Nestling in the woods on the eastern edge of the New Forest, the Colbury Rifle and Pistol Club is celebrating its Centenary this year.
The Club was formed in 1911 at the suggestion of the local landowner, William Claude Vaudrey Barker-Mill, whose family gifted the land and gave a generous donation towards the building of the clubhouse and range. In fact the estate’s continued support has ensured our survival, most recently when, in 2009, we rebuilt our very dilapidated clubhouse, thanks to members’ contributions and DIY skills as well as much appreciated grants from the Peter Barker-Mill Memorial Charity and our local Councils.
With an initial membership of 24 growing to 89 within 12 months, the club was popular and well supported. In fact, the Minutes of the First Annual General Meeting state -“…that the sociability of the members was a pleasant and marked feature of the club.”
This is still true today.
We enjoy our sport!
Over the last few decades, as other local clubs have struggled with numbers and facilities, we have been delighted that the remaining members of the Romsey, Eling and Lymington clubs chose to join us and today we have a healthy membership of 50.
Colbury is represented in an ever wider range of local and national competitions and is enjoying a growing reputation again. Two years ago we also started entering LWSR competitions and members enjoy this as “light relief” from the serious business of prone target rifle shooting.
We now invite you to join our celebrations and enter our postal Centenary Competition.
Once in a lifetime opportunity!
