The Old Alleynian Shooting Club Peter Leggett (68-76) Captain I am pleased to say that 2017 has been a more stable year for the OASC. Our membership numbers have exceeded the minimum requirements for Home Office approval and we been able to offer an introduction to shooting and tuition to a number of provisional members. Some have been bitten by the bug and returned regularly to show a dramatic improvement in their scores. We have competed in the regular old boys competitions against eight other teams including the Q Match trilogy, the Quadrangular, the Lane Shield and the Public School Vets. The Arnold Cup was challenged, but the Old Albanians shot well and managed to keep the cup for another year. The new strategy of offering Sunday shoots to help those who have diary conflicts on a Saturday has been successful. The club has had a strong turnout for the internal trophies including the new Tuckerman Tankard and the Sturges Shield competitions. The joint club championship and handicap competition was well attended.
Team results have been slowly building throughout the year as new shots gain experience. As enthusiasm grows, so does everybody’s personal equipment list. The distinctive black and white Gehmann shooting jackets are almost becoming a team uniform. We are already looking forward to the next season with optimism. The generosity of the Alleyn Club has allowed us to acquire a second excellent match rifle for the team and both have been warmly welcomed. Some members have even abandoned their own much loved firearms in favour of the new rifles and are achieving very good results. We have also started to forge stronger links with the College CCF and there is talk of an open day for boys to experience full bore shooting early next year. We hope we will be allowed to fulfil that promise. Maintaining our Home Office Approval status is a challenge faced by many small clubs next year. The department has threatened to impose punitive licence renewal costs. The fee is proposed to be over a ten fold increase on previous years to £900. The OASC may find that
a difficult figure to justify, let alone afford. On advice from the NRA, we are making an early application in the hope that we can renew at the existing published rate. Only time will tell. A lack of HQ approval is not a direct threat to the original remit of the club which can continue its activities with the majority of the existing membership. What would change is our ability to offer training to the boys and new members with no shooting experience. If the OASC ceases to be a home office approved club, all members would have to join the NRA. New members would have to undergo assessment or initial training with them. This is not as bad as it sounds, as there is a good infrastructure in place at Bisley to ease the way, but it is not as attractive as being welcomed into the fold alongside friends and colleagues. This would certainly affect our ability to liaise directly with the CCF. So, the jury is out as to whether the OASC will be able to offer provisional training next year. What is certain is that the club is in a good position with an enthusiastic core membership and will continue to offer full bore shooting opportunities to OAs and associated members for the foreseeable future.
58
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker