Duckinfield Air weapons club

[zooma]

Many of us have seen the news reports on the television (or read the newspaper reports) about local residents having to be evacuated due to the threat from a nearby Victorian mill building that looks to be falling down and will have to be demolished,

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....damage-6729225

What I did not realise (until I was told today) was that this mill includes the home of the Duckinfield Airgun Club. Is there a Dunkinfield club member that can confirm this or bring us up to date please?

If this is true than I hope Tony who runs the Dukinfield Airgun Club can find another home for his club very soon and that this bad experience does not force him to give up with the loss of yet another good club facility for air gunners to use and enjoy.

It is hard enough to run an air weapons club when things are going well - and even then it is often difficult to make ends meet without any unexpected disasters or changes of circumstances to add to the problems of surviving.

I have been running and supporting air weapons clubs in different parts of the UK since the early 1970's and have seen it all before - one day a nice facility is being enjoyed by its members and the next day it is suddenly and unexpectedly lost and often gone forever.

Most air weapons clubs are based in old mills, working mens clubs, church halls (and the like) and old commercial buildings of several types or share facilities with other organisations - and so by nature they almost all have an insecure base as circumstances can and often do change.

New property owners, deaths of friendly property owners or changes of organisations or committee memberships (who may not be as sympathetic towards having air-guns on the premises as the previous committee) etc. can bring an abrupt end to any club that does not own it's own premises.

Having an old mill start to fall down (whilst not a daily occurrence) does help to illustrate the fragility of our air weapons clubs.

Organisations that allow the use of their facilities for air weapons shooting are often subject to swift and unexpected changes of policy that can have exactly the same effect as a building falling down as far as the future of an air weapons club is concerned.

My deepest sympathies are with Tony and if there is anything I can do to help I hope he will contact me