So a successful but event-filled year.
We have had new participants attend the training sessions, and they successfully completed their NSRA Youth Proficiency Scheme course coming away with “Marksman” and “Expert Shot” badges. We also had young people compete in both the Camelot Spring and Winter Competitions as well as the British Shooting Schools competition. Everyone received medals in the Camelot competition and we saw significant improvements.
Due to changes within the NSRA which saw the loss of the Lord Roberts Centre in Bisley for the 2024 National Scout Rifle Championships (other disciplines also catered for), due to leasing out the facilities to the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, and ongoing work over the next 2 years to build a new multi-disciplinary range within what remains of the venue, this year the Scouts hosted a postal competition in its place. This was incredibly successful with over 670 entries, which makes it one of the largest postal competitions in the UK.
As part of the changes, our coach attended a scoring course and spent a weekend in Bisley as part of a team scoring all the targets which had been entered.
Because of work commitments the instructors and coach have had to alternate provision but we still managed to open most training sessions this year.
The year ended with some disruption due to the sudden and unforeseen closure of the range facilities, however, we were able to move to Ashton-under-Lyne Rifle Clubs facilities, albeit on a different night to allow training to continue but without Crossbow and Smallbore.
Our ethos has always been to run the club and training sessions at minimal cost to open up the sport to be as inclusive as possible. The closure of the previous location brings additional financial pressure when sourcing a replacement.
It is not yet known what 2025 will bring in the form of supported disciplines, and the move to the AUL RC range on a different night has already impacted the availability of instructors, but work is ongoing to firm up training sessions.
Looking forward to 2025, and hopefully securing a solution to range availability.