On the eve of the 3rd of December, while it was quiet and peaceful, the members of King's College London's Rifle Club were getting ready for a night of classy Christmas festivities!
(Pictured right: our Club Mascot, Reggie the Lion, all ready for the festivities to start dressed up in his formalwear!)
We had our first formal black-tie event of the 2024/25 academic year, but also marks the end of the 2024 shooting season.
Anastasiia Tokareva, our Events Officer, spent countless sleepless nights frantically organising, planning, and delivering the best Christmas party in the 2024 calendar for our members. She pulled off an absolutely amazing event, in a lovely venue, with a three course meal all for £35 per person! Thank you very much to our Treasurer, Daisy Livesey, who put together a budget to subsidise the meal cost by £5 per person, and to widen participation further subsidise by £10 per person who are eligible for the King's Living Bursary.
Pictured above: Matthew Perkins, Anastasiia Tokareva, and Nicholas Dixon.
The night started at 7pm sharp at our venue, the lovely Pub at the Angelic, only a stone's throw away from Angel Tube station on the Bank Branch of the Northern Line, who saw 32 rifle club members in their blues and twos marching out of the station on the way to have the most festive fun!
Pictured left: Daisy, our Treasurer, shows her matching fit with Reggie!
Pictured above: Siqi Yao, our Vice President settling in and finding our seats at the long
tables!
Soon after arrival there was lots of mingling and mixing, with members coming together in such a large group for the first time this year - we had lots of talking to do!
Pictured above: Amren Singh (Secretary 2024/25), Chloe Wiseman (our lovely external BUCS coach), and Daisy (Treasurer 2024/25) at arrival - Daisy is sporting our new club branded puffer jacket!
Pictured above: Matthew Perkins, Stephen Forino, Nicholas Dixon, and Jim Cowdell settling in!
Pictured above: Joel Burton-Lowe, Emelia Pasternak-Albert, Luke Burrows (Range Officer Manager 2024/25) and Sumi post Christmas-cracker hats!
Pictured above: Sasha Radkovskii, our external BUCS Coach!
Pictured above Left side near > far: Jasmine Ho (Safety Officer 2024/25), Isaac Toh (Range Officer), Avis Fung (BUCS Captain 2024/25), Joel Burton-Lowe, Emelia Pasternak-Albert, Luke Burrows (Range Officer Manager 2024/25);
Right side near > far: Sasha Radkovskii (external BUCS Coach), Chloe Wiseman (external BUCS Coach), Siqi Yao (Vice President 2024/25), Natasha Pasternak-Albert (President 2024/25), Daisy Livesey (Treasurer 2024/25), Anastasiia Tokareva (Events Officer 2024/25).
Soon enough the amazing food arrived - all three courses of Christmas feast!
Pictured right is VP Siqi getting very excited over her oven baked fish!
The food and the ambiance were second to none, thank you very much to The Angelic for hosting us in such a lovely venue - send our compliments to the chef!
After the first two courses were done, the crackers popped, and the hats on heads aplenty, we had a short pause in the dinner service to make toasts, speeches, and give out some of our club's most prestigious awards and prizes (as well as a few slightly more fun awards too!)
Pictured above left to right: Avis Fung (BUCS Captain 2024/25), Siqi Yao (VP 2024/25), Natasha Pasternak-Albert (President 2024/25), Anastasiia Tokareva (Events Officer 2024/25)
The first two awards were bestowed to Avis Fung and Siqi Yao, in receipt of Smallbore Colours. This is the most prestigious award that can be given to our members for excellence within Smallbore shooting with the club. Avis Fung earned this high honour for being selected for the Smallbore BUCS A Team in the academic year 2023/24, qualifying for the NSRA BUCS Smallbore Women's Individual Finals held in Staveley Range in March 2024 in 12th place and finishing the competition in 7th place, and additionally forming the Women's Triad entered into the NSRA BUCS Long Range Smallbore matches at Appleton Ranges in May 2024. Siqi Yao earned this honour, similarly for forming the 2nd member of the Women's Triad, and also for being selected for the Smallbore BUCS A Team in the 2023/24 academic year. Huge congratulations both for this amazing achievement and for obtaining Smallbore Colours at King's College London Rifle and Pistol Club! Natasha Pasternak-Albert, our President also achieved Smallbore Colours for her efforts as the 3rd member of the Women's Triad in Long Range Smallbore BUCS, and also for being Captain of the Smallbore BUCS A Team, qualifying in 5th in NSRA BUCS Women's Individual and finishing in 9th place overall in the finals, but she was unable to award colours to herself during the awards ceremony!
