Residents fascinated as Anita ‘brings home’ Olympic silver medal 76 years on
The rare experience of holding a genuine Olympic silver medal in their hands has given care home residents at one of our New Forest added interest in this summer’s Paris Games.
To bring the coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics a little closer to home, Lymington woman Anita Stock organised a special presentation for her fellow residents at Woodpeckers in Brockenhurst.
It featured a silver medal won by her late husband ‘Jim’, James Rapley Stock, for team rifle shooting at the London Olympics in August 1948.
Seventy-six years on, Anita invited the couple’s daughter Leigh Hopper to come in and share the story.
Leigh was only too happy to oblige, arriving in a Union Jack-themed dress and proudly showing off her dad’s medal along with other memorabilia including a photo of him in Team GB.
She explained that team rifle shooting in the UK gathered pace as a competitive sport from the middle of the 19th century with input from army volunteers.
Since the start of the modern Olympics in 1896, Team GB have won 47 medals in shooting, including 14 golds, the latest of which was in Paris this summer.
Leigh told the Woodpeckers audience that Jim joined the Weybridge Rifle club in Surrey before the outbreak of the Second World War.
“I recall him telling stories of how he would shoot rats and mice while on fire-watch duty during the war,” Leigh said. “This clearly helped his shooting skills as he went on to win his first championship at the end of the war in 1945.
“There were individual shooting events at the London Olympics but Team GB didn’t do so well in them, coming 25th.
“But my father was included in a team event that came out of a prestigious annual international competition, the Dewar Challenge Trophy, involving a select group of countries. In 1948, this was included as an event in the London Olympics.
“In this competition each member of the 20-man team fired 20 shots at 50 yards and then another 20 at 100 yards.
“Unlike other events, each team competed in their own country and then posted the results to London. This meant that the weather conditions were variable.
“The weather at the Surrey village of Bisley where Team GB were based was particularly atrocious with strong winds and heavy rain.
“This made shooting very difficult and I recall my father saying he had a shot blown off course.
“Despite this he gained the second highest score in the team, 399 out of a possible 400, so helping them to win the silver medal.”
Sian Harris, Companionship Team member at Woodpeckers, said: “Both Leigh and Anita are extremely proud of Jim’s achievement. Anita has long spoken about him winning a silver medal.
“She also did some shooting herself, so it was a shared hobby for the two of them, part of their passion for the outdoors life.
“The presentation was so apt, given the timing of it this Olympic and Paralympic summer and with Team GB’s latest shooting success in Paris.
“It was lovely for Anita to be able to share this family story with her fellow residents. Everyone listening was fascinated and pleased to get up close to that silver medal.”
