Clays2Game_lady

https://www.newarkadvertiser.co.uk/news/girls-and-guns-club-aims-to-get-more-women-into-the-sport-9417091/

https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/tried-clay-pigeon-shooting-group-10151451?utm_source=mynewsassistant.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=embedded_search_item_desktop

Well, here we are, 2yrs later and my ladies group/events have made it to their 2nd birthday! We shall be celebrating on Saturday, with our first ever (and sold out) sim day & a bottle of Shots & Company sloe gin.

If you are only just discovering us; welcome! I’m Laura & I created Girls & Guns in 2022 as an alternative to other ladies days after having ladies say to me that other ladies days had become too expensive and that they didn’t feel like they ‘fitted in’ with the ‘uniformed look’ of other clubs. So I created a group that charges no membership fees, we only charge what the ground/shoots charges us (no extra is added for us to make profit on) & only myself and my co-hosts have a branded gilet/jacket/shirt as we don’t want everyone to look/dress the same, but embrace their individuality, we have even said no to having branded baseball caps! There is a small item of branded clothing that is being released soon to our ladies, that can be worn out on the clay ground or in the field, but it again is being charged at cost only, will be time limited and a £6.00 donation from each sale is going to the KGH dialysis unit- watch our socials for more info!

We have 3 clay shooting events left for this year now: 20th July at Walkeringham Gun Club in Nottingham, 03 August at Sporting Targets in Bedfordshire and our annual Shani Boswell memorial competition shoot on 28th Sept at Sporting Targets. All our events are suitable and open to new and novice ladies.

This year has seen us expand with the addition of a new ‘Northern’ co-host who has been able to take events to 2 new grounds up in Nottingham, and she has also been able to secure 5 pegs up that way for ladies for a game day.

I have continued to smash out (excuse the pun) sold out events at Sporting Targets as well as the popular rifle experience, and our ladies novice friendly game day already has 5 pegs sold. We will end our clay events this year, with a return for a 3rd year of my ‘Shani Boswell Memorials’ ladies competition shoot; and Megan has been VERY busy behind the scenes getting some top raffle prizes for this shoot, which does inc a novice level for newcomers to the sport encouraged to come and give their new found skills a test and be in with the chance of winning a stunning crystal trophy.

I can’t quite believe we have made it this far still, and I am forever grateful for the ladies who book on our events and keep this group going, and proves we listen to what ladies want. I’m also proud of how well I have grown these events and promoted us with no help from any big named brands or shooting associations, and that’s something that suits us as means we can go our own way and do/say what we want, it also means we only chose to promote and share small British brands and businesses who we genuinely like and buy products from (our top 3 faves being: Austuin for shooting dresses, Shots & Company for sloe gin/whiskey/salted caramel vodka & Waringbrooke for amazing socks)

I know I said last year that I would not continue our events; yet here I am a further year later. I would like to see us continue into 2025 but it may be that we slow the pace down for a year, scale back on general events and just hold a annual birthday sim day, the memorial competition and ladies game days; ladies let us know your thoughts!

Saturday 30th September, saw the return of my Shani Boswell memorial ladies competition shoot, and the last Girls & Guns clay event!

The ladies did me proud; they dug deep on the raffle and raised an amazing £2,570.00, which will be donated to the Kettering Dialysis Unit in my mums memory. The previous Saturday, we held a Girls, guns & GUYS shoot, and held a small raffle, which raised £680.00, which was split between Marie Curie Cancer and The Cynthia Spencer hospice.

This year has been a full on year for me, with the introduction of ladies rifle shooting events, as well as running clay shoots at Kibworth & Sporting Targets, trying to squeeze in some time for me to smash some clays, help out on the DIY syndicate shoot, walk out hounds (beagles) and work full time! and I am having to step things back and admit I can’t do everything, so after the 18th Nov, which is the Girls & Guns game day , I will be looking at handing G&G over to a familiar face, who has suggested taking the events ‘on tour’ (Girls & Guns on tour, has a nice sound to it!). We both will be out on the field until this season is over, which gives us time to plan and look at options for the clay events, so watch this space!

