Girls & Guns- 7mths into 2023

*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