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Ron Levett, born in Alfriston, East Sussex, enlisted in 1943, and whilst posted to the British Liberation Army, took part in the liberation of Germany. He then returned to England, setting up his own electronics business and developing an interest in the new entertainment of the time - television.
We carried out quite a lot of electrical work for 'young' Ben Walker. He was only in his thirties but his father was 'old' Ben. He showed me a new rifle he had just bought and told me all about Hailsham Rifle Club.
When I said I would be interested in coming to their next meeting, he told me that it would be held in the Dog's Head chalk pit rifle range two weeks later. When I met the club at the range, I was introduced to the other members, including Len Pike and his wife Margaret.
He lived in Selmeston about one hundred yards from Ben. I borrowed Ben's rifle, a P17 firing .303 ammunition, almost the same rifle that I had used in the Home Guard except for the calibre, which on the P14, was .300, the original American rifle.
I shot a very reasonable score on this first occasion, and was invited to join the club. An electrical dealer from Eastbourne, who drove a Ford Anglia with the sloping back window, was very popular when he offered to provide transport to the more distant ranges such as Bisley or Battle.
I managed to buy a second-hand P17 fitted with Parker-Hale sights. These were essential for any serious shooting, having sideways movement to compensate for wind and being calibrated up to 600 yards for long range shooting.
On one occasion I went to Bisley with the club and during the shoot, clouds started to form and by the time my turn came to fire, the rain was coming down like stair rods.
I had to keep turning the rifle on its side to empty the water from the magazine. My scorebook got soaked and still shows the signs today. I still managed to achieve a reasonable score.
On another trip to Bisley I took the firm's van and arranged for Gran and the children to come with me. We took a picnic with us, and a puppy, which we had acquired. All went fine until on the way home the puppy was sick all over the floor of the van. I was very unpopular at work the next morning.
I did manage to win the cup for 'the tyro who has improved most during the year' This was a large impressive cup which had to be kept polished, so it was put away for the year, after which it had to be returned.
I also won various small prizes, including a Churchill Crown. Unfortunately I was hard up at the time and had to spend it!
There were quite a large number of rifle ranges in East and West Sussex. One was situated near Storrington in West Sussex, near the sand pits where dinosaur bones had been discovered.
It had rained heavily during the night and very soon, a number of our cars were up to their axles in mud. A local farmer who was shooting with us fetched his tractor and pulled us all out.
There was another range on the beach at The Crumbles, Eastbourne. I rather liked shooting there because I could burrow down in the shingle until the rifle was rested on the sandbag in front. Although this was against the rules, I managed a very good score.
A further range was in a valley near Battle. One of our members was a lady in her eighties. She couldn't lay prone on her stomach, so she laid on her back and fired over her own feet, using a rest to support the muzzle! She still managed a respectable score.
We carried out a Postal Shoot against the Army, where scores had to be exchanged by post. We failed to understand why the Army kept winning.
Eventually we found out that they were using the aiming mark, which is actually the bull and the inner, scoring 5 and 4, as the bull, so any round that fell within the aiming mark, they were scoring as a bull.
After their error was explained to them, we won every competition.
Ron Levett, 2001
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