Thimbleby.....nice gesture

[TRINITY]

I have just had e.mail confirmation from Thimbleby shooting ground confirming temporary closure due to covid . However they go on to say they recognise the inconvenience of the three lock downs to their members and they are now extending all memberships for three months to cover this.

That's a fair gesture in my opinion , I wonder if any of you who have memberships at other grounds will get simillar offers.

 

[Fred Flintstone]

Sounds a very fair gesture.. well done them.

 

[El Spavo]

Well, funny you should say that as only today I mentioned to a mate that that would be an interesting chat with our club ground owner as to if they'll do anything for members. Not convinced, but we'll see. Bit of a closed market really, so they can do what they want and people would still come back, regardless...  one could possibly argue they're financially losing out as much as everyone else so need to hold the full cost.

Who knows. 

 

[Freddypip]

I'm not expecting a discount/refund though I suppose there's no harm in asking. I do recognise that many clubs are privately owned and really are not clubs in the strict sense and that they have (through no fault of their own) been unable to provide the facilities paid for by the memebrship for a siginicant period. I do however think that they have had enough to deal with with their own employment and Covid issues and many have absorbed the costs & hassles without passing anything (immediately) onto the members and non-members. The membership costs for many clubs remain small and given the other sigincant costs involed in shooting not worth fussing over. In saying this, I am a member at Kibworth, and the value for money and staff are first class.

 

[jon1]

Cambridge Gun Club have extended membership to cover the first two lockdowns, which I thought was a great gesture that I will repay as always by only breaking a small amount of the clays that I shoot at.

 

[Robden]

I expect the CPSA will do the same.............Yeah right!

 

[vmax1010]

My small straw bail club has waved the subscription for this year, it's only £25 so not going to break the bank but a nice gesture all the same 

 

[Luke_(NL)]

Personally, I'd reject the offer of a rebate even though its a really solid gesture on their part! Props to them, but the cost of membership (per month more so) is fairly negligible in the grand scheme of things, for me as an individual whereas it's a big number for a club that has hundreds of members or more. 

I'd rather see that the grounds don't move further in the direction of the abyss than that I recoup costs of "not shooting". The way I look at it is not so much that I pay them for the opportunity to shoot each and every month, but rather that I'm a paying member of the club for whom the grounds provides all of our shooting opportunities present and future. I support my grounds wholeheartedly for it and have put extra money in last year through sponsorship and a private contribution towards new structures, and will do so again. 

Essentially, there's no shooting (here anyway) if the grounds fall short of funds to stay in business. Any club that now loses its footing is unlikely to re-open post-Covid and the numbers weren't great to begin with.  I imagine that cost of upkeep, maintenance and lease alone is quite substantial whether there's any shooting going on or not, so with the lost revenue I wouldn't expect or demand a refund, preferring that our shooters see (to it that) the club survive(s) lockdown. 

 

[TRINITY]

Personally, I'd reject the offer of a rebate even though its a really solid gesture on their part! Props to them, but the cost of membership (per month more so) is fairly negligible in the grand scheme of things, for me as an individual whereas it's a big number for a club that has hundreds of members or more. 

I'd rather see that the grounds don't move further in the direction of the abyss than that I recoup costs of "not shooting". The way I look at it is not so much that I pay them for the opportunity to shoot each and every month, but rather that I'm a paying member of the club for whom the grounds provides all of our shooting opportunities present and future. I support my grounds wholeheartedly for it and have put extra money in last year through sponsorship and a private contribution towards new structures, and will do so again. 

Essentially, there's no shooting (here anyway) if the grounds fall short of funds to stay in business. Any club that now loses its footing is unlikely to re-open post-Covid and the numbers weren't great to begin with.  I imagine that cost of upkeep, maintenance and lease alone is quite substantial whether there's any shooting going on or not, so with the lost revenue I wouldn't expect or demand a refund, preferring that our shooters see (to it that) the club survive(s) lockdown. 

Luke you make some fair points and I am not arguing with your logic. However this was a totally unexpected offer made by the ground and made without any pressure from the members as far as I am aware.

Could it be Thimbleby are more astute than you than we realise. They are probably thinking of the long game, ' Look after your customers and they will look after you' .

I know of one ground that see shooters as a cash crop that needs to be financially milked , thimblebys offer is a pleasant different approach in my opinion by showing loyalty to its customers

 

[Luke_(NL)]

Luke you make some fair points and I am not arguing with your logic. However this was a totally unexpected offer made by the ground and made without any pressure from the members as far as I am aware.

