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MINUTES OF THE 2023 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 20 May 2023
Marford Mill
Rossett
Wrexham LL12 0HL
Eoghan Cameron – Chairman
Ian Bell – Chief Executive (CEO)
Angela Davies – Registered Society Secretary/Executive Director of Business Management
Sandra Forkin – Minute Secretary/Project Integration Manager
Simon Starkie – Independent Scrutineer
The CEO welcomed everyone to the BASC 2023 AGM meeting and made administrative announcements ahead of the AGM commencing:
The CEO stated that this year has been a demanding year for the staff, and on your behalf, they have done an outstanding job.
The CEO presented the annual review.
Apologies, Lord Dear and BASC Vice-Chair
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the 2023 BASC AGM here at our Marford Mill headquarters.
BASC’s President Lord Dear regrets that he can’t be with us today, but he has asked me to pass on his apologies and best wishes to you all. BASC’s Vice Chair Claire Sadler is also extremely disappointed not be here but is sadly unable to attend due to ill health.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me start by saying that I would urge members and non-members alike to get hold of the 2022 Annual Review, which is available in hardcopy today and on the BASC website. It sets out concisely the Association’s many major actions and achievements over the past year. It encapsulates what BASC stands for and why BASC continues to be the sword and shield of shooting in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The demonstration of BASC’s power and reach in these pages should serve as a warning to those who’d ban or severely restrict shooting. But it might also serve as a cautionary tale for our own community. If, instead of action and results, these pages contained nothing more than indignant commentary, empty fighting talk, offers of bargain basement membership and insurance, imagine what would be at stake. I make no apology for saying that the future of shooting continues to depend largely on BASC’s might – no one comes close. But none of this is possible without strength in numbers – our members, you.
Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake that BASC is strong, but we can be stronger. There is no prize for second place in this fight. So, I would ask you, our members, to join me in encouraging the many thousands of non-members out there to find a home with the Best in the Field. Because backing BASC is backing shooting and backing a proven winner.
Most of you will by now hopefully be familiar with BASC’s Act Now and That’s What BASC Stands For campaigns. Act Now was born out of the need to mobilise our entire community to respond to two equally dangerous consultations: The Welsh Government consultation on gamebird release and the Scottish Government’s consultation on its Wildlife Management and Muirburn bill. BASC wasted no time in spelling out the far-reaching consequences for all shooting of these self-defeating, ideologically motivated exercises. They have acted as a rallying call for all who care about shooting and to date, the volume of responses has been incredibly encouraging. But Act Now doesn’t end here: We will continue to see hostile consultations in future that deserve and demand thousands of responses from our community in reply. In each case, BASC will lead from the front.
I also mentioned the That’s What BASC Stands For campaign. Act Now is a paragon of what that is, but it is really far broader and will mean subtly different things to different people. Let’s put to one side for a moment the huge range of direct member benefits, millions of pounds worth of discounts and first resort insurance exclusively available through BASC. BASC is home to by far the largest group of subject matter experts in our field. We are the only organisation to genuinely offer interdisciplinary support and expertise on a national and local basis; from firearms to gamekeeping, conservation and training, from head office to our regional and country teams. Our political lobbying capabilities are without equal. BASC is the only organisation with a fighting fund in its armoury. All our teams are passionate about ensuring a bright future for sustainable shooting and the enormous practical conservation efforts underpinned by it.
Thanks to our members, BASC can continue to invest in conservation projects, fight legal battles and deploy the best expertise to develop and deliver the long-term strategy for sustainable shooting in the UK. Put simply, the future of shooting depends on having something to shoot with, something to shoot at and somewhere to go shooting. BASC is, and with your continued support, will remain the only organisation capable of safeguarding all three of these central components. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what we stand for.
My sincere thanks for listening. I’m pleased now to introduce our new film which gives some personal colour from members on What BASC Stands For. Thank You.
BASC CEO opened the floor for questions.
One question has been received by email from David Stewart OBE.
“My apologies for not being able to be at the AGM in person. I would like to congratulate BASC council and the staff team for making significant progress over the last few years with developing and reporting the contribution that BASC makes to conservation.
In response to the David Stewart OBE.
This year we launched our new Practical Conservation strategy which empowers all our members to improve their contribution to conservation at the grassroots level. It is based on a series of habitat-focused campaigns starting with improving woodland condition and increasing woodland planting this year. Our improved advice on woodlands is already online and our trained member-facing staff are supporting members engaging with it. This campaign will grow to include cover crops and wetland management in coming years.
These campaigns are developed with regulators and practitioners to ensure our approach aligns with governmental strategic targets on addressing climate change and supporting nature recovery, hence showcasing the contribution of shooting to societal needs.
Furthermore, our Sustainable Shooting strategy has identified an opportunity for clubs and syndicates to develop more proactive management plans that can address the specific threats and opportunities facing our quarry species. We will be working with clubs, and where relevant the regulators, to identify how best to build in this species-specific work.
In terms of monitoring, we are currently developing the first Natural Capital account for shooting across the UK. This account places a monetary value on the environmental services that managing habitat for shooting provides. For example, shoots plant and manage woodland and protect them from deer and grey squirrels. In turn, these nature-rich woodlands store carbon, improve water and air quality, provide us all food and timber products as well as recreation and wellbeing benefits. Natural Capital is a key environmental policy principle and governments understanding shooting’s Natural Capital value better will help safeguard our future and provide key messages for use in public and political education campaigns.
Separately, but also complimentarily, we have initiatives that provide reporting information on key activities like duck nest tubes and grey squirrel management to both encourage more engagement from the membership and to provide positive news for mainstream media.
Finally next month will see the launch of the BASC Wildlife Fund which is dedicated to funding projects that create and protect our natural habitats; where wildfowl, game, and animal and plant species of all kinds can flourish. This will trigger additional investment in practical conservation on the ground through shooting.
There were no other questions.
Ian Bell, CEO asked all to stand for 1 minute’s silence in memory of members who have passed within the last year.
All stood for 1 minute’s silence and a list of names of members who had passed away was presented.
Angela Davies, Registered Society Secretary placed the Annual Report and Financial Statements for year ending the 31st December 2022 before the AGM for adoption and asked for approval by a show of hands. The adoption of the annual report and financial statements for year ending the 31st December 2022 was approved and therefore duly carried by the AGM.
Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer announced the Council Election results for 2022.
There are two National seats.
There were twelve candidates for two National seats.
| Paul Mayfield | 1046 |
| Simon Keeping | 600 |
| Carl Woodall | 684 |
| Chris Manning | 387 |
| Richard Ward | 661 |
| John Rowlands | 359 |
| John Furbisher | 927 |
| John Bates | 559 |
| Luke Green | 50 |
| Luke Michael Philpott | 262 |
| Andrew Lee | 632 |
| John Duffus | 599 |
It is confirmed Paul Mayfield and John Furbisher are duly elected to BASC Council.
Ian Bell, CEO presented the election of Honorary Life Members:
PAUL ALBASTER
Proposed by Jon Bellamy
Seconded by Grant Arthur
Paul was instrumental in building the foundations of the BASC (then WAGBI) affiliated club South Warwickshire Wildfowl and Woodpigeon Club (SWWWC). To have a Wildfowling club in the middle of the country is unusual but Paul has led wildfowling trips to the Solway, the Dovey, the Wash and Anglesey with his unwavering enthusiasm and skill and still promotes this aspect of the sport encouraging all club members to experience wildfowling.
He joined SWWWC in 1979 and was the treasurer for more than 25 years and then Chairman for the next 5 years, he is still an active and valued member.
He is a keen Wildfowler, game and woodpigeon shot, fisherman, conservationist and loves his gun dogs.
He has been the leading force in recruiting new members to our club and in promoting BASC for over 40 years. He is passionate about showcasing our sport to the public including his involvement in hundreds of gun dog scurries and demonstrations over the years at the Game Fair, Ragley Hall game fair (before the present-day Game Fair was held there) Weston Park and Town and Country Show. The club, with Paul as an integral part of the display team, still demonstrates gundog training and work and runs scurries at local shows, showcasing the sport and BASC at local events such as Kenilworth, Avon Dassett and Tysoe shows along with supporting the charity Dogs for Good at Warmington at their summer fund raiser with gun dog displays and straw bale scurries.
He has also helped organise and run young shots days on behalf of BASC at Wedgnock shooting ground.
Paul is also the shoot captain for New Farm syndicate shoot organising the guns and beaters and takes his place in the gun line alternate Saturdays during the season with his dogs alongside him. He trains his own dogs and picks up with them at various other local shoots.
Now, all this may seem worthy of some formal recognition, but Paul has accomplished this with only one leg! No complaints, no concessions – he just gets on with it.
Just imagine staggering across a marsh at 4.30am in half light on one leg or on one occasion even walking across a grouse moor for walked up grouse!
Paul has been an inspiration to everyone who meets him, and I cannot think of anyone who deserves recognition by BASC more than Paul. He is now no spring chicken (not sure of his age but think he is 74 years young!) but is still actively involved in all aspects of the SWWWC.
This was approved and therefore duly carried.
MIKE HOLLIDAY
Proposed by Colin Shedden
Seconded by Eoghan Cameron
Mike Holliday is a long-standing member whose efforts over 3 decades have been inextricably linked with BASC, particularly in Scotland.
Since 2012 Mike has chaired the Gamekeeping and Wildlife Management Working Group in Scotland. This group has met regularly over the past 11 years and has not only organised and developed the annual BASC Blair Castle Gamekeepers’ Day in Scotland but has helped BASC ensure that the concerns of the profession are recognised and progressed. The Group was formed in 2009 and is currently made up of 12 gamekeepers and stalkers as well as representatives from the colleges that train gamekeepers in Scotland. The Group was instrumental in getting gamekeeping students to the annual Gamekeepers’ Day and awarding a student trophy for the clay shoot. The Group has advised staff on many aspects of legislative change over this period, including snaring, tail docking, air gun licensing, deer management, vicarious liability and on access issues. Mike, as chairman, has also written about safety concerns when using night vision equipment for pest control and highlighting the key role that gamekeepers and stalkers play in many mountain rescue teams; himself a long-standing member of his local mountain rescue team. Mike’s leadership, drive and example have been instrumental in ensuring BASC is recognised for its representation of gamekeepers in Scotland.
His work has included public facing media engagement on critical issues; when government funded research showed the level of abuse that gamekeepers receive at work from the public, including physical threats, Mike was the spokesman on BBC Landward, calling on Government to do more to help. Mike has also worked with Radio 4 on deer stalking features and has hosted a number of MSPs on Glenample Estate to highlight the importance of shooting and stalking to local rural economies.
Mike, as manager of Glenample Estate, has hosted a Young Shots’ driven game day each year for the past 25 years (severe weather and Covid restrictions aside) and for the past 10 years has also hosted a Ladies’ Day. Priority has always been given to those who were experienced shots but had never had the chance to shoot driven game. Modest bags of challenging birds have been features of Mike’s shoots. Never one to seek reward he sees such commitment as part of his contribution to BASC and the Association’s objectives. He recently hosted the FACE President and Secretary General, highlighting the appeal of highland hill stalking and the associated challenges.
Conservation runs through every aspect of his estate management. From native bird populations to the creation of ponds and education, Mike is a genuine example of a practical conservationist who is as keen to pass on his knowledge as he is to make a practical difference on the ground.
In addition to the above in the early 1990s Glenample Estate hosted BASC Scotland’s first National Stalkers’ Competence courses (pre-cursor to the DSC 1) so Mike has not only assisted with the training of many deer stalkers but has also been instrumental in giving dozens of youngsters and ladies their first taste of driven game shooting. Mike has also been a member of the Scotland Committee for over 20 years.
An outstanding ambassador for both BASC and shooting & conservation it would be entirely fitting to recognise his commitment over three decades with this award.
This was approved and therefore duly carried.
9a Angela Davies, Registered Society Secretary placed the first resolution relating to rule 2 of the constitution before the AGM and asked for a show of hands. The resolution was approved and therefore duly carried by the AGM.
THAT rule 2 in the Registered Society Constitution are amended: –
From:
2. The role and objects of this Association are to carry on any industry, business or trade so as to:
(a) Act as a representative national body for all sporting shooting.
(b) Promote and safeguard sporting shooting.
(c) Aim at the responsible unification, guidance, education and representation of all engaged in such sport together with the promotion of conservation and scientific research into all aspects of the quarry species and other matters connected with such sport in accordance with the ethics of good sportsmanship.
To:
2. The role and objects of this Association are to carry on any industry, business or trade so as to:
(a) Act as a representative national body for all sporting shooting.
(b) Promote and safeguard sporting shooting.
(c) Ensure that sporting shooting complies with the principles of environmental, social and economic sustainability
(d) Promote the benefits that sustainable shooting and its associated management delivers for the conservation of the integrity and diversity of wildlife and the environment
(e) Aim at the responsible unification, guidance, education and representation of all engaged in such sport together with the promotion of conservation and scientific research into all aspects of the quarry species and other matters connected with such sport in accordance with the ethics of good sportsmanship and sustainable use.
9b Angela Davies, Registered Society Secretary placed the first resolution relating to rule 4 of the constitution before the AGM and asked for a show of hands. The resolution was approved and therefore duly carried by the AGM.
THAT rule 2 in the Registered Society Constitution are amended: –
From:
4. OFFICERS
(a) The officers of this Association shall consist of:
(i) a Patron who shall hold office at the pleasure of the Council or until his resignation.
(ii) a President who shall be elected at an Annual General Meeting and shall hold office for five years. A retiring President shall be eligible for re-election for further terms of three years.
(iii) a Chairman, who shall, when necessary, be elected by the Council from their number at the first meeting of the Council following the Annual General Meeting. The Chairman shall be elected for an initial four-year term and may be re-elected for a second term of four years and a third term of two years. Following completion of his third term his re-election is subject to Rule 4(b).
(iv) a Vice-Chairman and a Chairman of the Executive and Finance Committee who shall, when necessary, be elected by the Council from their number at the first meeting of the Council following the Annual General Meeting. The Vice-Chairman and the Chairman of the Executive and Finance Committee shall be elected for an initial term of three years and may be re-elected for a second term of three years and a third term of two years. Following completion of his third term his re-election is subject to Rule 4(b).
(v) a Chief Executive who shall be appointed by the Council for such term at such remuneration and upon such other conditions as the Council shall think fit. The Chief Executive so appointed may be removed by the Council.
(vi) three solicitors, for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively, who shall be appointed and removed by the Council.
To
4. OFFICERS
(a) The officers of this Association shall consist of:
(i) a Patron who shall hold office at the pleasure of the Council or until his resignation.
(ii) a President who shall be elected at an Annual General Meeting and shall hold office for five years. A retiring President shall be eligible for re-election for further terms of three years.
(iii) a Chairman, shall, when necessary, be elected by the Council from their number. The Chairman shall be elected for an initial four-year term and may be re-elected for a second term of four years and a third term of two years. Following completion of his third term his re-election is subject to Rule 4(b).
(iv) a Vice-Chairman and a Chairman of the Executive and Finance Committee shall, when necessary, be elected by the Council from their number. The Vice-Chairman and the Chairman of the Executive and Finance Committee shall be elected for an initial term of three years and may be re-elected for a second term of three years and a third term of two years. Following completion of his third term his re-election is subject to Rule 4(b).
(v) a Chief Executive who shall be appointed by the Council for such term at such remuneration and upon such other conditions as the Council shall think fit. The Chief Executive so appointed may be removed by the Council.
(vi) three solicitors, for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively, who shall be appointed and removed by the Council.
Angela Davies, Registered Society Secretary asked the AGM for a show of hands to re-appoint WR Partners as auditors for 2023. The reappointment of WR Partners as auditors for 2023 was approved and therefore duly carried by the AGM.
BASC Chairman advised that there were no items of other business. He congratulated the recipients of Honorary Life Membership and the new Council members, expressed commiserations to Carl Woodall and thanked him for his 5 years of service on BASC Council. He also thanked Alasdair Mitchell who retires from Council after 5 years of service.
BASC Chairman gave a farewell to Colin Shedden who retires in July after 39 years’ service, 29 of which he has served as Director Scotland. BASC Chairman also took the opportunity to thank recently retired Marketing Director David Ilsley for his long service to BASC.
BASC Chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the AGM.
MINUTES OF THE 2022 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 21 May 2022
Marford Mill
Rossett
Wrexham LL12 0HL
Eoghan Cameron – Chairman
Ian Bell – Chief Executive
Claire Sadler – Vice-Chair
Angela Davies – Registered Society Secretary/Executive Director of Business Management
Sandra Forkin – Minute Secretary/Project Integration Manager
Simon Starkie – Independent Scrutineer
The CEO welcomed all to the BASC 2022 AGM meeting and made administrative announcements ahead of the AGM commencing:
The CEO handed over to the BASC Chairman, Eoghan Cameron
I regret that BASC’s President Lord Dear can’t be with us today, but he has asked me to pass on his apologies and best wishes. Lord Dear is a source of invaluable wisdom for Council, and I’d like to express our gratitude for his active support. I regularly take the opportunity to discuss key matters with Lord Dear and in his absence, can assure members that the format and substance of today’s AGM are to his satisfaction.
Last year, we established a new, more visually engaging format for the AGM and have decided to continue with this. From personal experience, there is nothing quite so tedious as someone reading out a list of statistics, however impressive. And so, while I will refrain from that, I would encourage all members to read the 2021 Annual Review at their leisure. This extremely informative review contains my Annual Report to members and comprehensively rounds up the highlights and challenges of 2021.
Before I introduce this year’s film though, I would like to briefly address what it means to be a member of this great Association.
I am genuinely thrilled to welcome you to BASC Headquarters, Marford Mill and for at least some of you I imagine it is a first. It is the home of BASC and that means it is also your home. You may live in deepest Carmarthenshire, County Fermanagh, Cornwall, or the remotest corner of Sutherland. It doesn’t matter how distant – this is the place where all our roads meet.
I remember my first visit here quite a few years ago now. Simply walking round, I quickly got a very strong sense that this is more than the symbolic home of BASC. This is the crucible in the promotion and defence of shooting: from deerstalking to wildfowling, driven to walked-up game, pigeon and rabbit control and far beyond. It is the place where the spectrum of shooting across Great Britain and Northern Ireland is understood, cherished and championed – as one.
Your membership of BASC makes you part of the very fabric of these buildings and a proud history spanning two centuries. You are known in this place – you are more than a membership number. Here, your passion for shooting matters, your concerns matter, your desire to see a thriving future for shooting matters.
Whatever your involvement with shooting, whether it be professional or recreational, daily or monthly, with rifle, shotgun, Argocat, whistle or strimmer: we are you and you are us. Membership of BASC makes us part of something greater than individual interests, it unites us under a powerful banner of community. The only distinction as staff and Council members, is that we are privileged to project the voice of shooting each day on behalf of our community.
And yet. We all know people who shoot who do not engage with the issues facing fieldsports and regard membership of the sport’s guardians as inessential. So long as their short-term, personal interests in shooting appear unaffected, they will happily let others – us – carry the burden for representing the sport. Cheap insurance carries the day. The message this sends is one of apathy, not community, and is extremely heartening to the opponents of shooting.
Ladies and gentlemen, you know the awesome challenges we face and the awesome effort that BASC puts in to meeting these. So let me spell out something else you already know: The future of shooting faces a choice: one which is held back by passengers and self-interest or one which is propelled forward by a unified, engaged community.
As your chairman, I call upon your generosity and community spirit to take this message to all who shoot but do not help us fight for it. Because as members of this great Association, you understand that the value of membership transcends insurance and short-term personal interest. Your Association is “Best in the Field” because, far more than simply holding the line for another season, BASC is at the forefront of ensuring that our sport has a thriving, long-term future. That future is firmly rooted in sustainability and high standards, but also hinges on the steadfast unity and support of our community.
Ladies and gentlemen, my sincere thanks for listening and for your continued support. I’m pleased now to introduce our new film rounding up your Association’s achievements of the past year with an emphasis on what it means to be part of BASC.
Thank you.
BASC Film was presented.
BASC Chairman opened the floor for questions.
There were no questions.
BASC Chairman handed over to Ian Bell, CEO.
Ian Bell, CEO asked all to take 1 minute silence to remember all those who have passed within the last year.
All stood for 1 minute’s silence and a list of names of those who had passed away was presented.
Ian Bell, CEO handed over to BASC Chairman.
BASC Chairman proposed for the meeting to adopt the Annual Report and Financial Statements for year ending the 31st December 2021, and asked for a show of hands, this was approved therefore the adoption of the annual report and financial statements for year ending the 31st December 2021 was duly carried.
BASC Chairman handed over to Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer.
Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer announced the Council Election results for 2022.
There was one candidate for Welsh seat – Richard Garner Williams.
It is confirmed that Richard Garner Williams is duly elected to BASC Council.
There were four candidates for one National seat.
John Clements = 1268
John Harlow = 1400
Bob Burt = 530
Paul Shaw = 1147
It is confirmed Mr John Harlow is duly elected to BASC Council.
Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer handed over to BASC Chairman.
BASC Chairman congratulated John Harlow and Richard Garner Williams and also gave his commiserations to John Clements, Bob Burt and Paul Shaw and wished them all the very best for the future.
BASC Chairman said it was sad to see Paul Shaw departing from Council after 5 years of dedication to Council and thanked him for all his efforts.
BASC Chairman handed over to the CEO.
Ian Bell, CEO presented the election of Honorary Life Members:
KEN ARKLEY
Proposed by Craig Jenkinson
Seconded by A K Risebury
Ken joined Hull and East Riding Wildfowlers Association in 1998 and was co-opted on to the committee as Honorary Secretary in his first year. Ken then set about revamping the way that the club communicated with the membership, bringing information into very concise map books and developed a comprehensive Code of practice booklet. A format which the club still uses to this day.
Ken had a very big impact upon the Upper Humber Wildfowling Committee, becoming the consents negotiator for the nine member clubs as his knowledge of data use in the fishing industry had a direct cross over to wildfowling. The UHWC can now boast to having one of the most complete data sets of information for any wildfowling organisation. If Ken had not been so diligent 24 years ago there may well not be any wildfowling left on the Upper Humber today. As Consents became harder and harder to achieve, Ken dedicated literally hundreds and hundreds of unpaid hours to the process. Indeed, the extant consents that the UHWC now rely upon have all come about from the work that Ken did in these early years.
Over Ken’s tenure as Secretary, together with our late Chairman Barry Upton, Ken has overseen the club’s purchase of multiple pieces of prime wildfowling land on the Humber. Thus, securing the future of the Hull and East Riding Wildfowlers Association.
After 18 years as club secretary, when the sad news came that our respected Chairman Barry had passed away, Ken was “promoted” to Chairman at the next AGM. Ken has continued as Chairman ever since, and still takes the lead consenting role for the 9 clubs of the UHWC and on the North shore of the Lower Humber.
Ian Bell, CEO asked for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
JOHN BISHOP
Proposed by Colonel (Rtd) David Thorpe
Seconded by Bill Harriman TD FSA
John joined WAGBI (now BASC) 53 years ago in 1968 at the age of 15, as a club member of both the South Hampshire Wildfowlers Association and the Lymington, Keyhaven and District Wildfowlers. Although he shoots occasionally on game shoots, his shooting career has been promoting and participating in wildfowling and habitat protection around our coast.
In the mid-1970’s, John studied and worked in California and saw first-hand the wonderful results of wildfowl conservation in the USA and Canada, all made possible by monies raised by the sale of Federal and State duck stamps. For 25 years, John has worked on a voluntary unpaid basis for the Wildlife Habitat Trust, where his professional experience in land transactions has been invaluable to the business of providing loans for land purchase by BASC wildfowling clubs. He has also encouraged Latvia, Estonia and Belarus to monitor the results of the WHT’s flyway investments. This is essential for the conservation of our migratory wildfowl breeding grounds in Eastern Europe.
He was a key contributor to re-unite the lost two barrels of Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey’s famous Holland and Holland double-barrelled punt gun, which is now displayed at Marford Mill. John has carried out in-depth research into the life of Colonel Peter Hawker, considered by many to be ‘The Father of British Shooting’. (Bill Harriman describes John as ‘the UK’s leading scholar on the Hawker family’). With this background, John assisted with information relating to Hawker’s double punt gun contained within the book ‘A Sporting Century’ by the author Graham Downing. The Hawker and Payne-Gallwey guns are probably the two most iconic wildfowling artefacts held by BASC and John has been actively involved with both.
John has made a significant and lasting contribution to BASC over the past 53 years, both at national and at club level and I commend him to members for Honorary Life Membership.
Ian Bell, CEO asked for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
CLIVE ELLISTON
Proposed by Allen Musslewhite
Seconded by Nick Chappell
Clive Elliston is a lifelong wildfowler, BASC member and a current member of 7 wildfowling clubs. Clive has made a significant contribution as a committee member of the Langstone and District Wildfowling and Conservation Association (LADWACA) for over 20 years. Clive’s contribution has ensured the success of a well-regarded wildfowling association.
Clive has been a committee member of the Chichester Wildfowlers Association and is currently the Treasurer and Primary Contact for the Wells and District Wildfowlers, both BASC affiliated clubs.
Clive has been a mentor of probationary wildfowlers, bringing many newcomers into the sport.
Clive has seen many changes to wildfowling. In the late 80s / early 90s Clive was part of the team at LADWACA at the forefront of the transition to non-lead ammunition for wildfowling and part of the team testing non-lead alternatives with BASC. As a committee member, Clive has been active in cementing relationships with RSPB and the local Naturalist Trust with whom the club work closely within Langstone Harbour.
Outside of his commitments to BASC affiliated clubs, Clive has volunteered for BASC for more than 20 years. This has taken many forms, from supporting BASC at Game Fairs and shows, to assisting with young shots days. Over the years, Clive has volunteered for the South-East, Central and Eastern regions as well as supporting the BASC wildfowling department with national events such as the wildfowling conference and the CLA Game Fair. We estimate that Clive has volunteered for BASC in excess of 100 events and is still an active volunteer for the Association.
When attending Game Fairs, Clive provides a significant contribution, bringing historic and modern wildfowling equipment for display and talking knowledgeably about the subject to BASC members, other shooters and the general public. Display materials and artefacts have been built up by Clive for the sole purpose of display at BASC events and to promote wildfowling to others.
Finally, Clive has made many contributions to BASC through his writing and photography which have been feature in the BASC Shooting and Conservation magazine, as well as images used for displays and backdrops for show stands.
Ian Bell, CEO asked for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
JOHN SWIFT
Proposed by Christopher Graffius
Seconded by Steve Bloomfield
As conservation officer, deputy director, director and CEO of WAGBI / BASC, John Swift has given distinguished service to the members, the Association and the sport over a continuous period that far exceeds twenty years.
John, with a background in Zoology and a research interest in snipe, was committed to underpinning the case for shooting with science. The team he created carried out unprecedented work on choke, range judging, duck populations and some of the first tests at Shrivenham on alternatives to lead shot.
John became Director of BASC at a time when the Association was technically bankrupt. He famously honoured his promise to dance a jig in the car park when the Association’s finances went into the black.
John was instrumental in setting up the Deer Management Qualifications, which helped raise standards in deer stalking. He was a key player in setting up the Deer Initiative. John served as a trustee of the Wildlife Habitat Trust which has provided assistance to conservation projects and land acquisitions valued at more than £1 million.
