Our Team

Tony Kear - Shop Manager

“ I have been involved with Thomas Turners for about 7 years now, I started as a Saturday sales assistant and doing repairs.

I enjoyed it so much I was lucky to be offered a full-time position as a shop assistant and gunsmith, since then I have managed to work myself up to manager. I have always been in to shooting, starting with a .22 rifle for target and clay pigeon shooting.

I soon progressed on to full-bore pistol shooting, although hunting was always my passion. A .22 Ruger 10/22 soon took hold and rabbits were the course to take. Soon a .223 for foxes and .243 for deer hunting were purchased to complete my collection.

Now 30 years after I got my first shotgun certificate the buzz has never been greater and the passion gets stronger. ”

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Peter Stratton - Proprietor

“ Left school at 18 and went to work for my dad (Jack) at Turners. I spent time in the workshop and on the shop floor selling. I learnt most of what one would call 'journeyman repairs' and learnt to restock shotguns.

After trapping at the shooting school for about five years and listening to my father's patient teaching in the art of shooting, he surprised me one day by telling me to take the next client. This put me in panic mode but I did what he asked and from then on I took over the teaching at the shooting school, which in those days was one of the very few in the country.

I developed my own style of teaching and began to shoot clays competitively. I soon began to win competitions regularly, winning the Berkshire & Oxfordshire Sporting Championships, ultimately finishing Runner-Up in the British Open at sporting, 4th in the European Championships and 10th in the World F.I.T.A.S.C.

I was then asked to manage the Great Britain FITASC team in the absence of Bob Armistead, the manager who was sadly killed in an aircraft accident. I did the managers job and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. During my management Great Britain were undefeated and were first on the podium in every event.

I gave up serious clay shooting in 1984 when I took over the running of Gosbrook Rd shop, after I split from the partnership with my brother. ”

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Sean Bird - Sales Assistant

“ I started shooting with my first air gun when I was fourteen. The same year I joined a small bore club shooting a .22 rimfire in competition. I have recently joined a full bore shooting club and have applied for the grant of a firearms licence for my own .22 rimfire for both hunting and target shooting. ”

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