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Gun Licence (10s) - 1964


Bobba
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Nostalgia - Rooting through some old papers I came across my Gun License dated 1964. The days when you could buy one in the Post Office for ten shillings and no questions / referees / doctors note required. Those were the days !!!

This Gun Licence is really the early form of a SGC as it carries the footnote that it does not cover Firearms (as defined by the Firearms Act 1937) for which a Firearms certificate is required.

Gun License 1 of 2.pdf

Gun License 2 of 2.pdf

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Yep I remember the ten bob post office shotgun licence too! And travelling on a bus with gamebag, gun in a slip, belt full of shells dressed in full shooting gear....no one really batted an eyelid....except for the odd inquisitive/encouraging comment! 

We had the best of it!

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53 minutes ago, wymberley said:

You've started something now!

Gun_Licence_1958.jpg

 

I was 13 months old when that was issued! 

I recall the game licenses well enough though, or a 'permit to kill game'. Although not many people bothered with those latterly, and it cost more to administer than revenue garnered, I remember the visiting guns to the towns hotels would buy one at our local PO ( more for the novelty value I think ) saying they couldnt get them back home. 

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43 minutes ago, Harnser said:

I remember the 10 bob licence well. Not every body bothered to buy one .icarnt ever remember any body getting into trouble for not having one .

harnser

If memory serves me, I did buy a couple, but never a dog license or game license, nor did any of the other lads in the village. Only started to regularly buy one when the police took over firearms licensing and started issuing those white jobbies that Tollerman mentioned.

Unlike Wymberly I was never caught or asked if I had one, even when the magistrate fined me 10/- for poaching !

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The policeman was extremely apologetic and said if he'd known who we were to start with we'd have just had a roasting and that would have been the end of it. But as he was on vandal patrol and had made a note of what he wasn't quite sure what was happening and before he realised that we weren't who he was looking for, he couldn't unmake it. I thought this was a highly commendable attitude and was also impressed by the speed with which he recovered from the shock of nearly having been shot by Mike F.

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I remember 

7 hours ago, Scully said:

I was 13 months old when that was issued! 

I recall the game licenses well enough though, or a 'permit to kill game'. Although not many people bothered with those latterly, and it cost more to administer than revenue garnered, I remember the visiting guns to the towns hotels would buy one at our local PO ( more for the novelty value I think ) saying they couldnt get them back home. 

I remember being about 10 years old walking into the Post office with my dad and him saying to the bloke behind the counter I want to buy a killing licence in he’s foreign accient .

Post office guy looks at my dad and asks who do u want to kill and cracks up laughing and says u mean a game licence.Still makes me laugh now.

 

 

Edited by Green hornet
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On 11/06/2018 at 12:31, panoma1 said:

Yep I remember the ten bob post office shotgun licence too! And travelling on a bus with gamebag, gun in a slip, belt full of shells dressed in full shooting gear....no one really batted an eyelid....except for the odd inquisitive/encouraging comment! 

We had the best of it!

Noy sure id risk the bus... Ive had to oark car and walk through highstreet once with rifle in case over shoulder, whilst my nephew did his school. Carnival, got some interesting looks. 

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7 hours ago, ShootingEgg said:

Noy sure id risk the bus... Ive had to oark car and walk through highstreet once with rifle in case over shoulder, whilst my nephew did his school. Carnival, got some interesting looks. 

Is this written in a local dialect ?

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On 11/06/2018 at 12:31, panoma1 said:

Yep I remember the ten bob post office shotgun licence too! And travelling on a bus with gamebag, gun in a slip, belt full of shells dressed in full shooting gear....no one really batted an eyelid....except for the odd inquisitive/encouraging comment! 

We had the best of it!

:good:

 I think perhaps that Father got it right - he packed it in about 25 years ago before he had to face all the flack that we have to put up with now.

Anyone who has holidayed at Sandy Bay - Devon Cliffs - will know where I'm talking about but probably won't recognise it. Up the hill, shotgun over the arm broken - no slip - over the main road passing the post office and then the bank, then cross the railway line and into the fields. The reverse on the way back but then into the hotel public bar showing the barman it was empty before closing and standing the gun in a corner by the door. The only attention this ever got was, "any luck" from the barman. For those who had to travel a bit further to shoot, it was not uncommon to see a pushbike sail passed with the gun tied to the crossbar - again no slip.

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Times change and sometimes not for the better. I recall a scout camp at Staveley near Kendal in the 1970's; about a dozen lads cramming into a local shop after dropping our rucksacks outside, but all with sheath knives strapped to their belts; not one of them harbouring thoughts of stabbing anyone and the shop keeper not batting an eye. 

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At a very young age me and a mate - a farmers son - used to borrow a couple of .410's to scare birds off the stack yard. We had to buy our own ammo which I recall I, as a 12yo, used to get from our village chemist. Dad bought me me a BSA air rifle at the same time and the first thing he did was to warn the village Bobby who gave me an 'ear bending' the first time I saw him. Happy days. Hated that copper though - he seemed to be everywhere on his bloody bike!

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