John was involved in the founding of FACE, the organisation of European Hunting Associations. He was the UK expert on the Birds Directive, advising both the British government and the European Commission. He sat for many years on the Board, served as Treasurer and was elected as an Honorary Member after his retirement.
John began the Firearms Team, the only one of its kind in the UK. He oversaw the creation of the communications and operations departments and the establishment of country offices. It was on John’s watch that the Duke of Edinburgh building was constructed, with first class facilities for communicating shooting’s cause to the wider world.
BASC’s reputation as authoritative and expert on its subject, science driven, committed to the highest standards and all party in its approach, flourished under John’s leadership. When John retired from BASC it had a record membership and there were more people shooting over more land in the UK than ever before. Commentators referred to shooting as experiencing a “new Golden Age”. John was a key part of that success.
Ian Bell, CEO asked for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
BASC Chairman handed over to the Registered Society Secretary.
Angela Davies, Registered Society Secretary asked for the motion to amend rule 5(f) to be approved by a show of hands. This was approved and therefore duly carried.
BASC Chairman proposed the re-appointment WR Partners as auditors for 2022 and asked the meeting to approve this by a show of hands. This was approved and therefore duly carried.
BASC Chairman advised that there were no items of other business.
BASC Chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the AGM.
Virtual Meeting
Eoghan Cameron – Chairman
Ian Bell – Chief Executive
Simon Starkie – Independent Scrutineer
1. BASC Chief Executive, Ian Bell opened the meeting.
Welcome to the 2021 British Association for Shooting and Conservation AGM.
Thank you very much for giving up your time to attend this important piece of business. It is a shame we cannot meet face to face, but we have had two virtual AGM’s and hopefully we will meet face to face next year.
The CEO advised some of the housekeeping for today’s meeting as follows :-
· Today’s meeting is being recorded; this is only for assisting the with minutes
· All attendee’s microphones are to be muted
· Questions which were submitted prior to the AGM will be answered at Item on the agenda
· Please be aware that there may be a delay in the transition from one presenter to another and that your home broadband speed may affect the quality of the AGM broadcast
The CEO advised that members must log onto the voting web page as well as the webinar and that the log in details were emailed from UK engage, the CEO advised that unlike last year the voting will take place live during today’s AGM meeting.
The voting window will be open for a minute for each item.
The CEO handed over to the BASC Chairman Eoghan Cameron
2. A review of BASC achievements and address from BASC Chairman – Eoghan Cameron.
BASC Chairman welcomed everyone and gave apologies for BASC President, Lord Dear’s apologies as he is unable to attend today’s meeting. However, discussions take place regularly regarding the big issues with Lord Dear, and BASC Chairman confirmed that the President Lord Dear is content with the substance and format of today’s meeting.
BASC Chairman encouraged everyone to read his annual report which covers the high’s and low’s. We have all enjoyed zoom calls over the last year, however it has become somewhat tiresome, so things have been planned to be more visually engaging for this AGM meeting.
BASC Chairman referred to ‘Pride’ and the importance of what it is that the Association fights for, over the last year BASC have shone brighter than before, and dimmed the lights on those that oppose shooting, BASC have ensured that Covid secure shooting continues to take place, this has not been easy however, today’s BASC thrives in a hard, challenging environment.
BAC Chairman stated that the next time you look at the BASC logo, please take a moment to consider all that it stands for, a pride history of protecting shooting, spanning two centuries’, the passionate, determined teams and your membership that delivers day in day out on all our behalf’s, it is an important factor in the fight for shooting. In the fight for shooing the logo is our regimental badge, wear it and look upon it with immense sense of pride. BASC is by far the largest most effective and capable organisation representing field sports in the UK today, that is a privilege status and is strengthened, not weakened by partnering with our contemporaries, we stand to gain very little from grappling with each other, but we have everything to gain from establishing common grounds and focussing our collective energies on the common threats.
Public facing, strategic coalition are not new organisations but will be central to securing sustainable shooting for the next generation and I can assure you that BASC will be at the forefront of their development.
BASC Chairman stated that he was now thrilled to present a very short film of BASC’s achievements for the last twelve months and what it means to be part of BASC.
BASC Film was presented
3. Response to members questions
BASC AGM Question 2021 from Mr David Stewart
Question “At the 2020 AGM the leaders of the Association responded to my question “from the floor” about demonstrating commitment to Conservation by reporting significant progress made over the year towards meeting its conservation goals.
This last year has been extraordinary in so many ways. Has the association been able to continue to make good progress with delivery of conservation goals alongside those for shooting?
And with concern about the natural environment increasing will the Association please indicate how it intends to encourage and support individual grassroots members to make more of their personal contribution to conservation through shooting?”
For background I am a “senior” retired from a career in conservation, rural affairs and the environment. My wife and I manage a small farm in the North Pennines with an emphasis on managing traditional hay meadows.
Our farm supports a reasonable population of upland birds. It is noticeable this year that the number of predators, particularly gulls and corvids has increased significantly. There has also been an increase in rats, grey squirrels; and sightings of foxes for the first time in 20 years. The impact of this increase on the ground nesting birds is just starting to show in the form of damage to eggs and nests. In my view following the impact of Covid those that shoot need additional encouragement to manage predators for conservation reasons.
Response
Thank you for the question. BASC retained capacity to push forward the conservation work under our conservation plan in spite of challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and judicial reviews by careful use of staff resources and our legal fighting fund.
Supporting and encouraging members to act personally is hugely important. With changing societal values and an increasing demand from regulators for evidence of sustainability, members need to both do more for conservation and also record and share hard evidence of that contribution.
We have encouraged and supported members in a number of ways. We have expanded our guidance for members for sustainability and demonstrating a net gain for the environment from their activities. This is part of a sustained programme of work under the Association’s conservation strategy.
The guidance released to date this year covers what we ought to already do, such as how to build a pheasant release pen that complies with the advice contained within the code of good shooting practice. It also builds on what we could do, for example boosting the breeding success of mallard through the use of nest tubes to protect them from egg predation and recording the results. This is in partnership with international hunters through the Waterfowlers Network to build an international database on efficacy. The guidance we have and continue to produce is promoted through all our media channels and our regional teams are trained to support members on the ground implementing them.
We’ve also retained focused effort in non-quarry species where shooting has a key role. We are deeply engaged in curlew conservation action at the strategic level throughout the UK and provide support to many projects and partners. The WHCT grant to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust led project, Combating the Curlew Crisis Project, is an example of funds from the shooting community supporting key programmes of work. We have also further built upon our work for water vole conservation, through partnership in the Waterlife Recovery East project, and grey squirrel management through our membership of the UK Squirrel Accord, who were named as a key partner in the England Tree Action Plan just this week. Honest partnerships are key to building member confidence to contribute to conservation schemes. They also build trust with those partners through shared delivery for nature which develops into them advocating for the benefits of shooting for conservation.
We wholeheartedly agree with the spirit of your question on grassroots members to make more of their personal contribution through shooting. BASC will provide leadership and support to people that shoot and partners. However, members themselves must also show leadership within their peer group and local communities and engage openly in conservation activities and critically sharing the outcomes. Only by acting together will we secure a better environment and the future of shooting.
BASC CEO handed over to BASC Chairman
4. Obituaries
BASC Chairman stated that it is customary to read out the names, however, that it had been a year of tragedy within the UK and overseas over the last twelve months, it is with sadness that he announces there have been over 400 members passed away during this time and this also is with deepest sadness includes HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, BASC Patron.
A minute silence will be held and a slide presentation shown in respect of those members who have sadly passed.
BASC Chairman handed over to BASC CEO, Ian Bell.
5. Adoption of the Annual Report and Financial Statements for year ending the 31st December 2020
The CEO stated that one element that he would like to highlight that despite a significant drop in income the Association is still in a very good and robust position and able to take forward the fight for shooting and associated conservation forward into both this year and for the coming strategic horizon.
BASC CEO asked everyone to vote to adopt the annual report and financial statements for the past year and the voting window will be open for 1 minute.
Resolution – Agenda item 5
Adoption of the Financial Statements – 100% votes
Duly carried
BASC CEO handed over to Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer
6. Council Elections 2021
Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer announced the results.
There were two candidates for one National seat
And one uncontested candidate for the England Seat
6795 were received for ballot voters and were as followed :-
3942 – Christopher Barker
2153 – Paul Mayfield
Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer therefore duly declare that Christopher Baker is duly elected onto Council for the National seat
Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer therefore duly declared that Robin Marshall Ball is duly elected onto Council for the England seat
Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer handed over to BASC Chairman
BASC Chairman congratulated Christopher Barker and Robin Marshall-Ball and also gave his commiserations to Paul Mayfield and all the very best for the future.
BASC Chairman handed over to the CEO
7. Election of Honorary Life Members
The CEO stated that he will highlight each Honorary life membership with an extract from each recommendation. The CEO will then ask everyone to vote after each nomination.
Alan Wykes
Alan has been secretary of Wigtown Bay for over 20 years and over that period has guided the club through both land purchase and establishment of the local nature reserve, (LNR), the largest in Scotland.
Proposed by Colin Shedden & Seconded by Jake Swindells
The voting window opened for 1 minute
CEO Ian Bell congratulated Mr Wykes on his election of his Honorary Life Membership of the Association.
Robert McKay
For over 20 years Bob has been the Chairman of Forres, Nairn and District Wildfowlers Association. Over this period, he has sat on the Findhorn Bay Management Committee and most recently has been closely involved with the development of a permit scheme for wildfowling on Findhorn Bay, hopefully to be underwritten by byelaw.
Proposed by Colin Shedden & Seconded by Jake Swindells
The voting window opened for 1 minute
CEO Ian Bell congratulated Mr McKay on his election of his Honorary Life Membership of the Association.
Robin Francis
Robin has been a club member of the South Hampshire Wildfowlers Association (SHWA) since it started over 50yrs ago, he has been a committee member for over thirty years and chairman of the club for over twenty-five years, recently became a trustee.
Proposed by Mrs S Maidment, SHWA & Seconded by Mr M Humphreys, Chairman SHWA
The voting window opened for 1 minute
CEO Ian Bell congratulated Mr Francis on his election of his Honorary Life Membership of the Association.
William Hutton
William has been a club member of the South Hampshire Wildfowlers Association (SHWA) for 40yrs, a member of the committee for twenty-five years, recently become a trustee.
Proposed by Mrs S Maidment, SHWA & Seconded by Mr M Humphreys, Chairman SHWA
The voting window opened for 1 minute
CEO Ian Bell congratulated Mr Hutton on his election of his Honorary Life Membership of the Association.
8. Resolution – Office Holder Tenure
The CEO stated that he will now move on to the one resolution today and that of which is office holder tenure and the Council of your Association commend this resolution to you in order that we can: –
a) Delivery a governance regime fit for the 21st century
b) Delivery strategic advantage for BASC when compared to other Organisations and government
c) Achieve continuity aligned with strategic planning and delivery
The voting window opened for 1 minute
CEO Ian Bell announced that the resolution had passed with the following votes.
For = 22
Abstain = 3
Against = 2
The office resolution is passed.
9. Re-appointment of WR Partners as auditors for 2021
The CEO stated that he will now move on to the last item of the AGM which is the re-appointment of WR Partners as auditors for 2021.
The voting window is now open.
CEO Ian Bell announced that the re-appointment of WR Partners as auditors for 2021 had passed with the following votes.
For = 27
Abstain = 0
Against = 0
The CEO handed over to BASC Chairman for the closure of the AGM
7. Any other business by leave of BASC Chairman
There were not items of other business.
8. AGM Closure
The BASC Chairman thanked Simon Starkie and all for attending the AGM, and best wishes for safe season ahead.
Saturday 11 July 2020 – Virtual meeting
“Welcome to the 2020 British Association for Shooting and Conservation AGM.
It is a rather more unusual AGM than what we are used to, due to these strange times. Thank you for attending the AGM, we hope you and yours are all well and are looking forward to the coming season.
“Some of you may already have seen some of our officers in the field, as they visit shoots and provide Covid-19 compliance advice for the coming year.”
The CEO confirmed that the meeting was being recorded, for the purpose of assisting with the minute taking – and that attendees’ microphones were muted, which is why questions were sought in advance of the AGM. These questions will be answered immediately after the preliminaries.
The CEO advised that there may be a delay between presenters appearing on the screen due to home broadband speeds etc.
The CEO advised that he would be asking members to vote on four elements during the meeting
The CEO advised that voting will be open for 10 minutes from the time when it is announced that the voting has begun.
The CEO gave further information on the resolutions regarding the BASC committees and the election of Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown as a Vice President of the Association:
“Our current constitution allows us to invite only BASC members onto our committees. We have found that this is restrictive and we do not get the breadth of information and the engagement required in order for us to be provided with a full range of opinions when debating BASC policy and BASC decisions.
“It is important for us to be able to invite all experts, whether they wish to be a BASC member or not. For example, some of those that we would wish to have on these committees are members of other organisations and other bodies that perhaps do not wish to be members of BASC.”
The CEO advised that he had received one question about this from a member. The member understood that we require that level of expertise but was concerned we would not be able to protect BASC’s confidential information. The member asked if BASC would be able to hold those individuals to account while they are on the committees. The CEO confirmed that each committee has its own rules and regulations and members should be assured that any confidential BASC information will not be shared with those who are not BASC members.
This move will only affect a small number of committees as and when it is required. Safeguards will be put in place and it is important that BASC has the confidence and the ability to invite members across a broad spectrum onto those committees in order that its decision making is based upon the very best information available.
Proposal for the election of Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown to be a Vice President of BASC
Proposed by Christopher Graffius
Seconded by Jak Abrahams
“In 2020, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown was elected as the third chairman for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Shooting and Conservation, as such he became the key person for the representation of British shooting in politics. He has since been re-elected by MPs and peers as chairman in each subsequent year.
“BASC provides the secretariat for the APPG and we work very closely with Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown on a range of matters. Sir Geoffrey is a keen shot and, as a member of the APPG since 2010, has brought his extensive political experience and great knowledge of shooting in the countryside to Westminster. The result is that the group has grown to be one of the largest in parliament. It plays a crucial role in informing parliamentarians and securing their support and action to promote and protect shooting and conservation in the political arena.
Sir Geoffrey also serves on several committees and maintains a broad portfolio of international and political interests; he is a man with credibility in Westminster, on every issue of late – from firearms licensing fees and home office consultations to medical involvement in licensing, general licences for pest control and the promotion of game.
“Sir Geoffrey has been a sound and protective ambassador for our sport and the countryside way of life – a commitment that he intends to continue in the future. An outstanding example of his dedication was his leadership of the campaign to preserve civilian .50 calibre target rifle shooting. This was in the face of ministerial opposition and an effective backbench MP pressure group. It is a testament to his impact and influence. Sir Geoffrey has appeared in BASC’s Shooting and Conservation magazine on many occasions, to inform our members of the political work he and others are doing to represent shooting and conservation. We have no hesitation in recommending Sir Geoffrey for his election to Vice President of BASC.”
The CEO confirmed that concluded the four items of business for voting.
The CEO announced the opening of the voting for the four items outlined and stated that voting would be open for 10 minutes.
The CEO advised members he would answer the questions that had been submitted by members prior to the AGM.
The CEO advised that changes had been made to the agenda so that members’ questions could be dealt with upfront and before the President and Chairman’s addresses.
The CEO thanked those members who had submitted questions. Four members had submitted questions for the AGM. Some of these questions overlapped and consisted of several parts.
Question 1 from Mr Chris Manning
I note your removal of legal expenses insurance at a cost of roughly £13.50 per member. It was part of the benefits package that I paid for with my subscription and I regret that BASC is no longer honouring this contract.
Please can BASC at the AGM:
Reply to Question 1 from Mr Chris Manning
BASC ensures that its policies are worthwhile to members, provide value for money and are of sufficient benefit across the membership. The increasing cost of LEI insurance (which was not passed on through increased membership fees), the number of exclusions, the increasing excess, the 6-month exclusion clause and the low numbers of members seeing successful outcomes, all meant that this cover was no longer meeting the requirement.
The legal expense cover has only been in place since 2014. In 2014, the premium was £250k a year; due to the net loss that the underwriters experienced in 2017, the premium almost doubled in 2018 to £463k.
In 2019, this almost doubled again to around £940k. This was despite re-tendering and moving the policy to another underwriter.
Due to the premium increases, the Association re-tendered the policy in 2017 and again in 2019. The market for this cover has shrunk significantly and due to the loss ratio on the policy, most underwriters do not wish to provide the cover. Those that do demand significant exclusions, excesses and limited numbers of cases taken to a successful conclusion.
The BASC firearms team, the very best of its kind, offers support and advice to all members on all aspects of firearms licensing. Our firearms team will still be on hand to provide support, advice and guidance to all members on firearms licensing matters.
Our public liability and personal accident insurances are unaffected and include:
The Association has frozen membership subscriptions for the coming year when other organisations are putting theirs up. As previously stated, the increasing cost of LEI insurance had not been passed in its entirety to members. BASC Council ensures that the Association invests its well-managed finances where they have the greatest effect, while continuing to meet the strategic objectives and invest in the protection of shooting for everyone.
Question 2 (part 1) from Mr Michael Alldis
Reply to Question 2 (part 1) from Mr Michael Alldis
The country faces the challenges of a worldwide pandemic that has impacted every facet of our lives. BASC is already the first organisation to be out providing services to members on the ground.
Prevented by law from holding a face-to-face AGM, BASC considered Financial Conduct Authority and sector best practice, legal requirements and government guidance.
In the May edition of Shooting and Conservation (S&C), we informed members that the decision regarding the AGM, due to Covid-19 restrictions, would be published on the website as soon as possible. Council decided in early June that there was no option but to have a virtual AGM to ensure legal and Association requirements were met. The decision was announced via the website on the 19 June 2020 and in the most recent S&C.
Yes, those with broadband and computer issues will find it difficult to attend. But we are prohibited from holding a face-to-face AGM at this time. Even if we were allowed to run a face-to-face AGM, this would also mean that some members are disenfranchised if they are unable to travel to the event.
It is worth noting that far more members have joined this AGM than have attended in recent years.
Question 2 (part 2) from Mr Michael Alldis
Reply to Question 2 (part 2) from Mr Michael Alldis
Yes, the Council and Executive and Finance Committee did agree the deficit. The deficit was due to planned investment in the Association to achieve our strategic objectives, plus a significant increase in the legal expense’s insurance premium at renewal in August 2019.
Prudent financial planning has allowed us to invest previous surpluses when we have needed them to meet strategic objectives.
Staff numbers and costs are approved by Council in order to ensure the successful running of the Association. In 2019 this included a number of temporary roles – in particular, political officers in the run up to the general election.
(No provision is required to be made regarding to any legal cases – but I do not intend to answer this part of the question).
Question 2 (part 3) from Mr Michael Alldis
Reply to Question 2 (part 3) from Mr Michael Alldis
Reactive and rearward-looking policies will not save shooting for future generations. BASC Council is elected to set the strategic direction of the Association and, in this case, with the eight other signatory organisations we are providing leadership in the aspiration to transition from lead shot and single use plastics for live quarry shooting within five years.
Yes, there has been a small dip in membership, but we have also seen new members who agree this demonstrates true leadership and will help secure shooting’s future.
Question 3 from Mr John Harlow – Chairman, Holbeach & District Wildfowlers Association
Reply to Question 3 from Mr John Harlow
Threats to shooting are faced across all disciplines and in many guises.
It is recognised that wildfowlers are often the first line of defence against attacks on shooting; restrictions imposed on wildfowling could easily affect other disciplines in the future. It is for this reason BASC is working proactively to ensure we are well placed to deal with such threats – only yesterday Council agreed significant financial and legal commitment to ongoing appeals against NE decision making.
Part of the broader wildfowling portfolio is fully understanding the practicalities, pros and cons of schemes like adaptive harvest management (AHM).
BASC has been discussing the concept of AHM for at least three years. It has been discussed at length during the last two Wildfowling Liaison Committee (WLC) meetings and the minutes of these meetings are available on request.
At the WLC meeting on 8 Feb 2019, a recommendation was made for BASC Council to fully explore AHM. A report produced by BASC’s Head of Science was circulated to WLC for comment. No comments were received. BASC Council has supported the requirement to fully explore all permutations of AHM.
There is a drive from AEWA for AHM to be brought in across the flyway. It would be remiss of BASC to not recognise the possibility that such a scheme could be forced upon us in the future or that it could offer solutions that allow us to continue to sustainably take legitimate wildfowl species instead of species being removed from the quarry list. The system has already been used to increase the harvest of greylag geese in Scotland – AHM can work in in our favour, an extension to a season to allow a greater harvest is just one such example.
WLC will continue to be engaged on this topic. BASC needs to work across all levels to ensure we act in the best possible way to protect the sport, today and for the future.
Question 4 from Mr David Stewart
Reply to Question 4 from Mr David Stewart
BASC produced a conservation strategy for the organisation which was signed off by Council in September 2019 and is available on the website. It set BASC’s ‘Conservation Vision’: To have inspired every shooter to enhance their environment; and ‘Conservation Mission’: Enhancing the environment through sustainable sporting shooting
BASC’s strategic aims for conservation
BASC’s key strategic aims for 2020-2025 are part of a long-term commitment by the organisation for sustainable sporting shooting to deliver public benefits through increased biodiversity and habitat management, and produce a sustainable supply of healthy game meat.
The key conservation strategic aims are:
Each of the key strategic aims are underpinned by action plans which show how BASC intends to take these areas of work forward. Individual members can support the organisation’s key strategic aims by moving to the use of sustainable ammunition, supporting the zero tolerance statement on raptor persecution, ensuring that they follow the GWCT Guidance for Sustainable Gamebird Releasing, and undertaking work to enhance the habitat on their shoots.
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The CEO stated that it is important to answer the questions that members have put forward and challenge the Association, challenge our decisions and support our objectives through the Council decision making and I hope that I have answered the details that were proposed.
The CEO handed over to the President, Lord Dear
“Can I start off first of all by saying that this is my third AGM as President and, to repeat what I said before, it is a very great privilege for me to maintain that office. I am grateful for your support in supporting me as your President. And the counter point of that is, that in the many things that I do, in various fields in public life, I get more enjoyment and a greater sense of fulfilment I think from the work with BASC than I do with almost any of the others.
“The CEO talked about change and you only have to look out of the window or look at your newspaper or turn on the television to know, had you missed it, that we are in an era of enormous change, enormous challenge and of course the foremost one that effects all of us in one way or another is coronavirus. Although, I want to touch on other challenges and changes in a moment.
“In the question of coronavirus, it could have brought down many organisations bigger and longer established than BASC. And my first comment is a word of thanks and very fulfilling word of thanks to the Chairman and to members of Council who have handled this crisis so very well. We’ve come out of it, or are coming out of it, I think very well. And because of that I pay that tribute.
“A particular word of thanks to the CEO and staff, and all the people at the Mill and elsewhere in the country who have done so much of the detail to do with coronavirus. A very fulsome word of thanks to all of them from me. I think you have done a brilliant job and are continuing to do that. And we will continue of course to try and do what I wrote about in one of the issues in our magazine a few months ago, to protect the key workers, as I think I called them. And I think most of you will know who I mean by that; the keepers, the ghillies, the stalkers, the people in the retail trade who rely on shooting as an essential part of their life and the way they run their business. They could have so easily gone out of business and some have of course, sadly. But we should do everything we can as members to support them and ensure their wellbeing as we look at our own situation and wonder where our sport is going.
“So where is our sport going? Well there are problems and many of the problems have been problems we have addressed in the AGM, in my time and in the past. And I make no apologies for repeating those. Medical reporting is but one of the three that I want to mention. Medical reporting is still there, and I do not know how it will end. We have a police service which is at odds with itself and cannot come up with a national policy that makes sense. And some forces are taking a line which I feel is totally unsupportable. We have the Home Office who typically, I have to say, are proving no leadership of any consequence at all on that. And of course, we have medical professionals which on the fringes vacillate from trying to make a great deal of money out of the membership all the way through to those who want nothing to do with shooting at all and refuse to grant certificates. All of that is an issue which has exercised the minds and the activities of the staff at the Mill for a long time and I fear will continue to do so because I don’t see a quick end to this. But we shall do our best as your Association to come up with a solution that is fair and equitable.
“The issue of lead shot, the CEO has already mentioned that and I endorse entirely. Steel shot is going to come in. Steel shot will be here in the years to come and I think we would be very wise as membership of an organisation like this to move to steel shot or similar as quickly as we can. And in doing that we enhance our conservation credibility, which I ought to mention again in a moment. We advance that and are seen to be an organisation which is willing to be at the forefront of change rather than being dragged, as it were, kicking and screaming into the future. And lastly, an issue which does not affect many of our members and that is the persecution of raptors. As an example, it is largely grouse moors as we know which are the focus of tension on this. And yet there is no doubt in my mind that one relatively small issue, although serious as it is in terms of raptor conservation, small in terms of the overall shooting agenda, can cause enormous damage to us as a shooting organisation and as members of it.
Because there is no doubt in my mind, that sitting as I often do in the centre of machinery of government in Westminster, no doubt in my mind that shooting, if you pardon the analogy, is very much in the cross hairs of public opinion. We are living in very strange and I think really quite worrying times. You only have to look at the way in which Black Lives Matter has taken off and the fringe elements that are now supporting it. Putting to one side the awfulness of the incident in the USA that sparked it all off, the tearing down of statues and the demands, and sometimes quite outrageous demands, on the coat tails of that is something that society has only just woken up to and is not at all sure of how to handle. You have got the total, I call it cluster, approach of smash everything. Everything that was once cherished and accepted is now there to be challenged.
“You’ve only got to look at the way in which free speech is now under very grave threat – generally, in the media and certainly in the universities – to ask yourself what is going on? Well I don’t know what is going on, except that I am absolutely sure that the organisations like ours cannot automatically expect an umbrella of protection from parliament and from government. Government and parliament will be swayed by public opinion. And if there is a strange current running through public opinion which is to challenge absolutely everything that once stood as something that was unassailable, then shooting is going to be, as I’ve said just now, right there in the cross hairs. Because in so many people’s minds, shooting is equivalent to slaughter. Shooting and slaughter go very cleanly/neatly together for those who oppose what we are doing. And yet shooting as the CEO has already mentioned, and I make no apologies for coming in on his coat tails for this, shooting and conservation, the two essential words in the title of our organisation, shooting and conservation are critical. So, what can we do as members to reinforce that?
“Well there is a lot we can do. But I think there are three things that I would put in this very short address to you today.
“For a start, the shooting code is there to be adhered to. It was the subject of great debate as it was being fashioned but it has stood the test of time. It is absolutely essential for the wellbeing of shooting, the wellbeing of membership and the wellbeing of the environment that we all adhere to it.
“I think we should speak out when raptor persecution and illegal activities occur. Speak out! And say quite openly that this is nothing to do with us, we deprecate it, we do not support it, it is not what we stand for. I’ve pinched for myself I suppose, the old Tony Blair vision of three messages for education, when I say ‘education, education, education.’ I make no apologies for the pun. I think so far as this organisation is concerned shooting sits side by side with conservation, conservation and conservation. And that way, we can do what we can to put a balanced view in front of those who would seek to curb or destroy the sport that all of us at this meeting subscribe to.
“So, I conclude really with not warm words of everything is okay in this particular garden, because I don’t think it is. But my thanks go to the membership for supporting BASC so very warmly. It is a great organisation, a very well-run organisation, and one of the biggest organisations in the western world in this particular field and I think we should all take pride in being members of it.