I never intended to keep running G&G for as long as I have; I never thought it would have as much interest as the events have tbh! and I truly am humbled at the amount of ladies who have pleaded for me to not give up running these events. but for once, I need to say no and stick by it.

In a few weeks time, I will have a new arrival joining my household, who will be taking up a fair amount of my time, sleep and free time, as well as throwing myself into the deep end with a new country sport that I have been honoured to have been asked to become involved with; whipping in for the beagle pack, and I will be squeezing some beating dates in there as well! The whipping in role has already set me thinking about an article (or 2) that I can write for CMW, so I need to I find the time for them as well.

I will be heading off soon for my annual week away in Norfolk, and have already been roped into beating for a day while I’m there, so even when I’m on holiday, I will be ‘working!’

Girls and Guns has bought some incredible ladies into my life, who I am now proud to call friends, and we have been through some highs and lows together these last few weeks. My girls certainly have had my back when I got ‘ghosted’ by a certain ‘handsome (ex) huntsman’, and his actions has actually made me and ladies become a lot closer with our friendships, as we have had to have some brutal and hard conversations that has tested the limits of newly formed friendships and plans; nothing a good session of smashing clays didn’t sort out, and we will still be meeting up over winter and have a small social shoots on the clay grounds.

I hope everyone who is involved in country sports this season, has a safe and successful season, I know mine is looking rather different to previous years, but I am looking forward to being back out in the field; where I am at my happiest.

*Disclaimer- thoughts/musings are my own- and this blog post will rattle some cages *

So here we are, 7 (nearly 8 ) months into 2023 and Girls & Guns is still going strong; I have ran 6 very successful events , with 3 more to go, had 126 ladies attend so far and introduced 3 young shots (from age 6 up to age 14) into the world of shooting. So its interesting that Girls & Guns did not get an invite or asked to attend the new name launch of the ladies shooting section from a well known organisation at the game fair this year; even more so seeing as i ‘won’ (by a v large nomination margin) their ‘star of target shooting’ in 2021, yet all the other ‘well known’ ladies shooting clubs did…..as well as a few of the regular ‘influencers’

In the words of mean girls (one of my fave films) ‘you cant sit with us’ & ‘We only we only wear pink on Wednesdays’- aka if your face/name does not fit, then you can’t be part of the ‘click’. Which is actually fine with me, as i’m proud of being different and not following the branded crowd. What i have built and created with my ladies events, has been done with zero input; either financially or collaboratively with anyone else and it will stay that way.

I know my target audience and who me and my events appeal to, and my days selling out are proof of this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to have choices for women coming into shooting, but we need to be shouting out louder about little not for profit groups and events like mine; who aren’t all about image/pink/money and encourage ladies to be their awesome individual selves, and encourage and can take the younger shots out on events, lets give all women who are coming into shooting an informed choice about other ladies groups & events, not just the ones that orgs feel fit their criteria and image….

I myself headed over to Eriswell ladies charity day a few weeks ago, and had a blast! I’ve not shot over there since early 2020 and it was so nice to be on the ‘other’ side of an event for a change, as well as shooting at a ground that i don’t normally get to shoot at.

Girls & Guns is going on a much needed break now until mid Sept, we have 2 huge events in Sept and a ladies game day in Nov, and i myself have a visit booked in at Honesberie and a charity competition shoot booked in to shoot on.

Bring on the next few months, as it still stands, despite request for events to be booked in for next year already, i still don’t know what the plan is for 2024. There’s a few personal changes going on in my life (for the better) that may mean Girls & Guns will need to be ‘retired’ or handed over to someone who can continue what i have started, but i cant think of a better way to bow out on running clay shooting events for 2023 , than with my mums memorial shoot.

Laura x

On Sunday 09th July, it was Girls & Guns, the ladies shooting group i created and run, 1st birthday!

I honestly did not think i would still be running events a year later, and the ladies still keep coming; events are still selling out and this year has seen rifle shooting experiences added to what i can offer ladies, as well as the return of our ladies only game day- which sold out within days!

