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- By Graham Allen
-
1
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- Last updated: 24/04/2017
I first visited the Northern Shooting Show venue, The Yorkshire Event Centre near Harrogate, in the autumn of 2015. My family and I were on holiday in the area and I decided to take up show organiser Richard Stokoe’s offer of a look around. We were all very impressed by the 250-acre ground, and we could see why the venue is used by so many different types of show. The gently sloping, grassed area had several mature trees and an attractive pond alongside one of the entrance tracks; I thought that the little dell would make a great HFT course and that’s exactly how it turned out, as a few phone calls to Roger Lait and Ian Bainbridge (the HFT Masters organisers) soon had them on board.
I obviously had to use my imagination while I was there, as the area was completely empty but Richard did a great job of describing what it would be like when May 2016 came around. At the time, there was a large temporary structure (Hall 1) on the right-hand side of the site and a smaller permanent building (Hall 2) on the left. These two halls were the venue for most the trade stands, with ‘have a go’ ranges etc. outside. The really frustrating thing for Richard was that there was a new building under construction but it was due to open the month after the show!
On the weekend of the show, I was unfortunately only able to go on the Sunday due to being at a wedding in Kent on the Saturday, but when I arrived I was met by a bustling crowd clearly enjoying the show. The weather was fantastic, which helped of course but the show had a really friendly feel to it, even the Day Glo clad parking guys were friendly!
Chatting to exhibitors showed that they too were having a great show, so it looked like the Northern Shooting Show had hit the ground running, the organisers had done a fantastic job and I was keen to see how it would fair in its second year.
New for this year is that stateof- the-art, £12 million building that I mentioned earlier and its light years away from the temporary building from last year (impressive though it was) or any other similar show venues. The building is an impressive combination of natural stone, glass and weathered copper exterior cladding and looks like something you’d see on the TV series ‘Grand Designs’. Most importantly, it is a ‘clear span’ building eight-metres high, and has no central pillars; it feels very light and airy and as there are no obstructions, it gives Richard and his team carte blanche to arrange stalls as they like, without being confined by dirty great concrete supports, dictating where things should go. The new building (Hall 1) is a whopping 4320-square meters and I can’t wait to see it full. It will be ‘Gunmakers Hall 1’ & ‘The FMJ Zone’ and there’s a rather swish looking café to one side, with toilets that would shame a modern hotel! There’s actually another café that links into the original Hall 2, which is 1950-square metres and this is where ‘Airgun Central’ will be housed.
Richard told me that the show will be a third larger than last year and that there are going to be 260 exhibitors in attendance and the list he reeled off was seemingly endless! The top names in firearms, shotguns, airguns, optics and accessories will be there, so it really is worth making the trip and it is easily accessible from nearby motorways. There are going to be dozens of retailers at the show too, so it’s worth taking plenty of spending money!
As far as the outdoor areas are concerned, the HFT Masters competition and demonstration area is back and visitors can try their hand at HFT on the Saturday and see all the latest airgun kit being used in earnest on the Sunday over the picturesque yet testing course. The Airgun Range has been enlarged and moved to the top of the site, alongside the ‘Air Arms Experience’. Next door is the venue for the exciting sport of Target Sprint, which combines 3x 400-metre runs, interspersed with shooting knockdown targets with an air rifle. It sounds like a great new sport and I can’t wait to see the youngsters in action. To encourage young shooters to take part, they can pay just £5 for a training course and then enter the competition and the show- now there’s a bargain!
The Clay Line was a great success last year but this year it is a whopping 550-metres long! Eley Hawk are sponsoring it with 15,000 cartridges and BASC, CPSA, MLAGB and Femme Fatales will be there to introduce people to the delights of shotgun shooting. There is also the Northern 50 Bird Sporting Competition with some fantastic prizes to be won and also a 20-bird grouse competition, with a brand-new Browning 725 Sporter going to the winner. Manufacturers will have demo areas, where visitors can try before they buy and I can see this being popular with people after a new gun. There will also be a DryFire simulator area, where it will be possible to try shotgun shooting without any lead leaving the barrel- very useful for those who have never fired a gun before.
