Paula Purvis, one of the organisers behind the effort to sponsor the annual ladies day that sends proceeds to the McGrath Foundation says the annual event was really more of a random chance than anything planned.

"Dubbo Field and Game are sort of our local field and game club, we're members over there but our whole idea behind it, we had a sponsor pull out before the first ladies range shoot and we had a quick talk and we all decided that our farming partnership would just sponsor the day," Purvis said.

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"We're all behind the McGrath foundation, every year we get asked why we don't support a different charity; we have been touched fairly heavily by breast cancer, my nan was diagnosed and was lucky enough to live through it despite losing one of her breasts."

"My mother in law was diagnosed in 2006 and passed away in 2009 from it, it's one of those things that is very close to our hearts and always will be."

Purvis, says the loss of her mother in law still stings, but one thing that has helped the family through the pain is the shared community of shooters they've come to cherish.

"My daughter was only five when my mother-in-law passed away, she never really got to know our son, who was only eight months old," Purvis said.

"It's one of those things that's very close to us and has affected so many people locally or within our sport. It's something we find close to our hearts."

Purvis' son, now 12, recently took up the sport for himself, after achieving his first probationary license and on the weekend and participating in a target shooting contest in Gunnedah.

Though getting to share in the sport makes for an exciting family activity, the clay target snipers are just as grateful for the support the event they sponsor has received from the wider community.

"The shooting community is one of the most tight-knit sporting communities I've ever been involved in, it's probably a bit do with the perception of it from the outside, a lot of people don't like the look of shooting," Purvis said.

"Mudgee had a big pink shoot last year and we sent people over there to support them, we travel all over, you want to support your local clubs, but also your not so local clubs."

"My husband's working at the moment, making hay, but he's making phone calls to all the Dubbo members and all our friends and family and all the other gun clubs across the region to make sure they're invited."

It's a unique event, and a thrilling hobby, and while Purvis admits she was slow to join in when her husband and her father took up the activity, she's become fast friends with many of her fellow shooters.

"I love it, it's such a wonderful sport, it is a sport where I have made some amazing, wonderful friends just from being involved in the club," Purvis said.

"I never had the want to actually do it, when my husband and I got together, him and my dad would go to the gun club and one of my really good friends and I just decided one day that if we wanted to spend time with them, we'd have to do it too."

"It's starting to become more and more of a women's sport."

"The reason I first started, I grew up around gun clubs, as a fourteen or fifteen year old you'd have a shot every now and then, but back then there was nothing really for women or juniors."

The event this year will be held out at the Dubbo Field and Game club, on October 18, with an all day charity event where attendees are encouraged to wear pink.

Glenn McGrath, who attended the charity day in 2019, may also be in attendance this year, depending on a variety of COVID-19 restrictions at the time.

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