Officers of the Association
Director – Savvas Toufexis
As far back as I can remember we had guns house, my grandfather in Cyprus was a gunsmith, and my surname means gunmaker.
The opportunity to shoot was pretty limited but I remember reading the Shooting Times when I was 7 or 8, I still have my first air rifle and .410 shotgun.
Once I started driving I was able to start doing some shooting, joined a local shooting club, and managed to become pretty proficient with rifle, shotgun and pistol, and become an RFD.
I eventually got involved in game shooting and quite a lot of stalking, and have hunted bear in Canada, wild boar in France,plains game as well as big game in Africa.
As soon as I heard about the horrendous events in Dunblane I knew we had to act, having experienced the after effects of Hungerford. I spoke to the established organisations but they did not seem to have any idea as to what to do, other than speak to the minister.
I then heard about the Sportsman’s Association. I immediately got hold of Albie Fox, and offered my services, and very much neglected my own business. I helped out in the organisation of the rallies including arranging for a flatbed lorry to be used as a podium in Hyde Park.
Eventually I asked Albie if he thought I should stand for the council and he was very positive. In time I became vice chairman, then chairman and eventually director.
I have sat on the board of the BSSC for over 20 years, and despite our small size I can say with confidence that we have punched, and assisted very much above our weight.
Chairman – Joe Beatham
Joe started airgun shooting in his mid-twenties and became a collector of Webley and BSA airguns. Through this interest he became a regular customer of Whaley’s of North London in Hornsey Road where he became good friends with Adam Whaley, eventually working for him from 1981 – 1983.
Joe opened GUNSHOP, in East Barnet, in 1985 with a partner, whom he then bought out, and is now about to retire in 2025, to the dismay of many of his customers who affectionately remember him for his gruff manner, or “outspoken honesty”.
Over the years, Joe has been a member of The Surrey Border Rifle and Pistol Club, 30 years spent as President. He is also a member of the East Barnet Shooting Club, holding the post of Captain of the Action Rifle and Pistol Section for over a decade.
Joe also manages a deer park and has the deer stalking on the rest of the estate, so as you can see, he is a very active shooter.
Secretary – Rachel Westlake
I have shot on and off since I was a young child, but mostly I have been a range officer, learning the ropes on the ranges of Team GB and the Army Team. The highlight of my RO’ing career was being an official on the 25m Pistol Range during the 2012 Olympics.
I am still an ISSF Range Official but concentrate on domestic events and very much enjoy being CRO for the British Shooting Schools Championships Finals and the Junior International 25m Air Range.
I have also worked alongside Daddy since the beginning of Westlake Engineering, and now my children have flown the nest am becoming more involved again.
Committee Member & Founding Member – Alan Westlake
A former Army Pistol Champion, former Team GB Pistol Athlete and Coach.
After retiring from the Army, Alan set up his own engineering business and bought the rights to the Britarms Pistol. The change in law devasted the business, and Alan decamped from Wiltshire to Shrewsbury and spent months working with Albie Fox (founder of the SA) campaigning against the government on the changes in law.
After a court case proving the Morini Free Pistol was section 1, Alan produced a batch of Long Barrelled Britarms Pistols. The very first Long Barrelled Pistols. Which Wiltshire Constabulary to their credit agreed are section 1 firearms. This concept has been copied by many and Gallery Rifle Shooting with LBP’s and LBR’s flourishes as a consequence.
Alan has also advanced and modernised many Muzzle Loading Revolvers, and of late has been producing revolvers based on an Alfa frame quite successfully.
Alan was working on finishing his own design of Muzzle Loading Revolver and a new design of Long Barrel Pistol, but the recent court case with Border Force has put these projects on hold.
Former Committee Member – Founding & Life Member – Albie Fox
The sportsman’s Association was founded in 1996 to fight the change in law to prohibit pistols, Albie was the very first Director, and campaigned tirelessly on our behalf.
He has always been a strong supporter of the shooting sports and in his time in the RAF he coached the pistol team to both domestic and international success, in both military and civilian disciplines.
On retirement from the RAF he also did a three year stint as OC Army Marksmanship Training Centre & secretary of the Army Rifle Association.
Formation of the Sportsman’s Association in 1996
This respectful silence, however, allowed the media and anti-gun campaign groups to vilify the legitimate, law-abiding shooting sportsmen and women of the UK, which poisoned our image with the public. The result was that our politicians jumped on the bandwagon and wanted to be seen to respond.
The Governments of the day decided to introduce knee jerk bans on all pistol shooting, which required all pistols to be handed in and compensation paid (more than £80 million). This proposal only resulted in the ban of an object and did not address the real problem. Our politicians ignored the true problem of the police not correctly applying the gun laws current at the time. Post Dunblane many well-documented failures applying the law by the Scottish police were highlighted. All of which allowed a mentally unstable person to own firearms legitimately. (Dunblane: The Untold Truths)
On the announcement of the Government’s proposals during September 1996 the Sportsman’s Association was spontaneously formed at a hastily called meeting Saturday 19thOctober during the annual Trafalgar Shooting event at Bisley. Albie Fox, a member of the GB Olympic Squad at the time, was elected to be their secretary. Over the next week he and a group of volunteers increased the membership to 50,000+ each paying £5.
The resulting finance enabled us to campaign against the proposed ban. Media interviews on TV & radio, and adverts in the national press, allowed us to express the views of our sport. The aim was to try and address the lies and misinformation being perpetrated by those opposed to our sport. We advised MPs, sympathetic to our case during the parliamentary debates, and achieved one of the largest back bench revolt’s parliament has known. 150 Conservative MPs voted against the 1997 Firearms Amendment Act, despite a three-line whip.
We also organised four marches in London to protest at the proposed legislation. The largest of which attracted 25,000 people, and they were entirely problem free which should not be surprising considering that we comprise the most law-abiding part of the population. We are widely recognised as the catalyst for the Countryside Rally and March which attracted 300,000 to 400,000 people.
The horror of Dunblane and the lack of early action by the sport’s Governing bodies meant that the SA’s efforts were too late. The successive 96-97 Conservative and Labour Governments banned all pistol shooting in general. At this point we could have admitted defeat and closed down the Sportsman’s Association, but we decided this was not the right course of action to take.
We recognised we had lost the battle, but should continue to campaign for the restoration of target pistol shooting as a legitimate sport. We also recognised that there would be further attacks on the shooting sports, and field sports, and that there was a need for an organisation that represented all these interests, and would defend our freedom of choice to pursue one’s chosen sporting activity, whether that be shooting, hunting, archery or fishing.
Our Olympic and GB teams now have a limited number of Home Office Section 5 licences. These have such severe restrictions that it makes it very difficult to perform at the elite level needed to win medals.
Albie Fox, founding member.
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