“I wish all of the membership well and thank all of the membership for their support and their understanding. And during these very difficult times, for their tolerance for what we are all trying to do. I think overall, against the backdrop of what I’ve said about the challenging times, if we keep our heads and if we go forward sensibly, I think in the end we are going to come through. But it’s going to be difficult and I think we are very fortunate to have a Chairman, the Council, CEO and the staff to help us to do that. I conclude by saying good luck and good shooting.”
“Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, most in our community will be keenly aware that shooting sports have never faced so many challenges on so many fronts. Indeed, some have no doubt imagined that the final redoubt will soon be within sight, except that this is by no means reflected by the reality on the ground; BASC has never before conducted operations in so focused and strategic a manner. We are a small but highly professional and dedicated organisation which punches well above its weight in multiple arenas as the President has already touched upon. I would like to add to that the combined strength of our sister organisations, and the effect is a united front whose mindsets and actions could not be further from those of gradually shrinking defence.
“The days of reactivity are numbered. We are now entering the over-the-horizon era – an era in which the focus shifts to ensuring our treasured way of life is both available and appealing to those who come after. If, as we believe it is, the survival of shooting beyond our generation is important to our community, then it is the duty of our representative organisations to lead the way.
“BASC and its allied organisations’ aspiration to transition away from lead shot for live quarry shooting within five years is but one facet of this. We and our allies realise we cannot force a single shooter or manufacturer to transition away from lead shot. Nor, for that matter, can we force anyone who persecutes protected species to stop doing so, but what we can do is drive cultural change, change which will ensure the self-regulating, law-abiding shooting community is master of its destiny rather than the servant of legislators without sympathy for the survival of our way of life. Some among us may construe this as surrender, that their organisations have given up the fight; on the contrary, if we exhaust precious resources fighting for the indefensible, eventual surrender is inevitable. By identifying and eliminating the very few chinks in shooting’s armour well in advance of our opponents, we prevail. If the only argument left to the antis is that they simply don’t care for who we are or what we do, we prevail. With BASC’s increasingly focused approach naturally comes a leaner, more strategic budgeting model than in previous years and the CEO touched upon this earlier. This is reflected in BASC’s latest accounts, which demonstrate both financial health and capital efficiency. Members can be assured that their subscriptions are resourcing the right activities in the right areas at the right time. Put simply, if it doesn’t help to protect shooting, we don’t do it.
“It therefore gives me enormous pleasure to announce that today BASC is launching a new legal fighting fund for shooting and conservation. This fighting fund, which is the first of its kind, is designed to make a significant contribution to the promotion and protection of shooting and its benefits to the rural environment. The fighting fund is being established with a seven-figure sum from the Association and will be ring-fenced for proactive legal initiatives to benefit shooting and its contribution to the countryside. In addition, the fund will assist BASC in mounting legal challenges when shooting and conservation are threatened.
“We are now seeing a growing trend of disputes about shooting and conservation being taken to the courts rather than being resolved by co-operation and consultation. BASC will always take the offensive to meet such legal challenges whether they come from government, overly risk-averse police forces or anti-shooting organisations. Indeed, we are already fighting cases in England and Wales, with other potential cases in the wings. Being heard by the court depends on the ability to fund these actions and, thanks to the generosity of our members and sound financial management, BASC has the means to do so. This fighting fund gives us the dedicated financial teeth and muscle to make sure that shooting can take effective legal action whenever it’s required.
“Everything BASC undertakes is geared to protecting shooting now and for generations to come. That is our overarching purpose. Our staff are dedicated, professional, passionate and extremely hard-working. Behind them stands BASC’s democratically elected Council, ordinary members who have stepped forward to represent you and shape strategy. Your membership buys much more than insurance, representation and advice; it is your important contribution to ensuring the sport continues to thrive. Without this BASC family, shooting is considerably weakened.
“I am delighted to inform you, therefore, that our membership continued to show positive growth through 2019. This boosted BASC’s membership income by some £625k – a clear demonstration of the confidence placed in us by new and existing members. But what is this down to? Some of the many direct member benefits developed further by BASC in 2019 included:
“In the wider context of 2019, the Association also invested its income and some of its reserves to support delivery against its strategic objectives. Some examples included:
“None of this is possible without you, the members. BASC’s strength lies in the breadth and loyalty of our membership and we are extremely grateful for the faith that you continue to place in us. Let us, with you the members, continue to take the sport forward and make our grandchildren’s grandchildren proud of what we did to ensure their place in the field.”
Independent Scrutineer Simon Starkie addressed members to announce the results for 2020.
There were ten candidates for two national seats and one uncontested candidate for Northern Ireland.
Simon Starkie confirmed that 5,214 votes were received from valid voters and were cast in the following order as they appeared on the ballot sheet.
Simon Starkie stated that he therefore declared Ann Mortimer and Al Gabriel duly selected for two national seats and Oliver McCullough duly elected for Northern Ireland.
The CEO read out the obituaries:
Jack Charlton OBE, Mr J Wardell, Mr Clive Rogers, Mrs Kim Chesworth, Mr Leonard Collins, Mr J Ashbrook, Mr Roger Lindop, Sir Henry Riley, Mr A Thomson, Mr A Spicer, Mr Gary Smith, Mr C Witt, Mr Geoff Cook, Mr Harvey Harman, Mr D Ausobsky, Mr Paul Taylor, Mr John Kidd, Mr James Jennings, Mr J Hewins, Mrs Katharine Robinson, Mr David Dance, Mr Dominic Brown, Mr Peter Anderson, Mr Rod Coult, Mr Ivan Haynes, Mr M Funnell, Mr Peter Elliott, Mr Ron Rollason, Mr Keith Morley, Mr F Allen, Mrs B Willmington, Mr A Marsh, Mr J Dobney, Mr J Gittens, Mr Kenrick Barter, Mrs Helena John, Mr John Gorman, Mr Christopher Rooke, Mr P Cooper, Mr Jonathan Wood, Mr F Howsam, Mrs Elizabeth Bennett, Mr I Pritchard, Mr Steven Masters, Mr Ken Hocking, Mr Nigel Steele-Mortimer, Mr Tristram Turton.
The CEO asked all to observe a short period of silence to remember our fellow shooters and members.
Simon Starkie, independent scrutineer, announced the results as follows;
Resolution 1
Adoption of the financial statements: 37 for; 0 against; 1 abstained
Duly carried
Resolution 2
Appointment of auditors: 37 for; 0 against; 1 abstained
Duly carried
Resolution 3
BASC Committees: 36 for; 2 against; 0 abstained
Duly carried
Resolution 4
Election of Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown as a Vice President: 38 for; 0 against; 0 abstained
Duly carried
The BASC Chairman thanked everyone for attending the AGM. He confirmed this concluded the AGM and passed on his congratulations to re-elected Council members and the new elected Council member.
Lord Dear – President
Peter Glenser – Chairman
Eoghan Cameron – Vice Chairman
Ian Bell – Chief Executive
Angela Davies – Registered Society Secretary / Executive Director of Business Management
Ian Bell called the meeting to order.
Angela Davies (Registered Society Secretary) made administrative announcements ahead of the AGM commencing:
The President asked Angela Davies to list the apologies received. Apologies had been received from:
Tommy Mayne, Colin Shedden, Geoffrey Coates, Alasdair Mitchell, Robert Crofts, Graham Teale and James Teale.
Ian Bell stated that there have been a number of members who have sadly passed away in the last 12 months and it is at this point in the proceeding that they are remembered.
JOHN WARDELL formally Chairman of WAGBI in the 1970’s a keen all round sportsman, a passionate wildfowler and a mentor of GWCT and a BASC Member.
LORD COTTESLOE – was a member for over 30 years. FREMANTLE Commander JP, RN (Retd) – 5th Lord Cottesloe, passed away at the age of 91. He was also Iain Duncan-Smith’s father in law and as a RN Officer was involved in the Yangtze incident in Communist China when the PRC fired on the sloop HMS Amethyst. A family with a long and prestigious history – his ancestor Admiral Sir Thomas Freemantle fought alongside Nelson and the family was unique in having four admirals in succession.
He liked rough shooting and deer stalking and owned a tribe of spaniels.
Lord Cottesloe came from a family much involved in Rifle shooting. The family name is remembered in many ways including Cottesloe Heath at the NRA grounds at Bisley, named after the late Lord Cottesloe’s father.
TRACY DAINTON – Tracy passed away in August 2018 due to cancer. She qualified as a BASC Shotgun coach alongside her husband Phil and her two sons, Peter and Jamie 10 years ago. They regularly volunteered at BASC shotgun coaching lines and other regional events. They lived in Bolton. She was a lovely lady, very family oriented.
MICKY DIAMOND – Was a lifelong wildfowler and rough shooter and was a founding member of the Lough Foyle Wildfowler’s Association, serving on the committee for many years and as club secretary until ill health forced his retirement.
JIM JERVIS – A life member of WAGBI/BASC for over 50 years. He was a wildfowler, rough shooter, beater and helped to run a small pheasant and duck shoot for many years. He was never happier than when in the countryside.
A minute’s silence was observed out of respect for those that we have lost over the last 12 months.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very pleased to be able to speak to you for the second time in my life as President. Reflecting on what I said last year, I feel we have come through in some what a battered storm and with all confidence I can say what has happened over the last year is amicable and I feel things have gone extremely well.
Membership is up and BASC has a strong financial standing. BASC still lead in the shooting field in a way that very few other organisations and in fact, is the lead organisation and choice for so many people in the countryside. I feel we are in a very good place and the main reason for this is that Ian Bell has settled into his new role as Chief Executive. He was relatively new this time last year but with another twelve months on he has done extraordinary well and with a great deal of help from the staff around him and Council members. Who better than an ex-soldier to talk about teams and difficulties in times of stress. Whilst we are paying tribute at this time, I would also like to pay a personal tribute to the retiring Chairman, Peter Glenser. Peter, I think has been on Council for seven years and took the role on as Chairman three years ago. When Peter took over as Chairman there were several cracks in the organisation and BASC seemed to be losing its way, however, Peter pulled it together, looking for a new Vice-Chair and a new CEO, we owe Peter a huge amount of gratitude for what he has done within the Association. Peter, has recently received recognition of becoming a QC and I congratulate him on this, a fitting tribute to his work outside BASC and we have been very lucky to have him.
I was asked to give a state of the nation address as to where we are politically as I work in the field of politics. One word that comes to mind is Brexit. I am frequently asked do I know what is going to happen. When I say I do not have a clue, people are sometimes aghast; and they think people like me should know. I have no idea where we are but, have no doubt, we are in a mess. So, this leaves uncertainties, if there is an election this could leave us deeply uncertain of what will happen. If Jeremy Corbyn comes in, we will see anti-gun and anti-shooting lobbying. If the Conservative party get in, this is split at least three ways as many of them are not supporters of the countryside, as many of them do not understand what we are doing; and do not have an interest. There is a prospect of a hung parliament, which we have already had for some time under Teresa May. I feel if Boris Johnson comes in, he will see the same problems that Teresa May has experienced; and will not get the massive support he wants.
Whatever way Brexit happens, we will have a nation bitterly divided. For decade’s no-one will be happy with the outcome, so where does this leave BASC, Shooting and your interests. Plenty of things need addressing and they are being addressed. The whole issue of General Licences, Firearms fees, and the whole issue of Medical issues. Medical licences will cause a few headaches for Marford Mill going forward. On General Licences, there has been a huge effort by your Council and CEO for all the work they have done around General Licences and leading the way forward. In terms of lead shot this will be a matter for consideration.
So, what about the future in this turbulent time, we need to address the problems as if they are present here and now and your Council are addressing them. For my money as President I am here to advise from a long way back. The future of BASC will be a future for Conservation and Education. We are very good and have always been very good on a shooting angle. Our title is Shooting and Conservation, we have previously been aware of conservation but not done nearly enough upfront in this area. My suggestion to you for the longer term is that we should look to putting much more energy into research, sponsoring investigations into good quality conservation; and really putting the work we do in the conservation front, upfront in the public field. That way we will be able to head off the opposition which is certainly growing against firearms and people who use firearms generally. There is an urban population out there who have no idea of how the countryside really works and no idea of how people who work in the countryside operate. I think if we put Conservation in with Shooting and show them how they work together we will make friends and be able to influence people.
I think we are in a very good place now, we are going to get better and better and bigger and bigger. The problems will always be there outside, I think we are in a good place to deal with them and I congratulate and wish all of the membership, Council members and all the teams at Marford Mill a very good future year.
Ian Bell thanked the President for his address and his thanks to all the teams.
I thought I would start with updating you all on the review of our strategy which we undertook last September. Did we have any fundamental shifts in our strategy? No, not really, but I would just like to remind you about why we exist. We exist to ensure a guaranteed future for sustainable shooting sports in all their diversity as a widely enjoyed and important part of the environment, economy and culture. We could spend forever picking that apart because that really is all encompassing.
I refer you to our annual review, we have not done one of these in many years. I think BASC is really good at trickling information over the year and every time I go somewhere I have members saying to me “what have you done about this and what have you done about that”. I cannot have all the stuff from the internet and the S&C magazines in my head, so I thought if we had it all in one place you can then see we have done a great deal over the year, but there is more to do, there is always more to do. This is why we have put the annual review together so everyone sees this at the same time.
I am going to report briefly on some of the big issues that Lord Dear touched upon.
The first one is General License, I thought I would be standing here today as the President suggested, talking about how difficult the fight is and how we are unsure of how it is going to end up. I have to say that given what you saw published on Thursday morning or Friday morning back in April, not in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would get to this point so quickly. I will touch on the work still to be done there in a moment, but what I would say is that this is a huge team effort. Again, I will touch on this in a second.
Let’s just consider the risk, why did this come about and forget the shifting mood from the public one way or another, this was a legal challenge supported by not very many people who signed up to it, but who had a reasonable amount of money to make a challenge. This was also because a risk adverse public body who decided to protect themselves rather than what they exist for, which is allowing the public to undertake their legal activity.
The other point I wish to make is genuinely without BASC and I do mean this, without BASC we would not have the results that we saw on Thursday or Friday last week. I have absolutely no doubt about that. It is worth considering our approach against our strategic outcomes because you only get success in these areas when you deliver on a full cross path of activity. If you do just go for one way to solve a problem, especially a complex problem as this, you will not achieve success. What do I mean by that, well, we talked much about achieving a wider sector approach, well, when the Shoot Liaison Committee wrote to the Secretary of State, wrote to Natural England and was holding twice daily telephone conference calls with all members, on the same line. Same press releases were made to all members so that a sector wide approach was effective. Also, the basis of our legal challenges was sector wide as well. Cross party-political support was sought. The All-Party Parliamentary Group that Christopher Graffius works so closely with were absolutely behind this, Michael Gove was hauled in by over twenty-five MP’s on the first Wednesday evening and Marian Spain the Chairman of Natural England also, they were given a really hard time. That didn’t happen because they wanted to do that, that happened because of the pressure from organisations like BASC.
Public acceptance and sustainability, the national media for once came out and demonstrated why these licences were required, pictures of lambs with their eyes pecked out meant that public opinion started to shift, as they could see why this was required. Again, this just does not happen, people like Christopher Graffius and Garry Doolan get the messages out to the National media in order to say this is the sort of thing you should be saying. We were able to demonstrate where we applied appropriate standards, level of responsibility and a sound legal basis for conducting what we did very, very clearly. Conservation, why do half of these licences exist in order for us to undertake Conservation protection of our species etc. and not only that back to our scientific basis, our research team. The amount of papers we put in at a days’ notice on why the General Licences exist, why you should be able to shoot pigeon, our whole response to the consultation. The Conservation Research team did absolutely fantastic.
The BASC brand, we have significant financial muscle and credibility not just amongst ourselves but among the shooting world, it was Michael Gove’s office who emailed me on Wednesday evening asking me to go and see Michael Gove to explain why our letter was so robust and the three issues we have raised. This demonstrates the power that BASC has.
The membership power base, we had 29,645 responses in four days to our call for evidence, that was great. In terms of numbers, that really hit home with the government, a massive effort but a massive team effort. It really played out against the things that Council had set out last September as our strategic outcomes and unless we hit each of those we will not be successful. In this case we have succeeded for now, the war is not yet won, consultation in the summer means we are going to need an awful lot of academic research and legal opinions behind what we submit. Indeed, the other thing to remember is that for protected sites, the most precious part of our countryside, the General licences are still not clear or refined on how we act, so more work needed there.
Touching on Wales, we have a Welsh government which we see is increasingly anti-shooting, it is our role to explain the importance of shooting across Wales in terms of jobs, activity, wellbeing and management of the Countryside etc. We have not seen a lot of social media to convince the University of Wales to stop pheasant shooting, to stop anything to do with shooting on Welsh public land, we saw Bethan Sayed who we are going to write to and get all our members to write to. We see continual problems with the Dyfi, so there is a significant number of things to do here. However, NRW’s approach to General Licences consultation is far better than that of Natural England. Steve Griffiths, Director Wales was speaking with them this week and we think there is a sensible approach there to the Consultation, we also have a Political officer appointed in Wales to undertake work alongside Steve Griffiths and his team on our behalf. There is a very successful gaming project here in Wales, so it is not all gloom and doom.
Lord Dear touched on Medical involvement of Firearms licencing issue, a grey issue, a huge issue, we think we have managed to stay it for now. We think we have managed to stop Dave Alford who heads up the Firearms Explosive Licencing Working Group from writing to all the Chief Constables saying that everyone needs a medical statement. However, we have plans in place should we need to deliver those medical statements where it’s difficult to get your own doctor to do it.
I’ve touched on high standards, conservation and food. It’s important here not least to talk about the success of our own Taste of Game initiative, but also that we are key supporters of the British Game Alliance (BGA). The British Game Alliance (BGA) is trying to drive standards and an assurance regime into the delivery of game meat that is sold for human consumption, they have achieved significant successes in their first year but there is much more to do there.
The Political work, we have touched on the offensive weapons bill and the success there. We have touched on the fact that there has been no increase in licencing and we have employed a number of Political Officers across each region in order to try and do that grass root constituent level of pressure, just to get the message to MP’s and councillors that it is important that people out there shoot and far more than you think and there is significant positive benefit to that.
Membership is up up up, this is brilliant. Education and Training, from school children to policemen, we touch upon the entire spectrum of people you wouldn’t necessarily think of us to do so and the more we can do that, then the better. We have employed a Head of Pathways to Shooting and his role is to set the policy on how we draw in those who would not ordinarily be doing what we are doing, so that they are better informed.
Conservation, a really big issue, we need to be seen as a conservation organisation who are positive in contributing to what we do.
I have touched on the work we do with other organisations, the key point is that we do work outside the UK as well. We work with the Federation of European Hunters and this has become increasingly important whether we Brexit or not, as a lot of what affects us will come from Europe.
We cannot rest easy, there are those who wish to attack what we do and there are many that do not understand what we do. So, what are we going to do in the immediate future. We are going to undertake a strategic review of our threats and risks at the end of the Summer. This will be a Council focussed element at a strategic level. We will take legal views where required and in particular legal reviews on the threats to shooting and especially on the General Licencing consultation, that is coming at the backend of the summer. We need to be proactive rather than reactive.
At the end of the Chief Executive address he expressed thanks to:
Louise and Sandra for organising the AGM
To the all the Staff for the amount of work they did on General Licences
The Chairman – an absolute pleasure working alongside you
John Thornley – thank you for your clear direction
Members – thank you to the members for you continued support and thank you to BASC staff for your hard work.
The Chairman introduced the awards made by BASC; the President presented them to the winners.
The awards were presented in turn. Photographs were taken.
THE STANLEY DUNCAN TROPHY given by the late Earl of Leicester.
It is presented annually to a club, member or group of members, who in the opinion of Council, have contributed most in the preceding 12 months in the field of conservation.
DEVON WILDFOWLERS & CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION – Proposed by Matt Ellis: Seconded by Caroline Bedell
The Devon Wildfowling and Conservation Association, or DWCA for short, is a well-established club with wildfowling leases on the Exe and Teign Estuaries in South Devon. The club owns around 30 acres of ground adjacent to the Exe which is managed for conservation purposes.
Both the Exe and Teign estuaries are busy sites with multiple stakeholders including RSPB reserves, kite surfers, and dog walkers. The club is very proactive in terms of how it engages with these other stakeholders and is aware of the need to manage relationships carefully.
The club has a dedicated Conservation Officer on the their committee and take part in a variety of conservation projects including habitat improvement works, litter picks and the BASC wing survey, as well as managing their own land. Conservation is fundamental to the club’s ethos.
Over many years they have recognised the importance of being able to support the case for wildfowling by having an evidence base to underpin their position.
The DWCA is a great example of a forward thinking and proactive wildfowling club, they have been nominated for this award primarily for their support with the fieldwork of our PhD student, Lindsay Bierman. They have embraced the responsibility, offering the opportunity for Lindsay to observe countless wildfowling trips in all sorts of weather over the past 2 seasons, the fieldwork would not have happened without them. This research is absolutely vital in our bid to ensure any future restrictions on the sport of wildfowling are proportionate and fair. The individuals that gave up their time to ensure this research could take place, are an absolute credit to the club and the sport of wildfowling.
THE IAN RICHARDSON TROPHY is presented to those who, in the opinion of BASC employees, have made a special contribution to BASC in whatever field.
DAVE GOFFIN – BASC Deer Assessor and BASC Trainer
Dave Goffin is qualified with BASC as a Deer Assessor and mentor. He is also a trainer of DSC 1, Pre DSC 1 Intermediate Deer Course and Firearms Awareness Training (Rifle).
He is always willing to give his time, no matter when, to candidates, the assessors and the administration team in support of DSC 2.
The activities he carries out on behalf of BASC are volunteer roles, and on those activities where he is paid as a trainer, he always goes above and way beyond what is required of him.
The support in the delivery of rifle and deer related training courses has been an enormous help to the Training & Education Department over the last 12 months. His willingness and ability to slot in at short notice on a number of occasions when scheduled trainers were unable to fulfil their commitment has been of great assistance.
Dave has provided significant support to BASC over the years but particularly in the Deer Assessment Centre. Dave is a true professional, dedicated, hardworking and fun to work with.
He is a huge asset to BASC.
Presented to those who may or may not be members of BASC. Recommended by Council and/or staff. The service being recognised must be special, but it can take any form and have occurred over any length of time. The single criterion is that it is of benefit to BASC that merits public recognition.
BOB & SHELIA WEBB – Proposed by Dan Reynolds: Seconded by Steve Bloomfield
Nominated for their significant contribution to BASC at Game Fairs over the last 30+ years, catering for staff and volunteers at major shows. Bob and Shelia have now retired from this volunteer role, but should be recognised for the significant contribution which they have made to us over the last 30+years.
GRAHAM & JUNE PERRY – Proposed by Dan Reynolds: Seconded by Lewis Thornley
Graham and June, along with Sam and Lewis, their two sons have been a support to BASC for many years but especially since 2008 when they joined the Firearms department on the BASC stand at the major Game Fairs.
The help and advice given to members in support of our firearms team has been immense. Not only is Graham a traditional gun maker and therefore able to give our members expert advice but Sam is the Assistant Proof Master at Birmingham and Lewis is a firearms law barrister so very much a one stop source of advice and information.
From a regional perspective, the Perry’s were part of the team at the Game Fairs and brought the stand to life with their interesting and interactive display that drew in members and public alike to look at the guns and chat about all things shooting!
It was always a pleasure to welcome Graham, June, Lewis and Sam to the team and they will be greatly missed now that they have retired.
Now it is time for my final report as Chairman. I would like to start by thanking Lord Dear for his very kind words and Ian Bell for his. I would also like to echo Ian’s thanks in thanking Louise, Sandra and Andrea for all their hard work in organising the AGM.
So where are we ?. Please forgive me for some personal reflections. We now have in the region of 155,000 member’s and a very healthy war chest, we need it, and why? We need it because we are living in dangerous times. There are challenges and there are significant challenges coming and we need to be ready to meet them.
One thing for certain is that we are going to be under increasing scrutiny in everything that we do and we must ensure we are fit for the future and that means sorting out the “C” in BASC. We must been seen to be conservationists as well as shooters and that may mean an end to the single use of plastics, I would be delighted to see a return to paper cartridges as we are going to have to think about lead. Lead is going to be difficult.
The behaviour of some of our members on social media I am afraid is appalling and this is going to have to change as it is worrying. The backlash to Christopher Packham’s campaign did not reflect wholly well on some members. We need to educate and discipline people when breaking the law and using threatening behaviour.
Members were unhappy with BASC over the General Licences and even thought that we had written the General Licences and we came under attack, this was not pleasant for the staff.
BASC were very effective through the General Licences, they came together and worked well together. There will be more challenges to come. However, we know how to deal with this and what do to.
I said when I took over three years ago as Chairman that I wanted to leave it in better shape than I found it. I am happy to say I have managed that. Council certainly looks very different, I brought the average age down and we have ladies on Council as significant amount of our members are ladies too. The organisation certainly looks different, there is a degree of cross fertilisation, Council speak to staff, staff speak to Council. We are forward looking and play nicely with other organisations. We have fantastic relationships with all. We stand for decency and do the right thing, and we will continue to do so.
I would like to finish off with some special thanks:
Bill Harriman for all his support
Christopher Graffius – my interim Chief Executive when I first took over for all his support
Angela Davies for all her support
Steve Bloomfield for all his support
Louise Murray for all her support and keeping me in check
Ian Bell – I am confident that I leave the association in very good hands, he is very widely respected
All my fellow Council members
Eoghan Cameron Vice Chair and Oliver McCullough E&F Chair
John Thornley – Vice Chair for two years and who handled the internal affairs
It is with a heavy heart that I leave but I will be on the phone if I am needed.
The Chairman opened the floor for questions.
Richard Playle – asked the following four questions:
Mr Playle commented that he had a job to find the accounts and why were they not published.
Ian Bell thanked Mr Playle for his feedback and stated that it is a significant amount of money to publish the accounts in the Shooting &Conservation. We do not feel this is the best use of Members money. Therefore, we have made them available online.
Would BASC be looking to purchase land?
The Chairman confirmed there is a policy and advised that we have an Estates Committee set up and this includes overseeing any sensible purchases and recommendations are made. At present there is nowhere that is of an invested interest to BASC. Ian Bell stated that we review the purchase of land and did come close to a possible purchase, however, a view was taken by Council and for several reasons it did not meet the objectives of the Association. The most important question we need to ask ourselves with regards to the purchase of land is, has the situation changed. We took the view that the situation has changed that we may well need to spend our money far more on legal fees and research at the moment.
The Chairman asked for Mr Playle’s third question, which was with regard to WHT and WHSCT. Why are these trusts being dissolved?
The Chairman said the short answer is that the trust will have more money. Angela Davies, Executive Director of Business Management confirmed the trusts were subject to administration, annual audit and legal costs as they were separate entities. By moving the trust business into the Association significant savings would be made, which will enable more money to be used to meet the trust aims. It was purely a financial decision by the trustees, the running and branding of trusts will remain the same. Mr Playle thanked everyone for the answers and said he was pleased to see BASC putting £50,000 into the trust.
The Chairman highlighted key features.
The Chairman opened the floor for any further questions regarding the financial statements.
No questions were raised.
The Chairman moved onto the adoption of the Annual Report and Audited Accounts:
Proposer was Claire Sadler. Seconder was Martyn Jones.
The Chairman asked for a show of hands for the adoption of the Annual Report and Audited Accounts. All were in favour and they were duly adopted.