There’s also going to be an area where people can try archery, shoot 22 rimfire rifles, check out what’s new in Night Vision in the specially constructed Night Vision Tunnel and trial Meopta and Leupold scopes in their demo area. The Artisans & Classic Pavilion will be worth a visit, as will the Bushcraft Area, where there will be demonstrations of various Bushcraft techniques. The Airsoft Experience is bigger and better than last year and this exciting shooting discipline will be demonstrated by top shots and there will be loads of quality gear to see and buy. The Gamekeeping and Gundog Area is bound to be popular too and there’s a Gundog Scurry area next to it. The new Deer Focus area will have demonstrations on how to skin and butcher a deer carcass, how to achieve perfect shot placement when stalking and there’s even a free to enter deer calling competition (a UK first) where you can potentially win one of the latest Zeiss products to an RRP of £1600, brought to you by the company Best Deer Call. Experts from the British Deer Society will be in attendance and the NGO and BASC will also be on hand, offering advice, as well as a trophy measuring service. Zeiss also have a four-metre-high demo platform, where visitors can try out various optics.
Entrance prices are deliberately kept to an affordable level, so that the whole family can enjoy a day out together. Advance adult tickets are £10 (£13 on the day) and children are £5 in advance and £7 on the day. Under 8s are free. One point worth noting is that dogs are allowed on site but not into the indoor areas. The show is open from 8.30 until 16.30 but the car park is open at 6.45.
The organisers were obviously delighted with how the show was received last year and I can see the Northern Shooting Show going from strength to strength each year. Gun Mart and Shooting Sports magazines will be in attendance and I can’t wait to go.
The Northern Shooting Show is on the 6th and 7th of May. For more details go to www. northernshootingshow.co.uk.
Comments
I first visited the Northern Shooting Show venue, The Yorkshire Event Centre near Harrogate, in the autumn of 2015. My family and I were on holiday in the area and I decided to take up show organiser Richard Stokoe’s offer of a look around. We were all very impressed by the 250-acre ground, and we could see why the venue is used by so many different types of show. The gently sloping, grassed area had several mature trees and an attractive pond alongside one of the entrance tracks; I thought that the little dell would make a great HFT course and that’s exactly how it turned out, as a few phone calls to Roger Lait and Ian Bainbridge (the HFT Masters organisers) soon had them on board.
I obviously had to use my imagination while I was there, as the area was completely empty but Richard did a great job of describing what it would be like when May 2016 came around. At the time, there was a large temporary structure (Hall 1) on the right-hand side of the site and a smaller permanent building (Hall 2) on the left. These two halls were the venue for most the trade stands, with ‘have a go’ ranges etc. outside. The really frustrating thing for Richard was that there was a new building under construction but it was due to open the month after the show!
On the weekend of the show, I was unfortunately only able to go on the Sunday due to being at a wedding in Kent on the Saturday, but when I arrived I was met by a bustling crowd clearly enjoying the show. The weather was fantastic, which helped of course but the show had a really friendly feel to it, even the Day Glo clad parking guys were friendly!
Chatting to exhibitors showed that they too were having a great show, so it looked like the Northern Shooting Show had hit the ground running, the organisers had done a fantastic job and I was keen to see how it would fair in its second year.
