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Locating local clubs
Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2026 11:00 pm
by Saffron
If your looking for a local metal detecting club you might find this useful.
Assuming your a member of the NCMD, which I very strongly recommend, under the "Members Only" tab there is section on finding local clubs
where you can ask about what clubs are in your area and hopefully somebody can help.
https://www.ncmd.co.uk/community/help-finding-a-club/
Under "Clubs and Groups" there is also a map that you can use to see if any local clubs are registered, unfortunately it looks as if only a small percentage are.
https://www.ncmd.co.uk/club-map/
Re: Locating local clubs
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2026 8:57 am
by shaggybfc
I think many of the smaller traditional clubs now don’t publicise their existence for 2 reasons:
1) too many noobs coming into the hobby, they don’t find gold first time out and give up, so the attrition rate is high and we can’t be bothered with all that malarkey
2) too many people join a traditional club, get to know the land / landowners and before you know it, a commercial detecting club has stolen the land. I’ve seen this, and no, not a coincidence.
So to get into a traditional club now, it’s more about trust, being recommended.
Re: Locating local clubs
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2026 9:18 am
by Steve RC
So true. My club a long established one, gets a few applications over the year. As a part of the application process we ask prospective members to write to the secretary and explain why they want to join the club and what they can bring to the club or do for it..
Suprisingly this weeds out 99% of potential members. I wonder why.
Re: Locating local clubs
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2026 9:22 am
by Saffron
shaggybfc wrote: ↑Thu Mar 05, 2026 8:57 am
I think many of the smaller traditional clubs now don’t publicise their existence for 2 reasons:
1) too many noobs coming into the hobby, they don’t find gold first time out and give up, so the attrition rate is high and we can’t be bothered with all that malarkey
2) too many people join a traditional club, get to know the land / landowners and before you know it, a commercial detecting club has stolen the land. I’ve seen this, and no, not a coincidence.
So to get into a traditional club now, it’s more about trust, being recommended.
I agree. In the case of a small club I am in it actually has a limit of how many members are allowed, so it requires somebody to drop out before a new person can join. As Shaggy says its then a case of doing a few digs as a guest of an existing member and being recommended.
However, the NCMD site does cover both the smaller traditional clubs now and larger FB groups