1969
1st Bn The Royal Green Jackets
Shooting has suffered as a result of our many commitments during the year, however the Battalion Small Bore Team shot in the South West District league and came third. We also came third in the Edmonds Trophy. RSM Price and Jeremy Hill produced high scores regularly but we experienced difficulty in finding a good number eight. The team however is now looking for new talent as Cpl Morris has been posted to the Depot and several others are due for release.
The Battalion did not enter the Army Full Bore ccompetition this year and only concentrated in classifying on all weapons. We succeeded in classifying over 500 in six weeks. ‘A’ Compsny won the Company Shield, CQMS Deem (’A’ Coy) won the Commanding Officers Watch and Cpl. O’Brien won the GPMG prize.
2nd Bn The Royal Green Jackets
Bisley
After such a long break it was good news to know that the Battalion would send a team to Bisley once again. The team left for England early in May and went to stay at the Rifle Depot. For the first time in training, some physical exercise was introduced at the end of each day’s shooting. All training was run as a competition and was felt generally to be very successful. Shooting took place on Browndown ranges for a week, thereafter we joined the Rifle Depot team on Chilcombe ranges and planned each day’s work as one unit.
The team suffered by the decision of the A.R.A. to cut all team entries from 10 to 8. Two good shots had to go and Captain Rowland Jones and Cpl Dixon were the unlucky ones. The final team to count were: W02 R. Smith (Team Captain), Sgt P. Clarke, Sgt R. Stanger, Cpl N. Winkworth, Cpl S. Bissett, L/Cpl Byrne, L/Cpl Dowling and Rfn Edwards.
Our hopes were high but the competition was never under-rated. After 3 matches:-
| The Rifle |
| The GPMG |
| The Section Match |
laying 2nd overall.
Luck was against us for the Britannia Trophy, we dropped to 4th place.
The scoring for the KRRC Cup is such that we could not regain our position, even though we did well in the last SMG match.
The whole team got through to the second stage of the Rifle Championship (The Roberts Cup), and five members got into the Army 100.
Cpl S. Bissett won the Roberts Cup after a nail-biting tie shoot.
As a team, 4th out of 38 could be said to be a fair result overall. However our aim had been to win the KRRC Cup; the potential was there to do it and so we were naturally disappointed. We await 1970 with anticipation.
3rd Bn The Royal Green Jackets
Training commitments made it not possible to enter any shooting competitions.
The Rifle Depot
The Depot Skill at Arms Meeting was timed to coincide with the March Passing Our Parade. Sgt Notley won the Depot 20 without much difficulty, but CSM Baird, Sgt Hollowday and Cpl Bissett all figured prominently.
At the South-East District Rifle Meeting, the Depot team once again did well.
| Rifle 'A' Class Champion | Sgt A. Notley |
| Rifle 'B' Class Champion | Cpl S. Bissett |
| Falling Plates Match | Winners |
| GPMG (Pairs) Winners | Winners Sgt Notley & Cpl Bissett |
| GPMG Match | Winners |
| Minor Units Rifle Championship | Winners |
| Recruit's SLR Match | Winners 3 Platoon |
| Best Individual Recruit | Rfn McFadden |
Sgt Alan Notley and Cpl Sandy Bissett with their SEDSAM Trophies
Bisley
At Bisley the team, consisting of Captain Richard Hill, Sgt Alan Notley, Sgt Hollowday and Sgt Gerry Robb, won back the Minor Unit Championship after a gap of two years. It was a convincing victory, as they won all the component competitions of the Championship with the exception of the Staff and Schools Match.
The team also won the Royal Ulster Rifle Cup (Falling Plate) and all were in the Army 100. Sgt Notley shot in the Army SMG XXX and both he and Sgt Robb were invited to practice for the Army V111.
After the A.R.A. meeting, the team remained at Bisley to shoot, as a Light Division team, in the N.R.A. meeting. They successfully won the Hamilton Leigh (equivalent of the Britannia Trophy) and the Cheylesmore (Falling Plate) Cups.
SEDSAM & Bisley Depot Team with winning Trophies
4th (Volunteer) Battalion RGJ
The Festing Cup
In Field Marshal Festing’s absence his son, Andrew, kindly came and gave away the prizes.
This was held on Henley Park Ranges, Bisley, in October. The match has been held annualy since 1959. It was originally designed as a shooting match between T.A. Battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers and The London Rifle Brigade. It has been continued by the successors of these Battalions, the Newcastle Companies and T.A. Cadres of the 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and the London Companies and T.A. Cadre of the 4th (v) Battalion The Royal GreenJackets.
This year the Cup was won by the 4th Volunteer Battalion who won all the events except The Falling Plate. Particularly good performances were put up by Lieutenant George Yannaghas and W02 Isaacs and W02 Russell, the latter has fired in every Festing Cup since 1959.
The Oxfordshire Battalion ACF RGJ
In September we again entered two teams of four in the Inter-Services Cadet Rifle Meeting. Cadet Sgt P. Isaac (Headington Detachment) won the Individual Trophy at 300yards and six of the Cadets gained places in the Cadet 100.