Old Sedberghian Rifle Club Report – National Rifle Association Imperial Meeting – Public Schools’ Veterans’ Competition – Thursday 16th July 2026
The OS Rifle Club met for their annual reunion at Bisley on the afternoon of Ashburton day. Since the withdrawal of the Cadet target rifle, cadet full bore shooting has ended and this year the National Rifle Association set up a Youth Imperial Meeting to replace the Schools’ Cadet Meeting. However, many of you familiar with Bisley would have recognised the format which remained much the same for the week. The major changes were that School sports kit was worn along with civilian shooting jackets and using the School civilian target rifles but sadly without Army support there were far fewer teams.
The OS teams were somewhat depleted when compared to previous years, with some of the best shots being unable to take leave to come and shoot, although some did arrive in time to shoot the main Imperial Meeting. A notable absence was Peter Bromley who has been a regular attendee over many years but was unable to leave the family farm in Kent because the crops were ready for harvesting as a result of the extreme hot weather.
As ever team selection proves to be challenging because some of our shooters are unduly modest about their skills! The “A” Team of 5 comprised the following with scores from 2 sighting shots and 10 scoring shots at 500 yards:
John Warburton: 49.6
George Wood: 48.5
Oliver Christy: 48.6
Sarah Rorison: 46.4
Mark Wrigley: 46:3
The team total was 237.24 and the team was placed 11th out of 40 teams. John Warburton had the highest team score of the day winning the McMullen Trophy which was presented back in the 1970s by Alexander McMullen who was President of the OS Rifle Club for many years. It is worth noting that the team members crossed age boundaries with the oldest having started at Sedbergh in the 1970s and the youngest leaving in the early 2020s.
The B team were unfortunate in only being able to provide 4 firers this year and were represented by:
Robin Morton: 44.3
Charlie Anyon: 43.2
Lauren Robinson (nee Crowson): 45.2
Toby Lehmann: 48.3
The team were placed 19th out of 23 with a firer down. It is also worth noting that for 3 members of the team, this was the first time that they had shot this year and in one case in many years.
The OS party joined the School for a post-match barbeque at the RAF Club very kindly sponsored by the OS Club and put together by David Smith and Tom Ralph. A good evening was had by all with much of the usual reminiscing and learning about what life is like at Sedbergh today.
However there was a strong field of OS during the NRA Imperial Meeting with a number shooting for universities and county teams, so overall the Club remains strong. Going forwards, I will be working with Sarah Rorison on organising some shooting at Sedbergh in the new year when hopefully we can arrange a match with the School.
Notable OS results were:
HM King’s Prize:
John Warburton 15th
George Wood 74th
In the Grand Aggregate which is based on the total score from the individual shoots over the week of the meeting:
John Warburton: 26th
Report by Toby Lehmann