"The only clubs in the area are us, based in Llandudno, and the Bangor and District Rifle Club. We do gallery rifle shooting in our indoor range where basically you shoot at paper targets and rubber knock-down plates.

Bangor does long range disciplines as they have a 400-yard tunnel. They also do practical rifle shooting, which involves more varied Rapid Fire and Moving targets than the type of shooting we do.

We take part in a UK-wide postal competition called the "Phoenix" where the targets are sent to us; we shoot them at our club and send away the scores. We generally get several of our members winning one of the first three places and we have won the Team and Pairs section of this countywide competition for several years.

LCBM travels to England to shoot in open competitions, usually to Stourport by Kidderminster and South Yorkshire. We also take part in the Bisley shoot twice a year, down in

Surrey. This is the Mecca of the shooting fraternity. We do a three-day weekend in May and two days in August.

We have the highest turn-out for such a small club in the country. We've got a membership of about 40 and usually field approx 10 to 12 shooters, whereas other clubs with a membership of 250+ can usually only scrape 4/5 people together to compete.

We hold up to 12 open days a year, which usually take place during the non-summer months when we're not busy practising for competitions. You must be invited by a club member. Lots of people come along, have a shoot and if they like it, can take away a membership form. We then vet the forms - we can't do police checks, but all members must be proposed by someone who's known them for over two years and be vouched for. By law, anybody with a criminal record would not be allowed to join.

Probationary membership lasts for at least 12 shooting visits in a minimum of three months, and each time you come you'll be supervised one to one, given coaching on correcting your stance and anything else you need to know. After that period, if you're suitable and no-one's got any objections, you can be taken on as a full member. We're very safety conscious, which is vital in this sport.

Full membership is £60 and £30 for juniors, who must be over 14 and who are given a lot more care and consideration.

I've been shooting since 1988. The thrill of any type of Target shooting is trying to achieve the perfect score - it doesn't happen that often!

There are still founder members at the club from when it was known as the Llandudno Pistol Club, before pistols were banned. We lost about 60 per cent of the membership after that.Those who shoot at the club are very responsible and the sport promotes discipline, control and the utmost respect for firearms. Many people who have started off by coming to an open night and initially been against shooting and guns, have given it a go and found out how safe and enjoyable it is, gone on to be full members and now attend open competitions with us. It's a very enjoyable sport, but has had some bad press since the Dunblane tragedy. The aftermath was handled badly by the associations and there's still some stigma attached to shooting clubs, but we're getting there.

There are still some problems. For example anyone practicing for the UK Olympics had to go abroad, then we got our .22 calibre free pistols back - I think this concession was only to help London secure the Olympic bid for 2012... but hey, that's just my opinion".

Llandudno and Colwyn Bay Marksmen
01492 878092

Bangor and District Rifle Club
01248 671314