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History |
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1 INTRODUCTION
Home
2
APPLICATIONS 3
HISTORY
4 ADMINISTRATION
5 GUEST PAGE
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The Inaugural General Meeting of Parkstone Rifle & Sports Club took place in the Britannia Hotel in Poole on 15th January 1957, after several preliminary meetings the preceding year by interested parties. Initially the club was to cater for both rifle and pistol in centre-fire, small-bore and air, for clay and skeet in shotgun, and for deep sea fishing. Membership was open only to males over the age of eighteen, with a subscription of £1.00 per annum. The original club emblem was more related to fishing than shooting, being a green pennant with PRSC in gold letters. Membership, well into the hundreds, was predominantly shooting orientated, with only a small fishing section. Consequently in April 1959 the Club's name was changed to Parkstone Gun Club, and a new emblem designed by Poole College of Art was introduced, depicting a brace of No 4's and a Webley revolver on a target background.
At the same time work was commenced on building an outdoor range on the old Phillips gravel pit in Manning's Heath Road, with facilities for ·22 rifle and ·22 and centre-fire pistol. The air weapons section continued to use the Britannia Hotel, and the brewers named the adjacent bar the "Gun Room Bar", and asked for air and firearms for display on the walls. However by the mid sixties the climate had changed, and the brewers wanted us out. During the early sixties the club's rules were changed to permit female members, and it is highly likely that this decision was the major reason for the disappearance of the Parkstone and District Ladies Rifle Club. During that period full-bore rifle was a major part of the club's activities. The Australian equivalent of the 'Queens' was won by a Club member, the Parkstone Target Rifle Championship was a two day event with coverage in the NRA journal, and the club held monthly meetings. The Triathlon an event comprising small-bore rifle and pistol, and full-bore rifle, started in 1965, and was held every year until pistols were made illegal in 1997, with just one exception due to range closures.
In the late sixties the Manning's Heath range had to close due to the excavation requirements of the pit owners, and despite several attempts the club never succeeded in establishing a replacement. Somewhere along the way the fishing section and shotgun section disappeared. Their passing is not recorded, but an absence of records would indicate the late sixties The next ten years saw increasing attempts by the military to prevent civilians using their ranges, and this, together with escalating sports centre charges, resulted in the club using a number of alternative venues. Although still remaining in the forefront of competitive shooting, it was felt that the club was becoming fragmented, with each discipline using different ranges, and rarely meeting. In the late seventies we therefore started looking for ways of acquiring our own indoor range.
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Parkstone
Gun Club
