The OT Rifle Club started 2023 with the sad news of the death of Richard Hoole on New Year's Day. Richard was an accomplished shooter and a stalwart of Army shooting as well as with the OTs. He was a good friend to the Club. I was pleased to be able to represent the Club at his funeral in Cyprus.

We held our AGM at the school in January, followed by a .22 match against the School. Once again thanks are due to Tim Blackwell and Larry Thornbury for organising and to the School for allowing us the use of the excellent Kemp Room as well as providing us with lunch. We wish Larry well in the future and thank him for his great friendship and support.

We had five fullbore shoots at Bisley in 2023, including a match against Kent and Kent schools in June, organised by Kent. The OTs made up for January's drubbing and beat the School by a good margin. July saw the OTs competing in the annual schools' veterans match on Ashburton Day. Three OTs – Sean Williams, Theo Dodds and Henry Dodds - then went on to shoot in the annual Imperial Competition. Sean qualified for the second stage of the King's Prize while Theo qualified for the third and final stage.

In September we held our annual long-range shoot, at 1000 yards, on one of the hottest autumn days any of us could remember. The light was excellent and the wind challenging but the OTs nonetheless turned in some good scores and an enjoyable time was had by all. A thousand yards with iron sights is a long way to shoot and scoring a bull is particularly satisfying at that distance.

The shoot was followed by our annual dinner, this year in the North London Rifle Clubhouse at Bisley. Sunday morning saw the survivors shooting gallery rifle on one of Bisley's shorter ranges.

The final shoot of the year – again at a thousand yards – was held in mid-October as a bonus shoot for our farmer members, timed for after harvest.

From a shooting perspective it was a good year, with fullbore shoots at short and long range, plus a couple of good smallbore shoots. It was also a good year for club member Theo Dodds (WW 2008-13) who, as well as being selected to shoot for GB won the Armed Forces Interservices Smallbore competition and was named the Royal Navy's Sportsman of the Year, 2023. Theo will be shooting for GB in South Africa in March 2024.

With the much-appreciated assistance of the OT Society we have been able to upgrade the sights on the club's two fullbore rifles as well as purchase a new design of shooting jacket that adjusts for difference size shooters. The club now also has a Walther .22 competition target rifle, so we are well equipped to support all standards of shooters.

We are a Home Office registered shooting club and have just renewed our licence with the Home Office. As such we count as a primary club for holders of Firearms Certificates and can help with first-time applications for club members.

We welcome new members. If you would like to know more please email the club secretary at otrcsecretary@gmail.com.

Henry Dodds, Secretary (PS 1970-75)