The Siller Gun Competiton 2007.

Dumfries Rifle Club invite entries for this year`s Siller Gun Competiton, as part of the annual Guid Nychburris and Riding of the Marches celebrations. It is open to teams of four from various clubs, groups or sporting organisations, from the Burgh of Dumfries. Individuals may also enter. No previous shooting experience is necessary, since the competition is run on a handicap basis, meaning that even novices can win. All equipment is supplied by the Rifle Club. However it should be noted that no one who is excluded under section 21 of the Firearms Act 1968, can be allowed to participate.

Entry Fee payable on the day is £8 per team, to cover the cost of the targets, ammunition and prizes. The individual entry fee is £2. To Enter, contact Cyril G De Jonckheere for an entry form at: 1 Cherry Lane, Dumfries, DG1 4SE, or phone 01387 268795. When ?. The competition runs nightly, from Tuesday June 5th, to Saturday June 9th, with sessions (which must be booked in advance) lasting 30 minutes. 

The `Siller Gun` Story.

The Siller Gun has carried forward to today, the "Wappenshawing," which was a shoot with muskets and bows initiated throughout Scotland in troubled times to provide a reserve of men skilled in arms - an early sort of Home Guard.

The Siller Gun of Dumfries was presented by King James the Sixth to the Trades of Dumfries on the 3rd August 1617, at a ceremony on the steps of the Town Clerk`s house, which was situated in Queensberry Square and was to be shot for at the annual Wappenshaw.

The Gun was originally a Cannon but, its carriage having disappeared, was changed into a musket in 1810 by the addition of a butt.

The shooting was held at Kingholm or in a field near Maidenbower Craigs. From 1783 the trophy was shot for only once in five years, and eventually only once in seven. It is now shot for annualy by individuals and teams of four in the week preceeding Guid Nychburris.

"And may this day, whate'er befa',
The King's birthday, our Waponshaw
Be hailed wi' joy by great and sma',
And through the land
May Concord, Liberty and Law
Gae hand in hand."

From the poem, "The Siller Gun," by Mayne.