Robin Hood Rifles at Thorpe June 2019
The 23 June saw a bumper day of .577 Enfield shooting at Thorpe in Derbyshire. In the morning we had the traditional Notts County Championship for Enfields (a Nottinghamshire Rifle Association event) shot at 200, 300 and 400 yards at pattern 1864 targets.
Runner-up and Winner
This is a fast paced and challenging match and we saw a very high standard of shooting. Bill Parnham and Mike Mott got the same score of 27 points and Bill secured the Volunteer trophy, for yet another year, on countback.
In the afternoon the Robin Hood Rifles held their Skirmish Match where pairs of shooters fired at a fig 11 target at 300 and 200 yards, prone or kneeling at 300 and kneeling or standing at 200 yards. No loading tables or any other accoutrements were permitted in an effort to re-create the type of shooting undertaken by our forebears in the 1860's.
Five pairs entered the competition and the top 3 results were as follows:–
- 1st place: Bill Parnham and Andy Wike 38 points – Gold Medals and Skirmish Trophy
- 2nd place: Andy Russell and Andy McBain 36 points – Silver Medals
- 3rd place: Robin Scott and Alex McBain 28 points – Bronze Medals
The Trophy is a unique prize, being a framed original page from the Illustrated London News dated April 14th, 1860. The article shows the detail of accoutrements designed for the Robin Hood Rifles in 1860 by Mr T C Hine the celebrated architect of Nottingham.
We were most grateful to the Chairman of Nottinghamshire Rifle Association, Dug Robson, who supported the entire day and who presented the Skirmish Trophy. It is great to have the backing of Notts RA which was formed in 1861 to support the Volunteer Movement in the County. The relationship between the County Association and the RHR continues over 150 years from when it first began.
The Skirmish proved to be a popular Match and we hope to run it on a regular basis. The RHR is committed to developing new and varied competitions which replicate the type of shooting for which the Enfield was designed.