The Gresham’s Rifle Team have been at Bisley, during July, for the annual Schools and Imperial Meetings. Expectations were not particularly high, as a result of very little full-bore training during the summer term. However, as shooting got underway, it soon became apparent that we were not in fact all that far off the pace.

There were some early successes during the days build up to the Ashburton Shield. Harry P got the team off to a good start by winning the Monday Aggregate. Hannah B then finished 2nd in the Tuesday Aggregate, which helped the team on its way to winning the Tuesday team competition. The strong individual performances continued with Harry P adding the Wednesday Aggregate to his win on Monday and he also finished in 2nd place in the 300 yard Aggregate. Gresham’s had 11 of their 13 strong team in the Schools Hundred, which is for the top 100 shots during the week, with Harry P in 3rd and Hannah B in 4th. There were some excellent performances by the new shots in the team, with Margarethe G and Grace S appearing on numerous Prize Lists during the week and Ilana B and Corin H acquiring huge amounts of good experience.

The Rifle Team was supported and assisted by Mr Clarke for the Schools Meeting and Mrs Liberman was in charge of running the Pavilion and the catering for the duration of the trip. The Team were extremely pleased, and grateful, to have the support of some staff members on Ashburton Day. The Headmaster and his wife, Mr Kinder (as he so often does), Ms Whittle, Miss King, Miss Grasby, Mr Daniels and Mr Liberman very kindly supported the team for the entire day and they were joined by many friends and family. Thank you all for your support.

Conditions were nothing like as hot as the previous year but there were other factors to consider this year. The wind was trickier and there was the occasional heavy rain storm to contend with. The VIII got off to a very slow start, dropping far too many points at 300 yards. After the first distance the team were already down in 7th place. The team got it together for the following two distances and finished with the 3rd top score at 600 yards and the 3rd top score at 500 yards but unfortunately all of the damage had already been done at 300 yards and the team had to settle for a respectable 4th place in the final standings. Well done to Victoria College on their victory, it has been 62 years since they last won the title.

Our Under 16 Cadets had a reasonable day on the range and managed to finish in 5th place in the Cadet Pairs and 5th place in the Cadet Fours competitions. Well done to Ilana B, Margarethe G, Corin H and Grace S on their good shooting and this is hugely encouraging for the future.

The Schools Meeting was followed by the 154th Imperial Meeting and 15 members of the team shot in the second week of competition.

Thanks must go to all of the staff and all of the pupils that helped to make the summer such a huge success for the Rifle Club