The President declared the outcome.
The Chairman opened the elections before handing over to Angela Davies.
Honorary Life Membership:
People of known integrity and stature in the eyes of fellow members who have given prolonged and distinguished service.
They will have served the membership of the Association over an extended period of years, perhaps through service to one of our affiliated bodies or clubs.
Distinguished service to members (in a club or other body), distinguished service to BASC, length of service to extend continuously for more than 20 years, unquestioned support from all those members who might reasonably be expected to know the nominee that the honour should be given.
DAWN WARR – Proposer – David Gervers: Seconder – James Green
Dawn is a talented professional gamekeeper, taxidermist and artist and it is safe to say that Dawn has contributed more to BASC in the South West than anyone could reasonably be expected to.
For many years she has joined us at all our main shows where her taxidermy and artwork is a major draw to the stand. She is also happy to provide practical experience gamekeeping advice to anyone asking questions.
Dawn is a fantastic advocate for the sport and has an amazing ability to engage with people of all ages and backgrounds, Dawn does not differentiate between royalty and someone from the local town who has never seen a pheasant before.
Dawn has previously served on the BASC Gamekeeping and England Committees and supports our social events, our Young Shots programme, and represents us at shows that the South West team do not attend; and has been a prolific donor to BASC fundraising activities over the years.
Quite simply, Dawn is the best sort of volunteer that we could wish for.
The Chairman calls for a show of hands. She was duly elected.
DENNIS KURLE – Proposer – Julia Birchall-Mann: Seconder – David Gervers
Den Kurle has volunteered for BASC for well over 30 years starting out running the BASC stand at regional shows including Devon County, Royal Cornwall and the Cotswold Country Fair. .
Den progressed to running the gundog events at the Cotswold Country Fair and the West Country Game Fair as well as volunteering at a national level with the gundogs at the Midland and CLA Game Fairs.
In more recent years Den has assisted with the formation of the BASC Young Shots Progression days and helped out at BASC Young Shots Introduction to Country Sports days.
Den is the President of Bridgwater Bay Wildfowlers and has invested a great deal of time and effort into building a vibrant BASC affiliated club with a buoyant membership, supporting BASC by hosting Help for Heroes, Ladies, and Young Shots wildfowling experiences.
Den is a passionate BASC member who has invested a great deal over many years to encourage the next generation into our sport whether they be young or old. Den continues to contribute and was a prominent face at the West of England Game Fair and Devon County Show in 2019.
We would like to nominate Den in recognition of all he has done for our sport over many decades.
The Chairman calls for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
PAUL WALLACE – Proposer – David Gervers: Seconder – James Green
This nomination might be short but no-one should under-estimate Paul’s contribution to his club and the sport.
Paul has been Secretary and mainstay of Cornwall Wildfowlers for 23, possibly 24 years now. He has managed the role with skill and dedication and no small degree of diplomacy. He also ably represents the club with the Duchy of Cornwall, as well as regionally where he has been influential in local liaison initiatives and on the national stage. He had planned to stand down at the 2018 AGM but as no-one else stepped up to the plate he has agreed to carry on rather than see the club in an awkward position.
Paul is a great advocate for wildfowling and shooting, a great friend to BASC in the South West, and a valued source of “on the ground” information regarding wildfowling and what is going on in Cornwall.
Paul and his family regularly support BASC at the Royal Cornwall Show and across a wide variety of Young Shots events in the County.
Paul thoroughly deserves recognition for his services to the Cornwall Wildfowlers and BASC.
The Chairman calls for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
ROBERT CROFTS – (Not present, unable to attend) Proposed by Laura Morrison: Seconded by Jonny Orr
Robert Crofts is a well-known and highly respected figure within the NI shooting community.
He is professional gamekeeper and has been a member of BASC for over 30 years, serving on the Northern Ireland Advisory Committee for over 20 years.
In 2010/11, when the Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill was going through the Assembly, Robert frequently accompanied BASC staff during meetings with civil servants and Ministers.
Robert has chaired the NI Snares Working Group, which included organisations such as BASC, the Ulster Farmers’ Union, Countryside Alliance Ireland and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency; the group produced the draft Snares Order (Northern Ireland) 2013 and the NI Snaring Code of Practice.
During the 2012 Firearms Consultation, he made a valuable contribution to the debate regarding the introduction of a banded system that would allow firearm certificate holders to exchange one sporting rifle for another, providing both firearms sat within the same calibre group/band. This proposal, which is unique to Northern Ireland, was accepted by the Department of Justice and the Assembly and passed into law in May 2016.
During his time on the NI Advisory Committee, Robert has been extremely supportive of the BASC NI team and since stepping down from the NI committee continues to provide assistance and support when required.
In view of Robert’s dedication, commitment and loyalty to BASC, over a prolonged period of time, we have great pleasure in nominating Robert for Honorary Life Membership.
The Chairman calls for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
Oliver McCullough received the award on behalf of Robert Crofts and read a thank you letter on behalf of Robert Crofts.
HUGH THOMAS – Proposed by David Gervers: Seconded by Steve Bloomfield
Hugh Thomas is proposed for an Honorary Life Membership to recognise the extensive service and dedication he has shown shooting sports over the last 50 years.
Hugh originally joined WAGBI as a member of the Taw and Torridge Wildfowlers Association and is still a member.
Having qualified as a land agent he has acted professionally both for and against driven game shoots in Devon and particularly on Exmoor where he has worked tirelessly to protect shooting and has significantly influenced the positive relationship between shoots and the Exmoor National Park Authority which has done much to ensure the continuation of shooting in the National Park. This resulted in the creation of Greater Exmoor Shoots Association (GESA) which he chaired for 17 years, only retiring last month. BASC have a good working relationship with Greater Exmoor Shoots Association (GESA), the shoots and many of the people involved.
Hugh was also pivotal in commissioning the GWCT and gaining the support of GESA members to undertake recent ecological surveys on release pens in Exmoor.
Hugh has sat on the BASC England Committee over the last 3 years and now represents Exmoor on the BGA Shoot Advisory Committee.
He sat for many years as the Chair of the Exmoor Deer and District Management Society which monitors the population of the deer on Exmoor and works in conjunction with local hunts.
The Chairman calls for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
GARY BOWES – Proposed by Mat Holloway: Seconded by Peter Watson
Gary Bowes is Club President and founder member of the Wentloog Wildfowling and Conservation Association. In 1981 a group of local wildfowlers responded to a request by local farmers to organise a club to control shooting on the salt marsh below the seawall between the Rumney River and Peterstone Wentloog near Cardiff. Gary was a member of the small group who founded the Wentloog Wildfowling and Conservation Association. Gary to this day remains a member of the club’s committee and has served as its chairman for many years. Gary is currently the club’s President.
Gary is a staunch supporter of initially WAGBI and now BASC and has attended may wildfowling conferences nationally and in Wales. Gary has also been a member of the South Wales Joint Council of Wildfowling Clubs since its formation and is currently their Chairman. He is Deputy Chairman of the Consortium of Severn Estuary Wildfowling Clubs. Gary is a consistent and passionate ambassador for the club and for wildfowling and is an active and forceful presence in the wildfowling community in South Wales and we can think of no better person who deserves this award.
The Chairman calls for a show of hands. He was duly elected.
Peter Glenser and John Thornley – Vice Presidents
The Chief Executive said before we leave elections and awards he wished to touch upon Vice Presidents and what this role will give to BASC in the future.
There are two nominations for Vice President and these are Peter Glenser QC and John Thornley OBE both proposed by the President, Lord Dear and seconded by Mr Ian Grindy.
We have described their time at Council and working alongside each other and how they were elected Chairman and Vice Chairman, robust, knowledgeable and principled, they have lead BASC in through some challenging demanding times, the Association is truly fortunate to have benefited from this team, but, there is always a but, Vice President is not about what they have done but acknowledgement of the benefits for the future of having such influential individuals act upon our behalf. They have served BASC with distinction and we will be honoured if we can call upon their services in the future.
Ian Bell asked for a show of hands. They were duly elected as Vice Presidents.
The Chairman handed over to Angela Davies, The Registered Society Secretary to report the results of the ballot for election to Council.
Angela Davies confirmed that unfortunately the scrutineer could not be here today, however, Angela Davies confirmed that the scrutineer passed the envelope to her personally yesterday morning and it has been in her care until now. Angela Davies read the report from the scrutineer.
Angela Davies stated “I present to you the results of the election to Council 2019 there were 8 candidates reduced to 7 standing for 1 place on Council which is a national seat. The votes received from valid voters were cast in the following order as they appeared on the ballot sheet.
Angela Davis confirmed, I therefore declare Ian Grindy is elected to Council”.
The Chairman congratulated Ian Grindy who remains on Council for another 5 years and commiserations to those who put themselves forward. It is important that people stand for Council and I encourage this.
There will be a Council meeting following lunch at 2:00pm and Ian Grindy is invited to attend.
The Chairman introduced the nominations for the elections to The Wildlife Habitat Trust.
We have one nomination from members this year which is David Steele. David Steele has been proposed by Peter Glenser and seconded by Eoghan Cameron.
The Chairman asked for a show of hands.
It was confirmed David Steele is duly elected to The Wildlife Habitat Trust.
The Chairman advised following a re-tender exercise, in accordance with good governance practices, that Council recommends the appointment of Whittingham Riddell LLP.
The Chairman asked for a show of hands, this was duly carried.
No other business.
The Chairman thanked everyone for the last 10 years.
Ian Bell advised that lunch would be served at 12:30pm in the Olive Tree Restaurant.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation limited confirmed minutes of the annual general meeting held at the Preston Marriott hotel, Preston on Saturday 10th June 2017
Present:
Peter Glenser, Chairman
Christopher Graffius, Acting Chief Executive
John Thornley, Vice-Chairman
Angela Davies, Registered Society Secretary
Jayne Danby, Minute Secretary
Members, supporters and guests of the Association
Christopher Graffius called the meeting to order, and welcomed all thanking them for their attendance. Angela Davies was invited to make various administrative and housekeeping announcements. Those present were informed that the meeting was being recorded to assist with the preparation of the minutes and so that BASC has an historic record for the future. Speakers from the floor were asked to wait for the roving microphone to come to them and to give their names. Supporters were reminded that although they could speak, they had no voting rights. Luncheon and emergency evacuation procedures were outlined.
The Chairman invited Angela Davies to record apologies received.
Apologies had been received from Lord Dear, Terry Humber, Michael Alldis, Tommy Mayne, Paul Walker, Mark Gibson and Mat Manning.
The Chairman invited the Acting Chief Executive to say a few words about some prominent members of the Association who had passed away in the last 12 months:
The Acting Chief Executive announced the list of obituaries as follows:
Simon Cussons was a former Chairman of the Association from 1985 – 1988. He was a member of the Cussons soap family and shooting was as great an interest for him as football; I think Manchester United was his team of choice; I’m not an expert on football clubs. He was a very significant Chairman for BASC. He greatly expanded our education and training role; he was the Chairman in the aftermath of the Hungerford massacre and led the Association through the fight against restrictions that came in after that terrible tragedy. He was also Chairman when John Anderton retired and oversaw the transition from John Anderton to John Swift. He served for a considerable period on Council and E&F and it was really Simon who rebuilt the Association’s finances into a really healthy position and surplus and forced John Swift to keep his promise and dance a jig in the car park! He was quite an extraordinary man; I knew him well. Simon’s smile: he was a sort of benevolent godfather to the Association, always turning up at strange and opportune moments to give his advice and he will be greatly missed.
Mike Evans, was a member of Council when I joined the Association; a man with massive firearms expertise and Chairman of the Firearms Advisory Committee for many years.
He was quite a link with the past, Mike. As a small boy he remembered seeing the Battle of Britain take place over the South Downs.
He went to Cambridge then joined Rolls Royce and worked for them for many years.
He moved to Derbyshire and it was from there that most of his shooting activities took place; game shooting, deer stalking, pest control and an awful lot of target shooting – he was very keen on his rifles.
He was a Deputy Lieutenant for Derbyshire and BASC was very fortunate to have his support on Council, and after that, for many years.
Gerald Grosvenor, the 6th Duke of Westminster was a massively keen shot and a man who had the resources to fund his passion: Abbeystead not far from here is an example of that; the shoot, of course not far from Rossett at Eaton Hall and the partridge shoot in Spain. He was the President of the Association and was a great benefactor of ours, providing the funds that built the Duke of Westminster Hall at Marford Mill that many of you will be familiar with. He was also very generous in allowing his various estates to be used for Young Shots’ days.
He was a distinguished soldier, who served for 40 years in the Territorial Army, commanded his own regiment, reached the rank of Major-General and was Deputy Commander, Land Forces, and it was his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan that made him very aware of the sacrifices made by many young soldiers and therefore a great champion of things like the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre. He made a founding gift to that centre of £50 million. A remarkable man in many ways.
I didn’t know him except from books but he’d been the Ulster Unionist MP for Londonderry and died at the age of 88. He was a political moderate which at times made his political life rather uncomfortable. He served as a Minister of State under Edward Heath and he found himself, I think because of his moderation, increasingly out of his political depth as the troubles in Ulster escalated at that time. He bowed out of politics in 1974. But of course he was a keen shot and a loyal member of this Association.
Peter was a member of various wildfowling associations in Kent, Carmarthen and Norwich and a great supporter of the Association at the Game Fair.
He was a winner of the Stanley Duncan trophy for creating a four-acre lake on the banks of the Towy estuary.
He was a man with a long involvement in wildfowling, I’m told, that he was delighted to read an article by Mike Swan in the Shooting Times about an evening spent looking for greylag geese on the Gower. One of the reasons he was delighted was that he had been responsible and instrumental in re-establishing the geese on that estuary in the 1970s.
I knew him as a very old man because he was a long-serving politician, a local politician, and Mayor of St Edmundsbury on Clare Rural District Council. Politics ran in his veins; his father had been an MP, various uncles had been MPs, some of them speaker and his eldest son, Geoffrey, is a member of the Association and the Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Shooting and Conservation.
Robert was a farmer and he formed a very successful farming partnership with his wife. He used to totter round his farm on his tractor which always had an old battered Baikal side by side, just in case an opportunity presented itself.
He was a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Farmers, a very keen horseman, competing in point-to-points locally, well into his 40s and he had a great passion for shooting. My dominant memory of Robert is him turning up at the age of 85 at the BASC clay line at a Game Fair and saying to the coach, ‘I’ve got a number of problems and desperately want to improve my shooting, can you help?’ And then he produced from his battered slip, a rather stunning Purdey!
Dave Peck was a very vibrant Member of Canvey Wildfowling & Conservation Association for more than 30 years, served on the Committee as Secretary and Chairman and he was one of those dedicated band of people who keep our wildfowling clubs going. He organised many of the Association committees in his area; practice clay shoots, work parties on the marsh, trips to the Game Fair and he was a great all-rounder, enjoying his game and his pigeon shooting as well. But his main passion was wildfowling on the salt marsh and he will be much missed.
A minute’s silence was observed in their memory.
The Chairman invited Christopher Graffius to give the Acting Chief Executive’s address. Christopher Graffius: This is obviously the bit you’ve all been waiting for; the annual speech at an AGM, which isn’t quite like a debate or anything else. What’s the definition of an AGM speaker? You all know it I’m sure; it’s someone who talks in somebody else’s sleep. But if you do happen to nod off, please don’t snore.
We meet at a time, as you will all be aware, of great political uncertainty, not only for the future of our country, but also for the future of shooting. Minority governments, hung parliaments and coalitions are moments of great risk for our sport. Shooting can be used as a bargaining chip by politicians whose political future often trumps any concern for shooting – remember the ban on pistols, introduced by a Conservative government with a vanishing majority and orchestrated and put through Parliament by Michael Howard – himself a game shot. Small groups in these situations of well organised and determined backbenchers can press issues that wouldn’t get a hearing with a comfortable majority.
In moments of uncertainty and risk for shooting we need to rediscover what makes us so special. We need to dig deep to find the unity and the strength we’re going to need in the next few months; over the next few years.
So I wanted to talk to you a little about what our Association is and what that really means, and put it into the context of what’s happening to shooting, what BASC is doing and where the Association is going in the future. So in strictly legal terms, the Association is a registered society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. In less legal terminology, we’re a mutual society – but what does that mean? So the strict definition again is that a mutual society is owned by, and run for, the benefit of its members. Unlike a limited company, it doesn’t have external shareholders it has to give dividends to, and it doesn’t seek to make large profits or capital gains.
But “mutual” means much more than that. It means we share the same passion for the sport we love. It means we’re stronger together when we promote and protect that sport. And it means we help each other in that shared activity of shooting and conservation that goes hand in hand with it. And think of how that works on the ground.
Consider where your shooting might be if it only depended on you. Imagine a situation in which there were no gamekeepers, there weren’t any marsh wardens, or club committees, or shoot captains or someone to organise and actually turn up for that working party which improves your shoot or marsh. Would you have even learned to shoot if someone hadn’t encouraged you, coached you, mentored you, and perhaps laid out their own money for the cartridges, that precious first gun, the first peg or a club membership?
And now imagine a world without a WAGBI and a BASC. Would wildfowling have survived the assaults of the last hundred years? Would there still be private firearms ownership in this country? Would shooting still be part of the warp and weft of rural life?
I look around Europe and I see other countries who have been less fortunate in their shooting organisations, and I see the sport curtailed, quarry lists diminished and every hurdle put in the way of sustainable, legitimate shooting.
You may think it’s tough to shoot in Britain, but just imagine what your sport would be like if you lived – for example – in Holland. However individual or solitary a gun you are – your sport depends on someone else.
And therefore, it was no accident that when they chose a Latin motto for WAGBI, it should be Non sibi cunctis – not for oneself but for all. And that concept is alive and well at BASC today. BASC Council, for example, are all volunteers – taking time from their work and families because they want to give something back to the sport that’s given so much to them. Over the year I’ve seen them give up holidays, trek across the country to attend meetings or fulfil other commitments. Yes, there are expenses and allowances, but none of them cover the time, the commitment and the sheer hard work involved. And they’re not the only volunteers that ensure the future of my sport and yours.
Across the country members willingly give up their time for the greater good. Without them BASC could not operate as it does today. And then there are the paid employees, the staff many of you have met here today. You can’t put a monetary value on personal commitment and loyalty. But every day I see the staff go the extra mile for shooting – beyond any commercial transaction of wages for work – and they do so because they care deeply for your shooting and the sport itself.
And what about us as members? We support the Association with our hard- earned cash – but do we ever make the mistake of assuming that our sub buys merely a personal service? A sort of “I’m alright Jack” approach to shooting? Of course it doesn’t. It pays for the common good of all of us, because by protecting my sport, your sport, his or her sport, all our interests are protected.
And that’s why the first and over-riding objective of BASC is a strong and unified voice for shooting. Unity is strength. Now there are those, and it happens in any group of people, who for a personal interest seek to distract us from that task in hand or might want to divide the Association. I’m not going to dwell on what took place a year ago. The Association has informed the membership as much as it is able to do of what happened. More details have been released to the public and a recent tribunal judgment which exonerated Council and the Association. None of that is as important as the future of shooting at this time of risk.
Two things changed radically for the political future of our sport on Thursday night. The first is that the prospect of five or more years of Conservative majority government vanished as the exit polls were proved right. The second is that the notion that a left wing, largely urban Labour party could never form a government has evaporated. The good news is that we’ve been here before.
BASC has always been resolutely All-Party and non-partisan, able to work with governments of any colour. We’ve also worked with coalitions and small majorities – winning one of our best victories when we overturned the Home Office’s attempt to levy an unreasonably large fee on certificate holders. Remember that the new coalition, or alliance of Conservatives and Democratic Unionists will be pro-shooting.
What is much less certain is how long this government can last given that they are a few by-elections away from a dissolution of Parliament. Therefore the work we’ve done in the past and do now, the arguments we win today, the political friends we’ve made in the past and will make in the future, the MPs we educate and inform, particularly those in opposition parties, will be critical to the immediate future of our sport. And you can be certain that we will be working hard on this and committed to the task.
Our enemies push an agenda of outrage at politicians. Illegal raptor persecution, non-compliance with the law on lead shot, the dangers of private firearms ownership, the damage to human health and the environment of lead poisoning, the cruelty of pest control. They seek to tie shooting to every current public concern, for example, claiming that grouse moor management worsens flooding, that gamebird release damages the environment and that the sustainable shooting of migratory birds creates damage on a population scale.
Now where there are low standards, where there’s greed and profiteering we must tackle that – and BASC has never shied away from that challenge and has consistently taken on malpractice and helped people achieve high standards. And we will continue to do so. Compliance with the law on shooting is not an optional extra. Those few who bring the sport into disrepute damage us all. But that’s only one part of a much better story.
We meet the challenge from our opponents in three ways. Firstly, by explaining their exaggerations, their misrepresentation, their inaccuracies and economies with the truth. Secondly, by promoting, through everything that BASC does, the high standards we expect of those who shoot. And thirdly, by stressing the benefits of shooting – the remarkable contribution to conservation, the economic benefit to the country as a whole and to hard-pressed rural economies in particular; the excellence of the food shooting produces and the legitimate enjoyments and benefits of those who participate. Everything that BASC does contributes to that cause. From the backroom work that ensures we operate efficiently, productively and in accordance with the law, to our operational teams, from firearms, to land management, conservation and every shooting specialty from airguns to wildfowling, our sporting services team that delivers courses and training across the UK, and our country and regional teams, who focus on members’ concerns in their area.
And then there’s the benefits that we can negotiate for you, precisely because we’re a member of a large, unified, mutual association. The discounts on the kit you need, the car deals, not to mention this year’s complimentary entrance to the Game Fair. It’s our ambition at BASC that the cost of your membership can be more than recouped through the benefits of being a member.
And BASC has the critical mass to do the job at this time of risk. We’ve maintained our recruitment rate and have the highest number of members ever recorded – 148,000 with the prospect of topping 150,000 by the end of the year. We’ve achieved our best surplus ever in this year’s accounts – all of which will be reinvested for your mutual benefit and the benefit of the sport. We’re filling the gaps in the staff, ensuring that we have the best possible people to do the job. And this year we’ll be investing more in the structure of the Association than ever before.
We’re going to need it to meet the political challenges, but above all to meet those successfully, we need your continued support without which, a mutual association is meaningless. So keep that WAGBI motto in mind – Non sibi cunctis – not for oneself but for all.
Thank you.
The Chairman asked the Acting Chief Executive to announce the presentation of awards.
ASSOCIATION TROPHIES
The Stanley Duncan Trophy
Given by the late Earl of Leicester, this trophy is presented annually to a club, member or group of members, who, in the opinion of Council, have contributed most in the preceding 12 months in the field of conservation.
This year, the trophy goes to the Dyfi, Mawddach & Dysynni Wildfowlers’ Association; proposed by Ian Danby; seconded by Paul Williamson
This club has been at the forefront of Greenland white-fronted goose (GWfG) conservation for over 40 years and in the last 12 months has made a significant and high-level contribution towards their future.
They have been protecting the main over-wintering population of Greenland white-fronted geese in Wales with an effective voluntary shooting moratorium since 1972. They’ve been involved in historical breeding and release schemes and collaborative work with other organisations to ensure the conservation of the species.
They work closely with BASC and the Welsh Government (WG), they produced detailed fieldwork in the autumn of this year and the success of all this has strengthened the case BASC have put to the WG for continuing the partnership with the RSPB to ensure the conservation of the species in the future. So it’s incredibly well deserved.
Nick Powell, the Chairman of the club, accepted the award on their behalf. Nick Powell: Thank you all. Honoured guests, members of staff, ladies and gentlemen.
Dyfi, Mawddach & Dysynni Wildfowlers’ Association, who I will simply refer to as Dyfi wildfowlers, are extremely grateful for this prestigious conservation award – the Stanley Duncan Trophy.
It is humbling to be holding the trophy that has been awarded to various clubs and associations and members over a good many years for various conservation projects up and down the country.
The Dyfi Wildfowlers would like to thank Ian Danby and Paul Williamson for the nomination of this award in regards the Welsh Greenland White-fronted Goose project. This two-year project is funded by the Welsh Government and followed on from the two consultations, held in 2013 and 2016, where the Welsh Government asked the Dyfi Wildfowlers to work with others to look at ways to conserve the Greenland white-fronted geese on the Dyfi Estuary.
Subsequently, a joint project was set up to utilise modern technology in the form of satellite tags to try and monitor where the feeding areas and the movements of the Greenland White-fronted geese were. We then had the view that, hopefully in the future, specialised habitat areas for those geese could be created.
The Project group consists of the Welsh Government, the Dyfi wildfowlers, BASC, Mick Green, who’s an ecologist, NRW, WWT and RSPB Wales. On 4 December 2016, 14 Greenland white-fronted geese were captured; two were fitted with satellite tags and the other 12 were fitted with standard leg rings.
This was a monumental achievement for the small, dedicated ground team consisting of Carl Mitchell (WWT), Steve Dodd (RSPB), Mick Green, who worked as the project site co-ordinator, Mike Sherman (Dyfi wildfowler) and Theresa Sherman (enthusiastic volunteer).
The Dyfi wildfowlers are extremely grateful to these five individuals for the time and effort spent setting up the equipment and sitting in cold hides waiting for that one opportunity to try and capture the Greenland white-fronted geese.
The co-operation of the landowner, Mr William Jenkins, who allowed us to use his land for several weeks before the actual capturing date to capture the geese must be recognised. Without his agreement, in all probability, no geese would have been caught. Dyfi Wildfowlers are grateful to the Welsh Government for providing the funding for the satellite tagging and the subsequent projects and the combined experience of the Welsh Greenland White-fronted Project members.
On behalf of Dyfi Wildfowlers, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank Mike Sherman, our own club representative on that panel, for all his personal time and effort that he’s put into the project group as an unpaid volunteer.
The 2-year project is relatively new although the Dyfi Wildfowlers have had a long association with Greenland white-fronted geese on the Dyfi Estuary going back to the 1970s.
In 1972, at the start of the wildfowling season, we implemented a voluntary no shooting moratorium which is still in effect to this date, as recognised by the Welsh Government. And then there was the untimely death of Ian Richardson, the club Secretary, who died in 1973 in a car accident on the way home from a shoot dinner. Ian had a passion for Greenland white-fronted geese and in memory of him, the club started a Greenland white-fronted rearing project. At the same time we instigated press releases and we also produced leaflets which highlighted the plight of the Greenland white-fronted geese on the Dyfi Estuary at that time.
It is only the foresight and dedication of unnamed individuals, both past and present, that has allowed such projects to take shape and we, the shooting community, owe a big thank you to those people for their time, expertise and effort that they’ve put in.
So, if we have the opportunity ourselves to actually do some conservation work, then we should take it in order to preserve what we have today and so that those who follow in the future can also enjoy what we have enjoyed now.
Thank you again, on behalf of the Dyfi, Mawddach & Dysynni Wildfowlers’ Association, for this, the Stanley Duncan Trophy. Thank you.
The Ian Richardson Trophy
This trophy is presented to an individual who, in the opinion of BASC employees, has made a special contribution to BASC in whatever field.
This year’s trophy goes to Sean Adamson; proposed by David Gervers; seconded by James Green
Sean was the essential link between BASC and Dorset Wildfowling Association during our recently-concluded disturbance PhD. That PhD is incredibly significant and is being used to drive forward a new, and simpler, consenting process for wildfowling across England. Without Sean’s assistance, commitment and local contacts over four years, we would never have done the fieldwork for that PhD and we would never have been able to generate sufficient data to make the study as successful as it has been. He sourced and stored a boat for us to use for fieldwork throughout the PhD, negotiated berthing the boat at a local, easily-accessible marina and his local knowledge ensured that we were able to maximise the fieldwork time and provide the best quality data.
He has been a club official for 20 years and he was able to help us secure buy-in from the club and ensure we were granted the necessary permits for each year. He’s taken on the additional role of bag returns officer, readily adopted the online bag recording scheme, and that’s been very supportive and positive for its roll out to the rest of the club.
And most recently, he took for a guided flight, the Natural England officer Sue Burton to demonstrate what wildfowling really is; and this helped overcome some of her misconceptions. Sue is a central person in the discussion on the consenting process and this act opened up better channels of communication between the club and Natural England, which can only be of benefit to the future of wildfowling in Poole Harbour. Sean Adamson: Thank you for the nomination for this; it’s something I wasn’t expecting. The work that I did for BASC was something that I expect any one of you would do for the furtherance of the sport. The biggest thanks, I think, should go to Matt Ellis who put himself out there, got himself wet, and got himself muddy to pursue the PhD for the young lady who carried it all out. So all I can say is thank you very much.
The Tim Sedgewick Trophy
Given by the Chichester Wildfowlers’ Association, this is presented annually to an individual who, in the opinion of Council, has contributed markedly to the fortunes of BASC in the preceding 12 months and who is not a member of Council or any advisory committee.
This year’s trophy goes to Mark Gibson; proposed by Peter Marshall; seconded by Tim Russell
Mark was a volunteer for BASC at the Essex International Jamboree held at Boynton Cross near Chelmsford last summer. When BASC took on the contract to provide a coaching line at the Jamboree, we were adamant that we would need help to control thousands of Scouts and Guides who were going to come through the shooting line. The BASC staff, coaches and safety officers would have enough on their plates without being able to control the Scouts and Guides. The Jamboree organisers provided us with eight volunteers for the week, most of which were Scout leaders. Their tasks were to issue the Scout groups with their coaching cards, direct them into the shooting area, control the queues leading to the cages and basically ensure the whole thing ticked over liked clockwork. And if you can imagine what it’s like putting five to six thousand young people through a coaching line, it was an extraordinary piece of organisation. So those that helped at the Jamboree deserve special recognition.
Mark was the natural leader in this group, and he was therefore made Chief Marshall on the spot by the BASC head coach. He was the person who ensured that high viz vests and the eye tests, and all the rest of it, were done properly and ensured that the whole Scout Jamboree was, I think, one of the greatest successes of BASC work with Young Shots that anyone can remember.
As Mark was not present, Tim Russell accepted the award on Mark’s behalf.
Special Presentations are presented to those who may or may not be members of BASC. Recommended by Council and/or staff the service being recognised must be special, but it can take any form and have occurred over any length of time. The single criterion is that of benefit to BASC that merits public recognition.
Geoff Burgess: proposed by Dan Reynolds; seconded by Huw Lloyd
Geoff, a volunteer in the South East region, has for the last four years has given up numerous days to assist with regional events and activities; 40 days of his own time in the last year and that’s really quite extraordinary. And without his help, we wouldn’t make such a success of the regional event program.
Geoff has a can-do mindset and is a real asset to the Association. He promotes everything we do in the shooting field and is the ears on the ground. He alerts the regional team to local issues which might impact on shooting and BASC and moreover, he has generously set an example by donated lots of shooting lots for BASC auctions which have raised considerable funds for the region. Well done. Geoff Burgess: Just to say, I’ve been very fortunate over the years to be able to enjoy shooting as a sport in many forms and when I retired, it gave me the opportunity to try and put something back. It’s been a real pleasure to be able to be involved with both the shows and helping out on Young Shots’ days and I wish the Association the best for the future. I hope to carry on doing what I do to ensure we do that. ‘Cos without the youngsters coming to Young Shots then there will be no continuation, so thank you for the opportunity and I’ve greatly enjoyed it.
Brian Phipps: proposed by Steve Moore; seconded by Christopher Graffius
Brian Phipps, is the proprietor of the Country Sports Images photo agency, and is one of Britain’s finest wildlife and shooting-sport photographers. He’s a keen game shot and deer stalker himself, he has been a member for several years, is a staunch ally of BASC, and the quality of our publications owes much to the images he provides. His photos give impact (a picture says more than a thousand words) and firmly establish our professional approach to publishing, and powerfully reinforce our image as a serious conservation organisation.
He’s supplied us with thousands of striking images and the rates he charges are incredibly reasonable. Virtually every BASC department produces material for publication and all have benefited from Brian’s work. You will see his images regularly in Shooting and Conservation and in many other BASC publications; for example, he produced virtually all the photos for BASC’s new Law and Licensing book, which was recently published by Bill Harriman. So congratulations Brian, please come forward and get your award. Brian Phipps: Thanks very much for that. It was a surprise to get the letter and the invite and I’d like to thank Steve, Marta and Mike on the magazine; it’s a pleasure working with you; it’s been good fun. I’ve been doing it quite a long time but the last few years working with Steve and Mike has been really exciting and I’m pleased to carry on helping you out; it’s brilliant. I have to say thanks to my wife Theresa as well for putting up with me, in the evenings and at night, writing copies and photographing but yeah, excellent, thank you very much everyone.
Mat Manning: proposed by Mike Montgomery; seconded by Christopher Graffius
Mat is the leading UK authority and writer on air gunning, especially air rifle live quarry hunting. He has produced a number of books on the subject, Air Rifle Hunting, for example, and in the last few years he has regularly contributed articles and FAQ topics to Shooting and Conservation.
He also starred in the extremely good BASC film on air rifle hunting which, if you haven’t seen it, I recommend you check out on AirTube.
Mat is a reliable and enthusiastic contributor who provides quality copy and images, often at short notice and to specifications, for example, using BSA rifles to meet BASC’s sponsorship requirements. He gives an authoritative backbone to Shooting and Conservation’s airgun coverage. His cheerful and accommodating approach makes him a pleasure to work with.
As Mat was not present, John Dryden accepted the special presentation on Mat’s behalf.
Ian and Lewis Bretherton: proposed by Duncan Thomas; seconded by Steve Bloomfield
Ian and Lewis have attended multiple shows and game fairs and driven the Young Shots’ projects and events in the north and their efforts have significantly contributed to the Northern Regions’ success and ambition when it comes to Young Shots and events. Ian has chaperoned and acted as a loader on many a Young Shots, Ladies and Novice Game Day, and his contribution towards the Young Shots’ Wildfowling Days has been immense.
Lewis was selected to be a Young Shots’ Ambassador, a unique BASC role in the Northern Region, four years ago; and he’s been one of the most active and competent of all the Young Shots’ Ambassadors and, like his father, has assisted at many events. Jem Caunce: proposed by Duncan Thomas; seconded by Steve Bloomfield
Jem is another one of Duncan Thomas’s irregulars. Mr Caunce is a keen supporter of the Association and has made a significant contribution towards the BASC Northern Region. Jem campaigns tirelessly to secure events, membership/potential membership to boost attendances at events and to support our fundraising projects in securing lots and donation’s. He’s gone far and above what would normally be expected of any BASC member and volunteer. Jem Caunce: Those who know me know I’m used to embarrassing myself but I’m actually quite embarrassed being up here and when I found out off Duncan that I was getting this award, I don’t understand why; I just love helping out and doing what I do, so thank you. Also thank you to my wife for being ever patient with me always going off shooting. She stays at home and looks after the boys so thank you.
Karen Packer and Paul Walker: proposed by Garry Doolan; seconded by Christopher Graffius
Karen and Paul were instrumental in allowing BASC to introduce shooting to almost 6,000 young people at the Essex International Jamboree. They are the ‘Jamboree Chiefs’, so respect to their authority, and they had the vision to include shooting and then worked tirelessly to break down initial resistance within the Scouting and Guiding movements to the idea of putting guns into the hands of Scouts and Guides.
Once the ground-breaking proposal had been accepted by the national bodies, the energy and passion shown by Karen and Paul was crucial to the success of the 130-metre coaching line, the longest we’ve ever put on, to teach youngsters from 30 different countries.
They pulled out all the stops to incorporate a shooting line four times the size of the normal shooting line at an annual game fair with eighteen shooting cages, 24 traps, 30 coaches and staff and 8 ‘crowd-control’ organisers; BASC were coaching 200 youngsters an hour.
The event truly was on a scale never before seen in our history, and the staggering response by the youngsters ensured that shooting was one of the highlights of the Jamboree.
Afterwards, the Chairman, said that the event had normalised shooting among youngsters who could one day be the future of the sport.
So the Jamboree showcased all that is positive about shooting, and none of that would have been possible without the vision and passion of Paul and Karen. Well done.
As Paul was not present, Garry Doolan collected the special presentation on Paul’s behalf. Karen Packer: I just wanted to say, Paul, unfortunately, couldn’t be with us today; he sends his apologies. BASC worked with us right from start and as has been said, we had quite a lot of hurdles to overcome, as you can imagine.
Putting on an event for ten thousand people, six thousand of whom are young people aged between ten and seventeen, is no mean feat in itself. When you then turn round to your organisations and say, we’d quite like to do clay pigeon shooting as well… One of the aims of the Jamboree is that everybody gets an opportunity to do everything that we offer; if we can’t offer it to six thousand people, we don’t offer if. So to offer clay pigeon shooting on that scale to six thousand people to us was fairly unbelievable. But BASC said they could do it, so we made it happen. And I just want to say, on behalf of all six thousand people, thank you very, very much and I think in three years’ time we’re doing it all again so hopefully they’ll be another six thousand people. Thank you.
The Chairman, Peter Glenser, delivered his report.
I said last year that a week was a long time in politics; I’d been in post two or three weeks then, unexpectedly. I daresay for many professional politicians, this week has seemed like a very long time indeed. I sympathise with them; it’s been a long year at BASC.
I mentioned last year that we were having some difficulties; those have been largely resolved and resolved in our favour. Organisations occasionally go through upheavals such as this I want to pay tribute to the staff, volunteers and Council who have performed magnificently over a difficult time.
As you know, we were obliged to carry out a complex and wide-ranging investigation into certain staffing matters; it took a lot longer than we had anticipated. That’s the trouble with lawyers I suppose; I’m allowed to say that. It led to the dismissal of the then chief executive, the resignation of the director of Operations and HR and the dismissal of two further staff. We were taken to an Employment Tribunal; the claimant’s case was dismissed. Another claimant that was going to take us to the Employment Tribunal, withdrew the claim without any settlement from us whatsoever.
We have two cases pending; I cannot yet talk about those I’m afraid. But I can say this: we have made no payments to anyone. Some expense has been incurred; a large part of that expense is insured. Steps are being taken to recover costs from those who incurred them; I can’t say any more about that yet either.
As far as the Employment Tribunal is concerned, if anyone is interested, the judgement from that Employment Tribunal is published on the tribunal website and you can all read it in full. It may answer most of the questions that you may have. I do not propose to dwell on this any further; it’s taken up far too much time this year already but I and we will be happy to answer questions that we are allowed to after my address to you.
Despite all of this, it has been an astonishing year for BASC. What have we achieved? Well Christopher’s touched on some of this already. Our membership is now around the 148,000 mark; that’s its highest ever. We should top 150,000 by the end of the year. Our renewal rate is around 92 per cent; that is extraordinarily high for a membership organisation. Surveys show that member satisfaction is around the ninety per cent mark and we are working on those other ten.
Social cement: Much of our sport takes place in rural parts of Britain. Much of our membership lives in rural areas. So we’re introducing social committees, not just for those rural areas but also in urban areas to boost social engagement among the membership. An example, the recent clay pigeon grouse shoot, another one being done on the Glorious Twelfth in Wiltshire. Any funds raised by those local social committees remain local to help conservation and Young Shots.
What about our finances? Well, we’ve had the best financial surplus in BASC history; £1.2million. This will be reinvested in the sport and the Association. We need to keep an eye on the future. We have invested in and improved our IT structure to ensure that we keep our membership information and data secure and reduce any risk of a cyberattack or hacking – we don’t yet think the Russians are interfering in our elections.
Member benefits: Particularly proud of this one. Game Fair Entry. We have secured a partnership agreement with the Game Fair enabling the organisers to give complimentary admission to all categories of BASC members over all three days; you can go every single day as a BASC member and it won’t cost you a penny.
Vehicle discounts: The vehicle discount scheme now encompasses models from 23 manufacturers. In 2016, members’ savings were £3.7million. Members have now saved more than a total of £10 million on their new car purchases – I only wish I could afford one of them.
Shooting-related insurances has seen strong growth. Our gundog policy provides cover which many insurances do not. We’ve launched new gun insurance and recent surveys show that these are highly valued by the membership.
On the political front: Before I get to the general election, we’ve seen the introduction of the Policing and Crime Act 2017; some positive changes there for certificate holders. The law on the lending of shotguns has been clarified, expired certificates are automatically extended and expanding ammunition loses its prohibited, and rather ridiculous, status. That has been the result of good and proper lobbying by BASC and others over many years,
EU directive on firearms: Many of the proposed changes were extremely hostile, technical some of them, but with far-reaching effects. BASC worked through FACE and the FACE rapporteur, Vicky Ford MEP, and ensured that the final result did not harm UK shooting interests.
In the run up to the General Election, we re-launched our lobbying website to enable us to build up support for shooting in Parliament and Government. Christopher has already spoken about the political situation after the election. It is true that many people thought there would be many years of uninterrupted Tory Government to come. I can remember giving a speech two years ago in London when people were rather pleased that they had become supporter members of the Labour Party and chipped in £3 to elect Jeremy Corbyn who was seen as an amusing and harmless individual. Well, not so funny now I suspect for many and we are three seats away from a vote of no confidence. It only takes a by-election or two and we face the very real possibility of a very left of centre Labour Government in power who may not have our best interests at heart, and one only has to look at the grouse debate a year or so ago to realise the threat. But Christopher is right; we have always been an All-Party organisation and Christopher and Sophie our political officer down in London, are working extremely hard to maintain good relationships with people on all sides of the house so that we can effectively lobby. That’s going to become increasingly important I suspect in the months and then years to come.
Shooting: Well, we uniquely have a large and extremely efficient firearms team; it’s just as well that we do because they handled 10,640 calls from members during the last year – that’s 877 a month. That team is unique to BASC; our members value quality help and advice and with that giving of advice comes an ability to understand and identify where police forces are failing, to call them to account, to lobby their PCC and to assist them with training. And to that end, we had a licensing managers’ conference, the first national conference of firearms licensing managers. We provided the keynote speech and provided seminars, lobbied PCCs and again worked with those failing teams to improve performance.
Grouse shooting: When the antis stepped up their campaign against grouse shooting, the press office and the Northern office, particularly due to the unique energy of Duncan Thomas, co-ordinated a very effective response, putting out media-friendly films. We sent people to talk to people whose livelihoods depend on shooting in marginal upland communities: the shop, the pub, the schools; all those places where, if grouse shooting were to go, those marginal communities would find it increasingly difficult without money going into there. We made films. We produced a campaign entitle No Moor Myths on social media to counter the falsehoods put around by the antis.
Children and game: Very important; it’s our future. We need to get people eating game. So with the Food Teachers’ Centre, BASC has developed a project to train teachers. Pupils will learn about the provenance and cooking of game and we aim to teach 60,000 children how to cook pheasant by 2020, and I can’t stress how important that is because if we drive up demand, we normalise shooting, and we normalise the eating of game that can only be to our mutual benefit.
Avian flu: We worked with government, including sitting on ornithological panels, to resist restrictions on shooting and produced management schemes for the release of game in 2017.
Deer stalking: We have introduced a new members’ stalking scheme at Hockwold in Norfolk. Dorset and Arran schemes are fully booked and we are exploring new opportunities. Furthermore, in partnership with the BDS and the Deer Initiative, we will resurrect the Deer Conference this coming September.
Online bag recording for wildfowlers: About a third of BASC clubs lease sporting rights from the Crown Estate and bag returns are mandatory. We have developed an online system to simplify administration and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Wildfowling consents: We’ve worked on a better consenting process for wildfowlers in England. BASC is working through the wildfowling liaison committee to provide Natural England with suggestions for improvement influenced by the BASC-funded PhD on disturbance that you’ve already heard about.
Conservation: Greenland white-fronted geese. We persuaded the Welsh Assembly Government to keep Greenland white-fronted geese on the quarry list and maintain the partnership approach to conservation of the species. Also on conservation, squirrel control: We’ve expanded the co-ordinated grey squirrel control scheme to protect red squirrels and timber. In Wales, this receives government funding.
Green shoots mapping: This has expanded and is now producing significant data on biodiversity and significant evidence of shooting’s very real contribution to conservation.
Training and standards: Well we’ve heard already a little bit about the BASC coaching line at the Essex International Jamboree which Christopher and I visited. It was extremely impressive; very popular with the young people there, and as we know nearly 6,000 people were able to shoot clay pigeons. Training for members increased during 2016; 121 courses were run. 911 candidates were trained; that’s an increase of 84 per cent on 2015 and 287 per cent on 2014.
Media training: We’ve held two broadcast media training sessions and social media training for staff, volunteers and partners. The training was used in live TV interviews, these including two on Sky News and one with Piers Morgan on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
In the home countries, Scotland: We’ve helped shooters understand the requirements of the new air weapon licensing legislation. We are and were regarded as the most helpful source of information and advice on this particularly pointless piece of legislation in my view. Tail docking: The Scottish Government has proposed the reinstatement of tail docking for working gundogs on welfare grounds; a parliamentary committee will consider that proposal and a BASC vet has given supporting evidence. In Northern Ireland, we’ve successfully challenged the Police Service of Northern Ireland in relation to their intention to remove paper firearms licensing process, particularly difficult for those who are not familiar with computers or live in areas where an online licensing system only would be too difficult. We’ve achieved All-Party backing for shooting in Northern Ireland, providing the secretariat for the Assembly’s All-Party Group on Shooting Sports which includes MLAs from the five main parties; the DUP, the UUP, Sinn Féin the Alliance Party and the SDLP. The membership has increased in Wales despite the post of Director Wales currently being vacant. Over the next twelve months, we’ll focus on maintaining momentum and that will benefit from the recruitment of the Wales Director and Operations Co-ordinator.
That is a year we will build on in the months and years to come even as we face any political challenges that may come our way.
The Chairman opened the floor for questions.
James Rogerson: I’ve come through the Young Shots’ programme and I now volunteer myself. The last few years has seen a huge push for Young Shots which is only good for the sport and I would like some reassurance that this is going to continue at this level if not increase.
Christopher Graffius: I can give you that reassurance. Young Shots is one of our prime causes in the Association. It is critical to the future of the sport and you can be confident that BASC will continue to put more funds and more energy and more resources into Young Shot shooting than any organisation in this country.
Peter Glenser: It’s a no-brainer. We need young people coming into shooting and we will do all we can to encourage them.
Paul Whiteman – Northern Shooting Show: So, firstly, before the question, we were very heavily supported by Duncan and his team from BASC; just a massive thank you for that. We put guns in the hands of loads of people that came to the show all with the help of BASC. Moving forward, it’s your intention I assume, to carry on supporting shows like ours?
Peter Glenser: Absolutely. You’ve seen what we’ve done with the Game Fair this year. They see the benefit of having 150,000 people who are the core of this sport going through their doors, so much so that they are prepared to offer complimentary admission to all of our members and we will have a significant presence at the Game Fair and other shows. I would warmly extend an invitation to anyone running a show to give us the same deal. Our members would be extremely grateful for complimentary admission and you will get some very high quality people through your door with a lot of money to spend which will make your stallholders even happier because we can spend money with them and they will give you that money; so absolutely.
Paul Whiteman: Peter, you’ve missed the boat! Duncan’s already asked. We’ve signed through to 2021 to support shooting and your support is greatly appreciated.
John Eaves: Question regarding the sale of WHT stamps. Can anybody tell me how many were sold in the last financial period and where in the financial report is the figure?
Peter Glenser: WHT produce their own accounts. They are their own trust. I’m not a WHT trustee. I don’t know off hand what the stamp sales were. I know we gave a donation of £50,000 to WHT which is the largest we’re allowed to at the moment because we’ve got such a record surplus but it may be that there is someone who knows.
Tim Russell: Peter’s absolutely right, the WHT does produce its own accounts; it is a stand-alone organisation. I’m afraid I haven’t got the figure for you, but sales have remained fairly constant for the last five years and I think the important thing to remember about the WHT is that there is a large pot of money there; it is constantly being loaned and repaid to the Trust with a fairly small interest rate of only three per cent. So the capital balance is increasing and is supported by the stamp programme.
Peter Glenser: I’ll make sure somebody emails you the figure if we get your email address.
Andrew Smith: Thank you to BASC for assistance from HQ with getting my licence – Michael Thornley is my stalking mentor. Thank you to BASC and thank you to Michael.
There were no further questions.
The Chairman presented the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2016 highlighting key features including:
The Chairman opened the floor for questions regarding the financial statements.
There were no questions and Steve Moore seconded the motion to move to adopt the Annual Report and Audited Accounts.
The Chairman invited a show of hands and the Annual Report and Audited Accounts were duly adopted.
The Chairman invited Christopher Graffius to announce the elections, which he opened with nominations for Honorary Life Membership this year.
Mike Sherman: proposed by John Thornley; seconded by Duncan Greaves
Mike has been a member of BASC since 1981 and has a passion for country sports. However, first and foremost he is a wildfowler at heart. Deer stalking and the pursuit of woodcock in his native South Wales runs a close second.
Mike has been one of the stalwarts of BASC Council for his ten years in office. He was elected to Council in June 2006, and re-elected for a second 5-year term in June 2011. He served as Vice-Chairman from 2008 until his retirement from Council in June 2016.
Mike is enormously respected for his no nonsense approach and passion to fulfil his role on Council on behalf of the membership. During this period, Mike was also Chairman of a number of BASC Committees including the Executive and Finance Committee, the Welsh Committee, the Northern Ireland Committee and the Deer Stalking Committee.
Mike remains the Vice-Chairman of the Dyfi, Mawddach & District Wildfowlers’ Association. He is an active and keen bird ringer for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and for the past eight years has worked on many conservation projects from dippers to Greenland white-fronted geese. He remains a key member of the BASC Wildfowling Liaison Committee.
The Chairman called for a show of hands to elect Mike Sherman to Honorary Life Member. Duly elected.
Mike Sherman: I was very humbled when the letter came through the door; I thought it was going to be from Tim Russell; I communicate with him most on the conservation side. Obviously, shooting, fishing, conservation is not a passion in the Sherman household, it’s a way of life and everybody who know the family know that. Theresa, who was interested to hear from Nick; that was very kind of you to say Theresa is an enthusiastic volunteer. I think she’s been more than that for the last 36 years especially with our 2 wonderful sons Maverick and Conor who have shown that it’s in the blood. Thank you for the kind words; I just do it and it’s not just about the shooting; conservation is a priority and we need to work with the partners whether it’s RSPB, WWT etc. We’ve proved on the Dyfi that it can be done. Shooting can take place virtually everywhere in the UK and that can only be down to the wonderful staff at BASC; I’ve worked with them all in ten years, whether it is admin, membership, conservation, firearms.
We can defend our history and our heritage but it’s the future that we need to protect. Thank you one and all.
Allen Musslewhite: proposed by Nick Horten; seconded by Steve Dedman
Allen has served as treasurer of the Langstone and District Wildfowlers’ and Conservation Association for an unbroken 26 years. For more than a quarter of a century he has steered the club’s finances, sometimes through choppy waters, but has always managed to keep the club healthily in the black.
He has played a major part in encouraging newcomers to the sport of wildfowling and has been pivotal in all the club’s negotiations with its landlords the RSPB, Natural England, the Forestry Commission and a host of other bodies, all at the highest level.
Much of the day-to-day work done by wildfowling club committee members goes unsung but it is no exaggeration to say that it is absolutely critical to the future of wildfowling.
Allen is also a Vic- President of the Chichester Wildfowlers’ Association. He will be best known to BASC HQ staff for his work on the Wildfowling Display on the BASC stand at those Games Fairs held within striking distance of his home for now more than a decade and for his contribution to the Wildfowling Liaison Committee upon which he sits.
He invests a massive amount of time in his region helping the regional team. So we’re delighted to be able to put his candidature before you.
The Chairman called for a show of hands. Elected. Allen Musselwhite: I’m not really one for giving speeches. Thanks to everyone for nominating me; thank you all for voting for me. I will continue to do what I’ve been doing for the last 30-odd years. Thanks you.
David Riordan: nominated by Errol Bailie; seconded by Sandy Richie
David Riordan is a well-known and highly respected figure within the NI shooting community. He is a former employee of BASC and has been an active member of the Association for more than thirty years.
This nomination is in recognition of David’s commitment to wildfowling, and his prolonged, dedicated and distinguished service, as Secretary of the Joint Council for Wildfowling Clubs on Strangford Lough for thirty years.
During his time on Joint Council, he’s been involved in numerous conservation projects, for example, arranging with the National Trust barge to transport a tracked excavator across Strangford Lough, to facilitate the digging of flight ponds and the removal of ragwort.
He’s also served as the secretary of Comber Wildfowlers’ & Conservation Association for twenty nine years and continues to serve on the committee of the Comber Club.
He’s been a dedicated member of Larne Lough Wildfowling and Conservation Association for nearly twenty years, where he served as Chairman and Club Secretary.
He’s been enormously proactive in promoting wildfowling via his involvement in organising, setting up and delivering wildfowling demonstrations and manning wildfowling information stands at Game Fairs.
So for prolonged, dedicated and distinguished service to wildfowling in Northern Ireland, David has been nominated for the Honorary Life Membership of BASC.
The Chairman asked for a show of hands. Duly elected. David Riordan: Thanks to those who put my name forward. I’m extremely honoured to receive this award on be behalf of the Strangford Lough Joint Wildfowling Partnership. After a long and protracted association with BASC over the years, we thank them for their support and look forward to the future.
James Teale: proposed by Graham Teale; seconded by Stephen Holling
James Teale is the Chairman of the West Riding Wildfowlers’ Club, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in July this year. James has been a member of BASC since 1989 and a member of the club since it started in 1977.
He has introduced many new members to the club and to BASC. James Teale received an honorary life membership for his services as a club official to the West Riding Wildfowling Club for 23 years and for the majority of that time as the chairman.
He is passionate about wildfowling and conservation and works hard for both his club and for BASC.
The Chairman called for a show of hands. James was duly elected. James Teale: Thank you to BASC; thank you to the members of West Riding Wildfowlers and thank you to Graham and to Steve for the nominations. Thank you very much.
ELECTION OF PRESIDENT
President – The Lord Dear Kt Qpm Dl
The Chairman asked the Acting Chief Executive to provide background information about Lord Dear who is nominated for the role of President of the Association following the recent resignation of Lord Home.
Lord Dear has sent his apologies that he cannot be with us as he is out of the country. Christopher Graffius: Geoffrey Dear has pursued three quite distinct and separate, careers.
Having joined the police as a constable, he held some of the most senior positions in the British Police Service, at different times being responsible for counter-terrorism, criminal intelligence and combatting organised crime. He was Head of Operations in London and later commanded the biggest provincial police force in the UK. He advised the Indian Government and the United States of America FBI on counter-terrorism issues. He was described by the broadcaster and writer, Sir Robin Day, as the best known and best respected police officer of his generation.
