Target rifle shooting has been a significant sport at Bedford School since at least as far back as the late 19th century.
OBs are recorded as winning the Public Schools Veterans Match at Bisley in 1909 and the following year P. R. Radice, who had left Bedford School in 1907, won the King’s Prize, the top competition in world fullbore target rifle shooting.
Shooting at Bedford School went through a renaissance from the late 1960s onwards under the direction of Tim Elliott. The School became one of the top shooting teams in the country, winning the prestigious smallbore Country Life Magazine School Cadet Competition and the fullbore Ashburton Prize during the Schools’ Meeting at Bisley.
Many who started out under Tim have gone on to shoot for their country or county and even to captain their national teams. As recently as 2023, the England team to Kenya and South Africa was captained by Andy Barnes, with both Rupert Riley and Paul Sykes touring with him in the team.
In 2011, Rupert Riley was placed runner-up in the Queen’s Prize, a mere 101 years after P. R. Radice had won the same top world competition.
Robin Hatcher is featured in the excellent book on Bedford School sporting heroes written by Tim Machin, which is due to be published shortly.
Today, School shooting is under Peter Lumley-Wood, himself an Old Bedfordian, and it is growing from strength to strength. Each year, the School vs OBs .22 match becomes an increasingly hotly contested competition!
The Bedfordians Rifle Club was formed in the 1970s to give some impetus, support and guidance to those wanting to continue (or start) shooting after they left school. It is now rare for the upper echelons of any Bisley Prize list not to contain at least one Bedfordian and the Club is recognised as one of the UK’s leading fullbore target rifle shooting clubs.
The Club motto “W.O.H.F.T.B.N.T.B.S.” (We’re only here for the beer, not the bloody shooting) dates from the Club’s inception and isn’t entirely correct but, taken as intended, it accurately suggests that we take our shooting, safety and socializing - but not ourselves - very seriously!
More than 100 years on, Bedford School and the Bedfordians Rifle Club can be proud of the consistency and quality of their many marksmen and that the School and target rifle shooting remain inextricably linked.