WRC Range Improvement

Aim

Expand our .22" target rifle club located here in S Norfolk so that anyone can shoot seated, standing or prone. Include air rifles & pistols

Who are we?

We are a small target shooting club based in Winfarthing, a village not far from Diss. We were founded in 1984,  and the sport is open to anyone, young or old, able-bodied or disabled. Like any sport, we take it seriously, but we also have lots of fun, meet our mates and enjoy the social contact.  

We currently shoot .22" rifles prone, that is lying down, and that's the thing we want to improve.  Our membership includes a Ukrainian mother and her 7 year old daughter, youngsters and adults of all ages and backgrounds, right the way through to retired members who shoot on a Tuesday morning.

You can take part just for fun, but we have many members who shoot for their county and some have shot in National teams.  We regularly host matches against school teams, & have run the Norfolk Open Championships. Through our website (www.winfarthingrifle.club) and Facebook page, we are steadily attracting new members (10% increase last year).  We have much success with 'taster' days at the range, and in the last months have added a daughter, a sister, a work-mate  and a dad to our membership.

Why are we crowdfunding?

We would like to offer the sport to potential shooters who find getting down to ground level is a challenge,and this will include the long-term disabled.  It will also attract youth clubs, cadet groups as well as adults who are currently excluded from the sport (or any sport). So we want to introduce shooting off a table and this is called 'seated prone'. We also want to introduce 'bench-rest' shooting, which is a specialist area poorly served in the vicinity.

The plan is to alter the front of our firing point so that each lane offers standing, seated or prone positions.  This is the current layout, with the new design below:

And this is what it would look like inside, with all 8 firing points available for prone, seated or standing shooters:

How we’ll spend the money raised

The range front screens need to be completely rebuilt so that each lane offers all the possible positions.  The sketches show what the new front will look like, but we also need to add extra safety screens and walls:

Community impact

Currently the range is used two nights and one morning a week, but with the expansion of air rifle and pistol, together with the seated shooting positions, we hope that a much wider range of use will be possible.  This will include everyone from the young to more senior users, and particularly less agile and disabled people.

With the co-operation of a disabled shooter, we established that she could comfortably and accurately shoot a .22" rifle from a table. The experiment was through the doorway, but proved the point.  Participating this way puts the disabled shooter on a totally level playing-field with the able-bodied.  Shooting is all about achieving YOUR standard or better, and seeing Christine's enjoyment convinced us that we must go ahead with the expansion programme.  

The great thing is that above all, all sports clubs are social contact areas, with the opportunity to be a member of a club of fellow participants.  Shooting is almost uniquely available to everyone.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

This project successfully funded on 16th March 2024