On leaving the police, he conducted a number of high profile reviews for central Government, including reviews of the Crown Prosecution Service and of the criminal Courts System; he then served on a number of Boards of Public Limited Companies as a Non-Executive Chairman or Director. He is currently Non-Executive Chairman of a PLC providing expert support to those operating in complex or hostile environments, especially in the Middle East.
He was knighted in 1997 and was granted a peerage in 2006 when he entered the House of Lords, where he sits as a Cross Bencher (i.e. politically independent) and is a Deputy Speaker. He has been successful in personally securing a number of major changes in legislation, especially in the field of fundamental legal rights. In the House of Lords, he was a member of the European UnionSelect Committee and its Economic and Financial Affairs Sub-Committee, the Home Affairs Sub-Committee, and he is currently a member of the Works of Art Advisory panel and the Privileges and Conduct Committee.
He has an honours degree in law from University College London (and has since been elected a Fellow of that College). He is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn, holds the Queen’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service and the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery and was Vice Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire.
He lives in an old rectory in the North Cotswolds with his wife and two black Labradors.
A PERSONAL NOTE FROM THE LORD DEAR was read out by Christopher Graffius:
As a member for the last 33 years, I am honoured to be nominated as the new President of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation. If elected I shall do all possible to further the work of this fine organisation, at a time when all that it seeks to do is very much in the public eye.
Conservation is something that most people support, whether from an urban or rural background, but how to balance competing aims and objectives within that agenda is often difficult. The current interest in lead shot; continued focus on the regulation of firearms and shotguns; concerns about some raptors are only three examples.
Misunderstandings can arise and relationships can be strained. BASC occupies a pivotal place in these discussions. In the past it has done much to advance the case for shooting, while also drawing attention to the desire of its membership to conserve the countryside and its wildlife. It will continue to do that and if elected, I hope that, in some small way, I shall be able to take an active part in those endeavours.
Peter called for a show of hands to approve the nomination. Nomination approved.
The Chairman invited Jill Jones of Baker Tilly, the Scrutineer, to present the results of the elections to Council for 2017. Jill presented the results as follows:
National seat:
Ballot Papers received 1,859
Online voters 566
Total voters 2,425
Papers received after deadline 0
Papers spoilt 27
Papers deemed invalid 5
Number of votes cast 2,393
In the order they appeared on the ballot paper, the votes from these valid papers were cast as follows:
Terry Humber 948
Paul Adam Shaw 1,445
Paul Adam Shaw was duly elected to Council.
Wales seat:
Total voters (postal and web combined) 307
Ineligible votes (non-Wales residency) 88
Total number of votes cast 219
In the order they appeared on the ballot paper, the votes from these valid papers were cast as follows:
Peter Watson 131
David Seager 88
Peter Watson was duly elected to Council.
Scotland seat:
Eoghan Gordon Cameron was duly elected unopposed to Council.
The Chairman confirmed that the successful candidates were duly elected. A meeting of BASC Council is to immediately follow the AGM, after which, lunch will be served at 1pm.
The Chairman introduced the nomination for the election of trustees to the Wildlife Habitat Trust.
David Steel was proposed by Ian Grindy and seconded by Duncan Greaves.
The Chairman asked for a show of hands and David Steel was duly elected to the Wildlife Habitat Trust.
The recommendation from Council that RSM UK be reappointed as auditors for the year ending December 2018 was carried unanimously on a show of hands.
There being no further business, the Chairman thanked those present for their attendance and declared the meeting closed.
Peter Glenser, Chairman
Christopher Graffius, Acting Chief Executive
Members, supporters and guests of the Association
Minute Secretary: Tracy Fredriksen
The meeting was called to order and Angela Davies made administrative announcements prior to its commencement. Those present were informed that the meeting was being recorded to assist in the preparation of the minutes and for a future historic record. Speakers from the floor were asked to wait for the roving microphone and to give their names. Supporters were reminded that although they could speak, they had no voting rights. Luncheon and emergency evacuation procedures were outlined.
The Chairman opened the meeting.
Apologies had been received from Lord Home, Mike Sherman, Conor Sherman, Maverick Sherman, Duncan Greaves, Michael Hardy, Colin Shedden, Sir Malcolm Guthrie, Harry Abbott & Lee Freeston
The Acting Chief Executive paid tribute to prominent members of the Association who had passed away in the last 12 months:
Colin Foote
Harold Hall
Gordon Ramsey
Emlyn Williams
Charles Connell
Barry Upton
Nick Ansell
Dr Albert Witnall,
A minute’s silence was observed in their memory.
Christopher Graffius: I’m Acting Chief Executive and I have a message which Lord Home, our President, has asked to be read out.
Ladies and Gentlemen
I much regret that I cannot be with you today. My wife had a back operation last week and, as she is in no position to look after herself, I must be with her. I hope that the meeting will accept my apologies.
With regard to the Association’s current difficulties I have decided that a completely separate approach should be made, so I have decided to ask the Financial Conduct Authority to conduct a totally independent enquiry, which no one can influence. I trust that this enquiry will not take long and thereafter we can move on with the proper work of the Association.
Lord Home
I want to say two things about the message.
The first is that I’m sure you will all join me in wishing the Countess of Home the very best and a speedy recovery.
The second is that if the Financial Conduct Authority wish to conduct any investigation I will happily open our offices and books, secure in the knowledge that BASC has nothing to hide from our regulatory body.
The third thing is I can assure you that the proper work of the Association continues, has not stopped and goes from strength to strength.
It’s equally no secret that the organisation is going through a difficult time with regard to its staffing. You all know there’s a limited amount that can be said about that but I can reassure you that decisions have been taken by the democratically elected Council after legal advice and that we are following due process. I am determined that we will do this properly and with justice for all, and while the process continues I know that the staff will continue to deliver the outstanding work for shooting and excellent service to members that makes BASC such a special organisation.
But where do you find the inspiration to go on when people are trying to undermine what you’re doing?
A few moments ago we ran through the list of those members of the Association who died last year. I find this a moving moment at every AGM and have done so for all of the 15 years I have attended.
In the early years I was interested but couldn’t put faces to names and didn’t know any of those mentioned. With time that changed, and I began to be more personally involved because I knew many of those being mentioned – it was no longer an impersonal duty but a very personal moment. We owe so much to those who have gone before us.
We owe the very fact that we can still go shooting to our predecessors who fought off the attempts to damage it and ban it and who set the standards and defined the ethics that make our sport sustainable. People like Commander John Anderton, the first Director of BASC, after whom the back building, the converted stables at Marford Mill is named. Without him the Association would never have grown from a file in his briefcase to a national shooting organisation. I was fortunate to have met him before his death and I was very impressed by him. Then there were those such as Edward Parish whose work to ensure that the Wild Birds Protection Act of 1954 did not spell the end for coastal wildfowling and the amended form was by many dubbed as “The Wildfowlers Charter”. People like John Ruxton, twice Chairman of the Association after whom a room is named at Marford Mill who did so much to ensure the establishment of feral greylag geese round the coast of the UK and influential Presidents of the Association such as The Viscount Arbuthnott and Patrick Lichfield and of course Stanley Duncan himself, without whom none of us would be in this room today. I could go on.
We stand in the shoes of those who went before us and they’re pretty big shoes to fill
So how are we doing?
We shouldn’t let short term storms deflect from the fact that this Association delivered in spades for shooting over the past year.
Let’s start with politics. We ran the largest general election web based campaign BASC has ever run. We identified a majority of MPs who support shooting, the first time we’ve known that for sure in any parliament. We did the same thing last month for four sets of elections – those in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and for Police and Crime Commissioners – for the latter we identified a majority of PCC’s were committed to efficient firearms licencing and supportive of shooting.
For Shooting and Conservation we’ve maintained the size of the magazine while cutting costs and increasing advertising revenue. The Magazine now has a certified ABC figure of 130,522 per issue. The press office has more than doubled the number of press releases issued from 128 in 2014 to 271 in 2015 an increase of 112%. While our social media direct reach increased by more than 50% to 80,000. Its now more than a 100,000.
BASC firearms team, the only one of its kind in the country, does enormously important work helping the members with licensing problems and being a key policy resource for shooting. Last year they dealt with nearly 8,500 queries the largest number since their records began.
There’s the business development unit. The BASC vehicles discount scheme saves members money – £2.5 million in 2015. We’ve also launched a finance scheme for gun purchase – so you really can persuade yourself you can afford that Purdey.
Our sporting services team introduced and gave shooting opportunities to more than 6,000 people last year. You may not think that Peter Marshall and Duncan Greaves look like missionaries – but they are – for shooting.
Last year the wildfowling team helped with negotiations that secured more than 6,000 acres for wildfowling clubs. They also attended meetings with 69 clubs, the largest number ever in a year.
2015 was the year in which we secured support in both the government and the police force for ten year licences.
We cemented important links for shooting with government agencies such as signing a partnership agreement with Natural England. This will result in an action plan covering coastal access, general licences and wildfowling consents. All key issues for shooting.
We promote game through the Taste of Game Programme. In 2015 we worked with the National Trust to get game into 250 of their restaurants. 17 million people visit National Trust properties and many of these will have seen or tasted game as a result. All of which helps normalise shooting.
2015 also saw the launch of Project Poacher, which includes an easy to use app for recording and reporting poaching incidents. This has been an enormous success and was downloaded 2,500 times. Some forces want to include the app as standard on police phones.
This is just a selection of the wonderful work being done at BASC. Behind this are finance and administration teams, the membership department and front of house, plus the offices in regions and countries, all of them achieving the best for shooting.
And to top it all, this year on her retirement, Philippa Bursey – who’s in the room today – turned in one of the healthiest looking set of results BASC has ever had, with a record surplus.
The staff deserve your appreciation and thanks for their hard work.
Why do we do it? That’s an important question if we’re going to understand what makes BASC such a special and remarkable organisation, and one of the world’s most successful shooting organisations.
It’s because we’re a cause driven organisation. Many of us are members and we shoot, those who work at BASC and don’t shoot still appreciate the values of the organisation its mission to promote high standards and benefit the public and the country. And I know that you feel the same way about it too – or you wouldn’t be here. That’s also true of Council – or they wouldn’t be giving their time for free to the Association and the Sport – and I can tell you that the burden can be heavy.
Whatever our views, we’re all here for the good of the sport. And together we’re enormously strong and that’s why shooting survives and remains in robust good health in this country.
So when the storms come don’t let those who wish us ill or those who want to damage the association, succeed. Internal issues will be sorted out and the Association will emerge stronger and better.
We’ve all been here before and this Association’s obituaries have been written on countless occasions. There are those here who remember the hostile takeover bid in 1998 with wildfowlers being bussed in to defeat it.
We’ve done it for more than a century – and we will do it successfully for the century to come.
The Chairman asked the Chief Executive to announce the presentations of awards.
The Stanley Duncan Trophy was given by the late Earl of Leicester.
It is presented annually to a club, member or group of members, who in the opinion of Council, have contributed most in the preceding 12 months in the field of conservation.
On the recommendation of Steve Bloomfield and Lewis Thornley the trophy was presented to David Burchell
David Burchell, who has lived at Manor Farm all his life. His father and grandfather farmed the 190 acre farm. David runs a small shoot and manages the wildlife carefully ensuring a reasonable balance. There are three monastic Carp ponds on the farm and David has carefully maintained these over the years along with a passion for maintaining wet meadows for Snipe.
David has diversified and runs a forestry business and delivers training in the use of Chainsaws. Fifteen years ago David was successful in becoming a National Forest scheme landowner and in conjunction with BASC ran a series of hugely successful “Game keeping” awareness days where he delivered aspects of the training himself.
David’s commitment to conservation on this small farm is inspiring and he often hosts walks around the farm for school children and locals to teach them about the link between shooting and conservation, he has planted a number of special shelter belts and cover crops and maintains his feeders year round which is a huge benefit to a number of species during the “Hungry gap” of January to April.
Within the last year David has worked with BASC to pilot a Grey squirrel control method which is gaining wide recognition especially from Red squirrel preservation groups. It is the statistics from David’s work which is showing the benefits of using the BASC control group method and ultimately could provide BASC members with shooting opportunities.
David a BASC member and has been a great support to the central team over the years but especially over the last year in helping to prove the relevance of the new BASC scheme.
The Ian Richardson Trophy is presented to an individual who, in the opinion of BASC employees, has made a special contribution to BASC in whatever field.
On the recommendation of Debbie Collins & Christopher Graffius the trophy was presented to Philip Bowern.
Philip a journalist and the Deputy Editor is the head of farming and rural affairs at the Western Morning News – a long established and much respected West Country newspaper.
Through his articles on farming, shooting and rural affairs and his introduction of a monthly countryside supplement, Philip has produced a scrupulously balanced view of shooting, but by covering it in such detail he has ensured that shooting’s side of the story, so often ignored, has been widely covered in his region and often picked up and broadcast on a wider stage by the national media.
Philip has an excellent relationship with the BASC press office and is an outstanding advocate for rural Britain.
Philip has been a BASC member of 10 year’s standing and a keen game and pigeon shot.
The Tim Sedgewick Trophy was given by the Chichester Harbour Wildfowlers’ Association and is presented annually to an individual who, in the opinion of council, has contributed markedly to the fortunes of BASC in the preceding 12 months and who is not a member of Council or any advisory committee.
On the recommendation of Ian Danby and Paul Williamson and Mark Greenhough the trophy was awarded to Nick Powell. The Wildfowling Liaison Committee suggested a group of wildfowlers to help test and advise BASC on the development of the Green Shoots Mapping and Bag Recording website. The website is of key importance to the future smooth running of Crown Estate leases to affiliated clubs. It provides an efficient and modern method for clubs to gather their bag return data and then inform BASC that their reports to the Crown Estate are ready for submission. These reports on wildfowling activity are a requirement of holding leases from the Crown Estate.
We asked the group of wildfowlers to test the site at particular points from November with increasing regularity and complexity through development.
One member of the test group is Nick Powell, chairman of the Dyfi Mawddach & Dysynni Wildfowler Association. Nick always responds to requests to test the site and his feedback has been of a very high quality.
What separated Nick out for special recognition is the diligence and commitment he has shown to helping BASC create a professional and easy to understand website. Since November Nick has gone the extra mile. During early March Nick drove into Marford Mill to spend half a day with us testing the site and agreeing critical changes. He has spent late nights working through the site and sending clear and thorough word documents of his feedback so we could work on it without delay the next day. Even now he is offering to continue to test the site as we deploy it over to the live site.
All Nick’s time and efforts have been given voluntarily and his practical and technical input has been of immense value to BASC.
Special Presentations
Special Presentations are presented to those who may or may not be members of BASC. Recommended by Council and/or staff. The service being recognised must be special, but it can take any form and have occurred over any length of time. The only criteria is that the service must be of benefit to BASC and merits public recognition.
A joint Special Presentation went to Lynn Scholes, Jason Holden, Phil Fairless, Jack Depledge & Liam Cuprit
Lynn Scholes [proposed by Duncan Thomas and Steve Bloomfield]
Lynn has championed ladies shooting projects in the Northern region and is our most active volunteer. A medical sales manager, Lynn has spent a significant amount of her personal time in driving projects, supporting and planning events. She maintains a high profile in the region. We could not have achieved our current membership engagement levels without her support. Lynn has recently raised in excess of £2300 for Ladies projects in the North.
Jason Holden [Proposed by Duncan Thomas and Steve Bloomfield]
Jason is our youngshots coordinator for the North West. Jason is a successful flooring sales manager and has spent a significant amount of his own personal time planning shoot days and coordinating youngsters attending the same. Jason has ensured that shooting has been shared out equally and that diverse cross sections of youngsters have shot on many different aspects of shooting fairly. Jason has secured hundreds of shooting opportunities for youngsters and financial donations via our events, resulting in excess of many thousands of pounds. We have taken, over 600 youngsters shooting in the past 18 months and this simply could not have been possible without Jason’s assistance.
Phil Fairless [Proposed by Duncan Thomas and Steve Bloomfield]
Phil is our youngshots coordinator for the North East. Phil is a retired Police Officer and has extensive shooting contacts and influence in the area. Phil’s enthusiasm for shooting sports and especially youngshots projects is commendable. Phil has arranged for hundreds of youngsters to attend many shooting events and has appeared on TV and in local press promoting same. Phil has raised over £1300 for projects in the North East.
Jack Depledge [Proposed by Duncan Thomas and Steve Bloomfield]
Jack is a 16yr old Gamekeeping student currently based at Newton Rigg. Jack has made an enormous contribution to youngshots projects and was one of the original BASC youngshots ambassadors a project that has grown exponentially. Jack has a national media profile and has appeared for BASC on national TV including Sky News and Secret Britain absolutely “normalising” shooting sports.
Liam Cupit [Proposed by Duncan Thomas and Steve Bloomfield] Liam was not present to receive his award.
Liam is a 20yr old agricultural student with a high profile in the North West Shooting community. Liam is a leading BASC youngshots ambassador and has planned and delivered two significant charities shoots raising over £7000 for Cancer Research and other charities.
Ian Venton [Proposed by David Gervers and James Green]
Ian has been the club Secretary for Bridgwater Bay Wildfowlers Association for 36 years; prior to this he had sat on the committee for a further 4 years. He has been instrumental in signing up new members to the club (5-10 per year) which has added a significant number of new members to BASC.
Ian regularly supports the club and BASC with their presence at the West Country Game Fair and the Bridgwater Bay Wildfowlers Association big bore and black powder day even though he rarely if at all makes use of the club’s shooting. Since the earliest days Ian has helped to negotiate leases with Natural England and the records that he has kept have proven to be an invaluable
Ian received an award for long service from BASC in 2000 – since then has continued to support the club helping it to grow from strength to strength and is a vital part of its success.
After 40 years of uninterrupted service we would like to recognise this achievement formally.
Tony Owens [Proposed by Glynn Evans and Alex Farrell]
PC Tony Owens of Cheshire constabulary, in recognition for his work as the prevention lead in the Project Poaching Delivery Group. Tony has done a huge amount of work within the group not only playing a pivotal role in developing the app but also the other wider aspects of Project Poacher such as raising the awareness of poaching not only within his own force but much wider across all the forces in England and Wales. By raising awareness of Police officers they understand the issues around poaching, the links between those who commit it and other rural crime. Tony will shortly be retiring from the Police service and I am sure his work and effort will be missed
Aaron Christiansen [Proposed by Glynn Evans and Alex Farrell]
Aaron has been nominated in recognition for his work and dedication in developing the poaching app.
Aaron, at 15 years of age took on developing the app. in his spare time. Whilst not familiar with the issues of poaching Aaron quickly grasped the concept and was extremely helpful and patient making changes and incorporating updates as needed. It is available across the 3 main operating platforms; Android, Apple and Windows all of which needed specific and extensive work to ensure that the app worked on them.
The app takes the user step-by-step through creating a report and allows them to pinpoint their location using the phone’s GPS. This data can be sent to the police together with additional information about the type of incident, vehicles or suspects and any other witnesses; the app also provides extra information about poaching legislation.
BASC has subsequently been able to make the app. available for free to download to all. Within 3 months it has been downloaded 1800 times and number reports have been submitted via the app. A number of Police forces are looking to use it a resource to their officer’s electronic equipment.
The Acting Chief Executive invited the Chairman to present his report.
Peter Glenser: Ladies and Gentlemen
Good morning, they say a week is a long time in politics. Well I have been chairman for about three and I now for the first time really appreciate what those words mean– its been eventful to say the least.
Many people think it’s impossible for a lawyer to deliver a speech which is short. Well I‘m going to prove them wrong – this one will be.
You have heard about our recent difficulties. I am going to echo what Christopher has said.
I am limited as to what I can say to ensure the protection of employee rights and that due process is properly followed. That’s immensely frustrating for me and I dare say for you. Council and I are keen to be totally transparent. I can confirm that the problems are internal and concern staffing issues.
I’m grateful to have been elected unanimously by my colleagues on Council with a mandate to sort out those problems which have become apparent over the past few months. I can also confirm that under council’s guidance the correct measures have been taken to resolve matters and that a fuller announcement will be made when possible. We have set in train a totally independent investigation, to be carried out by an HR Consultant, a specialist employment law firm, Chambers O’Neill and they in turn have oversight by an employment law QC called Sean Jones.
If the FCA wish to oversee or investigate we would be delighted. Nothing to hide at the Mill. The inclusion of the FCA may suggest that there are financial irregularities – there are not – they happen to be the regulator of societies such as ours.
I cannot say more. If you have any questions about this afterwards I can direct them to Andrew O’Neill of Chambers O’Neill who is here.
I want to pay tribute to the staff. They have behaved magnificently in difficult times – sometimes very difficult – over a considerable period. Many of them have had to shoulder heavy additional responsibilities over recent weeks. I am humbled by their dedication and proud of that which they have achieved.
So why would anyone want to take on the Chairmanship at such a time?
The truth is that Council and I are committed to the work BASC does and happily volunteer our time and skills to help the staff do their job and ensure the future of shooting.
I mean all Council members – even the three who have recently resigned – because while we may have had differences on how the Association should be governed we all share the same passion for the sport and the desire to see it flourish.
My perception is that relationships between council and staff have never been better. We have amassed the most extraordinary set of skills in the organisation. Council itself has never been stronger.
We have a remarkable resource in BASC, the only shooting organisation to have the critical mass in terms of resources both human, technical and financial to do the job.
Among the staff we have people who are national and even international experts.
Global authority. BASC employs people who are committed to the sport and many of them are practitioners.
Over decades of careful management we have ensured that the team has the resources to do the job – it’s Council’s role to ensure that this continues and that BASC‘s future is as bright and successful as its past.
It was Judge Bishop in the VAT tribunal who, a few years ago, commented that in his opinion shooting would look very different and in some cases might not exist at all if it hadn’t been for BASC. We’re all aware of the threats and challenges which face our sport. There are those who would make shooting a luxury by pricing us out of private firearms ownership. There are forces intent on banning lead ammunition, snares, grouse shooting and pest control. If these people succeed then the country, our wildlife and our own lives will be immeasurably poorer.
BASC is a bulwark against those threats I know that I can count on your support to ensure those threats never become a reality.
It is important to remember that we are a membership organisation not a business – and we mustn’t lose touch with the grassroots whether members, staff or volunteers.
We mustn’t lose the feel of a membership organisation.
There is an old Chinese curse about being born in interesting times. Well these are certainly interesting times to be chairman. But if you look at the front of your pack you will see a slogan. Together. For shooting. For conservation. For the future and you. Not idle words.
Whether you are a stalker or a wildfowler, whether you shoot pigeons or partridges, grouse or geese, rabbits or rats, whether you use an airgun, a shotgun, or a rifle, we are your organisation. Together. For shooting. For conservation. For the future but above all for you.
The threats we face are real. They are common to us all in one form or another. United we can deal with them.
The Chairman invited questions from the floor. Questions would be directed to the most appropriate person to answer them.
Questioner: BASC is a membership organisation of members. Members haven’t known what is going on and it is causing alarm. Rumours around the mill are alarming and we are hearing unconfirmed stories. Would it be possible to tell our members what you can tell them today?
Andrew O’Neill was asked to respond to the question: Chambers O’Neill, a specialist employment law firm have been appointed by the Executive and the Council. However, the appointment is essentially for and on behalf of the members. We have been appointed to carry out and lead an investigation in conjunction with an external HR consultant and that is what we intend to do. As we are in the very early stages of the investigation I cannot tell you what those investigation conclusions will be and I cannot go into the detail about where we are in that process. All I can say is that we will be dealing with matters in a thorough and fair way and as quickly as possible. I can’t tell you when the investigation will be concluded. This is because of the steps that have been put in place to ensure the process is thorough and fair. I can confirm there will be oversight by a QC from a barristers chambers in London which specialises in employment law. I am not prepared to give you further details as I don’t want to affect, taint or prejudge the investigation. I ask you to bear with us in order to do this properly.
Questioner: you are compounding the difficulties in as much as this is the first AGM I have attended where the President is not here, The Chief Executive is not here and the previous Chairman is not here. The difficulty of this is, it is compounding the problem of confusion and not knowing. As members of BASC we need up to date information by Tuesday at the latest.
Andrew O’Neill responded: I cannot respond to what you have just said, but understand what you have said.
Questioner: Has the leaked document effected your investigation in any way
Andrew O’Neill responded: I am conducting my investigation in a way that is bordering on rude. Other than my initial meeting with a member of council and the Acting Chief Executive I have made a deliberate effort to stay away from everyone else in the Association, other than those people I am seeing as part of the investigation.
In relation to the specific question, I have no involvement other than knowing today, that documentation has been leaked. I am not involved in advising the Association and I have not seen the leak. My role is to get answers to the issues currently facing the Association. Some are historical issues that I will revisit and there are current issues that I need to investigate. But I am not involved in wider issues.
Questioner: In the list of obituaries many of those read out were wildfowlers and many wildfowlers are out in force here, today. We regard BASC as our Association. Why has Richard Ali been suspended? A lot of us were pleased to see him after John Swift, to shake things up and to see him suspended casts a problem as he is our figurehead. I know you maybe can’t answer today but if not we would like a response by next Tuesday.
The other thing is towards Peter Glenser. As we had a Vice Chairman, why did he not automatically take up the Chair?
The Chairman responded: In Annexe 12 of the rules, governance and operations of the Association specifically allow for a casual appointment and Mike Sherman asked me to stand. In relation to the previous question about whether the Chairman is here or not. I was elected unanimously, by a quorate body of Council after the last Chairman resigned and until after this meeting when a new Chairman will be elected.
Andrew O’Neill responded: Can I ask what the importance of next Tuesday is?
Questioner: My view is, it is a few days ahead of today.
Andrew O’Neill responded: I need to confirm that it will not be physically possible to speak to all those I need to in a short space of time, I am are going to do this properly and do it right. Therefore I will not have any further information in such a short space of time. It is not deliberate or inaction it is simple the fact we are going to do it properly and we are going to do it right.
Questioner: Philippa Bursey when she left, left the association in a healthy state, what is the budget spent up to now on the previous report and what is the projection? What was the financial burden of the previous report?
Andrew O’Neill responded: Chambers O’Neill charges and the Association are a matter between ourselves, but I have agreed half day rates and day rates which I offer to longstanding clients. These are considerably lower than hourly rates.
Acting Chief Executive directed a question to Andrew O’Neill: What has been the Association’s attitude to this with you, from a financial side?
Andrew O’Neill responded: Christopher was keen from the outset that costs remain manageable. Our day rate is really quite reasonable. We trade on our name and most of our business is by recommendation because we offer good value.
Acting Chief Executive responded: Costs of this nature must be approved by Council. I have asked Andrew O’Neill to tell me know when we hit the level that must be authorised by Council. This will ensure we keep a tight grip on the costs. With regards to the first report we are still looking into the costs and a ballpark figure is approx. £40,000
Questioner: This is a complex issue and I would like to know a ball park figure. I think it is going to cost us the best part of 100K?
Acting Chief Executive responded: I want to be sure it is brought in as reasonably as possible but must be done right and we have taken measures with this investigation to reduce costs.
Questioner: The reason I said Tuesday was I thought it was the earliest and most practical date you could get a message out to its members.
