OM Rifle Club

The National Championships have just been completed at Bisley and the Club had an unusual year with a very small number of OMs competing, which was disappointing. On the individual front, only Bill Richards (C1 1977-79) made the top 50 of the Grand Aggregate and, for only the third time in the last 41 years, no OMs made the final of HM The Queen’s Prize.

Internal Club trophies, based on scores in the Championships, were won by Ed Jeens (BH 1998-2003) (top OM in HM The Queen’s Prize, just narrowly missing the Final), with Bill Richards securing the other two. In the process, Bill Richards won the Elkington Aggregat.

The Public Schools Veterans' match saw the Club only able to field three teams, which was a great disappointment considering the record numbers last year and may reflect the change of date, with the championships being a week later this year.  As was the case last year, it was another high-scoring event, with Ed Dickson (SU 2005-07) securing the Vezey Trophy as the highest scoring OM in the event with an excellent score of 50 with 8 shots in the central V-bull from David (B3 1972-76) and Bill Richards, who also scored 50. The ‘A’ team dropped only three points, but could still only manage 9th place, the ‘B’ team 14th and the ‘C’ team 6th. We were our ‘traditional’ 4th in the Aggregate to Old Guildfordians. The other individual Club trophies in the Veterans were won by Ed Jeens, Richard White and Robert Horton-Smith (C1 1961-65). The Buxton Plate was again won by Chris (LI 1973-77) and Ed Dickson.

After the Veterans match, 24 OMs sat down for our Annual Dinner and this year we were honoured to host Chris Carpmael (C1 1980-84), the president of the OM Club. Others attending included Martin Watkins and the four students shooting the National Championships. An excellent selection of food was again supplied by David Richards with Dominic de Vere (BH 1987-92) supplying and educating us further on the drinks front.

During the Championships, on the national and international front, Bill Richards was again the head coach for all the international matches for England and Great Britain. Sandy Gill (BH 1996-2000)(Scotland) and Ed Jeens (Wales) shot in both the National and Mackinnon matches, whilst Martin Watkins coached for Wales in the National.

It was again honours even in our four shoulder-to-shoulder matches against the College during the year, with the Club winning both fullbore matches and the school again dominating the smallbore matches. The school has not been helped in having very few opportunities to practise fullbore shooting this year and it undoubtedly contributed to the school being unable to field a team in the Ashburton this summer and having to compete in the Fours event.

Next year is the 150th Imperial Meeting and the NRA have planned an extended programme. Bill Richards has been selected as the Captain of the England Mackinnon team next summer. The Veterans match will be on the evening of Wednesday 17th July 2019, rather than the usual Thursday next year because of the anniversary and it would be great to see as many OMs as possible come out and compete for the Club.

Bill Richards
OMRC President

The Old Marlburian Rifle Club’s annual autumn match against other alumni teams took place at Bisley on Saturday 17th September 2016 though it reverted to a Triangular format with the Old Wellingtonians (OWs) and Old Alleynians (OAs) with the Old Bradfieldians being unable to raise a team.

Problems with target availability at the longer distances meant we were unusually forced to shoot twice at 300 yards instead and, although the OMs had seven firers, only the best four would count due to the other teams’ lower numbers.  This undoubtedly worked in our favour by being able to select the higher scores.

It was a benign day with very little, if any, wind so expectations were high and the team did not disappoint.  John Hayward dropped just one point across both shoots for a 99.12V (central bulls) ex 100, followed by Simon Horner & Tom Lilley both on 98.9V and Patrick Pelly on 96.9V giving a team total of 391.39V ex 400.  Also shooting were Charles Holt, Habib Rahman and Guy Northridge.

The OMRC came out the clear winners by a large margin of 32 points against OWs on 359 and OAs on 321 and regained the Tankard trophy (pictured).

The OM VII also won the concurrent match vs the College with a score of 665.52V versus 630.35V but special mention should be made of the Marlborough’s Oscar Money-Kyrle, whose fine score of 98.7V was five points higher than the next in his team.

The Old Marlburian Rifle Club Annual Dinner took place in July 2016.

