Guns and English roses all-ladies shooting club

By Worcestershire Life on January 3rd 2012

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Fed up with the male-domination of the sport of shooting, Victoria Lacks decided to target her own sex with a website offering supporting and advice to
lady shooters on subjects from technique and events to etiquette and what to wear.

“I wanted to facilitate that first step into shooting and assist more girls into the sport,” she says.

Victoria from Cutnall Green, near Droitwich Spa, commissioned blogs from experts including hunter and shooter George Juer, but what she really wanted was “some more female shooting friends” and so decided to start an all-female group “where girls can have a real laugh, learn to shoot and not have
to worry about the boys watching.” There was the added incentive of the meets finishing off with a gossip and a cream tea.

So the word was put out, and The Shotgun and Chelsea Bun Club was born. Its first clay pigeon shoot was at South Worcester Shooting Ground in Hanley Castle. Owner John Clements issued an invitation after Victoria met him on a shooting forum.

Just five women came to that first meet, as Victoria wanted to keep it small and test the formula. They were in the safe hands of another John, John Harper, who was their instructor for the afternoon and has coached at the club for the past 25 years.

“The shooting was fantastic. John really coached us so we were improving all of the time. We hit some quite challenging targets, which was great,” says Victoria. The only thing not planned was the rain but it didn’t dampen their spirits, despite the running mascara and the wet hair, and John C was on hand with umbrellas and hot drinks.

“We had quite a lot of banter,” says Victoria. But banter aside there was definitely some competitive spirit going on and star of the group was Tracy Caldwell from Wolverhampton, who scored an impressive 31 out of 40. “We found it hysterical that Tracy was so good. She hit pretty much every clay. We were astounded and totally couldn’t believe it as she had never picked up a gun before,” says Victoria.

Tracy, although admitting to being “just a little bit” competitive was equally surprised. “I really enjoyed myself. My eyesight is terrible so I was really surprised my aim was that good,” she says. She has now caught the shooting bug. “I will definitely be going again and I am even interested in getting my shotgun licence so I can carry on
with it.”

So what of the future?

Victoria’s aim is simple: to make shooting affordable and accessible. “We want to lose the stigma attached, it’s not all older men and the well-off,” she says. It seems she has hit a winning recipe too as the group doubled in numbers at its second meeting and is in the process of finalising a calendar of events around Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and beyond.

Victoria says: “Because of my website, and followers on Twitter,  people are saying ‘come to Kent’, ‘come to Nottingham’, ‘come up to Scotland’, so I am doing the shoots all over the place. The tea and chat at the end of the day is a lovely way of us getting to know each other and talk over technique as well as have a general chat. There is something quintessentially  English about cream teas with really nice bone china tea sets and cake stands.”

But back to business and one important meet definitely on the agenda is taking on the men at their own game with girls versus boys matches.

For news and fixtures visit www.ladies-shooting.com  

Victoria Lacks is 28 and regards herself as a country girl, having spent most of her life in the countryside surrounding Droitwich. She studied fashion at the London College of Fashion but moved back to the village of Cutnall Green in 2004 and now works as a compliance officer. She says: "I always planned to do something with fashion and there is a fashion element to the website. Who knows, a range of shooting wear by Victoria Lacks may be on the cards one day."

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