PR and local public perception

[karen]

But they are allowed to have usually 12 "guest" days.

[FredB]

Not true, clubs are allowed to programme a limited number of open days each year. The programme has to be submitted to the police so that they can supervise---in theory. We have never had a police presence, other than the odd member who is in the force.
Fred

[FredB]

Sorry Karem---my "not true" referred to the previous post, not yours. Guest days, open day, what you call them is not relevant.
Fred

[ordnance]

If only all clubs could be like Comber Rifle Club in Northern Ireland.

Its the hub of the town! When I lived there we could have 3 social members for every shooting member - the bar was open every night with loads of events (dances, bingo, bands etc) which raised funds to subsidise the shooting. There was a waiting list for social membership. There was an indoor range and an outdoor range and we shot fullbore at Ballykinler

I agree I used to shoot small bore rifle at the club when I was in the URA. As you lived here you will know there are a lot of good clubs in Northern Ireland.

[karen]

Guest days, open day, what you call them is not relevant.

To be completely over-the-top pedantic there is a difference between a guest day (which clubs get) and Open Days (which only the NRA are allowed to hold).

With a guest day the guests should either be known to the current members of the club or a member of another group or organisation and notified to the police in advance. This is in the Home Office guidance somewhere but does appear to depend on how your local police interpret this. I had a very long chat with Dave Bowden of Surrey Police about this to find out how we could increase a team's corporate income from guest days but the rules were fairly restrictive as to who we could approach.

Anyone can just turn up to an NRA Open Day (which has to be pre-arranged with the Home Office), sign in and shoot. Open Days are very limited - the NRA used to have three a year (two at Bisley and one at Altcar) and it would be very difficult to get more than that.

Visitors on guest and Open Days must not be barred under Section 21 though and must sign a disclaimer saying so and in the case of Open Days must provide a form of ID.

Corporate days (mentioned by SteveE in another thread) is when you hold a guest day for a company and its clients and (based on a Bisley day with 4 disciplines and all food) they pay £300 to £500 per person for a day of shooting and entertainment (similar to companies taking their clients to other sporting events for far higher amounts of money). This can raise much needed funds for clubs and teams.

Hope that helps

Love

karen

[Racalman]

With a guest day the guests should either be known to the current members of the club or a member of another group or organisation and notified to the police in advance. This is in the Home Office guidance somewhere

It's in this Home Office leaflet:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... -clubs.pdf

The key paragraphs are:

* the club does not run a day or temporary membership scheme
* the club does not have more than 12 guest days a year. Guest members must be either members of a recognised outside organisation or people who are known personally to at least one full member of the club
* Examples of recognised outside organisations whose members may be guest members of approved rifle and muzzle-loading pistol clubs are scouts and guides, schools, Rotary clubs and Women’s Institutes

[hitchphil]

Examples of recognised outside organisations whose members may be guest members of approved rifle and muzzle-loading pistol clubs are scouts and guides, schools, Rotary clubs and Women’s Institutes

Colleagues at work is another legitimate group - but yea it would help if they have all been vetted to work there ;-)

[Blu]

It seems to me that all the rules and regulations with regards to guests don't help much with improving the sports image or getting new folks involved over there. At the club I use if I want to take a guest along we turn up, pay five bucks for the guest and off we go, guest can shoot all day long if they want. Wednesdays and Saturdays the club is open to the public, ten bucks gets you in for a days shooting.

We get a lot of people coming in to try the sport for the first time or folks who have just moved into the area, at each monthly club meeting we are always welcoming new members. To me it just seems that over there you guys are just bogged down with regulation. Only allowed so many guest days and such, I mean WTF is that all about.

[dave_303]

Blu it's all about killing the sport slowly, the aim was to starve us of new shooters, luckily it has failed, there are now more FACs on issue than there were in 1988.

Luckily some clubs take full advantage of guest days, I know of one which has a guest day once a month so that they use their allocation up. Others sadly don't use them at all, or rarely as it's seen as too much hassle.

[Demonic69]

We have a guest day once a month and it's usually always full. I can see some need to restrict guest days, you don't want any scrote off the street handling a gun. It's a shame that the wording prevents other interested parties from learning more