At which, the OMRC was pleased to host the Master, Jonathan Leigh, and his wife, Emma.

Photo by courtesy of Dominic de Vere.

The schools Veterans Match took place at Bisley on Thursday 14th July 2016. 

With 20 OMs shooting we were only able to enter four teams this year against our usual five, but this is still more than most clubs manage to do.  It was a fine day with little wind and our shooting was remarkably consistent with no significant low scores so expectations were high.

However, despite the high scoring and the teams ending up in the order of their selection (a very unusual occurrence!), others were clearly performing equally well and we failed to secure any places.  Team results out of a highest possible score of 250 were:

‘A’ Team – 247.31V, placed 4th ex 46 teams;
‘B’ Team – 245.33V, placed 5th ex 30 teams;
‘C’ Team – 235.16V & ‘D’ Team – 227.10V, placed 6th & 10th respectively ex 23 teams.

There was a very close result for the OMRC Vezey Cup for top score with Simon Horner (C3 1977-82) coming out the ultimate winner, dropping just 1 V-bull for a fine 50.9V, counting out Sandy Gill (BH 1996-2000) – 50.8V, Richard Jeens (BH 1994-99) – 50.7V and David Richards (B3 1972-76) – 50.6V.  Congratulations to all of them.

A helping hand from Old Marlburians helped the College to success at Bisley on Saturday 16th April.

Shooting at 300 yards, and then again at 600 yards, in bitterly cold wind, two competitions were held, one for a team of three Old Marlburians and three current pupils, and one for a team of six current pupils.

In the mixed competition, Schuyler Neuhauser (B1 U6), Oskar Money-Kyrle (C3 L6) and Tom Elvin (BH Hu) shot alongside Sandy Gill (BH 1996-2000), Charles Brooks (PR 1969-74) and Jim Spender (C2 1987-92), scoring 562 with 47 V bulls, but were unlucky to come fourth in a very close competition.

They did, however, manage to beat Wellington’s B team, who were perhaps brought down from within by Mr Finn unexpectedly being called upon to shoot for his alma mater!

Elvin top scored for the College with 94 and 8 V bulls, but was rather outshone by a brilliant performance from Sandy Gill with 99 and 14 V bulls.

At the Smallbore Match on Saturday 14th November, nine OMs made it a good turnout against an equally strong College team.

To put added pressure on the OMs it was decided to shoot the harder 10 bull targets which had predictable consequences in that the College VIII beat the OM VIII by 745 against 737, a clear win though narrower than previous occasions.

The OMRC’s new President, Bill Richards had made it to the Match all the way from Eastbourne, with the positive result of becoming the highest scorer of the day, dropping only 1 point.

Habib Rahman
Hon Sec OMRC

The year’s events kicked off in March with the Spring Smallbore Match at which a reduced team of five was completely outclassed by a high scoring College team. 

At the Fullbore Match in May a team of seven OMs turned the tables although to be fair the school were taking the opportunity to familiarise newer members with the Cadet Rifle and were unable to get everyone through at the longer distance due to marking delays.  The Few Cigarette Case was won by John Hayward with 66.4v and Sam Day was presented with an OMRC Tankard as highest scorer from the school.

With numbers boosted by the presence of the President’s 1974 Ashburton team-mates we were able to field 5 full teams for the Veterans Match in July but despite some excellent individual scores results were disappointing with highest place going to the ‘B’ Team in 3rd place in their event.  Competition to win the Vezey Cup was hotly contested with four 50’s but in the final analysis Bill Richards narrowly won with an excellent 50.9v.

In the Imperial Meeting we entered the usual five concurrent team matches made up of individual scores in specific competitions.  These competitions are hotly contested by a core group of clubs and it was especially satisfying to win the Rifle Clubs trophy which is concurrent with Queens 1st stage and to take second place in the Bank of England (concurrent with the Grand Aggregate).  These results show the depth of talented shooters we have in our ranks and follows last year’s success in the Marlingham.

In September there was a large turnout for the Quadrangular Match with all four competing clubs present plus three school teams.  The OMs secured a comfortable win to regain the Tankard (last won in 2011) and also a win over the school team.

