ON a cold winters morning in a wide-open field just outside Bisley, the clacking sounds of gun fire can be heard ringing out across the Gloucestershire countryside, followed by the occasional cheer and ping as black saucer-shaped discs launch into the sky.

This may sound alarming, but take a drive out towards the tiny village of Waterlane on any Sunday morning throughout the winter, and you’ll come across a sporting club which has remained at the same site on the edge of the Cotswolds for over 40 years.

Overlooking one of the most beautiful backdrops in the area, the Stroud and District Clay Shooting Club is a popular weekly retreat for shooting enthusiasts, come rain or shine.

With around 180 members, spanning all ages, abilities and gender, the club is home to a wide range of competitors from QCs to builders, and regular shooters compete in regional and national competitions every year. Club owner Tim Tortonese, 47, has some 30 years experience in the sport, and is one of six professional coaches at the club, which specialises in a form of shooting known as English Skeet.

This is where seven shooters stand in a semicircle and take shots at pairs of targets fired horizontally over the range from opposite angles.

Another more traditional method, or discipline as it is known, is Down the line where five shooters stand in a row and fire at rising targets shot randomly from a wooden trap 16 yards in front of them.

The clay pigeons used are biodegradable chalk and pitch discs which break up in the ground and dissolve. “It is fast becoming very popular, especially as an Olympic sport, and we have a lot of up and coming young talent here,” said Tim, who also runs a game-shooting business in Painswick.

“We always encourage the youngsters because they are the future of the sport.”

Among the club’s most promising talents is 21-year-old England star Steve Bodenham, who has been a club member since the age of nine, and recently shot for the national senior team at a major competition.

“It is a brilliant club because everyone mixes together and has fun - there is absolutely no prejudice,” said Steve, who won a Government Sports Council award through Exeter University where he is studying a masters in Civil Engineering.

“You can either come along and shoot for fun, or you can really concentrate and progress into competitions.

“After university I am working towards getting onto the GB shooting squad, and hopefully competing in the London Olympics from there.”

Steve’s father Dennis is one of the club’s most senior shooters, along with the resident gunsmith Alan Evill and Mark Mills, whose 16-year-old son Jack recently progressed onto the county team after only eight months in the sport.

“Whether you have one naught or two naughts on your age it does not make a difference,” said Dennis, a club member for over 25 years.

“Where else would you find the young mixing with the older generations every week. With the right training, we can bring the young members right through onto the international stage, and we are very proud of that.”

For information on joining, or to book a private party or corporate event, call 01453 731389 or email tim@tctshootingservices.co.uk.