Show Notes
In the final episode of our Campfire Podcast for 2025, Managing Director Marc Newton sits down with gunmaker Olivier Leclercq to look back at 12 years of Rigby’s revival. Olivier and Marc take us back to the earliest days of Rigby at Pensbury Place, when the company was little more than a vision, a box of paperwork and a handful of determined people. He and Marc reflect on the events of December of 2013, when Marc and his mentor Patty Pugh were moving boxes into the workshop on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, wondering what on earth they had taken on - and hoping they were doing the right thing. Twelve years on, with Rigby firmly re-established as one of the world’s most respected gunmakers, Olivier shares stories from those early days in the workshop and the moments that shaped the company into what it is today. He speaks about the camaraderie of the early team, the pride taken in every rifle that leaves the bench and the responsibility of being custodians of a historic brand with a future to protect. The conversation also explores the balance that defines Rigby: traditional tools and time-honoured methods, paired with an innovative, forward-looking ethos. From engineering and artistry to training the next generation, this is an honest and personal look at what it takes to build and sustain a legacy. Warm, reflective and fitting for the run-up to Christmas, this episode is a reminder that Rigby’s success today is rooted in shared belief, hard work and the people who have stood by the brand from day one.
More from The Rigby Campfire
Our series sharing Jim Corbett’s Jungle Stories is nearly at an end as we reach Episode 38 of the Rigby Campfire podcast, with Marc Newton returning to read the first part of his favourite Corbett story, The Chowgarh Tigers. In this penultimate episode of the series, Corbett recounts his pursuit of a pair of man-eating Bengal tigers that terrorised villages in eastern Kumaon between 1925 and 1930. His vivid account draws listeners into the landscape and communities at the heart of the story. Gather round the campfire and join Marc as he takes us into part one of The Chowgarh Tigers.
With the arrival of cool, blustery weather in Sussex, England, the fire is lit and Monty has donned his Jungle Jim 436 Safari Jacket for Episode 37 of the Rigby Campfire podcast. In this episode, he reads Chapter Six of Jim Corbett’s Jungle Stories, Wildlife in the Village. An Appeal. Corbett explores the connections between village life and the wildlife of India’s jungles, describing how fencing livestock gave villagers more time to hunt. The knock-on impact on deer numbers meant that large predators increasingly turned to village cattle for food. Settle in beside the fire for a fascinating glimpse of the changing landscape Corbett knew, in the latest episode of the Rigby Campfire podcast.
For Episode 36 of the Rigby Campfire podcast, we return to our Jungle Stories series, reading from Jim Corbett’s rare first edition. Rigby’s Head of Operations, Steven ‘Monty’ Monteith, reads Chapter Five, The Terror That Walks by Night. Corbett reflects on the superstitions of his era and those held by sportsmen he knew, before sharing one of his own. He then recounts a remarkable face-to-face encounter he has with a hamadryad, or king cobra, while searching for a man-eating tiger that had been stalking villagers. Monty reads from the rare first edition of Jungle Stories that is stored alongside Corbett’s .275 Rigby rifle in the Rigby Museum. Pull up a chair, gather ‘round the campfire and listen in to another absorbing episode of the Rigby Campfire podcast...
Episode 35 of the Rigby Campfire podcast comes to you from the heart of the action, recorded in a grouse butt in the south of Scotland as award-winning engraver and dear friend of Rigby Karen Wallace loads for Marc Newton. Two and a half days into a fantastic week on the moors, Karen shares the story of her journey from goldsmith to gun engraver, including the rather memorable mishap that marked her first engraving job. She and Marc discuss the challenge of carving steel, the relationship between beauty and function, and the work that earned Karen the prestigious Jacques Cartier Award for Excellence at the 2023 Goldsmiths’ Craftsmanship and Design Awards. The winning piece was a meticulously carved steel scroll magazine floor plate for a Rigby bolt-action rifle. It was the first time the award had been presented for a piece made from neither gold nor silver, and the first gun-engraving entry to receive the honour. Believed to be the first podcast recorded in a grouse butt during the season, the episode also captures the atmosphere of a day on the moor, with exciting flushes, fast, wild birds flying overhead and the lightning-fast reactions they demand.
In episode 34 of the Rigby Campfire podcast, Marc Newton sits down on the side of a Scottish glen with his sister and Rigby Chief of Staff, Michelle Carter, to reflect on a Glorious Twelfth spent shooting in Glenalmond and at their family home in nearby Edradour. Their conversation explores the traditions that make the opening day of the grouse season so special: arriving the night before, the sound of the piper coming up the drive in the morning, a hearty breakfast and a picnic hamper that over the years has grown to a size that requires four-people just to carry it. They also discuss the careful management behind Britain’s grouse moors and their importance to the rural communities of Scotland and northern England. Above all, this is a story of family and the people who bring the day to life. With Michelle carrying their grandfather’s 12-bore, her son Ted taking his first grouse and Marc’s wife Katie doing the same, the day offered a poignant glimpse of a much-loved Newton family tradition passing to the next generation. Stream or watch the latest episode now, wherever you get your podcasts, and enjoy a slice of British fieldsports tradition.