Acting Chief Executive responded: On Monday the magazine, which goes to members, will go to print. There will be reference to this in the magazine. We would not normally discuss staffing issues in the magazine but we need to ensure we don’t prejudice people’s rights and get landed with a large legal bill. Also statements have been made to members, are on the website and those will be reflected in the magazine.
Questioner: If BASC is such a super slick well-oiled machine, however did it come to this in the first place?
Chairman responded: I think this is why we are having the investigation
There were no further questions.
The Chairman presented the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2015. The Chairman drew attention to a clean audit and the best results BASC has ever had with just over a £1million surplus which will be reinvested on behalf of the membership to promote and ensure the future of the association and shooting sports.
Question from Philippa Bursey: For those of you who don’t know my name is Philippa Bursey, I was the Director of Business Management and I was largely responsible for the preparation of the accounts being laid before this meeting. My question is actually addressed to Jill Jones, as representative of RSM, the auditors.
Given the current circumstances in which the Association finds itself, that arisen as consequences of actions, which started to occur before the year and I do appreciate these accounts are now six months old. Do the auditors have any concerns and do they believe they should be reconsidering their report? And in particular are the contingent liabilities adequately provided for?
Angela Davies, BASC Director of Business Management responded: We contacted Roger Davies, the auditor from RSM immediately and I have spoken to him in detail about contingent liabilities provisions and the financial statements laid in front of you. Roger Davies, our auditor has provided the following letter which I shall read.
The preparation of the financial statements of the Association is the responsibility of the Executive & Finance Committee (see page 3 of the financial statements). The 2015 financial statements were approved by this committee on 17th March 2016. Here facts had become known after the financial statement have been issued: I understand financial statements have been published in the BASC magazine.
You and I have discussed this, including the potential claims in context of the overall surplus and turnover of BASC and whether this needs to be addressed in the financial statements. I understand that BASC has determined that no amendments to the financial statements was required and RSM is accordingly content not to issue a revised auditor’s report.
I hope that this letter clarifies this matter for you but if you require any further information please let me know.
R M Davies
There were no further question
The accounts were proposed and seconded from the floor and agreed on a show of hands. The Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements were duly adopted.
The Chairman asked the Chief Executive to introduce the nominations.
There were no nominations for Vice-Presidents this year.
Honorary Life Membership: Jim Carpenter [Proposed: Liam Higgins]
Jim was first elected onto the Committee in 1964, and then there was a gap from 1972 – 1975 when his work took him to Yorkshire. He served as Chairman from 1965 – 1967. Secretary 1977 – 1985 and Treasurer 1989 – 2015. In between he ran the Clay Pigeon Shooting Section. The periodic renewal of the lease on the South Barrier Bank, at least the last three have been negotiated by Jim almost single handed.
The club owes the man an enormous debt and if you agree with me we cannot let his retirement pass unrecognised.
The Chairman called for a show of hands and the award was approved
Honorary Life Membership: Barry Merrison [Proposed: Graham Crompton-Howe Seconded: Tim Russell]
Barry has been a Member of the Humber Wildfowlers for 39 years and Treasurer continually for over 25 of those years.
He is a quiet man and slight in stature but one of those people who when given a job just gets on with it in his quiet manner.
As Chairman of the Humber Wildfowlers for 20+ years, he not only does the usual Treasurers job of managing the finances of the club but has for the last 10 years or so took taken on part of the Secretaries role arranging meetings and organising our annual wildfowling stand at the Broclesby.
At these shows he is there first, helping setting out the stand and is there last, putting things in the trailer.
I have worked closely with Barry on:-
As a past Vice Chairman of BASC whilst serving my 10 year term one of the greatest pleasures I got was from seeing the people like Barry, who just get on with the job a vital job for both our club and BASC, without seeking any reward or special recognition.
I wholeheartedly recommend Barry to receive this award and hope it is received favourably in Council.
The Chairman called for a show of hands and the award was approved
The Chairman invited Jill Jones of RSM, the Scrutineer, to present the results of the elections to Council for 2016.
| Ballot papers received | 1,856 |
| Online voters | 929 |
| Total voters | 2,785 |
| Papers received after deadline | 4 |
| Papers spoilt | 24 |
| Total paper votes | 1,828 |
| Total web votes | 929 |
| Votes deemed invalid | 18 |
| Total valid voters | 2,739 |
In the order they appeared on the ballot paper, the votes from these valid papers were cast as follows:
| Kevin Byre | 180 |
| Michael Alldis | 600 |
| Allan Musslewaite | 732 |
| Cara Richardson | 1227 |
Cara Richardson was duly elected to Council. Robin Marshall Ball stood unopposed for the England seat and is elected to Council.
The Chairman introduced the nominations for the election of trustees for the Wildlife Habitat Trust.
Alan Jarrett has been proposed and seconded, was happy for his name to go forward. The nomination was carried on a show of hands and Alan Jarrett was duly elected.
David Steele has been proposed and seconded, was happy for his name to go forward. The nomination was carried on a show of hands and David Steele was duly elected.
It was proposed that RSM UK Audit LLP be reappointed as auditors for the year ending December 2016, as recommended by Council. This was carried unanimously, on a show of hands.
Questioner: I have come a long way today to get some answers but it is obvious that we will not be able to get these answers today. One question concerns why certain staff have resigned, and our ex-Chairman – why is he still a trustee for the WHT when he has resigned as chairman?
The Acting Chief Executive responded: The member of staff who resigned handed in a letter of resignation. In terms of the proposal for Alan Jarrett for the Wildlife Habitat Trust this was decided earlier in the year, I have emailed Alan who is shooting in South Africa and put a message on his phone to confirm if he still wanted his name to go forward but no response has been received yet. It would be quite proper for his election to be moved as he has been validly nominated.
The Chairman: I would also add that it would be quite wrong for his election not to go forward in the absence of him withdrawing it. It is therefore a valid nomination.
Questioner: How will council now go about undertaking business now that some Council Members have resigned?
The Chairman responded: We have lost four members of Council (three resigned and one retired) and just elected two. Council ranged between a minimum of ten and maximum of nineteen and we are within those limits. The code of good governance for our type of organisations recommends that smaller Councils are better and provides better governance. There will be another election next year and if required we have the option to Co-opt.
There being no further business the Chairman thanked those present for their attendance and declared the meeting closed.
| Ballot Papers received | 2,214 |
| Online voters | 677 |
| Total voters | 2,891 |
| Papers received after deadline | 1 |
| Papers spoilt | 25 |
| Papers deemed invalid | Nil |
| Valid paper votes | 2,189 |
| Valid web votes | 677 |
| Total valid voters | 2,866 |
| Number of votes cast | 11,881 |
| Alisdair Troup | 969 |
| Nick Powell | 941 |
| Ann Mortimer | 1,285 |
| Simon Kibble | 908 |
| Sarah Turner | 1,224 |
| Peter Pursglove | 1,042 |
| Daryn Hufton Rees | 462 |
| Neil Chalmers | 537 |
| Sally-Anne Cockerill | 1,278 |
| Allen Musselwhite | 1,024 |
| John Dryden | 1,112 |
| Martyn Jones | 1,099 |
Abbots Well Hotel, Chester on Saturday 14th June 2014
Present:
The Chief Executive called the meeting to order and asked Philippa Bursey to make administrative announcements prior to the start of the meeting. Those present were informed that the meeting was being recorded to assist in the preparation of the minutes. Speakers from the floor were asked to wait for the roving microphone and to give their names. Supporters were reminded that although they could speak, they had no voting rights. Luncheon and emergency evacuation procedures were outlined.
The President opened the meeting.
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies had been received from Patricia Hannam, Stewart Ogden, Colin Shedden, Alistair Troup, Peter Glenser, Martyn Jones, Mary Eveleigh, Helen Cormack, Dominic Griffith, Gary Ashton, Dr David Stinson, Tommy Mayne, Michael Hardy, Michael Alldis, Arthur Thirlwell [vice-President], Daryn Hufton-Rees and Richard Playle.
The Chief Executive paid tribute to prominent members of the Association who had passed away in the last 12 months:
Robert Chalk, was a longstanding member of Leigh on Sea Wildfowlers Association. Researching, collecting and restoring guns, particularly muzzle loading shotguns and rifles was of great interest to him and he had over 100 in his collection. The “Black Powder Shoot” that he organised annually was eagerly looked forward to by many friends that he introduced to muzzle loaded game shooting. Some 26 acres of land and freshmarsh in nearby Barling, in sight of the churchyard where he lies, has been purchased by Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association and named “Chalk Marsh” in his memory
Tony Dakin served as Hon Sec under Richard Bream until 1990 when he took over the Chairman’s role from Richard and continued the Hon Sec roll as well. He tirelessly served the Leicestershire Wildfowlers’ Association and made a major contribution in the success of the Priory Water project. He was a great ambassador for country sports and the shooting world has lost a true gentleman. He retired from his roles in 2008 but still played an active role on L.W.A. Council until 2013. He is greatly missed.
James Dorrington was a keen wildfowler and game shot and it was his idea to restore the double Holland and Holland punt gun which is displayed in the Duke of Westminster Hall – unveiled by Lord Home in May 2012. The gun was once owned by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, the Association’s first President.
Hugh Andrew, a BASC member for over 27 years; Hugh was a born outdoorsman who loved shooting, Hugh discovered coastal wildfowling as a teenager, becoming Fenland Wildfowling Association’s club warden, Hugh also worked as a gamekeeper and later head keeper, remaining a wildfowler at heart Hugh enjoyed a long retirement on the shores of the Montrose Basin.
Brian Platts, shot mostly around the Medway area, where he lived, and was often seen cycling down through Gillingham with gun and dog to the marsh; he was also a longstanding member of North West Kent Woodpigeon Club (affiliated Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association/BASC).
Peter Du-Casse was a longstanding member of Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association, an exceptional shot in his younger days who always liked to move with the times, often turning up with the latest in decoys and other equipment, he passed away after a short illness.
Jim Clarke, a well-respected member of the South Essex Wildfowlers and a veteran member of BASC.
James Williams was Chairman of the Somerset Otter Group and had been a member of BASC some 30 years. James was enormously respected throughout the conservation community in the Southwest, and was awarded an MBE in 2013 for his services to conservation. James was a valued BASC volunteer on the River Tone project, and his loss will be felt deeply by both the country sports and conservation communities.
Bill Holland was a long standing member of both Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association and of Northwest Kent Woodpigeon Shooting Club; he passed away in August after a short illness.
Guy Walsh, a member of Packham, and later Chichester Wildfowlers Association. He was a well-known wildfowler in the south-east.
Ernie Holden was a longstanding member of both Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association and of Northwest Kent Woodpigeon Shooting Club. A very keen shooter and very active on his own small duck flighting area, often seen on a tractor mowing, or with strimmer in hand clearing the pond area. In latter years always accompanied by his young German Short-haired Pointer (his pride and joy) on the marsh, pigeon or game shooting. He passed away in May after a very short illness.
Tom Wanstall was a very active wildfowler both on the Swale and Medway often encountered at Shellness (his favourite and home marsh) on the Isle of Sheppey.
Hugh van Cutsem was noted as one of the finest shots in the country. His 4,400-acre estate on Norfolk’s Brecklands is known for the excellence of its private wild game shoots, and he also owned a hunting lodge and grouse moor on the North Yorkshire-Cumbrian border. His methods of managing his land — so that game birds proliferate in a habitat teeming with their favourite diet of grubs, insects and seeds, while enjoying protection from foxes, stoats and crows — had remarkable results, including a recovery in the population of English partridge and a boom in the population of the stone curlew, one of Europe’s rarest birds.
Clarissa Dickson Wright, a former barrister; Clarissa became one of Britain’s most famous chefs. Clarissa made many appearances on the BASC stand at game fairs and did a huge amount to promote game cookery.
A few moments of silence were observed in their memory.
2. President’s Address
Lord Home: Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, last year I talked about the BASC family and we are indeed a family still. And we are a growing family, with a membership of over 135,000, which is splendid news; my congratulations to the membership recruitment team who continue to do a great job. But any family must have its rules whether those rules are the law of the land, or voluntary family rules. BASC’s rules cover amongst other things good governance, good behaviour and, indeed, being a good example to other families when have to demonstrate that we are an ethical, efficient but also an effective group.
Under the leadership of Martyn, Richard and the Council, great strides have been made over the last year on governance. I don’t think that everybody necessarily knows that those responsible for governance are also at risk themselves – as I only know too well from being a member of parliament and a banker, probably the two most unpopular groups in the country. Some people in these groups have behaved very badly, others, probably through negligence or ignorance, didn’t really check what the rules were, and we all know what happened after that. I’m sure it would have been very good for the duck population if the parliamentary duck house had been approved but I have to say that I strongly support the veto on it.
As a banker I can be sent to prison for so called “reckless banking”, I don’t quite know what that means but it probably does mean that I can’t authorise my own overdraft, which is probably a very good thing as I would certainly go to jail for doing that. The Council and management, therefore, deserve a big vote of thanks from all of us for it is they that carry the can if anything goes wrong. There are exposed to criticism, or even worse, in public or in private but over the last year they’ve done a splendid job at keeping us on the straight and narrow so my thanks to all Council members and management for that. But a very special “thank you” to Martyn who’s been a superb Chairman of BASC for the last two years; we’re not losing him completely and he will be around for a bit, but he will be taking a well-earned rest from keeping the Council under control. Our loss, but I think it also very bad news for the salmon population on the Tyne as he will have a bit more time to cause mayhem there; but, Martyn thank you very much for your efforts; we are extremely grateful.
If BASC is going to be an example to others, we must make sure that we are efficient for nothing destroys a reputation of an institution quicker than sloppiness or unnecessary mistakes. Accuracy in what we say, do or write is therefore of the greatest importance. Although we are not answerable to a regulator such as the Bank of England, who can enforce efficiency, we must behave as if we were regulated, for we are the equivalent of a very major institution in the eyes of our members and of the public. Demonstrable efficiency, I believe, earns the respect of others and others will listen to what we say on behalf of our members. We’ve been successful in a number of ways over the last year; we’ve secured a sensible settlement on firearms fees, we’ve been able to negotiate good deals on such things as new vehicles and goods from retailers and we’ve made good progress with the political parties, who have all pledged their support for shooting sports. None of these achievements would have happened if we were not respected as a strong and efficient organisation. But there is more to do, we have made a very good start with cooperating with other major trusts and associations and that will continue. We have started the taste of game initiative; food is absolutely essential to shooting and is important link in the defence of shooting in the respect that we only shoot what we can eat – with the possible exception of vermin. I have tried eating some vermin and it’s not a good idea. This initiative is vital if we are to have a mass market for game, but there is an education process required if we are to convince the public that eating game is good for them.
Nor have we forgotten our charitable responsibilities, we are supporting the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution by sponsoring a clay pigeon shoot, which, as Richard has previously mentioned, will celebrate the life of my dear friend and keen shot, the late Hugh van Cutsem who was indeed a brilliant shot and very enthusiastic countryman. What we didn’t mention is that Hugh left behind four real killing-machines in his four sons and I’ve seen more poaching done on my estate by those four than I’ve seen from proper, professional poachers.
We are now in the run up to the Scottish Referendum in September and the General Election next year so politics will play a big part of all our lives in the next coming months. If Scotland achieves independence, it will be interesting to see what attitudes the Scottish government takes to shooting. I hope there won’t be much change, or any change, but I shoot on the border where the River Tweed is a boundary between England and Scotland and I’m waiting to see if my dog is going to be asked to show her passport when she retrieves a pheasant from the other bank; it could be an interesting time between the two countries. But for those of us that are passionately keen to see Scotland remain in the United Kingdom it is encouraging that the polls so far predict a “no” result, but it is far from a certainty and certainly, we Scots cannot afford to be complacent about it. Although I have serious concerns about the future of shooting in Scotland, if all the recommendations released in the land reform paper, issued in Edinburgh last week, were implemented. I do believe that any Scottish government will believe that the benefits of shooting are indeed benefits to the country as a whole but it will be vital to demonstrate, and to press home, the economic arguments that demonstrate the worth of shooting and the fact that a high amount of money goes into Scotland from both England and around the world. So, the next twelve months will be fascinating – will the Middle East implode with Iraq and Syria breaking up, will the Europeans elect an acceptable leader, will Russia back off Ukraine, today’s news is not encouraging. I suppose if there is internal fighting, it will be less shooting of endangered species, but we all pray for peace and stability in what is at the moment a very troubled world.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
3. Chief Executive’s Address
My Lord President, honoured guests, members, friends and colleagues. A year ago I noted that Council had left me in no doubt about the work that needed to be done and of the help and support it would provide.
I am happy to report that Council has provided me and the BASC staff team with the direction, constructive challenge and support that any successful organisation needs.
For our part, BASC’s staff team has responded by implementing a programme of rapid evolution. This has the objective of ensuring this Association can deliver our members’ priorities, today and well into the future.
To date much of this work has been about making sure we have the right organisational structure – deploying our resources in ways that make the biggest difference – but all has been about BASC being both more effective and more efficient while still providing the best value for money.
We have put more boots on the ground; we have strengthened our management team; we have added to our specialist expertise. It is that specialist expertise which means we are taken seriously by policy makers and by other organisations; whether discussing firearms issues, conservation or shoot management. That expertise is crucially important as we approach the 2015 General Election.
But we have also gone further over the last year as we have used our growing membership to negotiate an unsurpassed insurance package and introduce a raft of tangible benefits that can save our members literally thousands of Pounds.
A year ago I also promised to work co-operatively with other organisations. This we have done and I want to put on record my thanks to every one of our sister organisations for their reciprocity. Indeed, it is in that spirit of co-operation that we are all working together and have commissioned independent consultants to evaluate the benefits of shooting to our economy, our environment and our society. This report is now due to be launched in early July.
At BASC our arguments are backed by solid, scientific evidence and we refuse to countenance any decisions proposed by policy-makers, regulators or others that are not soundly evidence-based. And as we provide clear evidence to support our case we will expect those who seek to restrict any aspect of shooting to do the same. They must back their claims with hard evidence, and this is particularly important in contentious areas such as the use of lead shot.
Let me make BASC’s position on lead totally clear: no sound evidence, no change.
This is a position shared by our sister organisations too.
Over the coming year BASC will continue to both promote and protect shooting and work on behalf of our growing membership.
My team and I will be focused on our performance; how we can be both more effective and more efficient; and how we can build continuous improvement into the core of the Association.
Thank you for your support.
4. Awards and Presentations
The President asked the Chief Executive to announce the presentation of awards.
The Stanley Duncan Conservation Trophy awarded posthumously to James Williams – recommended by Robin Marshall-Ball and James Green, collected by Elizabeth Williams, James’s widow.
Elizabeth Williams: I’m so delighted to be here to receive this award on behalf of James. He would, I think, put it on a par with his MBE that the Queen awarded him last year. It was a year ago this weekend since it was announced. He was then made a fellow of the Linnean Society. He was a great conservationist and a great field sports enthusiast, which I shared with him and shall miss terribly our fishing expeditions and that I didn’t actually have time to do more of the conservation work with him; but, fortunately, his work is going forward and there are all sorts of things happening and so I am very grateful to BASC for awarding this to him.
Special Presentations
Special presentations were awarded by the President to:
Mick Vokes; recommended by Steve Bloomfield and David Ilsley. Mick’s presentation is for his contribution as a volunteer for BASC.
Apologies given from the next three recipients of the special presentations:
Mary Eveleigh; recommended by Bill Harriman and Christopher Graffius.
Helen Cormack; recommended by Bill Harriman and Christopher Graffius.
Dominic Griffith; recommended by John Thornley and Mike Sherman.
5. Chairman’s Report
The President invited the Chairman to report.
My Lord President, Ladies and Gentlemen, first may I thank our President, Lord Home for his continued support and advice over the past year; we are most grateful. Your wise counsel gives us both strength and confidence. Thank you very much.
The past year has been an excellent year for our Association. It has been a year of progress and innovation. We have seen membership grow, our finances are well managed and form a sound footing from which to maintain and progress our strategy. The English regions have been reorganised and been given additional resources so as to enable them to deliver improved services to members at the local level. Our Head Office staff have worked under the excellent leadership of the Executive Team to reorganise so as to provide an even better service to members.
It’s been my proud privilege to have been Chairman of BASC for the last two years. During that time your Council has achieved a huge amount for the benefit of the Association and shooting. We have managed the process of saying goodbye to John Swift, a Chief Executive who had been in post for thirty-five [1] years, and recruiting Richard Ali as our new CEO. We have completed a thorough review of BASC’s governance and made some important but difficult changes. I want to pay tribute to my fellow members of Council for having the determination and the ability to look forwards to where BASC ought to go, rather than backwards to where we’ve been.
I am particularly proud of the fact that we are an Association with aspirations. We aspire to grow, we seek to improve our professionalism, and we have ambitions for providing an ever better service to shooting as a whole. In particular, we put members first, not only in the service we give them but in the member benefits that we are developing, many of which you are benefiting from now. We’ve strengthened decision making, a critical function when shooting faces so many challenges. We’ve strengthened our financial framework, for example by setting a revised policy on reserves. While there is always more to do, you can be confident that the financial foundations are strong and there to be built on. The audited accounts show that the Association is financially healthy and we have taken the opportunity to invest in our professional and forward looking team of staff.
Our staff team has worked tirelessly over the past year to engage with government, whether at Westminster, Stormont, Edinburgh, Cardiff or in Brussels to ensure that sensible policies are promoted for shooting sports. We’ve had some notable successes. Perhaps the most obvious is the work done on firearms fees and, in particular, the lobbying required to stop a fees order being laid without proper consideration. Work is ongoing with the stakeholders and the government to set a fair fee. Your association is at the heart of that work and hopes to be able to report good news in the near future.
In Wales we ensured that Greenland Whitefronted geese stayed on the quarry list by committing to a programme to work with others to protect their habitats and improve breeding success. In Northern Ireland we are working closely with Assembly members from across the political spectrum and have been asked to provide the secretariat to a new all-party group on fieldsports in Stormont. In Edinburgh we continue to make the case against disproportionate regulation, such as the proposed licensing of low-powered airguns. In Brussels we continue to work with FACE on issues such as invasive species, lead ammunition and the Commission’s proposals for reviewing the Firearms Directive.
We have maintained and will continue our robust and clear line on lead ammunition – no clear evidence against lead, then no change. This line currently has the full support of government. We await the report of the Lead Ammunition Group with interest.
Looking forward I am very conscious that next year the AGM will be held just after a general election. The results will be critical for shooting. I am delighted that your Association has brought together a group of 17 shooting organisations to update and expand the PACEC report on the environmental, economic and now the social impact of shooting. This new report will be even more detailed and based on a far larger sample than the report completed in 2006. I note that the results will be available to impress the politicians at the party conferences this year. They will fully demonstrate the substantial contribution shooting makes to our society’s well-being.
Before I close, however, I have a vitally important request to make of you, the membership. BASC has so many great strengths, one of which is our democratic process whereby you the members elect your Council members. Our fully democratic approached is envied and respected by many other organisations. They tell me so. The percentage of our members voting is tiny. By not voting we are much weaker, so I implore you to use your vote, encourage other members to vote and encourage fellow BASC members to stand for election to Council. We need a broader cross section of our membership to be represented. Being on Council is a big commitment, at times very hard work but, I promise you, it’s rewarding to work with fellow Council members for the future of our association and safeguarding of our much love sport; you will not be disappointed I assure you and you will, in fact, have some fun!
In closing I would like to thank Council members for their hard work, forward thinking and determination to safeguard the future of our sport, the executive team, led so effectively and ably by our Chief Executive, Richard Ali, and to the staff for their continuing hard work, diligence and commitment. Lastly, and most importantly, thank you, the members for your continuing support and a very warm welcome to our new members. Without your support none of the excellent work that your association does for shooting would be possible.
When reappointed as your Chairman at this time last year I made it clear to Council that this would be my final year as your Chairman. It has been an honour and privilege to serve you in this role and I thank the entire association for your unfailing support and encouragement. I wish my successor the same good fortune.
Thank you very much.
6. Adoption of the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2013
The President invited the Chairman to present the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2013.
Martyn Howat: Before I ask for a seconder for adoption, I would like to comment that I believe that the accounts demonstrate that the finances are well managed that Council has worked extremely hard to ensure that the accounts and finances of the organisation are well managed; that the reserves policy, which I referred to in my speech, is entirely fit for purpose.
The Chairman then asked for a proposer and seconder for the adoption of the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for 2013. Martyn Howat proposed and John Thornley seconded the proposal from the floor; agreed unanimously on a show of hands. The Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements were duly adopted.
7. Re-election of the President – The Earl of Home KT CVO CBE
The Chairman asked for a show of hands for the re-election of the President; it was unanimously agreed.
8. Elections
The President asked the CEO to introduce the nominations.
There were no nominations for Vice-Presidents this year.
There was one nomination for Honorary Life Membership; Bob Stead, proposed by Council for Honorary Life Membership. Bob was elected to the Kent Wildfowling and Conservation Association committee in 1988, and became Membership Secretary a year later. He is in his 25th Year as KWCA Membership Secretary.
THE KWCA is the UK’s largest wildfowling club with currently over 500 members. Bob oversees the administration and for all KWCA membership with enquiries being received from across Southern and Eastern England, continental Europe and as far afield as Malta. The KWCA continues to grow and thrive and Bob is at the heart of this growth.
The President asked for a show of hands, unanimously agreed.
Mr Stead was asked to collect his certificate and say a few words.
Bob Stead: Thank you very much for this award. It’s a bit like a ceremony where everybody gets an Oscar, one whereby you thank everybody like the world and his ferret, but this a much greater honour than a silly little Oscar. I can’t do the job on my own however, so I would like to thank members, especially Kent Wildfowling members, the Kent Wildfowlers’ committee along with Mr Jarrett and Mr Thorpe, the young lady who helps me – Amanda – and the BASC membership department, they are first class, they have never let me down and are always on time. I shall treasure this.
8.1 Election of Members of Council
The President invited Jill Jones of Baker Tilly, the Scrutineer, to present the results of the elections to Council for 2014.
In the order they appeared on the ballot paper, the votes from these valid papers were cast as follows:
The following were duly elected to Council: P Glenser and I Grindy
Alan Balfour stood unopposed for the Scottish seat; his re-election was confirmed on a show of hands.
8.2 Wildlife Habitat Trust – trustees for 2014/2015
The President introduced the nominations for the election of trustees for the Wildlife Habitat Trust.
Alan Jarrett, proposed by Mike Sherman and seconded by Neil Griffiths, was happy for his name to go forward. The nomination was carried on a show of hands and Alan Jarrett was duly elected.
Anthony Holliday, proposed by Thomas Gee, seconded by James Holiday, was happy for his name to go forward. The nomination was carried on a show of hands and Anthony Holliday was duly elected.
9. Motions for Debate
The President invited the CEO to present the motions for debate.
All the Motions for Debate had been proposed in the name of Council and did not require individual proposers and seconders to be specified.
Motion 1
To revise Rule 5(a)(ii) to clarify that where a Council member stands down or is removed during one term of office, that any term for which he or she is re-elected within five years is to be treated as following on from the previous term of office.
The motion is that the existing Rule 5(a)(ii) be replaced with:
“There shall be not more than nineteen and not less than ten elected members. At each Annual General Meeting of this Association those elected members of the Council who have completed five years’ service shall retire from office with effect from the close of the Meeting but a member so retiring shall be eligible for immediate re-election to the Council for a further term of five years, unless he or she has already served two consecutive terms of office, whatever their duration. A member of Council who has served two consecutive terms of office shall not be eligible for re-election to Council until the Annual General Meeting nearest the fifth anniversary of the end of the second consecutive term. For the purposes of this Rule 5(a)(ii), a term of office that starts before the fifth AGM after the end of his or her previous term of office shall be regarded consecutive upon the previous term of office.”