We fielded a full VIII at the Autumn Smallbore Match in November and despite high hopes of a revenge win were once again defeated at the hands of the College VIII.  Father & son pair, John & David White, were the well deserved inaugural recipients of the Buxton Plate, awarded by Bill himself. 

It has been especially satisfying this year to see some of our newer members participating and also some older ones returning.  I do hope some of you at least will continue to do so.
Scoresheets for all the year’s matches and Imperial Meeting results are shown over the following pages.

Patrick Pelly                               
April 2015

Congratulations to Bill Richards (C1 1977-79) and Ed Jeens (BH 1998-03) who have made the British team for the World Long Range Championships which will take place in the USA this August.

Ed Dickson (SU 2005-07) is a non-travelling reserve for that team.

In other news, Tony de Launay (PR 1960-64) is captain of England for the National Match at Bisley this July.

New fixtures for the OM Rifle Club have been announced as follows:

Saturday 28th February 2015
Smallbore Match vs  College, Gunner Range, Marlborough

Sunday 10th  May 2015
Fullbore Match vs the College - Bisley

Thursday 9th July 2015
Veterans Match, Dinner and AGM, Bisley

Saturday 19th  September 2015
Quadrangular Match - Bisley (provisional)

Despite the Captain and Secretary’s concerns of a low turnout the Rifle Club was able to field a full team for their final match of the year vs the College VIII at the Gunner Range on 15th November. 

It was particularly pleasing to welcome John White’s son, David, who had only recently taken up the sport but would shortly show us all up, and Ted Paine shooting on the new smallbore range for the first time.

As was usual the majority of OMs requested we shoot the match on the easier 5-bull targets however that does have its downside given the school’s ability to produce fine scores at smallbore and so it was to prove again!  After a warm-up detail for some the match started in earnest and David set about surpassing the rest of the team by scoring our only maximum possible, 100, closely followed by his father, John, on 99.  Schuy Neuheuser and Tom Cayford from the College also shot possibles.

At the conclusion the OMs had scored 773 versus the school 787 (ex 800) giving them a clear and well deserved victory.  Their top five dropped just three points to our 10!

Bill Buxton generously declared that John and David were worthy winners of his new trophy, the Buxton Plate, awarded annually to the top OM family pairing of different generations.

The afternoon’s events then culminated with a hearty tea courtesy of the College and much chat.

The highlight of the year is Richard Jeens' win in HM The Queens Prize on 19 July during the international championships at Bisley. 

Richard becomes only the fourth OM winner of the Prize, 30 years after David Richards and 10 years after the success of his brother Henry.  Richard still holds the title of World Long Range Champion, so now we can truly say that he has joined the greats of our sport.

Not to be outdone, Richard's youngest brother, Ed, who was second in the Queen’s Prize last year, won one of the individual competitions and was a member of the successful GB team in the Kolapore match.

Other international caps were won by Bill Richards (GB and England), Richard and Ed Jeens (Wales) and Sandy Gill (Scotland).

On the club front the OMRC came first in the Rifle Clubs Match – concurrent with the first stage of the Queens.  The Captain (Patrick Pelly) showed his skills by not selecting Richard Jeens for that Match: it clearly had the desired effect!  In the Bank of England Match, concurrent with the Grand Aggregate, OMRC finished a close second to a powerful Old Epsomian team. 

OMs finished highly in a number of the individual competitions (for which the entry is +/- 850), with 3 in the top 50 and a further 3 of the top 100 in the Grand Aggregate.  Special mention however must go to Josh Mayer, from the School VIII, who finished 137th in the Grand Aggregate:  a momentous achievement.  Infact 5 pupils stayed on to shoot in the Bisley championships – the largest number for a long while. 

In the annual competition for Old Boys clubs (the Veterans) we entered 5 teams (25 shooters) for the first time in three years, but sadly did not come away with any medals.  On the occasion the Captain’s curse struck - our ‘B’ team beating our ‘A’ Team!  There were 5 highest possible scorers on the day, Bill Richards with 50.9 being the top OM and winner of the Vezey Trophy, whilst the Patron’s pots were won by Charles Brooks, Geoff Robinson and Toby Green.

