Leadership Team
Adam Anthony
commercial
Adam has had a lifelong passion for the countryside and country pursuits. He is a regular and enthusiastic Shot and is a proud member of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers. He combines his passion for shooting with his wealth of business experience, gained over many years, to lead the commercial operations at Gallyon. Adam enjoys all aspects of countrysports, from stalking, game shooting, clay pigeons and when not shooting, enjoys golf and dinghy sailing.
Richard Hefford-Hobbs
Engineering
Richard is the Chairman and owner of a specialist precision engineering business that has a reputation for excellence across numerous fields. A passionate supporter of British engineering, he is a member of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers where he acts as Trustee for the gunmaking apprenticeships scheme. He is also the Vice President of the Heritage Craft Association, which has HRH King Charles III as President. The organisation supports the intangible cultural heritage crafts, such as gunmaking, and encourages those interested to enter a craft-based trade.
Don Custerson
Designer & Gunmaker
Don Custerson graduated with an MA in engineering from the University of Cambridge. He worked originally for a high-tech engineering company but with his lifelong interest in guns and rifles, he eventually turned this pastime into a business. Over the years, Don has stocked, finished and completed repairs for several best London gunmakers, alongside his many commissions for new guns and rifles. Today, his passion and motivation is designing, developing and producing new guns to exacting standards of excellence, actioning, stocking, finishing and regulating them himself.
The new Gallyon guns have been designed by Don and he will be leading and training the gunmaking team to ensure that the guns meet his, and the company’s requirements for function, handling, reliability and appearance.
Don became a registered gunmaker with the Gun Trade Association and was admitted to the Worshipful Company Of Gunmakers in 1996.
Richard Gallyon
Ambassador
As the sixth generation of Gallyon to run the family owned business, Richard has a wealth of experience and knowledge that is unrivalled in the gun trade. He has twice been the Master of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers and despite stepping down from the day to day running of the business, he will continue as an ambassador.
ALAN BOWER
GUNROOM MANAGER
Winner of the ‘Mechanical Production Competences’ medal from the London City & Guilds Institute in 1999, the highest award given for this course, Alan was further recognised and awarded a medal for his fine metal working skills by The Worshipful Company of Cutlers in the same year.
After a time served apprenticeship with a provincial gunsmith, Alan then spent many years perfecting the art, craft and skills required as a gunmaker to build fine guns.
The craft skills Alan acquired over time stood him in good stead to conserve, repair, maintain and in some cases rebuild a wide variety of sporting arms.
With over thirty years of experience within the gun trade, Alan brings a wealth of knowledge and technical experience, and a highly respected reputation for workmanship of the highest quality.
Alan overseas the production and further development of the Gallyon gun making team, all of whom share his passion for the art, craft and mystery of gun making, field sports and the outdoors.
George Hobbs
GunMaker
After completing a six-year apprenticeship in the art of gunmaking, George moved to Gallyon in early 2022 to further develop and broaden his gunmaking skills under the watchful eye of our Master Gunmaker, Don Custerson.
George brought with him a wide array of gunmaking hand craft skills and contemporary engineering technical ability that further enhanced the Gallyon skill set in several key dimensions.
The professional and independent recognition that George had become a qualified Gunmaker came from the Certification Panel of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, a Panel that is composed of experts and Master Gunmaker craftsmen.
George oversees the day-to-day gun build at the factory, manages the armoury, and can be found at Falcon House or the nearby dedicated Gallyon manufacturing facility.
During his apprenticeship, George had the opportunity to represent British Gunmaking several times at IWA Outdoor Classics in Germany and at the Celebration of British Gunmaking hosted by the East India Club, London.
MARK HEWLETT
APPRENTICE GUNMAKER
After a brief career in the British Army Parachute Regiment, which was unfortunately curtailed due to an injury, Mark retrained as a documentary and editorial photographer.
Quickly Mark established himself as a high quality freelancer across many sectors, with an eye for detail and an ability to capture, and communicate a moment in time with his photography.
His award winning photographic work has been used by most of the major international media outlets both in print and online. As his photographic career developed he specialised in professional sports photography, working closely with a variety of top sports athletes and competitors.
Mark has been an enthusiastic shooter since his youth and has shot competitively for Norfolk County in the Smallbore Prone Rifle discipline. He also enjoys sporting clays, skeet and trap disciplines when not game shooting or deer stalking.
Mark has the artists eye and a keen passion for gun making hand craft skills, his aspiration is to become a fully qualified gunmaker under the tutelage of Don Custerson and Alan Bower at Gallyon.
James ANthony
Systems
An engineer and tech entrepreneur, James Anthony brings 20+ years experience in running growing businesses to Gallyon. By implementing enterprise-grade business systems from the outset, James' expertise will ensure Gallyon customers receive first-class service throughout their entire ownership experience, from initial purchase to gun maintenance.
Francesca Farrell
Branding
Francesca works in creative content and graphic design and has years of experience working with luxury brands. Her interests span from brand, production, photography and the design and creation of marketing materials and creative content. Francesca, like everyone at Gallyon, has a passion for the countryside.
Team & Ethos
Gallyon’s team combines different first-class talents in gunmaking, precision engineering, commerce, technology systems and marketing.
All are highly experienced in their respective areas. All are experienced Shots, who know exactly how a fine shotgun should look, feel and perform.
Our ambition has been a simple one: to build wholly British-made guns that are elegant, reliable and give maximum performance in the field. And at a price that makes them accessible to many, not a few.
That ambition has been realised. Drawing on our long history of fine gunmaking, back to our founding in 1784, we have combined those centuries of British craftsmanship with the latest state-of-the-art precision engineering and best possible materials to make a gun that will meet all the challenges of modern shooting (including steel shot) yet remain aesthetically pleasing.