Accomplished blind shooters from the Box Rifle Club gathered gold and silver medals in two major competitions.

Three members won prizes in the National Smallbore Rifle Association competition and the Wiltshire Visually Impaired Target Sports Club Winter Postal League.

Karen Price, Mike Curtis and Patrick Sidnell all won medals and Price won gold in her first year of competitions.

She took gold in the Wiltshire VI Target Sports Club Winter Postal League and a silver medal in the NRSA league.

"Karen was very unlucky not to get a gold medal in the British Blind Championships, after having major problems with the lighting system she came third," said Mr Sidnell.

Mike Curtis, from Chippenham, also won a gold in the NSRA league and silver medals in the Winter Postal League.

Curtis is the first Wiltshire Visually Impaired Air Rifle Champion.

Sidnell, from Chippenham, won a silver medal in the Winter Postal League.

The club in Box has been running for two years and the visually impaired members use a special targeting system, proving their marksmanship using sound.

To a casual observer the sight, which is designed for use on an air rifle at a range of 10 metres, looks like a conventional telescopic sight and is mounted on the rifle in the same way.

However, the sight is designed to collect and measure the levels of light reflected from the target using a photo-electric cell, which is then converted into sound.

The centre of the target is brilliant white and then, moving outwards from the centre, becomes increasingly dark, until off the target is matt black.

"The closer to the centre of the target you are aiming the greater the levels of light reflected and hence the higher the frequency of sound, which is heard by the shooter via a pair of headphones," said Sidnell.

He said he had always been a shooting enthusiast and once feared his visual impairment would mean his shooting days were over.

"When I lost my sight I thought I would never be able to shoot again, but someone told me about the system and now I can carry on with my hobby," he said.

The Visually Impaired Shooters meet at the Box Rifle Club on Thursdays at 2pm.

All visually impaired people welcome to come along and try the shooting system out.