1 May 2019
During the Easter holidays Abingdon School Rifle Club took part in its 18th annual exchange with Stade Rifle Club, Germany. Despite the cold and wet, the week got off to a good start with a great evening meal at the hostel in Wantage.
Many cultural activities were enjoyed by both Abingdon boys and our German visitors including trips to Oxford, London and a tour of the School grounds. The visitors were very impressed with our facilities, even if our shooting range is not up to their excellent standards!
The second half of our trip saw us move to Bisley, the UK home for shooting. We started with a bowling trip and Abingdon boys were introduced to ‘Mezzo Mix’ and the Germans were shown how to play Irish snap.
The day of the match arrived and we moved to Worplesdon Range, an interesting outside shooting ground. Shooting outside is something very new to the Germans and to a lot of our boys, too. The match consisted of 20 shots at 50 yards and 20 shots at 100 yards, per team member. Despite the sub-par conditions all enjoyed their time and eagerly awaited the scores.
After the 50 yards shoot, the visitors had scored 1273 out of a possible 1400 points and Abingdon had scored 1272. A very slim advantage to Germany. The Abingdon boys held their nerve however and managed to score 1262 points at 100 yards to the Germans' 1257 points. This meant that Abingdon triumphed by only 4 points and secured the trophy for the first time since 2013. To celebrate the event a barbeque was held, and despite Mr Johnson managing rather high flames, it was enjoyed by all.
The final day saw a trip to Reading Air Museum and a quick drive past Windsor Castle. The Queen was in but didn’t fancy having tea with us! The evening saw the official presentation and the final awarding of prizes.
Particular congratulations go to the top scorers from each team; Drew Farwell, scoring 379/400 and Maira scoring 374/400. We are lucky to have been invited back to Germany next year to try and defend our title.
Thanks for the week must go to Mr Johnson, Mr Smith, Ms Pritchard and Stefan Bosch. Without them the trip couldn’t take place and we are grateful for the advice given to both teams throughout the week.
See the full results here.
Written by Oscar Bennett
