So for those of you that follow me on twitter; will know how & where i started my shooting journey; but for those that haven’t been with me from the start, i thought i’d pull a blog together and hopefully inspire more women (and even men!) into this sport i’ve come to love so much.
So, let me give you some background info on me. Although i’m sadly stuck in a town; the love of shooting does seemingly run in my blood; my grandad was a poacher turned gamekeeper for one of the local big estates here ( i still have fond memories of toddling into their house, and pulling out frozen pigeons from his freezer, and sitting & playing with them!) and dad used to shoot; not only in the army, but also clays and game; although in his words; he could run back then! (I may share some of his shooting stories later in this blog), but all this was either before i was born or while i was still a toddler; so i cant say i was influenced or bought up around guns/shooting.
So January 2019; I had decided after a rotten few months towards the end of 2018,i was going to do things that made me happy, and try new experiences; push myself out of my comfort zone, and that’s when i saw an advert for a ladies clay day with The Shotgun & Chelsea Bun Club, being held at a clay ground near me. The day was suitable for ladies who had never shot before; all equipment & instruction was included, and afterwards, we would get together for tea & cake; well that was me sold!
I roped my best friend in; a fellow first timer & booked our spaces, and on 27th January, we arrived at Sporting Targets for our first ever go at clay shooting! We were given a warm welcome by Laura, who runs the East Branch of S&CBC and had a cup of tea made for us, it was explained we would be grouped together in our level of abilities and our group would each be assigned an instructor we would talk us through and guide us through our day.
Our instructor was Rob; he started by checking eye dominance and then moved on to the gun mount & safety,and once he was happy with that; we were off to smash some clays! I amazed myself by hitting the very first clay that was sent; swiftly followed by another 2! Stand 2 i faired even better; more and more clays smashed and i was hooked! by stand 3, i was getting tired and it showed; no clays broke but i was buzzing.
We headed back to the club house for tea and cake, and each lady who had shot the most clays in their group was presented with a rosette. Everyone was so warm and welcoming, that my decision was made; i went and booked 6 lessons with Rob there and then!
So i had done my first ladies day, i had lessons booked; what next? Well, another ladies day of course! but where?! and who with? I didn’t have a clue where to start looking; and then i had a DM from someone i had got to know on twitter; he sent me a link to a ladies day at Eriswell shooting range in Suffolk, which was near him, and pretty much pushed me into booking on it.
ELL’s is Eriswell’s own version of a ladies day; So 09 February; in the freezing cold and rain, i did my second ladies day, my second time clay shooting, and this time; I was on my own! No bestie to provide support, but I needn’t to have worried, as I was made to feel v welcome by the ladies there, and have gone on to become close friends with quite a few of them. Not only did I ‘win’ my class that day, but also was awarded coaches choice award. Yet again, i had fab instructor in the form of ‘Tosh’, who i have gone on to have lessons with as & when i can get to Eriswell. Their format is along the same lines as The S&CBC days; and both Eriswell & Sporting Targets are now firm favorite grounds to shoot at.
So, I had done 2 ladies days, i had six lessons booked… what was next? Well, apply for my shotgun licence of course!
Clays2Game_lady 