Our History

The Worplesdon & District Rifle Club was founded in 1903 and opened by Field Marshall Earl Roberts of Kandahar. Great care had been taken to ensure that the first shot fired by him scored a bulls eye.  During the Second World War the range was used to train the local Home Guard and sand from the site was used to fill sandbags to protect Guildford town.

In 1948 the then members of the club had the opportunity of buying the 7.5 acre site from Lord Onslow. A Private Limited Company was formed with a share capital of 1500 £1.00 shares. These shares were offered to the members.

Eventually only 1200 shares were issued. The majority (800) were bought by the Cook family. Mr Cook senior was a successful businessman and operated a coach company just up the road to the club. He was a very competent shot. We will never know if he bought the shares as an investment or bought it for the benefit of the club.

Until 1948 shooting took place firing towards the North, but because there were houses beyond the stop butt it was decided to turn the direction of fire round to the current easterly direction. This is not ideal as the sun is in your face in the morning.

Four ranges were built. Range 1 and 2 with twenty four lanes at 50 and 100 yards. Range 3 with 27 lanes at 25 yards, all three for prone rifle shooting and range 4 with 10 lanes at 20 yards for pistol shooting. At the time this complex was the largest facility in the country. Later the pistol range was developed into a 50m prone rifle facility.

The winter of 1961/2 was extreme with up to two feet of snow falling on the range. Unfortunately, the firing point cover, which was a wooden structure, collapsed under the weight.

By 1970 the shares of the limited company had very largely passed to the heirs of the original club members. These shareholders had very little interest in shooting and decided that the shooting club should be divorced from the property holding company. The Worplesdon and District Rifle Club was formed paying a rent to the Worplesdon Rifle Club Limited. The agreement to occupy the land was by way of a licence for a period of six months renewable every six months. In the meantime, houses were built adjacent to the south of the range.

In the mid 80’s the holding company applied for planning permission to build some 100 houses on the site.

 The local council turned down the application and it went to appeal. To help the club and to make the land less attractive for development the council placed a tree preservation order on the entire site. The appeal failed and an embargo on development of 25 years was placed upon the site.

Angered by the opposition of the Club to the planning application, the Company tried to evict the Club and at the same time raised the rent to a level that was not affordable. The number of members had dropped significantly as the club house had been closed to members. There were several court cases with the majority finding in favour of the Club.

The great storm of November 1988 caused considerable damage. The stop butt to the pistol range collapsed putting it out of commission and the forest of larch trees behind the 50 and 100 yard stop butts fell.

In the early 90’s the Company failed to submit its returns to the Company Registrar and in consequence was legally wound up, with the site being placed on the market to satisfy its debts.

We were fortunate Ken Pullman, our then President, and an original share holder from 1948, purchased the land. He had been a member of the Club since before the Second World War. An unmarried man, shooting and the range was his life. Because of the uncertainty of long term occupancy, the club had done little to maintain the property. If it had not been for his intervention the club would not be here today

In October 2010 he gifted the land to the Club. We are in the fortunate position of having the freehold of the site. Until this time only the very minimum of work was undertaken to maintain the range as there was always the possibility of us being evicted at a few months’ notice. Having the freehold gave us the incentive to improve the facility and a plan for development was put in place. The firing point cover that had been erected in 1962 was in a very poor condition and needed replacing urgently. Through the winter of 2016 using club labour the entire structure was replaced. At the same time the opportunity was taken to increase the width of each firing lane to 1.2m. This made it far more comfortable for each shooter and enabled wheelchair users and bench rest shooters more space. It still gave us 18 lanes at 50 and 100 yards and 25 lanes at 25 yards.

The club house, a 1942 Nissan hut, was looking very tired and in need of a makeover. In the spring of 2018, the kitchen area was replaced with new units, courtesy of Howdens a local Guildford firm, the walls given a coat of paint and the floor carpeted.

Since its low point in 2010 when there were only 17 members, we have steadily grown with a membership now numbering in the mid 60’s.

It has been a bumpy ride for the Club but there have been many successes along the way both individually and as a team.

The first major success was in 1944 when the club won Division 1 of the National Team Championship. In the early 1950’s amongst many other successes the Club was winner of the British Team of 4 Championship in 1950 and 1953 and winner of the British team of eight Championship in 1952

In the late 50’s and early 60’s the Club was at its peak of successes winning many trophies.

During this time there were members who were past or current international shots, as well as British Champions. One notable event was in 1967 when two members representing England took first and second place at the inaugural Home Countries Championships. In 1970 we had a member shooting for GB at the World Championships.

 During our period of troubles in the 1980’s we did not have the depth of membership to maintain our position at the top although there were individuals who excelled at the sport and kept the name of the club alive. Today in 2023 with our growth in numbers we are crawling our way back to the top again. Both the Captain, and Coach to the 12 man GB team  competing in the National Rifle Association of America Pershing match are from the club, as well a one team member. We have 2 British Champions in our midst as well as 8 international shots and a further 18 who regularly represent their county. There have been many individual successes at the annual National Championships

Several organisations hire the range including National Small-bore Rifle Association, Surrey and Berkshire County, Dark Horse Rifle Club, cadets and scouts.

The highlight of the club’s year is the annual Marsdon & King invitation shoot held at the beginning of October. In 1944 Worplesdon challenged clubs in division 1 of the National League to a shoulder-to-shoulder shoot on this its home range. It is not known how many teams took part, but Worplesdon won the event winning the Marsden Trophy. In 1945 the club presented the Harry King cup. This was awarded to the highest scoring individual in the Marsdon shoot. The winner was R E Allan. Today fifteen or so teams from the South East assemble to do battle. This brings together some of the country’s top shots.

Team Successes at National Level

1940, 1952, 1955, 1961, 2017   Div 4 National League        ICI National League Trophy
1944                                  Div 1 National League        Twining Cup & National Team Championship
1947                               Div 2 National League        Patriotic Shield No 4
1947                               Astor Team Competition    Winchester Cup
1948, 1949                        Junior Team Bisley             Daily Sketch Cup
1950, 1953                        British Team of 4 Champion  Burroughs & Watts Cup
1951                                  Div 5 Pistol Winter League     Castle Cup
1951                                  Spooner Challenge Cup      Bisley

1952, 1956, 1967, 1973,       Div 1 Metric League           Mrs Edwin L Bell Trophy

1952                                  British Team of 8 Champion  Mackworth Praed Trophy

1953                                  Div 5 National League        Patriotic Shield No 3

1955                                  Div 1 Winter Pistol League     Gordon Jefferson Cup

1955                                  New Zealand Shield            St Andrews

1961                                  Div 4 National League        ICI National League Trophy

1962                                  British Team of 6 Champion   News of the World Cup

1965                               Spooner Challenge Cup      Bisley

2012                                      Div 4 Metric League

2014                                      Div 2 50 yard Metric League

2015                                      Div 18 National Short Range League

2015                                      Div 2 Metric League

2015                                      Div 14 National League

2016                                      Div 8 National  League

2016                                      Div 14 National Short Range League

2017, 2018, 2019                  Div 1 Metric League           Mrs Edwin L Bell Trophy

2017                                      Div 4 National League        ICI National League Trophy