A wartime medal associated with the Small Bore Rifle Club (SMRC) has been recovered by police in Ely.

Ely Standard: This is the Small Bore Rifle Association medal from the 1940s that has been recovered by police in East Cambridgeshire. Is it yours? Police have it. Picture; ELY POLICEThis is the Small Bore Rifle Association medal from the 1940s that has been recovered by police in East Cambridgeshire. Is it yours? Police have it. Picture; ELY POLICE (Image: Archant)

"Do you recognise this small medal?" said a police spokesman. "It has been recovered by police, and suspected to be stolen. Any information, please call 101 and ask for your details to be passed to PC 1905 Williams."

The medal is stamped SMRC and has a date 1943/19 and also the words pistol league on it.

The roots of the SMRC date back more than a century and during the last war the Home Guard took over the running and funding of many clubs across the country.

The SMRC was used by the Government to help train enthusiasts as they had done in the Great War.

One historian notes that by the end of 1945 there were over 4,000 affiliated clubs and other organisations in the SMRC, of which 1,000 were former Home Guard Units.

In 1947 the SMRC changed its name to the National Smallbore Rifle Association which remains today the Governing body for small bore rifle shooting in the UK.