Could it be Thimbleby are more astute than you than we realise. They are probably thinking of the long game, ' Look after your customers and they will look after you' .

I know of one ground that see shooters as a cash crop that needs to be financially milked , thimblebys offer is a pleasant different approach in my opinion by showing loyalty to its customers

I didn't mean to argue over any of what you said.    I fully agree that it is a really nice gesture on behalf of the grounds. I am not familiar with any of the UK grounds, but this really speaks for them. Personally I'd contribute the rebate back to them, for the reasons stated above, but my comment isn't intended as "all should" as situations will differ between grounds and certainly between shooters.

If the grounds do this as a reward or incentive for loyalty I hope and believe that would really work, I just hope grounds aren't pressured in any way to make gestures they can't afford. Hopefully all of them and us can look forward to a rapid conclusion of the restrictions and many many shoots, lots of drinks, tons of food and much more clays and cartridges being enjoyed by all, but I do fear that is still some ways away. Fingers crossed that all venues here and there survive till then.      

 

[MartynB]

Bear in mind Luke has no idea of the scale of Thimbleby.  Firstly it’s a commercial operation , so it’s a smart move . It’s in one of the wealthiest parts of the U.K.  It’s undergoing a massive investment by it’s owners . It’s on one of the most prestigious driven shooting estates . It attracts customers from all over the North  of England .

In real terms non members will make up the majority of customers  and the biggest hit all grounds will take us clay and cartridge sales, so it’s really nice to see them extending this gesture to their members like Trinity . 
 

At Kelbrook before Xmas they gave members the first 60 clays free on a visit as a gesture for lockdown time lost .That  amounts to around £16 or 25% of the membership fee , which was an equally nice way to treat customers at a commercial ground . 

 

[Luke_(NL)]

Bear in mind Luke has no idea of the scale of Thimbleby.  Firstly it’s a commercial operation , so it’s a smart move . It’s in one of the wealthiest parts of the U.K.  It’s undergoing a massive investment by it’s owners . It’s on one of the most prestigious driven shooting estates . It attracts customers from all over the North  of England

Indeed, but it sounds lovely and I agree think its a smart move. My comments reflect my view of most grounds here which, while commercially run, are not grand enterprises with money pouring in. Its there where I think the members would do well to ensure the places stay afloat.  

Also, membership fees of less than 65 pounds (4 x 16) sound really decent, as same here can run in the hundreds even for the not so grand venues whilst requiring further fees due to mandatory contribution of something forty-ish to the overarching shooting sports federation. The "hit" in lost clay and cartridge income applies here in NL too, though not all were closed in lockdown all the time. Grounds were allowed small numbers of shooters, but groups of non-members are their bread and butter and that has been all but cut off.   

 

[MartynB]

Most of the shooting grounds around here offer memberships around that price Luke . The main  benefit being discounted clays    . Even at that price you’d only break even after shooting around 1500 clays . There is one ground where membership is over £300 , but I’d never shoot enough on one single ground to amortise that back . I do agree with you about even commercial clubs needing cashflow. 

With respect to membership fees over at your end of the world  , before I left the world of work , I spent a lot of time on site in and around Rotterdam, Zwijndrecht and the Botlek . As a general observation I found most things  generally more expensive than the U.K.

Unfortunately I never got the opportunity to go shooting though as most of our  team votes for social gatherings seemed geared around food and beer ! 

 

[Luke_(NL)]

With respect to membership fees over at your end of the world  , before I left the world of work , I spent a lot of time on site in and around Rotterdam, Zwijndrecht and the Botlek . As a general observation I found most things  generally more expensive than the U.K.

Unfortunately I never got the opportunity to go shooting though as most of our  team votes for social gatherings seemed geared around food and beer ! 

I can relate. It's certainly not the cheapest place to live in many regards, with shooting being a fairly expensive pass-time in most places but more so here.  Good thing I don't smoke, drink expensive liquor, or have a shopping compulsion. It has its upsides too though, but the climate isn't among them. Not to different in the UK I suppose.  

Food and beer are popular as ever to get social, or at least they were pre-Covid, but could have been combined with shooting clays provided the beer is opened after the shooting. Europoort would have been an option in those parts, but they unfortunately closed down for good somewhere in December.