On behalf of all Glad Raggers, we would like to nominate Mhairi Morris, founder of Glad Rags and Cartridge Bags for the Star of Shooting award for her outstanding contribution to shooting.
In November this year, Glad Rags and Cartridge Bags celebrated it’s fifth birthday and 71st event. Since establishing GRCB in November 2014, 500 individual ladies from across Scotland have shot with GRCB and over 1,900 places have been taken at events held at 21 amazing and unique venues. GRCB welcomes all ladies, from those who have never held a gun before to the more experienced shots. There are no membership fees so ladies can dip in and out but the fact that ladies come back time and time again speaks for itself.
Mhairi has a genuine interest in people. Her generosity, enthusiasm, and warm and welcoming smile has enabled and encouraged ladies, their families and friends to either try shooting for the first time or to indulge even more in a sport that they love.
Ask any Glad Ragger and they’ll tell you that a Glad Rags day is one of their favourite days of the month. Ladies can get away from everything, learn and improve their shooting skills, spend time with friends old and new, and see stunning locations they’ve never seen before.
Mhairi is relentless in her quest to keep GRCB events and venues new, fresh and exciting for everyone to enjoy. GRCB is the only group of it’s kind that holds shooting at events without traditional shooting grounds and Mhairi spends a huge amount of time building relationships with people and organisations, both in and out of the shooting world, to research and plan these amazing events and incredible venues.
Mhairi is constantly working on positive PR for ladies shooting in national and local publications. She looks for new opportunities to work collaboratively and support venues by hosting GRCB events which also increases exposure for their business and has a positive impact on rural employment.
Mhairi has hosted GRCB events at Kincardine Castle, Wardhill Castle, Gordon Castle, House of Schivas, Mayen House, Douneside House and Kinnettles Castle to name but a few. She has also been behind the first ladies group to host a full ladies driven day at Leys Estate, Dessmuir and simulated game days at Kargarrie estate. Mhairi continues to excel with an exciting calendar of events for 2020 including Young Gun’s day and the Gladrags & Dog Leads day in partnership with The Working Puppy Company.
As Mhairi says, it’s all in the detail.
Her meticulous planning for each event ensures a safe, supportive and welcoming atmosphere. Everyone has names badges and new ladies have buddies to welcome and support them throughout the day.
Mhairi works extremely closely with her team of professional coaches to plan lessons around each ladies strengths, creating opportunities for each lady to continue improve and giving them the best experience possible.
A GRCB day is about fun and friendship first and foremost, but for ladies looking to improve their ability and challenge themselves, the GRCB annual challenge is open to everyone.
Each ladies top four scores can be entered to win 1st, 2nd or 3rd prize in their group at the end of the year. This has seen ladies who had never shot before and started with GRCB back in November 2014, work their way up and through the groups which is a real testament to Mhairi and her team of supportive and encouraging coaches. The GRCB challenge is another example of Mhairi’s collaborative working.
Over the years Mhairi are secured sponsorship for the challenge with Ardmoor, MHA Henderson Loggie, Country Ways, Weatherbys Private Banking and works tirelessly to ensure they are involved and experience fantastic GRCB events with the ladies.
Since establishing GRCB, Mhairi has supported and raised £10,000 for local charities such as Maggies and CLAN Cancer Support,and has fantastic fundraising opportunities lined up for 2020 to support Children 1st charity.
Mhairi is a very humble lady and always says, “it’s the ladies that make Gladrags what it is.” It’s Mhairi’s passion, dedication, hard work and huge heart that bring people from all walks of life together where they can make new friends, enjoy a hobby they love, go to places they’ve never been before!
Mhairi works non stop alongside her busy family life to make Gladrags great for everyone. She is an inspiration to us all and the ultimate ambassador for ladies shooting. She is a very worthy winner of this award and it would be great to acknowledge and recognise her amazing work and outstanding contribution.
Fiona McPherson on behalf of the Glad Raggers
