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By James Hallam - 16/10/24
One of these days I hope to be able to make good my promise of writing a proper history of the “SLRC Open Meeting” which became the TM. The SLRC was founded on 11th November 1874 at the Railway Tavern, Nunhead, and one of its first Rules was to admit “Volunteers or Private Gentlemen Rifle shots”. (Most Rifle Clubs were on a military basis at that time).
Sadly it was almost defunct at the time of its Centenary (November 1974) -- it had 10 members and £200 in the funds, and Tony Benham saved it from closing by taking over the running of the Club provided that he had carte blanche. I am also sure that Roger Ellis was instrumental in helping Tony in the early days, and we and occasional volunteers spent many pleasant (?) hours dealing with such things as the outside loo in the quadrangle, plumbing, updating the accommodation with party walls and bunk beds, clearing the old pot-bellied stove in the Clubroom etc., -- wondering whether we would find the remains of deceased members under the layers of dust -- emptying lockers (T.G. that we had RFDs and were able to deal with items that shouldn’t have been there) – and so on. My apologies because we should have kept a list of helpers --- thank you, everyone, especially Richard Milner.
Ten years on, the membership had increased significantly (to over 100) -- disciplines such as TR, SR, and pistol all had active groups, so Tony and I decided that we needed raise the profile of the Club. October 1986 was the Centenary of formal revolver matches, based on Major Kitchener’s revolver rules at Sandhurst, so it seemed the obvious anniversary to celebrate. We planned an Open Meeting and I wrote a set of R&Rs incorporating time-lined classes around the loose concept of “1874 + or – 25 years” , based also on major changes in target-shooting for gentlemen, volunteers and squaddies, and using contemporary t arget dimensions and practices.
A fine booklet on the Club history was published in1990.
“The History of the South London Rifle Club 1874 – 1990”
ISBN #0 9516651 0 3 © E Hayes 1990
is an excellent source of information and it incorporates research by Ms Hayes, Bob Jones and Henry Sear, as well as many hours of research by Molly Milner in the SLRC archives and also in NRA archives made available by my late partner Barbara Dixon.
Back to the “Trafalgar Meeting”…..
As the SLRC was founded towards the end of a calendar year and at that time there was plenty bookable firing points (rifle and pistol) we decided on the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar (21st October) . One error that we made was to forget that the clocks changed at that time -- but every 7th year the Range Staff would get another hour in bed ?.
When the event became too big for one Club to manage the NRA generously accepted the challenge, and the SLRC gave all of the range equipment to them and transferred all of the magnificent array of trophies to them for presentation (in effect, on our behalf).
The Club is even more active now, with a large Target rifle section and historic arms to the fore. Membership is open. Please contact the Hon. Sec. if you are interested in carrying on our traditions.
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