I have 2 more events to host before the Shani Boswell memorial competition shoot, which bookings are quieter for this year compared to last, but i feel that is to be expected with the rises in living costs, but the raffle prizes are not to be missed; if we did not think we could top last years; i have been proven wrong!

I have met some incredible ladies on my events, who in turn have become good friends & are opening up new opportunities for me this season within other country sports, so its not looking like my gun will be seeing much daylight when the season starts, and my pink beaters flag will be gathering dust.

Although i said this last year, i for certain say this year, that next year will be a quieter year for G&G, if we hold any events at all. With the cost of everything rising and i also need to start taking some time out for me. I have achieved so much more than i could have even planned or even dreamt of, and most my ladies are now at level where they have found their feet and either have their own licence, or no longer need the support of these events, and that’s a huge achievement and something I’m proud to have encouraged and supported the ladies into doing.

So happy birthday Girls & Guns, and thank you to all the ladies, grounds, my dad and background support i have had in getting this far.

Laura x

I’ve been rather quiet blog post wise lately, as busy either hosting/running/planning events, or being out supporting my ladies on competition shoots, but figured I had best do a quick celebratory post; as its 2 years today that me hosting an event, kicked off this new chapter in my shooting journey.

So 2years ago today, I hosted my first ever ladies clay shooting event, under The S&CBC.  My mum had only passed away 2months before, the person who had encouraged me to take up hosting & said they would support me with these events at the ground; had left! And I only had 7 ladies booked on!

I remember standing there wondering if it was worth doing it all again, but the stubborn streak in me wasn’t prepared to give up without at least trying, and so I put my all into getting the events bigger and better, and by Dec of that year, not only had I created the Shani Boswell memorial shoot, which has become a competition shoot, but I had 60 ladies booked on the last event of the year- bit of a change from the 7 at the first event!  

I’m still friends now with 4 of those 7 original ladies.

It has been a full on 2years, I certainly did not think I would still be hosting ladies days, let alone running my own! And it will soon be Girls & Guns 1^st ‘birthday’ & we will be of course celebrating that!

Who would have thought that 2years ago, me stepping in (which was meant to be a temporary thing and ended up being for nearly a year!) to host for the S&CBC, would lead me being nominated by so many ladies for an award by BASC ladies & the creation of my own events.

Will I still be hosting events in another 2 years? Who knows! I didn’t intend to do any events this year, but with 2 sell out days already over and done with, 2 more sold out events to go, another event filling up nicely & of course, the memorial competition shoot is returning, the demand was there for me to continue.  

On the 01 April, I will be hosting my first Girls & Guns event of 2023, the date is quite appropriate seeing as last year I said I would not do anymore of these days!

On 16^th April, it will be 2yrs since my mum, Shani, passed away, with Myeloma; Blood Cancer. She was 61. She had lived with that cancer from 2015-2021, and had been initially told she had 6mths to live and would never walk again, to which she replied ‘I don’t think so!’

The events are linked, as it was the loss of my mum, which led me to host for The Shotgun & Chelsea Bun Club in 2021, which then turned into me creating Girls & Guns.

Hosting for the S&CBC gave me something to focus on, to get me out the house and seeing people. The first event was not a huge success, combination of lack of advertising, experience in how to run these days and Covid, meant I had 7 ladies book on , but some of the ladies went on to become good friends of mine, and still stick with me now.

I learnt to work with the ground and get to know the staff and instructors more, and how to push the events, and the numbers attending grew, while I was still dealing with the fog of grief and loss of my mum. It become a personal challenge for me; to get these events out there & making the days more personal to those who attended, and it worked, booking numbers swelled from 7 to 15, to 49 and then 59. I had one of the days turned into a memorial shoot for my mum, with a charity raffle, and we raised over £1,000.00 for the Kettering Dialysis Unit.

I had always planned to step down after the December event, and to just slip back into just being ‘me’, but was asked to host one last event at the start of 2022 & received fallout from a couple of ladies who had floated the idea of running ladies days that were not under The S&CBC name, and that point I had declined, as my loyalty lay with VKL (owner of the S&CBC at the time).

