Callings the Shots! Clay Pigeon Shooting Association Interview

The Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA) is the National Governing body for Clay Target Shooting in England and supports and manages the sport and its enthusiasts across the UK. Open to all who want to learn, develop or use their skills to compete at every level, the CPSA is this year celebrating an incredible 95 years but its expertise and understanding of inanimate shooting dates back to the 1880’s. Recently, we chatted to Richard Worthington, the Club’s Marketing & Development Manager to find out more about the association and its growing 22,500 following…

TELL US ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATION

The Clay Pigeon Shooting Association was officially founded in 1928 and will be 95 years old in 2023, but the practice of shooting at moving targets must be rooted in pre-history when being able to hit the mark was essential in order to hunt for food.

The clay pigeon or clay target as we know it today originated in 1880 when the idea of the saucer shaped target came to George Ligowski, after seeing boys skimming flat stones across a lake. It had become necessary to replace the glass balls stuffed with feathers, an ungainly target with limitations in flight speed and distance.

In 1892 the Inanimate Bird Shooting Association was founded and held its first championship at Wimbledon Park, London on 29 July 1893. There were 44 entries in the 10-bird competition and the winner, Mr. Frank Izzard, hit nine out of the ten.

Live pigeon shooting from traps was banned in 1921 and consequently clay pigeon shooting became much more popular. On 27 April 1928, Mr. A McCubbin of Nobel Industries Ltd called a meeting of interested clay pigeon shooters at the Stadium Club, Holborn, to discuss a central governing body.

The result of this meeting was the formation of the Amateur United Clay Pigeon Association of Great Britain and Ireland.  This name proved cumbersome and was eventually changed to the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association.

The first accurate records of the association show that in 1946 membership stood at 100. In 1968, 1414 members belonged to the CPSA and there were 226 affiliated clubs.  Today, membership stands at 22,000 and there are over 300 CPSA clubs.

WHAT IS YOUR ROLE?

My role covers various aspects of the association. I’m responsible for all of our internal & external marketing including Pull! magazine (our monthly free magazine for members) and our social media & website platforms. I also manage our national training programmes, club/ground memberships & audits and oversee our events programme such as The Game Fair where we have a stand plus a clayline for people to “have-a-go” at clay shooting. We typically have approx. 1,000 people try clay shooting for the first time over the three days of The Game Fair each year. The association also has 14 employees.

WHO ARE YOUR MEMBERS AND WHAT DO YOU OFFER?

Our sport is quite an expensive hobby so therefore our typical demographic is aged between 40-60 with the disposable income to enjoy the sport. We try to encourage young people into the sport with our claylines at shooting shows and by promoting have-a-go events at our affiliated shooting grounds around the country plus discounted entry to our championships.

The CPSA is the National Governing body for Clay Target Shooting in England, supporting clay target shooting enthusiasts across the UK. As an association we promote the highest standards of excellence in every aspect of our sport. Our members can shoot in registered competitions and obtain a classification (a bit like a golf handicap). We also provide public liability insurance and personal accident cover for when our members are out shooting. As the governing

body for the sport, we set the rules and regulations for safe, enjoyable clay shooting in England. We licence grounds to host competitions using our Shoot program and classify and insure shooters when they are out enjoying our sport. We also provide comprehensive training courses for people to develop their technical knowledge and skills of the sport.

HOW HAS CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING GROWN AS AN OLYMPIC SPORT ?

Clay target shooting is an extremely popular activity and many people first come across it with corporate events and stag/hen activities or are introduced by a friend or family member who shoots. The sport has many different disciplines but the most popular is called “English Sporting“ which originally came about to replicate shooting game birds but has since evolved into a much more technical and challenging sport with the advances in equipment and shooting ability.

We select people to shoot for England which for many is the ultimate honour, however two of the disciplines are shot in the Olympics, Olympic Skeet & Olympic Trap, and this is the pinnacle of our sport with shooters representing Team GB and shooting in these “Formula One” versions of clay target shooting on the highest stage!

HOW HAS THE PAST 2-3 YEARS IMPACTED YOUR ASSOCIATION?

During 2020 & 2021 we unfortunately lost approx. 2,000 members, however I’m pleased to confirm that most of those have now returned to the association, and we are back to our pre-pandemic numbers of c.22,000. Given the current situation with bird flu and the impact on game shooting, we are already seeing a rapid growth in simulated days which replicates game days with shooters shooting at hundreds of clay targets instead of live game and inevitably this will lead to more shooters visiting clay shooting grounds to practice.

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT CHALLENGES FACING THE CLAY SHOOT INDUSTRY?

In the short term, the biggest issue now is the cost of clays and cartridges rising, primarily due to the fact that we import many of the clays and cartridge components from Europe. Brexit has impacted this greatly, along with the current high fuel costs.

Over the medium term, the issue of lead shot in cartridges is an ongoing topic with the Government looking to ban lead shot and replace it with steel or other non-toxic loads, principally in game shooting to reduce the risk of lead shot in game meat. Ideally, they would like to see lead removed from all types of shooting, but it is a complex issue and one that will take time to develop the alternative loads in the numbers required to support the sport.

HOW IMPORTANT IS SUSTAINABILITY TO YOUR ORGANISATION AND YOUR MEMBERS?

Sustainability is important to our organization and members, and we are working closely with other associations, gun manufacturers and cartridge manufacturers to ensure a sustainable future for the sport.

WHAT EVENTS ARE COMING UP THIS YEAR?

As well as our annual fixtures and competitions, shooting shows and the Game Fair, 2023 also sees the return of our biannual World Sporting championships which is a true festival of shooting and sees teams from all over the world compete against one another with the US in particular, sending a strong contingent to compete against our England Team.

Sam Usher, 2022 Clay Pigeon Shooting Champion

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE ORGANISATION IN THE FUTURE?

Our plans for the future are to continue developing our sport for people to enjoy and grow our membership so that the CPSA can continue to provide a first-class service for shooting. We think the Witham Group is an excellent addition to the companies that partner with our association with its new range of gun oils but also the fact that many of our affiliated shooting grounds have specialist machinery/vehicles that are necessary tools for the ground and will benefit from the superb range of discounts available through the partnership.

WHERE ARE YOU BASED AND HOW CAN SOMEONE JOIN?

We are based at Bisley, near Woking in Surrey and people can drop by or telephone our office to join if they wish, however our website www.cpsa.co.uk is the easiest method to join where our different levels of membership are clearly set out.