New for this year is that stateof- the-art, £12 million building that I mentioned earlier and its light years away from the temporary building from last year (impressive though it was) or any other similar show venues. The building is an impressive combination of natural stone, glass and weathered copper exterior cladding and looks like something you’d see on the TV series ‘Grand Designs’. Most importantly, it is a ‘clear span’ building eight-metres high, and has no central pillars; it feels very light and airy and as there are no obstructions, it gives Richard and his team carte blanche to arrange stalls as they like, without being confined by dirty great concrete supports, dictating where things should go. The new building (Hall 1) is a whopping 4320-square meters and I can’t wait to see it full. It will be ‘Gunmakers Hall 1’ & ‘The FMJ Zone’ and there’s a rather swish looking café to one side, with toilets that would shame a modern hotel! There’s actually another café that links into the original Hall 2, which is 1950-square metres and this is where ‘Airgun Central’ will be housed.
Richard told me that the show will be a third larger than last year and that there are going to be 260 exhibitors in attendance and the list he reeled off was seemingly endless! The top names in firearms, shotguns, airguns, optics and accessories will be there, so it really is worth making the trip and it is easily accessible from nearby motorways. There are going to be dozens of retailers at the show too, so it’s worth taking plenty of spending money!
As far as the outdoor areas are concerned, the HFT Masters competition and demonstration area is back and visitors can try their hand at HFT on the Saturday and see all the latest airgun kit being used in earnest on the Sunday over the picturesque yet testing course. The Airgun Range has been enlarged and moved to the top of the site, alongside the ‘Air Arms Experience’. Next door is the venue for the exciting sport of Target Sprint, which combines 3x 400-metre runs, interspersed with shooting knockdown targets with an air rifle. It sounds like a great new sport and I can’t wait to see the youngsters in action. To encourage young shooters to take part, they can pay just £5 for a training course and then enter the competition and the show- now there’s a bargain!
The Clay Line was a great success last year but this year it is a whopping 550-metres long! Eley Hawk are sponsoring it with 15,000 cartridges and BASC, CPSA, MLAGB and Femme Fatales will be there to introduce people to the delights of shotgun shooting. There is also the Northern 50 Bird Sporting Competition with some fantastic prizes to be won and also a 20-bird grouse competition, with a brand-new Browning 725 Sporter going to the winner. Manufacturers will have demo areas, where visitors can try before they buy and I can see this being popular with people after a new gun. There will also be a DryFire simulator area, where it will be possible to try shotgun shooting without any lead leaving the barrel- very useful for those who have never fired a gun before.
There’s also going to be an area where people can try archery, shoot 22 rimfire rifles, check out what’s new in Night Vision in the specially constructed Night Vision Tunnel and trial Meopta and Leupold scopes in their demo area. The Artisans & Classic Pavilion will be worth a visit, as will the Bushcraft Area, where there will be demonstrations of various Bushcraft techniques. The Airsoft Experience is bigger and better than last year and this exciting shooting discipline will be demonstrated by top shots and there will be loads of quality gear to see and buy. The Gamekeeping and Gundog Area is bound to be popular too and there’s a Gundog Scurry area next to it. The new Deer Focus area will have demonstrations on how to skin and butcher a deer carcass, how to achieve perfect shot placement when stalking and there’s even a free to enter deer calling competition (a UK first) where you can potentially win one of the latest Zeiss products to an RRP of £1600, brought to you by the company Best Deer Call. Experts from the British Deer Society will be in attendance and the NGO and BASC will also be on hand, offering advice, as well as a trophy measuring service. Zeiss also have a four-metre-high demo platform, where visitors can try out various optics.
Entrance prices are deliberately kept to an affordable level, so that the whole family can enjoy a day out together. Advance adult tickets are £10 (£13 on the day) and children are £5 in advance and £7 on the day. Under 8s are free. One point worth noting is that dogs are allowed on site but not into the indoor areas. The show is open from 8.30 until 16.30 but the car park is open at 6.45.
The organisers were obviously delighted with how the show was received last year and I can see the Northern Shooting Show going from strength to strength each year. Gun Mart and Shooting Sports magazines will be in attendance and I can’t wait to go.
The Northern Shooting Show is on the 6th and 7th of May. For more details go to www. northernshootingshow.co.uk.
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