Following the Veterans match we hosted 36 at our Annual Dinner.  Our guest of honour was MC past President and current Chairman Steven Bishop.  One of the themes of the Dinner was the 40th reunion of my shooting team at Bisley from 1974 – the first of the VIIIs coached by Johnnie (REW) Johnson that started a remarkable sequence of 20 or so years never out of the top 10in the Ashburton Shield.  In 1974 we finished 3rd in the Ashburton, our only loss throughout the whole year.  9 out of the 11 members of the team attended – a fantastic turn out.  We toasted absent friends, Richard France (my Vice Captain) and our coach Johnnie, both sadly departed.  Those present were Anthony Hamilton, Andrew Howes, Charles Holt, John Hayward, James Hardy, Habib Rahman and myself (all VIII), Toby Green (IX Man) and David Richards (Cadet Pair).

The Club continues to support and foster School shooting, and much enjoys doing so.  The VIII had its best result in the Ashburton for a long while.  Our full bore matches against the School in September 2013 and May 2014 ended with victories for the Club with top scorers Tom (TAD) Lilley and John Hayward for OMRC and Josh Mayer and Sam Day (for the School) whilst our small bore matches in the Gunner Range at the College in November 2013 and March 2014 ended with the usual victories for the School.

We wish every success to Dominic de Vere who is on his second GB team to Canada in the autumn and to the six OMs still in contention for selection to the GB team for the World Long Range Championships taking place in the USA in 2015.  Lastly we congratulate our Club Patron Tony de Launay on his election as England Captain for the 2015 National Match.

Charles Brooks
President - OMRC
July 2014

Match report: OMs vs Marlborough College, Sunday 18 May 2014 (300 x and 500 x)

Fullbore scoresheet

Seven OMs gathered at Century Range Bisley for the Spring Fullbore Match against the School in bright and sunny weather with a deceptive wind which not only caused fishtail conditions but also various cases of sunburn!

The OMs were pleased to welcome David Verner-Jeffreys (C3 1982-87), who though currently a keen smallbore shooter had not shot fullbore since leaving in the 80s; he was accompanied by his son Robbie who is a keen target air rifle shot.

Exams and the attendant run up had depleted the College team of its more experienced members but this was more than made up for in numbers by younger shooters. The School, under the careful guidance of Peter Finn and Martin Watkins, used the day to practice with the Cadet rifle in preparation for the Schools meeting. In any case, the OMs were grateful for the respite and were able to win for a change, and with a comfortable margin.
Time constraints and the usual issues with slow or questionable marking meant that the 500 yard shoot was unfortunately curtailed.

Top scorer for the school was Sam Day 63.4 which earned him the Tankard and for the OMs and winner of the Few Cigarette Case was John Hayward (TU 1972-77) with 66.4 

We wish the College team well in the Schools Meeting in July.

20 members of the OM Rifle Club gathered at Bisley on 11 July to compete in the NRA Schools Veterans Match following the College shooting team’s win in the Ashburton Fours earlier that day. The ‘A’ Team dropped just two points for an outright win over 45 teams competing while the B, C & D teams came 4^th, 3^rd & 8^th in their respective events.

See Slideshow

Joined by Martin Evans and Jane Pendry all then retired to a sumptuous and convivial Annual Dinner at the British Commonwealth Rifle Club.  After regaling us with his usual witty tales Martin kindly proposed a toast to the ongoing prosperity of the Rifle Club.

Tony de Launay (PR 1960-64) produced his “Patron’s Pots” for award to the highest scorer in each of the follow-up teams above. These pewter tankards were to be known as Deus, Dat, and Incrementum!

Photo: Martin Evans and Charles Brooks in the British Commonwealth Club before the OMRC Dinner 2013.

Fullbore Scoresheet

Nine members of the Rifle Club met the College Shooting Team at Bisley on 18 May for the annual Fullbore Match.  For once of late the rain stayed away and we were able to enjoy a benign day’s shooting at 300 yards and 500 yards.

