18th May - OCs win Long Range "Q" Match!! Report
This is the plan for 2002 so far. There are some loose ends; we are working on them.
Disclaimer: all the following material was written by the previous Hon. Sec. of the OCRC, Ted Eilley, and represents his views alone.
7th April - Short Range Practice
Apart from a decidedly cool easterly wind, it was just about a perfect day weather-wise. The turnout was good: eight OCs came along to get the season on its way with shoots at 300 and 600 yards. The wind was at least "interesting" and took the edge off performances a touch. Nevertheless, we saw a 95.6 and two others broke 90. This was a good start to the season; let's keep it up!
20th April - Long Range Practice
We enjoyed fair weather and gentle wind for our outing at 900 and 1000 yards. Eight OCs turned up and there were some promising scores, most notably Stephen King shot a 49.3 at 1000 yards and two of us scored over 90 for the afternoon. We needed all the available time to complete the planned shooting and by the end our marker was showing distinct signs of fatigue.
27th April - Short Range "Q" Match
Last year the OCRC won this match so we arrived at Bisley very aware that we had a position to defend. We avoided any of the possible showers but the light was poor and there was quite a strong wind that hit performances for all teams and made everybody feel distinctly chilly. Despite this potential excuse, it has to be admitted that generally we did not shoot quite as well as we can do and we were closely beaten into second place. The full results are below.
| Old Framlinghamians | 454.26 |
| Old Cranleighans | 452.38 |
| Old Lawrentians | 445.23 |
| Old Alleynians | 441.23 |
| Old Albanians | 432.22 |
| Lancing Old Boys | 430.15 |
| KCS Old Boys | 424.22 |
For the record, the OCs scored 224.18 at 500 yards and 228.20 at 600 yards.
18th May - Long Range "Q" Match
Just the necessary five OCs came to represent us in the Long Rang "Q" Match. Although the rain kept away, the light was a bit unreliable and the wind was fresh and at times very difficult. This is reflected in the generally low scoring. We kept our heads and we had the benefit of expert coaching from Rob Welford: it all paid off. The full results are below.
| Old Cranleighans | 430.18 |
| Lancing Old Boys | 428.16 |
| Old Lawrentians | 423.24 |
| Old Alleynians | 422.20 |
| Old Framlinghamians | 416.13 |
| KCS Old Boys | 415.22 |
| Old Albanians(out of time) | 349.7 |
The OCs scored 219.9 at 900 yards and 211.9 at 1000 yards. After having failed to retain the Short Range "Q" title, this win cheered us up a little bit.
It was a wet and blustery afternoon but a few hardy OCs turned up to contest the Cranleigh Tankard at 300 and 500 yards. Rob Welford won it with 49 out of 50 at each range with 11 "V"s. All concerned are busy drying their kit in readiness for the major event of the year, the Schools Veterans, on Ashburton day July 4th.
The good news about the PS Veterans is that the "A" Team scored significantly higher than it did last year. The bad news is that two OCs were unable to get to Bisley for the event and our "B" team was two members short. The "A" Team came 34th out of 54 and the table below gives some results that include teams that we also meet in other competition.
| Position | "A" Teams (54) | Score |
| 1st | OGRE "A" | 248.39 |
| 2nd | Belfast Royal Academy OBs | 248.36 |
| 3rd | Old Epsomians "A" | 248.34 |
| 27th | Old Lawrentians | 238.19 |
| 31st | Old Framlinghamians | 235.23 |
| 34th | Old Cranleighans | 234.19 |
| 36th | Old Alleynians | 233.17 |
| 47th | KCS Old Boys | 227.15 |
Note: the acronym OGRE expands to "Old Greshams Rifle Establishment". The Simmonds Medal for the highest score by an OC was won by Rob Welford with an excellent 50.6. Click here to download a photograph of him doing it (43 kilobytes).
10th August - Long Range Shoot
We were fortunate in that we enjoyed a fine afternoon in a period of unsettled weather; in fact, the first drops of rain fell just as we were leaving the range. This event proved as popular as it had promised to be: seven members of the OCRC turned up. The shooting conditions were not entirely straightforward: there was a fresh breeze blowing straight up the range towards us and there was quite a bit of fish-tailing. This was not too vicious at 900 yards but at 1000 yards most people got caught out at least once. Scores were distinctly average but both Rob Welford and David King made 91 ex 100.
This was the first day of the NSRA Meeting when the smallbore experts come from far and wide to do their stuff. They tie up the whole of the Century Range but have no use for the Stickledown. We were using one of the three operational targets. On the other hand, there was a fair amount of activity at Bisley at large and most of the facilities were available.
15th September - The Annual Prize Meeting
The programme was as follows.
This year the target availability was not optimum: we had 500 and 600 yard targets in the morning and 300 and 1000 yard targets in the afternoon.
The conditions were attractive with periods of both cloud and sunshine and there was a fickle northerly wind, more or less head on: slight changes in direction can have a big effect. The results for the four competitions were:
| Competition | Winner | Score |
| The Jackson | R A Welford | 99.9 |
| The Lovesy | R A Welford | 48.6 |
| The Long Range | R J Pile | 48.5 |
| The President's Prize | R A Welford | 193.18 |
Rob Pile also scored 48 in the Lovesy but could manage only three central "V" bulls. He was also the runner-up in the President's Prize and Adrian Elliott was third.
5th October - Season Wind-up and AGM
Nine OCs turned up to mark the official end of the 2002 season and take part in the Annual General Meeting. A full afternoon of shooting at 300 and 600 yards was enjoyed in fine weather. To add a competitive edge to the proceedings Rob Welford put up a bottle of wine which would be decided on the basis of a simple handicapping system. It was won by David King. At about 18:00 all present assembled at the Surrey Rifle Association Clubhouse for the AGM under the Chairmanship of the President Mr Roger Bance.
For more information contact the Hon. Secretary, Rob Pile:
R J Pile
rob.pile@btopenworld.com
To e-mail him now click here.
