Fifteen members of Gresham’s Rifle Club were at Bisley this year to compete in the National Rifle Association’s 154th Imperial Meeting, which took place immediately after the Schools Meeting. Every member of the team shot well in what were extremely wet and windy conditions, certainly at the start of the week. The newer, less experienced, members of the team were all on fairly steep learning curves, whilst the more experienced shooters in the team were trying to compete for the very top scores.

There was national representation, on day one, for both Hannah B and Harry P as they were both selected to shoot for England in the Cadet National Match. Despite both shooting very well for the England team, it was the Channel Islands that took the victory at the end of the match with England in second place.

During the Imperial Meeting, there are two Schools team matches that run concurrently with the Grand Aggregate. The Gresham’s Rifle Club team of Georgina B, Hannah B, Georgie C, Harry P and Oliver R were able to finish 3rd in the Garry Jones Trophy. The team, comprising of the same members with the exception of Alexandre S, who was replaced by Oliver R, shot for the Anstey Trophy. They had to settle for a 5th place finish in this competition.

The Gresham’s representation in the 2nd Stages of the St. Georges and His Majesty the Kings Prize were somewhat limited this year. Hannah B made the 2nd Stage of the St. Georges, along with Margarethe G, in only her first year of shooting full-bore. The other big individual competition during the week is the Grand Aggregate and, out of the 700+ competitors (from around the world) taking part, Hannah B managed to shoot consistently well throughout the week to finish 116th. Out of the 150 Cadets competing in the Grand Aggregate, Hannah finished 2nd.

There are a few additional shoots that can be entered towards the end of the week and one of these is the Howard Wilkinson (300 + 600yds) which this year was won by Georgina B, with a fantastic score of 99.14 out of 100.

Finally, we would like to wish Harry P all the very best on his tour to Canada with the British Cadet Rifle Team (the Athelings) and Georgina B with her tour to the Channel Islands with the UK Cadet Rifle Team. Thanks must go to all members of staff that have assisted, in whatever way, with the running of the Rifle Club over the past year. May 2023-24 be an equally successful year in the small-bore range and an even better year on the full-bore range.