In December 2016, whilst on a shooting weekend here in the Isle of Man, Duncan Thomas (Northern Director for BASC) suggested to us that we pull together a team to take part in the BASC/MGPS (Manx Game Preservation Society) competition at Blue Point, held annually in August.
We thought about it and decided “yes” but that we could do better – we should set up a ladies’ club and we would ask Jake Keeling (IOM Clay Shooting) to be our coach. For a name, we chose Guns and Roses Ladies’ Shooting Club.
It was a slow start but eventually we arranged six coaching sessions (April, May and June) with Jake and canvassed our friends to see if there was any interest.
Some thirty ladies expressed interest and, in the end, an average of five attended each session. Some of the first timers showed an impressive skill!
Three of us took part in the August competition, joined by an experienced shot to give us advice and support. It was fairly terrifying & we felt very amateur but we won two prizes – one for the lowest score (no surprise there) and then our card was drawn out of the hat! It was great fun and we learned a lot. On the Sunday, Young Shots and Have a Go were very popular although the weather was grim.
Once the summer holidays were over, we went ahead with more coaching sessions and word spread; we now boast a core group of about fifteen and look forward to future meetings. We hope to run a small competition (for club members only) in May and possibly another in September to include family and friends!
Perhaps next year we might be ready to attend an event in the UK; this would be a big help in boosting our confidence!
Contacts:
Sara Cowley 07624 464210 sarajc@manx.net
Anne Dawe 07624 492322 dawe@manx.net
Charlotte Morgan-Jones 07624 453816 Charlottecorrigan_36@hotmail.com
