed a partnership with his brother and father and bought a farm at Ngakuru, near Rotorua. He eventually bought out his brother and father and worked the farm for a further 15 years.

Bruce and Nola, who he married in 1957, moved to Mt Maunganui and bought the Mt Maunganui Motel and Caravan Park. While still running that business, they bought some adjoining land and opened a diary/grocer shop. In 1972, he bought 10 acres of land and set up a kiwifruit farm. The Andersons sold their motel in 1979 and moved to Welcome Bay, near Tauranga. However, Bruce was suffering from a debilitating illness by then and died a short time later.

Throughout this long period, Bruce was a very eager and popular shooter, having taken up trap shooting in 1958. He became club captain of the Te Puke Gun club, and though he specialised in the skeet, he was a versatile shooter.

During his long career, he built up a fine record, winning dozens of provincial and Island titles.

He was a member of New Zealand’s Mackintosh International team six times (the event is a postal competition between New Zealand, Australia, England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Canada), being the High Gun in 1964. He won the Australian skeet title in 1971, when he set a Long Run record of 189.

In 1970, he won the Browning Gun Award for being the High Gun at the New Zealand championship and also the A N Turner Memorial for the overall champion at the championship. He competed in the world championships in 1973.

Anderson won the two-man skeet national title with Johnny Thomson in 1970 and the individual skeet national title in 1973, a result that booked his spot in the Commonwealth Games team the following year.

In Christchurch, Anderson finished 11th of 13 competitors, with a total of 174 - 20 behind the winner, Harry Willsie of Canada. Anderson began the competition poorly with an opening 19, the second lowest of the round. Though his form picked up somewhat, he never managed a 25 and recorded only one 24.