The second award was given to Siqi Yao once again - Fullbore Colours, the most prestigious award that can be given to our members for excellence within Fullbore shooting with the club, for her incredible bravery, stepping up to shoot as the 4th member of our Fullbore BUCS Team in the Summer 2024 Imperial Meeting. This was the first time she had ever shot fullbore target rifle, but without her, King's would not have been able to field a BUCS Fullbore team. Despite the fact she was set up on the rifle the night before the BUCS Short Range Matches (the Musketeers) at 300 yards, 500 yards, and 600 yards, she put in an incredible showing with scores ranging from 39 - 42 out of a possible 50! Well done Siqi and a definitely well deserved record to obtain Fullbore Colours at King's. Natasha also qualified for Fullbore Colours this awards ceremony, as she Captained the Fullbore BUCS Team entered into the 2024 Imperial Meeting, with the team finishing in 5th Place in the Short Range and 9th Place (out of 14 entries) in the Long Range matches, but again she could not award colours to herself!
Next were the slightly more silly awards to give out to their very deserving recipients...
Pictured above: Natasha (President 2024/25) and Anastasiia Tokareva (Events Officer 2024/25) holding the "Logbook Legend" award certificate.
Two awards sadly had to be given in absentia, as Maddie Desmond, recipient of the "Logbook Legend" award, and Melvin Leong, recipient of the "Bisley Hobo" award were unable to attend the dinner. Although they were sorely missed, they will have the opportunity to collect their awards and medals from the Strand Range in due course!
Pictured above: Matthew Perkins receiving his "Slot Sniper" award!
Congratulations to all of our members in receipt of the following awards:
Smallbore Colours
Avis Fung
Siqi Yao
Natasha Pasternak-Albert
Fullbore Colours
Siqi Yao
Natasha Pasternak-Albert
Slot Sniper Award:
"For always being first to aim, click, and claim"
Matthew Perkins
Golden Hammer Award:
"For nailing his RO responsibilities, both metaphorically and literally"
Isaac Toh
Bisley Hobo Award:
"for trading five-star hotels for five-star dedication"
Melvin Leong
Clays Destroyer Award:
"for showing the clays who's boss, virtually speaking"
Luke Burrows
Bunk Bed Saviour Award:
"for abandoning her own bed to rescue a stranded one"
Siqi Yao
Logbook Legend Award:
"for becoming the face of our range... quite literally!"
Maddy Desmond
Sleeper Agent Award:
"for saving the day behind the scenes"
Jasmine Ho
Pictured above the King's College London Rifle Club 2024/25 Committee left to right: Luke Burrows (Range Officer Manager), Amren Singh (Secretary), Daisy Livesey (Treasurer), Natasha Pasternak-Albert (President), Siqi Yao (VP), Anastasiia Tokareva (Events Officer), Jasmine Ho (Safety Officer), Avis Fung (Captain)
All in all, it was a wonderful and wholesome event organised by our amazing Events Officer Anastasiia, and enjoyed very much by all! Hopefully this will be the beginning of this new tradition in the King's College London Rifle Club, going into our Range's Centenary year with many formal Christmas dinners to come...!
This is our 2024/25 committee signing off, and wishing all of our King's College London Rifle Club members, alumni, and friends a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year - we can't wait to welcome you back to our Strand Range in 2025!
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