We had first approached Poole Council in 1980, it had taken two years to get to the stage where we could commence construction. We started clearing the site on 12tll June 1982 and completed the external construction work on 19th September 1982, just fourteen weeks from start to finish excluding the car park and landscaping of the vicinity. 

Although we had Planning permission at the start, Building Control was another matter. We eventually received it at the end of July, the only unexpected item being that the floors would have to be concreted complete. Although we argued for an exemption we got nowhere, primarily I believe because the Council wished to ensure they could re-let the building should we run into difficulties, one of the problems of being an unincorporated association.   We now moved inside to deal with that and the steelwork.  There are no photographs of the interior during this period, for several reasons. Primarily in a building with no windows it’s dark inside.

 There was no electricity supply installed and flash in a 100ft. building is not impossible, but certainly not a spur of the moment job. Although the excavation and concreting were relatively slow, one of the Members ran a factory so the steelwork could largely be fabricated under factory conditions, a much more efficient process. Installation would also have been quicker because although we only had a couple of builders for the external works, we had more precision engineers than you could shake a stick at.

We did have electricity when we really needed it. With an SEB engineer as a Member, and a sub-station within spitting distance it was a foregone conclusion that it wouldn’t be a problem. Now that the building was secure he could proceed with the electrical installation. In mid November the MOD inspection arranged and in early December a Major Reed paid us a visit. The inspection passed without problem and we duly received our Range Safety Certificate. We needed to install the toilets before opening so to allow us time for that and any unforeseen problems we announced the opening of the range for shooting commencing 17th January 1983, very close to three years after our initial contact with the Scouts. 

These pictures show the building as we took it over. The roof, the pre-cast concrete walls, and about half the portal frames had walked off into the sunset. The first job was to clear the remainder and dispose of as it no longer served a purpose. The numerous concrete posts you see are the remains of the chain link fence which completely surrounded the building, but as you can see, even that was appropriated by the locals. The original building was about 60′ long so we always knew it would need enlarging, we just didn’t think we’d have to start again from scratch.

The original building had no foundations as such, so excavations started from scratch.  The existing ground level sloped upwards towards what would be the rear of the building so the foundation depth, together with the need to reduce the ground level to  ovoid damp penetration, meant a considerable amount of soil had to be dug by hand.

Excavation finished and on to concreting the foundations. With only one builder and one carpenter this was never going to be an easy operation. On the day a motley crew of precision engineers, shopkeepers, bankers and office workers arrived to start work. No wellies, no shovels; in fact, very little of anything other than cement and gravel. We got there in the end.

At last all the groundwork has been done and the blockwork can be started which started a new wave of enthusiasm generating some more support.

One of the better supported work days, at least eight people, plus the photographer and  probably another three/four not in the photograph.

On the left in the main picture, we see Pat Prior looking rather bemused by it all. Pat was one of the originators of the quest for our own range, it was her who found the current site, and during the construction period she used to stay on site until it got dark to prevent the local vandals demolishing the blockwork while still soft. She died of cancer just twelve years later. Rather worryingly most of the others have since joined her.

With more builders on site things started to move along more quickly. The weather was holding up and in no time the walls were approaching plate height. Just as well really because the supply of voluntary labour was beginning to dry up, the fine weather was encouraging people to desert and spend their weekends on the beach. Pity really, they could have all the sand they wanted with us.  You will note that the floor is still bare earth. At this stage we were  still planning on having a sand floor, primarily because of cost. I had based the original drawings on military ranges, not realising that military ranges were not subject to building controls. Eventually we had to concrete it.

Very different view today. What used to be grassland is now a thickly wooded area.

No we weren’t always stopping for a tea break.
With the walls finished, roof trusses on; just the steel sheeting to go on and we’re ready to start on the butts and baffles.

The Official opening

The Club’s range was officially opened in 1984 by the
Mayor of Poole Cllr. Buss. The opening was arranged
by the Mayor’s Chaplain Denis Coote CBE who also
happened to be President of Parkstone Gun Club.
Denis was very proud of being a Group Captain in the
RAF to use his own words ‘on merit, not because I
was a sky pilot’

The much improved 2019 range includes a state of the art target retrieval system.