Please read our Thank You article for the 2025 Funshoot
Alton Rifle Club News
Recent news for our club will appear here.
NSRA Bisley Benchrest Week Aggregate Champion 2025
Credit: theshorey.com / @theshorey
The NSRA’s Bisley National Rifle Meeting was held between the 9th and 16th August 2025 on Century Range at Bisley. This is a significant event within the small-bore shooting calendar and Alton Rifle Club were represented by a number of shooters in both Benchrest and Prone.
From those taking part in the competitions for their first time to the seasoned participants, Century Range offers a myriad of challenges especially when it comes to the weather – tricky mirage and variable winds.
The meeting includes a weekend and week of competitions and we would like to congratulate Rob Forster, winner of the Benchrest Week Aggregate with a lead of 3 points scoring 1974 from 2000. Rob won three of the four individual competitions included in the aggregate and was presented with the John Booker Cup by Patti Clark, Captain of the USA Rifle Team.
2025 AGM and Prize Giving
We held our AGM and Prize Giving in The Royal Oak, Farringdon in June. This year there were some notable milestones achieved which we would like to share here. David Hartley, our Chairman and Treasurer has served in these roles for some considerable time, 10 and 25 years respectively.
The club presented a certificate of appreciation to David, but in addition to this, he was also awarded the NSRA Special Services Certificate.
There were a number of further prizes and medals awarded for competitions shot throughout the year and below are our shooters with the highest average in each discipline: Benchrest, LSR and Prone.
Enter Alton’s Fun Shoot
Alton Rifle Club’s annual Autumn funshoot is open for entry for clubs across the UK. As a small club with big ambitions, our goal is to raise funds to build a new 50m outdoor range to join our 25 yard indoor facility. Please visit our Fun Shoot Information Page and please contact funshoot@altonrifleclub.com if you have any questions.
Tim Charrington appointed Honorary President of Alton Rifle Club
The Committee of Alton Rifle Club has appointed Tim Charrington as the club’s Honorary President, with immediate effect. Tim is the longest serving member of the club and still a regular shooter. He recalls shooting prone in competitions at the range as soon as the club began shooting at its current home in Farringdon in 1991.
Tim has spoken recently of seeing exciting changes to Alton Rifle Club, especially in recent years. There have been significant improvements in the range with enhanced heating and lighting, CCTV covering the firing points, and better facilities for members with the addition of kitchen facilities and toilets.
There is no written record of when Tim joined the club but these recollections date his membership of Alton Rifle Club from July 1991 when the current club building was assembled. It was previously three prefabricated bungalows at Geales Crescent in Alton (near Anstey Park). These houses were dismantled, moved and refashioned into a 25-yard range and club room: History of Alton Rifle Club.
With almost 35 years of club membership under his belt, Tim was the natural and unanimous choice of Alton Rifle
Club Committee when looking to appoint a president. Not only is he the chief scorer for the Alton Fun Shoot, Tim is a regular competitor for the club in national and regional Benchrest .22 rifle competitions shooting at 25 yards.
Competition Updates- Winter 24/25
The results for the Winter Season are in for all the National, Hampshire and Southampton Leagues and Alton has had success across the board where full results can be found for that National and Hampshire leagues via the Membership Resources.
Members have competed for Hampshire at County level in Benchrest and Prone. Hampshire Benchrest C team came 3rd in their division whilst in Prone, Hampshire A are 2nd in Div 1 and Hampshire B win Div 3. Two of our juniors also competed in the Hampshire Junior team.
In other National competitions members have reached the final for the British Individual Championships (Comp 421) and have also been awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in Individual Leagues (Comp 410).
In the Hampshire leagues our LSR A Team won Division 4 and Prone A team were 2nd in Division 1. Individually a number of members have reached 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in their respective divisions in all our disciplines.
In the Southampton leagues, Alton B team win the New Forest League in Division 2 and we have a number of members again placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in their individual competitions in both LSR and Prone.
10m Air Rifle Discipline
We are currently in the process of establishing a 10m Air Rifle Discipline and would encourage anyone interested in this discipline to Contact Us using our online form so that we can keep you updated.
Appreciation of Mike Wood, Club Secretary 2016-2025
The committee and members of Alton Rifle Club would like to publicly thank Mike Wood for his service as Club Secretary between 2016 and 2025.
As Club Secretary, Mike was the first point of contact for new members and this contact continued through initial induction and training sessions as a Club Instructor. Furthermore, on top of his own competitive shooting, he’d often open and supervise the range and was instrumental in expanding the number of Range Conducting Officers and qualified scorers within the club.
There are many other aspects of running the club that Mike was involved with, such as range maintenance. We are indebted to him for all his work.
