Help and support Forres Target Club build a new range

Hi, I am appealing for donations, large or small to help improve facilities at our local shooting club which has been in existence since 1913. Ultimately, if your generosity allows, then to maintain this long established local club and part of the local heritage, replace our building with a new purpose built club house.

We are a very small, small bore club, based in Forres, in the Scottish Highlands.

The club, like many shooting clubs in the UK, was established at the turn of century as part of the movement established by Field Marshal Lord Roberts to improve marksmanship following the Boer War.

The club has been in existence – in various guises - since 1913 until the outbreak of World War 2, when the club was closed. The club remained closed until 1949 when it was reformed.

In its early years the club had several locations but since 1959 it has been located in a building on a disused Royal Air Force airfield. This building is now reaching the end of its life and a new state of the art shooting range needs to be built.

The building was used to house POW’s which gives a clue to its age and condition.

In 2009 after a heavy snow fall, a large area of range roof collapsed again highlighting its age.

This year part of the internal ceiling fell in.

Also because of its age, keeping it heated is a constant battle and a massive cost.

Because of the above problems with our present building and equipment, we are thus seeking funding.

We are open to all in the local area, irrespective of age, gender or orientation. However, because of the age of the building and facilities we can offer, we struggle to attract young shooters and with access problems due to the buildings original design layout, disabled shooters. In the long term, new premises would enable us to have a purpose built range, and allow us to make our club accessible to those with disabilities, so that more people can try a new and different activity.

Also with a new building we would benefit from modern building standards allowing the use of more environmental friendly materials and an economic green heating system.

We have recently been lucky enough to receive funding allowing us to purchase

electronic targets. These are an amazing feat of electronic wizardry, allowing the unit to accurately calculate the exact position of a shot and instantly relay the information to a local display, close to the shooter.

As you can imagine, these types of targets particularly appeal to younger shooters, who are used to new-fangled electronic stuff! We hope these would also encourage younger shooters to join the club.

With these units also having a remote readout, this means disabled shooters also benefit from not needing to constantly move to change targets and have instant access to their score. These units are also of the “plug and play” design so should we renew our premises then these can easily be transferred as required.

We have members that are keen competition shooters, some hobby shooters and others that just like competing against other club members. So no pressure, they just enjoy the sport, camaraderie and getting as many shots on target as possible (“group therapy”).

Even with being a very small club, we do punch above our weight. In recent years we have had younger members shoot in Australia at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast as well as on the international stage. In 2017 one member was voted Scottish Junior sportsman of the year.

So basically we are looking for funding to improve the facilities on offer and ultimately the building to bring our club into the 21st century and future proof it for generations to come for the local area and further afield.

Any GOFUNDME donation big or small would be spent only on improving the facilities to help attract new, younger members to the club, offering them something different and interesting to try in a safe environment, but to do that we really need new, modern premises, or at least to modernise our current building.

Thank you for taking the time to read this far, it is much appreciated.

Regards

Iain Scott

Club Secretary