At the first range there was little wind to trouble our coaches, Robin Baker and Ed Dickson, and three scores of 50 ex 50 were soon chalked up by Robin himself, Habib Rahman and John Hayward and by the end of that stage the OMs were 20 points ahead giving a comfortable lead.  However it should be recognised that the school were at the distinct disadvantage of having had very little practice this season due to the sudden (temporary) closure of the Bulford ranges and were also shooting with their target rifles (as opposed to cadet rifles) for the first time.

At the longer distance the wind, although not strong, was moving about sufficiently to keep the coaches alert and top OM scorer was Ed with our only 49, followed by four members on 48 and three on 47, all in an excellent result.  The College firers had fought back gamely though, clearly getting used to their rifles by now, yielding just 4 points to the OMs at 500 yards, and with Will Hesletine-Carp being the only maximum possible scorer at that distance.

The overall result based on teams of six was a win for the OMs by 24 points.  Robin Baker won the Few Cigarette Case as OM top scorer with 98 ex 100 and 11 ‘V-Bulls’.  Ed and John also scored 98 but had lower V-Bull counts.  An OMRC Tankard was awarded to Sam Day of the College as their top scorer also with a very credible 98 with 11 V-Bulls, and after close scrutiny of the score sheet he was in addition pronounced top scorer of the day by dint of his higher score at the longer range.  Many congratulations go to Sam for that achievement.

My thanks go to all the OMs who took part and to the College and their coaches, Peter Finn and Martin Watkins, for making it such an enjoyable event.  The Rifle Club’s next outing will be to the Veterans Match at Bisley on 11 July followed by our Annual Dinner and AGM.

Saturday 23 Feb 2013 - Smallbore Match vs  College, Gunner Range, Marlborough
Saturday 18th  May 2013 - Fullbore Match vs the College - location to be confirmed
Thursday 11th July 2013 - Veterans Match, Dinner and AGM, Bisley

Smallbore Match Report OMRC vs MC 3 Nov 2012
Fullbore Match OMRC vs MC 26 May 2012
Smallbore Match OMRC vs MC 10 March 2012

The official date of the founding of the Old Marlburian Rifle Club was 1927.  This was the year that order crept into amiable chaos.  The principal object of the Club was recorded as ‘the raising of teams to compete in the Veterans’ Match at Bisley’, the match in which teams of past pupils from shooting schools compete for the Public Schools’ Challenge Shield at Bisley.  In fact those matches had been in existence for many years prior to 1927, and OM teams had been among the first teams competing for the Shield.  

Today there are three trophies to be won.  The Shield for nominated first teams: the Whitgift Cup for second teams and the Dulwich Cup for third teams.  Part of the chaotic charm of the competition is that the second and third teams are not nominated as such.  The finishing order of second teams is taken from a school’s highest scoring team after the nominated first team.  So if you enter a total of five teams it could well be that your second team is not your ‘B’ team but your ‘C’, ‘D’ or ‘E’ team depending upon which has scored the most!  Thereafter all the remaining teams from a school fall into the ‘C’ team list.

In recent years the OMs have regularly entered five teams of five shooters, reflecting the strength in depth of the OMRC membership.  We have won the Shield (‘A’ teams) on nine occasions – 1903, ‘47, ‘55, ‘59, ‘74, ‘82, ‘90, ‘95 and ‘96.  The ‘B’ teams (Whitgift Cup) has been won on eleven occasions – 1936, ‘51, ‘55, ‘62, ‘63, ‘66, ‘67, ‘73, ‘93, ‘95 and 2011.  The ‘C’ teams (Dulwich Cup) has come our way on thirteen occasions – 1901, ’36, ’58, ’61, ’63, ’64, ’66, ’73, ’74, ’79, ’83, ’95 and 2011.

The OMRC second main object is to produce teams to shoot both fullbore on the open ranges, and smallbore at the College’s Gunner Range against the College squad.  It is an opportunity for OMs to share their wealth of experience, including international shooting experience, with the shooters of the future.  The advice of senior OMRC members is often sought by those appinted as captains of national and international teams.

The Club thrives with some 140 members, of which 35 are current active shooters.