Going along to one of the Femmes Fatales days got me back into shooting and helped me find other like-minded women to shoot and practice with.
I’d moved from the city to rural East Yorkshire and had lost my shooting buddy in my sister when she moved to the West Midlands, so I found myself with little social life, low in confidence and no one really to shoot with. I decided to book myself onto one of the Femmes Fatales days as had seen it advertised locally in my area in the hope of getting some practice in, improving and meeting some other ladies to shoot with. I had the best experience and was made to feel really welcome. It was a cold, wet and miserable day (if only you could choose the weather!) and I had such a laugh and came away with contacts of a number of ladies I’d met to meet up and shoot with and from there it’s progressed. I’ve been to some fantastic events and seen some lovely shooting grounds which I love travelling to – up and down the country from Berkshire to Lancashire. I decided I wanted to give something back so now host my own events at Orston Shooting Ground in Nottinghamshire to help get more women into the sport and so people can meet other ladies to shoot with.
I used to live in Lincolnshire and Orston Shooting Ground is just over the border in Nottinghamshire (I never knew it was there when I lived at home). It’s a fantastic ground with a vast range of clay shooting disciplines so something for everyone including English sporting (which is my favourite), skeet, DTL, sportrap and driven shooting. The ground is run by a young team, Emily and Dan and they put on great range of activities to encourage people into shooting from have-a-go sessions to registered competitions so it was the perfect place to host a day. The days have been an amazing success and are such fun to organise and host. I have met so many ladies and love to hear their stories of how they got into shooting so it’s definitely something I’d recommend.
I’m now planning my fourth event on Saturday 12 August which is a special one for me as it is to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Research and celebrate the ‘Glorious Twelfth’ which is the start of the grouse shooting season. The day is steeped in history and one that I couldn’t let pass by without putting on a special event so I’m organising the first Femmes Fatales Summer Competition. My mum was diagnosed previously with cancer so this is a charity that is close to my heart and such a worthwhile cause as their work is to make sure no one faces cancer alone.
The day is slightly different to our normal events as we’re running a 100 bird sporting competition for the experienced and intermediate ladies which includes an exciting flush in their game arena. Alongside this we’ll have top instruction for our beginners who’ll have a practice session so they can master the targets before holding a fun competition. There’s some amazing prizes on offer on the day alongside a raffle and I’m really excited as one lucky lady will win a prize peg on a partridge day in October in the Yorkshire Dales which has been kindly donated by Mr Adrian Thornton-Berry of Dalesport Sporting Agency. It’s not quite like anything I’ve had to organise before but I’m really enjoying it and would like to thank everyone who’s supported me so far. If you’d like to join us on the day or one of our other events then further details can be found on our website www.femmes-fatales.co.uk and I hope to see you out shooting soon!
