Richard's Diary.......Cambridge Gun Club

This week's leg of my tour arrived at a rainswept Cambridge Gun Club in Cottenham, Cambridgeshire on Tuesday 24th April where I met with the ground owners Karen & Mick Hodson.

In the shelter of their comfortable clubhouse and with tea in hand we sat down to chat about the ground and their plans for its development.

Karen & Mick took over the ground 2 years ago in May and have worked tirelessly to bring the ground up to it's present standard. Currently a CPSA Registered Ground, they plan to achieve Premier status in the near future once their building works etc are finished.

Considerable expense has been put into the shooting layouts which really bear no resemblance to what was there before. New fencing defines the Skeet, Trap, Compak & Sporting layouts all benefiting from new auto traps with Promatic system's enabling delayed launch for the solo shooter. There is an excellent variety of Sporting targets with platforms to shoot from and a tower to test your skills!

The existing Clubhouse is soon to be extended into its adjacent building and will become much larger and be able to facilitate corporate groups etc so if you need to hold a meeting followed by some team building then this could be ideal. Why not have a go at some clay shooting and then try your hand at archery or on the air rifle range! There is also a brand new purpose built shop under construction where you will be able to purchase accessories, clothing and guns/cartridges, so everything you need really. Watch this space and we'll report back once the building works have completed.

When Karen & Mick took over the ground they had about 20 members but this has now grown to 250+. Membership costs just £35 per year (£30 for renewal thereafter) and just £25 for Junior's (Under16) and Veterans (Over 60) with renewals at just £20 thereafter which I believe represents excellent value.

The ground is open Tuesday to Sunday with alternating Saturday's and they hold a Registered English Sporting Competition once a month. This year they have signed up for National Shooting Week from the 2nd - 10th June and plan to hold a Have a Go event during the week so keep checking our website for more details or contact the guys directly.

The Disabled Shooters Group are also holding a shoot at Cambridge Gun Club on the 28th July so do contact Julie Sperling from the DSG on julie.sperling@virgin.net for more details on this and other shoots they are organising.

Lastly I would just like to thank Karen & Mick for their hospitality during my visit and I would definately recommend a trip to this friendly ground asap. Check out their website for more details: www.cambridgegunclub.co.uk