Leisure shooting has been a feature of Dales life for many years. Jenny Cornish speaks to members of the 62-year-old Pen-y-Ghent Gun Club who are concerned at falling membership and the future of the sport

Members of a historic Dales gun club are urging young people to put down their Xboxes and join them for some real-life excitement.

The Pen-y-Ghent Gun Club, a clay pigeon shooting club in Horton in Ribblesdale, is desperate for new members to keep the tradition alive.

Founded in 1951, the club had 32 members back in 2001 but this has now dwindled to 14.

Rusty Bold, 62, secretary of the club, said: “We’re desperate for some new members. We’re an unusual club because we shoot in 28 different locations through the year and each shoot is different. It can be quite challenging but it makes for a better shooting club.

“I do take along one of my great-nephews and occasionally my son joins us, but most of us are in our twilight years.”

Mr Bold said it seemed to be difficult to get young people to give it a go – but when they do come along, they enjoy it.

“Can you get young people involved in anything these days?” he said. “They all seem to be perfectly happy at home sitting down playing on an Xbox. Young people don’t seem to be taking stuff up these days. Whether it’s pressure of life, I don’t know.”

The club shoots at different locations in and around the village, with the permission of farmers who let them use the land.

Younger members are always welcomed warmly and given instruction in how to handle a gun correctly. The club is very strong on safety and members have a wealth of experience and knowledge to pass on.

Keith Humphrey, 67, a club committee member, said: “We explain all the safety aspects of it and how to handle a gun.

“We give them some personal advice and when they’re shooting they’ll always be supervised. If they start to hit a few targets normally it excites them and they get full of confidence and then they keep going.”

The club aims to encourage the sport, good and safe handling of shotguns, and to encourage good sportsmanship.

Mr Humphrey said it would be a shame to let the club die out. “We’re all pension age – we’re trying to get some young ones to follow on to keep the club going,” he said. “A lot of the older ones have passed on.

“It isn’t an expensive hobby – we shoot two times a month in the summer and once a month in the winter. We shoot 40 targets at each shoot, and it only costs £6. It isn’t as if it’s too dear. We just try to make enough money to cover the insurance.

“I joined the club in about 1991. George Perfect, the gamekeeper, asked me if I’d like to come along to a shoot.

“I went along and enjoyed it and I’ve been going ever since.”

Mr Humphrey says it’s a puzzle why more young people don’t get involved.

“We’ve had meetings and tried to get to the bottom of it,” he said. “We have had one or two young lads that have joined but then they get to 17 or 18, pass their driving test and start courting, and then you never see them again.”

For more information on the club and how to join, contact Mr Humphrey on 01729 860 257 or Mr Bold on 01729 860 322, email info@penyghent-clay-shooting.org.uk or visit the website: www.penyghent-clay-shooting.org.uk,