When it was announced in 2021 that The S&CBC was to be sold, it felt even more right that I stepped down as host, and let a new face take on the role. I was offered the chance to carry on, but how the role was required to be vs how it was, didn’t suit me or how I ‘work’ & so I gave my notice and agreed an end date of when I would stop hosting for them. I still loved the club & support the new owner, but it was no longer a role for me that I felt I could put my heart & soul into, and I standby that. Those that have been on my events, now how much time, passion and effort I put into them, and I refuse to do a half-hearted effort. It’s very much all or nothing on them for me.

It was when i was told I had been awarded the BASC ladies star of shooting award in 2021, that the first glimmer of Girls & Guns come to light. After chatting to Kath at BASC ladies, about how many ladies had nominated me, I wanted to give them something back to say thank you, and that’s when the Shani Boswell memorial competition shoot came about. Once I had that all sorted, it was pointed out to me, how would I encourage ladies to book on and come to it, and so Girls & Guns was created, with the aim of the days being a fun & supportive way, of getting ladies to gain some experience for the competition shoot .

I certainly did not expect the events to be as popular as they were, and still are, with 60 ladies attending the competition shoot and £3,000.00 from a charity raffle & percentage of entry fees being raised. I had planned that event to be the last one; a final swan song and end on an amazing high after 2yrs of running successful ladies clay shooting events, while quietly dealing with my grief of losing my mum. But what I realise now is, I wasn’t dealing with it, I was using the events as a distraction from dealing with my grief and the loss, and processing it.

It does make me smile that some people seem to think I waltzed in and ‘stole’ the events/ladies from The S&CBC, as yes, the initial events at Sporting Targets were under their name, but it was me who was doing all the running, adverting, liaising with the ground, dealing with issues, dealing with the challenges of Covid (this was at the time of track & trace) and who had built them back up from v minimal bookings to the huge sell out days they had become. At the end of the day it’s down to the ladies who decide what events they attend, I don’t force them to choose one or another, but simply offer an alternative option.

This year I had said that I would not do anymore events, costs have increased and I knew I needed to sit with my grief and deal with it instead of keeping myself busy, but demand from ladies and support with pricing from the grounds has meant I have agreed to come back this year and run events as Girls and Guns, but I have learnt to balance things out better and the events will be more personal; with a discussion and explanation about my mum and how losing her, led to me doing these events.

We kick off 2023 with 39 ladies at Kibworth shooting ground and already have 20 ladies booked for the May event at Sporting Targets- so as long as there is still the demand, I will keep doing my days.

Whew! so, end of last year i said i would not be bringing my ladies events back this year; 5 events, the charity shoot and a game day later…..think its safe to say we are back!

Our events will start at Kibworth Shooting ground in April, and then will alternate between there and Sporting Targets over the following months. We are so thankful to the grounds for still supporting us this year with fair prices and exclusive offers on the days for the ladies attending.

I have been asked about the story behind the clays/pheasant/poppies logo. This was designed by Sarah aka Snewdesigns, for my charity shoot in 2022, which was held in memory of my mum, who passed away with Myeloma; Blood Cancer in April 2021. I wanted something that reflected not only my love of game shooting, but also clay shooting, and something that included a memory of my mum; so a hen pheasant reflects the game shooting, she is also a play on it being ladies events; so ladies are represented by the pheasant being a hen (female), the clays are a nod towards my love of clay shooting and how my shooting journey started, but also means ladies who only clay shoot are included, and the poppies were my mums favourite flowers, but also in rememberance.

I am currently woking with a fantastic local business (Angel Wings Embroidery), who has turned our logo into a piece of embroidery, as well as our Girls & Guns logo/name, and these will be being stitched onto items for me and my co-host, Meg, so ladies can identify us easily on our events.

The charity shoot will be back this year, with details being released in due course. This one takes more planning and organising than our normal events, and the costs differ, so work in progress at the moment!