Ed Vickers attended the Benchrest UK National Open at Portishead Shooting Club in Somerset this weekend, where he faced off against some of the UK’s top Benchrest shooters, including Trevor Eling – who recently ran a workshop at Rugeley. Shooting at 50metres, the matches were shot to International WRABF rather than NSRA rules, allowing the use of a rear rest under the butt of the rifle, in addition to the front rest.
In the “Light” Air Rifle (<10.5lb) event on Saturday, Ed fought tricky conditions to finish 38th of 40. On Sunday, Ed rallied in the “Heavy” Air Rifle (<15lb) to place 14th/35, edging Trevor into 15th place by three points!
On Saturday 9th November Rugeley Rifle Club held its first ever 1-day Benchrest Workshop, presented by Trevor Eling from Driffield Rifle Club in East Yorkshire.
Trevor is a renowned International Benchrest shooter and has this year, successfully, competed for the UK BR teams in both Spain and Germany.
Trevor has been shooting BR since 2010 and has represented the UK BR teams over the last 14 years in the Czech Republic; Australia; South Africa and the USA.
The Workshop was attended by 9 of our Club members, with the youngest being 12 and the most senior member being in their mid 70’s.
The content, of the day, was designed by Trevor and he provided each participant with a welcome pack. This pack was filled with a variety of interesting and useful information, which included target samples. He clearly, presented an excellent balance of theory and practical information in a relaxed and comfortable manner.
Areas which he covered included:
● Benchrest Equipment
● Shooting Process
● Outdoor shooting
● National & International Shooting Federations
Following on from the Equipment and Shooting Processes, Trevor gave a demonstration of his experienced shooting skills and techniques.
Teams of 3 groups, then, put into practice, what they had learned and observed. Initially, this was in the indoor 25yds range and then, later repeated in the outdoor 50m range.
In addition to the NSRA 25yds shooting practice, we had the opportunity to try out a new electronic scoring system, which is currently under development by Eley with RRC support on our 25yds range.
The Workshop finished with a round of applause for Trevor from the group. I think it is fair to say that everyone really enjoyed the day and are all hoping for a return visit very soon. Trevor expressed how much he enjoyed meeting the group, how impressed he was with the club and the facilities that our property team have built up, and sharing his experience with an attentive squad of BR shooters eager to improve.
Congratulations to Rugeley Rifle Club Chairman Martyn Buttery, who has been appointed Adjutant for the GB Dewar Team in 2025 and 2026. The Adjutant is an assistant to the Team Captain, and typically takes on the Captaincy following their term as Adjutant.
Rugeley members represented at the NSRA’s National Smallbore Meeting this year, winning County and Home Country selections.
Six members shot the Weekend Aggregate, spanning Classes X to D.
Richard Hemingway – X, 20th
Alex Buttery – C, 21st
Ian Abbotts – C, 33rd
Liz Garner – C, 35th
Brian Parker – C, 43rd
Deb Truman – D, 20th
Martyn Buttery finished 42nd in the X-Class Grand Aggregate and represented Hampshire. Martyn won Silver with the County Sextette, and Bronze in the County 50Metre match.
Richard Hemingway was selected for Wales, placing third in the Home Countries International.
Richard and Liz both qualified for the Eley Postal Final, with Richard placing 17th in A, and Liz taking 3rd in E.
Paul Watkiss placed 9th in A-Class in the Benchrest Weekend Aggregate. John Passey placed 11th.
Richard Hemingway again led the charge, retaining his title as Staffordshire Long Range Champion, winning A-Class in the process. He also won the County 50Metre Championship.
Dave Glover won B-Class, was highest scoring Veteran and also earned the NSRA County Silver Medal – awarded to the highest scorer who hasn’t won it before.
Graham Delaney won C-Class and the R.W. De Nicolas Memorial Trophy for the top C, D or Junior shooter. Graham won D-Class last year. Vic Tyne was runner-up in C-Class and Helen Robinson placed sixth.
Paul Watkiss won D-Class.
Paul Watkiss receives his trophy from Staffordshire County Association President Mike Willcox.Vic Tyne receives his trophy from Staffordshire County Association President Mike Willcox.Richard Hemingway receives a trophy from Staffordshire County Association President Mike Willcox.Dave Glover receives his trophy from Staffordshire County Association President Mike Willcox.Graham Delaney receives his trophy from Staffordshire County Association President Mike Willcox.
Whilst all eyes were on GB’s shooters at the Paris Olympics, Rugeley Rifle Club member Olivia Beech has been representing Great Britain at the Nordic Championships in Denmark.
Shooting in the Mixed Team and Women’s 50Metre Three Position rifle events, Olivia placed 18th individually, and 16th in the Mixed Pairs with teammate Louis Norman.
The Nordic Championships were first run in 1922 with the aim of providing Nordic target shooters with the best preparation for competing at the World Championships and Olympic Games. Great Britain applied to join the Nordic Shooting Region in 1971, receiving approval in 1973. With the launch of the UIT (ISSF) World Cup series as a means to distribute Olympic Quota Places, the significance of the Nordic Championships declined through the 1980s as the World Cups took precedence for top shooter’s competition calendars and financial resources. In 1992 it was agreed to refocus the event as a biennial Junior Championship to prepare development athletes for the senior World Cup series with seniors only included sporadically.
Olivia trains in kneeling position.
Credit: Shannon Davies
Rugeley Rifle Club member Richard Hemingway was selected to shoot for Great Britain on Saturday after an outstanding performance in the Dewar Match Trials held at Appleton Rifle Club.
Scoring 789/800, he finished top of his squad to qualify for the team. The top five from each of four squads made up the team of twenty. This was Richard’s second GB cap after also making the team in 2018. Richard qualified for the Trials in 2023 but narrowly missed selection, finishing seventh in his squad.
The Dewar Match is an International Postal against the United States, with South Africa and Australia also entering in some years. Following the Trials, the team shot their cards – the scores of which are embargoed until the other teams have shot their end of the match.
In the match itself, Richard placed mid-table with the tenth highest score. Significantly, in finishing in the top 15 he qualifies for the Roberts Match Trials in October. The Roberts Match is a shoulder-to-shoulder match held every 8 years when the United States comes to Bisley to compete at the August National Meeting. The Roberts Squad wll be selected from the October trials.
Friend of the club Liam Webster also qualified for the trials, but missed selection from his squad after a difficult shoot at 100yards.
Rugeley shooter Richard Hemingway won his squad, and finished second in X-Class this weekend at the Torfaen Open Championship.
Contested at Long Ashton District Rifle Club near Bristol, the match is a 60-shot course of fire on Megalink electronic targets. Shooting on the second squad of the day, Richard’s score of 616.2 bested top shooters including Simon Green. Overall, he was left behind Alan Bain, who had managed an excellent 621.0 on the first detail.
Rugeley Rifle Club is delighted to have been registered as an NSRA Performance Club.
NSRA Performance Clubs are those with an ethos of competition and athlete development. Achieving recognition as a Performance Club is testament to the hard work by the club committee and members in developing the facilities to allow quality training activities – particularly the new club room, training building and availability of electronic targets at 10m and 50m. It also recognises the effort by the club’s volunteer instructors and coaches, not only in developing athletes, but also providing support and continued development for instructors and coaches.
Saturday saw the delayed Shooting Final from the August Youth Shooting Camp run in collaboration with Vysions Youth Volunteer Service. Participants worked their way through air rifle, air pistol and smallbore rifle for an aggregate contest.
Congratulations to Jessica and Hollie, who won a year’s free membership to Rugeley Rifle Club! A huge thanks to all the volunteers who helped run the Youth Camp and Final.
