The club was formed in 1952 starting as the Leigh
and District Gun Club but soon after changed it's name to The Leigh on Sea
Wildfowlers' Association (LOSWA).
T
he original membership was made up largely of inshore fishermen, cocklers and
longshoremen from Leigh Old Town, carrying on an old tradition of wildfowling in
the Thames Estuary.
Around 1966/1967 a joint approach with the Essex Naturalists' Trust (now Essex
Wildlife Trust) was made to
Southend Corporation to establish a Nature Reserve on Two Tree Island and the
surrounding saltings. LOSWA would assist with the wardening of the reserve and
would also control the shooting on the mudflats, locally know as Leigh Green.
Although the Reserve is now held by the Nature Conservancy Council it is still
managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust and two wardens are provided by LOSWA.
LOSWA is fully affiliated to what was originally The Wildfowlers' Association
of Great Britain and Ireland (WAGBI) and is now the British Association for
Shooting and Conservation (BASC).
If you want to know more about LOSWA, please send
an email to agray@loswa.co.uk
