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The 1066
Rifle and Pistol Club started life as the Battle Rifle Club, which
was formed before World War II. Its activity was suspended during
the War and its facilities used by the military and Home Guard.
In 1945 the Club
was reconvened in a shed alongside the Drill Hall (which was
opposite Battle Police Station) and on an outdoor range in
Powdermill Lane. Shortly afterwards the Club moved to better
premises, a shed at the rear of the Wellington Pub in the High
Street in Battle, where it established a 25 yard small-bore
range.
In the early
1980’s the Wellington Pub was put up for sale and the Powdermill
Lane range had fallen into disuse. In 1984 a group of the
remaining members decided to try to keep the Club going, despite a
complete lack of finance and to search for a suitable site to
create a new range. Various sites were considered: one was a
flooded farm, another was part of a quarry, a third was a disused
railway line and the fourth was a steeply sloping field in Rock
Lane, Ore, Hastings. All the sites except Rock Lane, were refused
planning permission for one reason or another. A lease was
secured on the land at Rock Lane, various loans were raised; a
small team of builders hired and an area was excavated by machine,
leaving the ground to settle. This process took the best part of
a year. The limited funds available dictated that a pipe range
should be selected as the cheapest option. The shingle bedding
was laid for the pipes and the builders began constructing the
concrete bases for the two adjoining buildings attached to the
pipe range, i.e. the clubhouse and the target house.
Finances were, by
this time, virtually exhausted: the initial loans of £6,000 had
been expended. An application was made to the Sports Council for
a grant and after persistence from the then Secretary, they
finally agreed to award a grant of £5,000 plus a £3,000 interest
free loan to be repaid over three years. The building was
completed and officially opened in 1992. The Club advertised for
new members and received a very good response and over the next
few years the membership was increased from 6 to 70 and the loan
was repaid on time.
Dave McCleery
stepped down from his position as Membership Secretary (he was one
of the original six members who completed the above) and his
position was taken over by Chris Wallace who shortly afterwards
became the Treasurer and combined both functions. Gradually there
was a change of personnel, Eric Jones became the Secretary and
Phillip Jenkins became Chairman (replacing Mike Beck). There was
a new committee and the Club’s opening hours were expanded to five
nights a week, plus Wednesday mornings fortnightly, together with
Sunday mornings.
In 2000/2001 the
Chairman (Phillip Jenkins) and the Treasurer (Chris Wallace)
suggested that the Club should negotiate with the freeholder to
purchase the freehold of the land as a new lease was shortly to be
required. With the assistance of our Club solicitor (Chris
Barber) the negotiations were completed; the freehold purchased
with the funds being raised via various internal loans made by
members. Then, in 2003 an extension was built to the clubhouse to
accommodate a kitchen, toilet and armoury. Shortly afterwards,
the car park was enlarged and resurfaced; gas central heating was
fitted to the clubroom, together with safety lights for the
pathway down to the club facilities.
This was followed
by an outdoor airgun range, with the construction of a wooden
target house donated by a committee member, Roger Hardy.
The name of the
Club was changed from Battle Rifle & Blackpowder Pistol Club to
1066 Rifle & Pistol Club after the committee had agreed that as we
no longer had premises in Battle that such a change would be
appropriate.
The original pipe
range served well for 16 years, but unfortunately, it began to
seriously deteriorate. The tubes began to split; there was a
periodic serious ingress of water and having taken professional
advice, it was agreed by the committee and the membership of the
Club that the range would be completely rebuilt. Planning consent
was granted and then the mammoth task of raising the finance was
undertaken. During the Spring of 2009, after the plans for the
new range had been agreed at the AGM, a work party of members
stripped out the old firing point and the target house, whilst the
contractor went to work in removing the tonnes of soil that
covered the old tubes and then the tubes themselves. The site was
cleared prior to the construction of concrete foundations followed
by a block and beam floor. The 9” block walls were laid along the
exterior in readiness for the concrete beams which formed the new
roof, which was then sealed.
The entire rebuild
took less than 11 weeks and once the shell of the building had
been handed over to the Club a small band of volunteers moved in
to construct the internal parts, i.e. six new lane booths at the
firing point and the creation of a whole new target receiving
area, with metal back plates at the far end where the original
target house area had been.
The Club re-opened
for members on Sunday 9th August 2009 and the official
opening was on the 30th August 2009, where a buffet
party was attended by approximately 80 members and guests. |
