1976
Bisley
| 1st Bn The Royal Green Jackets |
| 2nd Bn The Royal Green Jackets |
| 3rd Bn The Royal Green Jackets |
| 3rd Bn The Light Infantry |
Written by Major J G C Goodwyn
The Hythe Ranges shingle crunched under our boots and, as the strong sea wind changed direction slightly, we both instinctively looked to see if the firers had noticed the shift. Narrowing his eyes against the sun, Sgt Dorey said ‘Do you know sir, it’s about time we had another Queen’s Medal Winner at Bisley’. Two months later he was being swept along on the shoulders of his admiring friends sitting on the shooting kingdom’s throne and proud possessor of the Queen’s Medal. He was Champion Shot of the British Army.
Sgt Mick Dorey being ‘chaired off’ the ranges by his fellow shooting team
In May, the three Royal GreenJacket Shooting Teams and the 3rd Bn. The Light Infantry ream assembled at St. Martin’s Plain Camp, near Folkstone, Kent for centralised Bisley training on Hythe ranges. The teams trained there until moving to Bunhill Lodge, Bisley for the A.R.A. meeting on the 29th June, 1976.
The Hythe, Lyddon Spout and Lydd ranges cracked and thumped as the four teams fired 250,000 rounds down them to perfect their skills and vie for places in the final team. No longer the ‘gravel bellies’ we used to be, firers now, sprint, dive and climb into and out of varying positions, before being confronted with a fleeting target that appears out of the earth at different ranges. Riflemen lie on the ground waiting for the machine gunner to deal with their targets, before being able to advance to engage theirs. Slowly the knack of being able to hit a running man by swinging through him, as if he were a pheasant, grows.
The move to Bisley then began, training was over, and one by one Young, Notley, Brooks, Dorey, Winkworth and other shooting names of long standing converged on Bunhill with their respective teams.
Results
KRRC CUP (Major Units Championship) (entries 62)
| 1 RGJ | 14th |
| 2 RGJ | 24th |
| 3 RGJ | 37th |
| 3 LI | 49th |
RASC CUP (Minor Unit Championship) (entries 24)
| Rifle Depot | 5th |
| LI Depot | 9th |
HM THE QUEEN’s MEDAL (entries 720)
| Sgt M Dorey - A.R.A. Gold Jewel |
| The Roberts Cup (entries 400) | Sgt M Dorey |
| Old Contemptibles Cup (entries 590) | Sgt M Dorey |
| (Aggregate of SLR & SMG) | |
| The Watkin Cup | Sgt M Dorey |
| The Roupell Cup | Capt H Babington-Smith |
| The Army 100 Cup | C/Sgt Winkworth |
| The Manchester Cup 'B' Class | Rfn Arlott |
| The Rifle Brigade Cup | Rfn Arlott |
| (Young Soldier Champion) |
Sgt Dorey receiving The Roberts Cup from Gen. Sir Peter Hunt
Capt Babington-Smith receiving The Roupell Cup
C/Sgt Winkworth receiving The Army Hundred Cup
A fine silverware collection won during 1976 by Sgt Notley, C/Sgt Winkworth and Sgt Dorey
Methuen
The Methuen Team Members were:-
Capt Babington-Smith, W02 Young, C/Sgt Brooks, C/Sgt Winkworth, Sgt's Notley and Dorey.
| The Methuen Cup | Winners 2nd time in 3 years |
| The REME Trophy | Winners |
| (Highest Army Team) | |
| The Prince of Wales Cup | Winners |
| (Highest Infantry Team) |
The unbeatable 1976 team with it’s coverted trophies and medals
1st Bn The Royal Green Jackets
For those that missed Bisley a platoon competition was run, embracing a March and Shoot, tests of individual field-craft, weapon handling, map reading, drill, soccer, hockey and volley-ball.
The Competition was won by the Reconnaissance Platoon.
2nd Bn The Royal Green Jackets
The results of the Tickle Skill at Arms Non Central Company Rifle Match have just been published. Each Rifle Company entered for this trophy as the finale to our Skill at Arms Camp mentioned earlier. Our claim that our marksmanship improved dramatically is confirmed by the fact that:-
| Winners | 'C' Company |
| 2nd | 'A' Company |
| 7th | 'B' Company |
3rd Bn The Royal Green Jackets
The Bisley Team, under Lieutenant Neil Bunce, showed a mild improvement over last years performance. They have been training hard at Dover since May with teams from other Light Division Battalions. Certainly they all enjoyed it and 1RGJ looked after them very well.
The Brigade Skill at Arms Meeting was held in May.
The Battalion came second.
| SMG Match | Cpl Tyson MM |
| The Young Soldier Prize | Rfn Rumble |
The Rifle Depot
Five major trophies were won at the Aldershot Rifle Meeting and the Depot came 4th in the RASC Cup (Minor Unit Championship) at Bisley.
Junior Riflemen’s Company Shooting Team were kept hard at it by C/Sgt Winkworth and Sgt Notley. They were the winners of the team prize at the South-East District Skill at Arms Meeting, but disappointingly coming only second at Junior Bisley.
4th (Volunteer Battalion
Once again the Shooting Team have had noteworthy successes. They carried off most of the major trophies at the London and South-East District Rifle Meeting, and were once again the champion team in the London District.
Bisley
| PSI ETR SHOOT | Winner WO2 Smith |
| Individual Gallery Shoot | Winner Maj P Lawrence |
Team Match
| Converted Gallery Match | 2nd |
| Aggregate Rifle Match | 3rd |
The annual Festing Cup Match against 6 RRF :- We retained the trophy, and won all but one of the competitions.
The Oxfordshire Royal Greenjackets Battalion ACF
Two teams were entered in the Inter-Service Cadet Rifle Meeting at Bisley, and both teams did well in all events. Three Cadets won their places in The Cadet One Hundred –
| Cadet L/Cpl Rigby |
| Cadet Cherry |
| Cadet Pitman |