The President asked for questions and on a show of hands the motion was carried.
Motion 2
Rule 6 concerns the conduct of meetings of Council.
The motion is that a new rule be added as Rule 6(f):
“A Council member shall abide by standards of conduct set out in published rules of governance, operation and procedure decided from time to time by the Council for the time being”.
The President asked for questions and on a show of hands the motion was carried.
Motion 3
Rule 5(i) sets out circumstances in which an elected member of Council shall vacate office.
The motion is that a new rule be added as Rule 5(i)(vi):
“If he is in breach of the provisions of Rule 6(f) and the Council has resolved by a two-thirds majority of all Council members entitled to attend and vote at the meeting at which the resolution is considered that his office shall be vacated”.
The President asked for questions and on a show of hands the motion was carried.
Motion 4
Recognising that an attendance allowance could improve access to Council for a wider range of members, to provide for members of Council to be paid an attendance allowance.
The motion is that the existing Rule 5(f) be removed and replaced with:
“All Honorary Officers and elected members of the Council shall be entitled to reimbursement of their reasonable expenses properly incurred whilst in the course of their duties. The Chairman and Vice Chairman of BASC may be paid an honorarium as determined from time to time by the Council. All other Honorary, elected and co-opted members of Council may be paid an allowance for their attendance at Council meetings. The level of this allowance will not exceed the daily equivalent of the Chairman’s honorarium”
The President asked for questions:
Sir Malcom Guthrie, a former Council member, spoke against the motion. Citing parliamentarians voting on their own remuneration, he questioned how much the allowance would be and how it would be calculated and reviewed; he also enquired what controls would apply. Remarking on both the low turnout in the ballot and at the AGM, he did not believe that paying Council members an attendance allowance would result in the desired changes. In principle he felt the proposal to be wrong.
Responding, the Chairman explained that the proposal had been referred to Association Vice-Presidents who had considered it in principle and advised on the quantum. It would be up to individual Council members to decide whether or not they would claim. While the Chairman acknowledged the competence of current Council members, he pointed out that neither women nor younger people, who are the future of the sport, are represented; the aim is to open Council up to less well-off, working people as well as those who are retired. When asked by Harry Abbott, he confirmed that the amount was linked to the Chairman’s honorarium which is decided by elected Council members.
Harry Abbott, also a former Council member, noted that an adequate number of people had just stood for Council. He felt that becoming a Council member should be an altruistic act for which no more than expenses should be payable. Noting BASC’s dependence on membership subscriptions, he cautioned the wise use of members’ money and the difficulty in recruiting when other organisations appeared to offer insurance at a lower price.
The President asked for any further questions, there were none, and on a show of hands the motion was carried.
Motion 5
To amend Rule 4(a)(iii) to clarify that the Chairman will be appointed for a period of two years subject to removal after a period of one year by a two-thirds majority of all Council members entitled to vote at the first meeting of Council following the AGM.
The motion is that the existing Rule 4(a)(iii) be removed and replaced with:
“A Chairman and Vice Chairman who shall be elected by the Council from their number at the first meeting of the Council following the Annual General Meeting. The Chairman shall be elected for a two-year term and the Vice Chairman for a period of one year. The Chairman may be removed from office after a period of one year by a two-thirds majority of all Council members entitled to vote at the first meeting following the Annual General Meeting. The Council shall also have the power to fill a casual vacancy in the office of Chairman and Vice-Chairman.”
The President asked for questions and on a show of hands the motion was carried.
10. Appointment of Auditors for 2014/2015
It was proposed that Baker Tilly UK Audit LLP be reappointed as auditors for the year ending December 2014, as recommended by Council. This was carried unanimously, on a show of hands.
Any Other Business by Leave of the Chair
Sir Malcolm Guthrie questioned the Association’s position on lead shot and the scientific basis on which the current ban is based; he felt that the Association should be challenging that ban rather than running a compliance campaign.
The Chief Executive explained that the Lead Ammunition Group (“LAG”) has been charged by government to review both all of the current science and associated restrictions on lead; BASC’s position is very straight forward, no sound evidence, no change, and that relates to exactly what the LAG is looking at. It is also looking at the current degree of evidence and therefore he felt it would be wrong to make comment until the LAG has completed its work. With regard to the compliance campaign, which is supported by BASC, the Countryside Alliance, the CLA and every other shooting organisation, he explained that if people do not comply with the law, many of shooting’s detractors will say that shooting cannot be trusted and therefore the only way to achieve compliance with the law, whether it is right or wrong, is the prohibition of lead. Therefore all that BASC and the Countryside Alliance and CLA and the National Gamekeepers organisation and others are seeking to achieve is compliance with the law.
There being no further matters of Any Other Business, the President thanked those present for their attendance and declared the meeting closed.
[1] Secretarial Note: these minutes reflect what was said at the meeting, however, John Swift was an employee of BASC for 41 years for 25 of which he was Chief Executive.
Saturday 8th June 2013 at Abbots well Hotel, Chester
Present:
The Chief Executive called the meeting to order and asked Philippa Bursey to make administrative announcements prior to the start of the meeting. Those present were informed that the meeting was being recorded to assist in the preparation of the minutes. Speakers from the floor were asked to wait for the roving microphone and to give their names. Supporters were reminded that although they could speak, they had no voting rights. Luncheon and emergency evacuation procedures were outlined.
The President opened the meeting.
1. Apologies for absence
Apologies had been received from Davy Stinson, Noel Hulmston, Tony Laws, Robert Coe(?), John Harradine, David de Gernier, Alisdair Troup, Arthur Thirwell, Peter Wilson MBE, David Gray, Steve Bloomfield, Martyn Parfitt, Sir Roger Jones, Mike Hardy, Alan Balfour, Meurig Rees and Richard Playle.
The Chief Executive paid tribute to prominent members of the Association who had passed away in the last 12 months: Bill Morris, Michael Pass, Bill Eves, Frank Palenski, Dr Keith Tappin, John Couch, Dave Nichols, Professor Geoffrey Matthews, Ken Brereton, George Badkin, and David Trevanion. A few moments of silence were observed in their memory.
2. President’s Address
Lord Home: Thank you, Richard, and may I add my own welcome to all of you today. Thank you very much for coming.
Sometimes this part of the country isn’t very easy to get to, except perhaps if you are coming from London or Bangor, when the train seems to work. I forget which Archbishop of Canterbury it was who when asked whether he would go to heaven, he said, “I don’t mind where I go, provided I don’t have to change at Crewe”.
Today marks the end of one long chapter in our history and the beginning of a new one. With the possible exception of God and Allah, we all get older, and the time has finally come for John Swift to retire and to hand over to Richard Ali. It is very hard to find appropriate words and enough superlatives to describe what a fantastic job John has done for BASC and for our membership. One obvious but huge achievement was to ensure that BASC has survived through some very difficult times, and not only has it survived but membership now stands at a record level. That means that John not only had the right ideas to encourage the shooting fraternity to join the Association, but he also chose a group of executives who have worked with and for him for the benefit of our 130,000 members.
Picking people is a great art. In America we have seen several Presidents, such as Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and George Bush Jnr, none of whom would be God’s candidate for Mensa, but they chose very good people to work with them and America prospered during their tenure of office. I don’t know if John ever tried to become a member of Mensa and had he done so, he would no doubt have sailed through, but throughout that time John, through leadership and example and the ability to attract the right people has meant that the Association has gone from strength to strength. I don’t believe there is any greater tribute that one could give to anyone.
I was lucky enough to be brought up in a shooting family. With a father and four uncles, all of whom shot very well, one learned to be very quick or else whatever one was shooting at was dead before one lifted one’s gun. I have to say this was a cause of some frustration at the age of 15 and led to some friction. I soon learned, however, that shooting families teach each other a great deal. Safety, politeness, a love of the countryside, and an understanding of animals and birds are but a few examples. We in the BASC are a family; our membership is a family. We don’t always agree, arguments do happen and will continue to happen, but we must always remember that we are not perfect and must learn from others in the same way as we can teach them, and we can learn and teach each other.
Your executive has done a great deal to bring together shooting associations, and this will help co-operation with such bodies as the Shoot Summit, the British Shooting Sports Council and the Standing Conference on Country Sports. All of these are bodies which can help us and we can help and teach them. We do actually have two common enemies. Obviously, the League Against Cruel Sports but also Brussels. We need to work with them, we need to teach them and we need to learn from other organisations, for even everyone in BASC cannot be experts in everything. I was delighted to hear that Richard has already set up of meetings with Barney White‑Spunner of the Countryside Alliance and a dialogue is starting with GWCT.
Richard comes from a different background to John and has spent time in the commercial world. I am very pleased that he has, for he will bring to us an even greater degree of discipline and corporate governance than we have had possibly in the past. I have been associated with several different organisations which were run by enthusiastic amateurs and that, ladies and gentlemen, is unacceptable in this age of professionalism and – that awful word – transparency. We have to run ourselves with due regard both to our staff and our members, and we have to be sure that we are financially able to look after both of their interests. If anything happened to the Association, we have to make sure that these people are protected. Transparency and accountability are two very tiresome buzz words but we have to live with them, we have to comply with them, and I know that Richard will be addressing both. Richard, we wish you the very best of luck for the future.
I mentioned earlier that we live in a difficult environment. Both in the UK and beyond our shores, there are some warning lights and some difficult times ahead. We have seen the horrors of Syria, with so many people killed and the use of chemical and other weapons. I came back from Singapore on Wednesday, where the worries about North Korea are considerable, and the hope is that it is only posturing but it could get worse, for they have a very young and inexperienced leader. The problems of the Euro still face us, and here the Coalition have found a considerable number of banana skins (or perhaps I should say Cornish pasties) on which to slip. I don’t think that the media or indeed some Conservative Members of Parliament realise quite how difficult it is to run a coalition, and David Cameron is finding it, obviously, extremely hard so to do. Sadly, the Coalition is not like the family that I was talking to you about before, but it is a marriage which knows is going to lead to divorce, and that can’t be satisfactory. I have to say I would really prefer that that divorce came sooner rather than later, and I have encouraged the Prime Minister to engineer a defeat in Parliament by coming up with some proposals which the Liberal Party can’t accept, and that would lead to a defeat in a vote, would lead to a vote of confidence on the same issue, and that would inevitably lead to a General Election. At least then we would know where we were going, because at present we seem to be living in rather a vacuum.
We don’t know what will happen to a lot of issues currently facing the Association, what any new government would think about lead shot, snares, pest control and new diseases. These are all factors which we have yet to face. They are challenges and I am sure Richard and his team will take them on with complete confidence. I trust that they won’t have the same problem as the man accused of poaching in Pakistan, who appeared in court and said to the Judge, “I am innocent, as God is my witness”, to which the Judge dryly replied, “Shouldn’t you be represented by somebody better known in this country?”
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
3. Outgoing Chief Executive’s and Incoming Chief Executive’s Address
John Swift: My Lord President, dear friends, good morning. I must say, it’s been a great relief not to have to organise this Annual General Meeting and to prepare all the paperwork.
When I was talking with Martyn Howat at the beginning of the year, I suggested, and he kindly agreed, that I might say a few words in reflection on the past 25 years. But before I do that it should not be forgotten that I have been Chief Executive during nine out of the past 12 months as well.
First however I thank the Council and Chairman for a magnificent reception in London at the Naval and Military Club on Thursday last. Thank you for that, because it too marked a changing of the guard. It was an opportunity to see many old friends who have made BASC what it is today. It was a special pleasure to meet up again with Mary Anderton and Dr Pamela Harrison. I was phoned the other day by Brian
Hughes who was Bill Harriman’s predecessor as Director of Firearms. He made the point that “We all stand on somebody else’s shoulders and try and do just a bit better”. I certainly stood on John Anderton’s shoulders and Jeffery Harrison’s shoulders – and the shoulders of many others.
I say again, as I said on Thursday evening, how much I owe to my wife, Liz and the family. They have supported me through the 25 years and longer. Some moments have been a bit tricky but, nonetheless, we are here and all much stronger as a result.
A special and generous presentation was made on Thursday to mark my 25 years as Chief Executive and it should be recorded at this AGM. Nigel Brown was the Association’s Honorary Legal Adviser more years ago than I care to remember. He is also the author of “London Gunmakers” published by Christie’s Books. He has presented us with a historically significant George Daw patent double barrel hammer shotgun from the 1860s. This was the first British design to use centrefire tubed cartridge ammunition similar to todays. I hope that it will find its way to be mounted alongside the Lancaster 14 bore in the Duke of Westminster Hall, which Nigel Brown presented to honour John Anderton.
I am particularly pleased also to see my long-serving and long-suffering personal assistant, Sheila Potter, here today. I am only now discovering now how difficult it is to run one’s own life. Sheila, we thank you very much. I could not have done the Chief Executive’s job without your painstaking support. And I know Tracy Fredriksen will do exactly the same for Richard as we go forward. So thank you.
Thursday was about people and friends of the WAGBI-BASC family. Today is a business day. It’s about discharge of responsibility, transparency and accountability. It is the moment for me to sign-off and for Richard Ali to sign in – of formal handover to Richard.
I am proud to be handing over an excellent organisation, in good heart, with a clear sense of purpose, as well as a strong financial balance sheet and rising membership. Go for it, Richard and good luck!
In the next few minutes, with your indulgence, I shall first say a word or two about the year since last June. It has been a challenging time for all my colleagues. I shall then reflect on some thoughts covering the 25-year perspective.
So the year to date: it is obviously a pleasure to be able to sign off, I hope you will agree, another good set of figures for the year ended 2012. But I can say without shadow of doubt that it was a tough time. Change is always tough, and I give full tribute to all my colleagues who have made it a success.
I reflect back on the President’s words to me when we started discussing my retirement and the search for a successor. He said, “John, you will learn to understand that when you’re retiring, nobody is in the least bit interested in what you’ve got to say.” That was when you were retiring, Sir, and I see six years later you are still in post: but I respect that you are subject to higher authority.
Whether you are interested or not I would like to pay tribute to Jane Harris’s memory and contribution. Jane was our Head of HR. She gallantly kept going through her battle with cancer but sadly died during the course of the year. Her assistants, Debbie Owen and Joanne Ford, who throughout worked with and supported her, did a marvellous job at a time when huge change was going on in our organisation.
I would like to thank Philippa Bursey, the Director of Business Management, without sparing her blushes. Philippa is one of those people for whom nothing is ever too much trouble. If anyone has a problem Philippa will put in the hours and the miles to solve it. I know that your office light does not turn off until very late in the evening. Many people in this room could not have done what they did without what you have done for them.
I also thank Christopher Graffius, Director of Communications. Christopher is one of those people who will pick up the phone to anyone, and if they won’t pick up the phone, or if they slam the door in his face, he comes in through the window. If you want something done, Christopher will do it. And probably if you don’t want something done he will also do it – if he thinks it’s necessary.
I cannot mention everybody but take this opportunity to thank Tim Russell, Director of Conservation, who has been a great support during the course of the year. He has managed a diverse portfolio of responsibilities, taken on a number of special tasks with success, proved to be a brutal negotiator for members’ interests – underneath his deceptively calm exterior – and displays professional care for all.
John Harradine, Director of Research, who I know is not here today, is another with whom I have worked for many years. During the past year he has contributed a huge amount on the lead shot and ammunition issue. By his rigour and integrity he has made himself distrusted by vested interests on both sides of the argument! This is completely wrong and unfair but goes with being a senior member of the BASC staff. John is a very fine and knowledgeable person, along with Matt Ellis, who has been supporting him.
Steve Bloomfield, Director of the English Regions, is not here either. Steve has stepped up to the plate and helped us achieve better direction and strength into the English regions where there is now a new young team of professionals. And I pay tribute also to Dr Colin Shedden, with whom I have worked for many, many years up in Scotland; and I’m delighted to see that Tommy Mayne has at last turned round the membership direction of travel in Northern Ireland; he also has been doing a first-class job.
David Ilsley, Head of Membership Marketing, has provided the energy and drive behind our membership recruitment. His enthusiasm is infectious and he has been an indispensable part of the team – not least because if there is a bit of argument going you can be confident that David is in there sorting it out. Thank you very much for that, David.
And of course there is the back office: the often unsung heroes behind those who are in the frontline. But there is one special person who I want to name and it’s you, John Walkman. Thank you for helping to keep us all safe; and thank you for doing all those small things which have been so helpful and important.
What are the achievement highlights of the year? Apart from keeping the organisation going forward while waiting for change, we produced good figures in terms of finance and membership. We saw continuing growth in output and quality from the Communications team. We drove forward in the English regions. Tommy turned Northern Ireland membership around. We have done a lot with IT and developing IT applications across the organisation. We started that process of governance reform in accordance with the Sport and Recreation Alliance Voluntary Code of Good Governance. We drove forward on the conservation front with Greenshoots mapping going from strength to strength. We have set some challenging ambitions with “best practice”, and are welcoming a wider constituency of people into shooting sports.
What are my reflections on the past 25 years?
When we started all that time ago, the organisation was arguably insolvent. The John Anderton Building had been commissioned and we had red figures from wall to wall. Simon (Cussons), you were the Chairman at the time and I can remember you joking that there’s nothing like knocking your head against an overdraft ceiling to make people focus on economy. Together in 1988 we set out to get some capital background into the organisation and it took until about 1994 to get the organisation into a satisfactorily healthier financial position.
Of course, I think – and I say this with the Auditor, Jill Jones, sitting over there – that the organisation is much wealthier than the book value. That is not just in terms of goodwill from 130,000 members but also, for example, that there is an underwriter prepared to support the Association to the tune of at least £10 million, on the table, to cover just one event of negligence. The commercial value of Shooting & Conservation Britain’s largest circulation shooting title doesn’t appear on the books either. Our country shows and events have significant brand value and turnover. It is vital never to forget that the organisation is worth a huge amount more than appears on the books.
Over the past 25 years we have seen membership growth against benchmark figures: magazines and benchmark organisations have been struggling, doing everything they possibly can to attract membership through cut-price deals and so on. BASC has not followed suit and membership has gone on increasing. It’s a bit like a tree: the rings are a bit wider some years and a bit narrower in others.
We have done a huge amount to bring young people into shooting sports. The numbers of Young Shots events around the country is now significant. More women are coming into shooting; lady gamekeepers are not uncommon. People from all backgrounds and walks of life, that wouldn’t have expected to come into shooting before, can now do so. This is all about diversity and being welcoming: rather than relying on the historically traditional areas of support.
We have also widened and deepened the professional expertise in the organisation. The expertise in the firearms team nowadays is huge and second to none thanks in no small measure to Bill Harriman, Director of Firearms. The expertise in Glynn Evans’s team, in gamekeeping and game, is huge; Alan McCormick’s deer stalking – across the countries and the regions, on the Council – if you look at it, the expertise is wide and deep right across the organisation.
I am particularly proud that we have maintained a whole-UK operation. A number of organisations either weren’t whole-UK or started to split up and go their separate ways. In contrast we have built an organisation with enough joint between the carriages to allow national ambitions and expectations to have their play. This means that decisions are taken close to the people they affect; but it also maintains a cohesion which has served the organisation and our cause well. It helps hugely to have a whole-UK operation.
We have been through a technology revolution. Some of my staff colleagues will remind me that I once said “These mobile telephones will never catch on,” as I turned down an application from somebody who wanted one. We did actually have computers before 25 years ago, but we have been through that whole process and are now market leaders. 25 years ago we wouldn’t have guessed we would be where we are now.
We have constructed and built a Communications Centre which is state of the art and I pay tribute to Robert Irvine’s professional support and as Chairman during that project.
We have been unfazed by some pretty scurrilous and disreputable competition for our members. The organisation has shown itself to be mature and grown up enough to keep its eyes in its own boat, to use a competitive rowing phrase. We have stuck to core principles and values and they have served us well.
One of the things that I set out to ensure, again thanks to Simon Cussons, throughout the 25 years have been five strategic objectives.
All-party support is the first. We have set out to win friends and understanding. We made the organisation “part of the solution not a problem”. We have encouraged people to place one foot in our camp in the hope that the other one will follow soon after. We have not set out to caricature as enemies those with whom we may disagree. If you invent or manufacture enemies they eventually become real ones. Our goal has been that of bringing people into understanding of our sport.
Our second strategic objective has been to ensure a balance of opinion in the media. One will never achieve total support and a fair balance is sufficient. Simon Clarke, Head of Press and Media has brought real professionalism to our efforts.
Our third objective was to ensure opportunity for people to go shooting. We have continued successfully through Firearms, Bill; through your work in land management, Tim, and through maintaining sustainable harvestable quarry to make sure people have had access to shooting.
Fourthly we have striven for high standards. I hope that the Association will continue to show zero tolerance for those who do not obey the law or our codes of practice. It is easy to wobble off this principle and some organisations have.
Lastly the fifth and I put it last – last but not least – is the strong voice for shooting. Strength of voice comes last, after all the other things that we do. It is the actions that speak louder than words. It does not come first.
We have faced many controversial issues during the 25 years, and I shall mention just a few of them.
The first was “big bags”. Some of us will remember that very large bags became a problem as the result of city money coming into the sport. Under Jack Carter’s leadership we took this on and were immediately, and quite wrongly, accused by vested interests of trying to impose bag limits. I make no apology for having started that argument and having helped to drive down the tendency for very large bags to be accepted as part of the sporting ethos. They are not. And while the public will in the main accept and tolerate the principle of hunting, they will not do so if we show blatant disregard for the fact that we are harvesting a living quarry. We place ourselves on the wrong side of public understanding. Of course, there are many different arguments but we can say with confidence that expectations on bags have come down.
We had to deal with lead shot ammunition from those very early days. I have been working with lead for 40 years. All I would say on this occasion is that shooting sports must think very carefully about what their right course of action is.
I continue as Chairman of the DEFRA FSA Lead Ammunition Group so I am careful what I say, but if you try to defend lead on the grounds that it is “just another metal” and moreover kid yourself that it’s not a potential problem, you are not doing your case any favours. Lead is a nasty poison. Shooting needs to think very carefully about the impacts of using a poisonous substance in recreational activity, and where that could lead in the future.
Then we had all that stuff in the early 1990s about the loss of the bird pest schedule, Part 2 of Schedule 2 of the 1981 Act, and the introduction of licences and derogations. We were instrumental in finding that solution which provides the foundation for pest control to this day. The lesson there, my Lord President, was that Brussels, as you say, had to be watched like a hawk; but with goodwill and some fairly complicated deals it was possible to make sure we can carry out what you want to do. The fact is that we could be successful because of co-operation and understanding across a wide spectrum of stakeholder interests.
We of course had that deeply misconceived “pest control day” some 10 years later. It kicked off with a crazy scheme to give prizes for killing the most pests in a day; including seagulls off chimney pots in Brighton. A stated goal was to get a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. Jeffrey Olstead, who was then running our press office, is not here today, but he said some rather intemperate things and that caused a bit of a row. BASC was once again pilloried once again, this time of being against pigeon shooting.
We had “the merger debate” on and off over the years. I remember being approached back in 1994 by Charles Goodson-Wickes, then chairman of the BFSS, and Lord Peel who was chairman of GCT to that end. Peter Misselbrook who was BASC chairman and I put in a lot of hours to develop a detailed workable plan and I can say it now: I believe that our proposals might well have brought the two organisations together; but they were rejected by the fox hunting interest. It was not to be.
The Hunting Acting followed in 2004. We turned out and supported the hunting fraternity at every event, rally and march. I spoke at every one of them in support of hunting. But that did not stop the hunting world turning on BASC for winning the amendments which made sure that shooting and gundog work were protected. Christopher was the author of that success.
Then we had “laying cages”. Do you remember that? This again is about commercialisation, standards and values in sport. To my mind it doesn’t matter whether an activity is big and financially based, so long as it is open, clean, transparent and well managed. Your game farm can be very big and so long as it is run properly and openly, that is fine. The problem at the start of the laying cages argument, which involved a new technique, was the prevalence of appalling standards. BASC did shooting a good favour by taking that issue on with the inevitable flak from the vested interests once again. But your sport is stronger for our having taken on that challenge.
What were the missed opportunities during those 25 years? The only bit that I really failed on big time was to fail to achieve 200,000 members. That cost me an eye-wateringly expensive lunch with Jonathan Young, who had told me that I wouldn’t do it. In hindsight 200,000 members was never on the cards. It would take a real change in the weather, such as compulsion to be a member, or statutory tests to shoot. Those are routes down which the sport probably doesn’t have to go if it makes self-regulation work.
The loss of pistol shooting and hand guns was a huge missed opportunity. There was a moment in the House of Lords, my Lord President, when the shooting world had come together to move amendments to the Government Bill allowing their “disassembly”; in other words storing key components in separate secure places. Our supportive peers were signed up to moving the amendment on disassembly. It would have enabled hand guns to continue in safe use. It was a matter of huge regret that Lord Kimble went directly from that meeting to the floor of the House and undertook that he would support the government and would not be moving any amendments. As chairman of the Firearms Consultative Committee the game was up. That was the moment when handguns were lost. That was a massive missed opportunity. Such is politics. Do you remember that, Bill?
So the future?
By 2050 there will be another 2 billion people in the world. Climate change, whatever clever words Matt Ridley uses, will have profoundly unpredictable effects. There will be huge competition for rural land space as food production intensifies. Our sport depends on rural land space and what people do with it.
Climate change and rising sea levels will alter the coasts and wildlife distribution and migration. This will happen during the working lives of some people in this room – during the same timescale I have been working with the Association, 40 years – the mere blink of an eye.
There will be huge challenges. It is absolutely right that the organisation should have a kick up the bottom by the new Chief Executive.
But I do hope with all my heart that the Association continues to see itself as part of the solution and doesn’t regress as one or two other organisations have, to opposing change at every turn. This was never the ethos of Stanley Duncan, Jeffery Harrison or John Anderton.
I hope that BASC remains a constructive, forward looking and inspirational organisation. How often have I heard it said “BASC is an organisation that you can do business with” – that tells the truth – is prepared to take on the difficult issues, even if it costs a few bruises on the way.
My Lord President, thank you for allowing me to take up your time. I thank you all for your friendship during the time that I have been with you.
As I emailed Richard when I first was allowed his email address, I said, “If you have half as much fun doing the job as I have had, you won’t have made a mistake.”
Richard Ali: My Lord President, members, friends, and colleagues, firstly, I would like to add my thanks to John Swift and to Liz for their magnificent service to the Association over all these years. I would also like to say a personal thank you for the absolutely wonderful six weeks we spent together for an induction period for someone that hadn’t shot for 20 years. It was first-rate and thank you very much from the bottom of my heart for that.
I agree with the President’s view: shooting is a family, and I would like to thank all of you for welcoming me into that that family. It really feels like coming home. Thank you.
I would also like to thank Council, BASC members and BASC staff. Council has left me in no doubt about the work that needs to be done and the help and support that they will provide. Members have been uniformly welcoming as I have met them around the country, and I have been travelling around the country; my wife will testify to that. Their passion for the sport is absolutely inspiring. Our staff are exceptional and I’m looking forward to working with them to achieve the Association’s objectives.
So to the work. The next stage of the job is to ensure that we can continue to both defend and promote shooting in what we all know is a rapidly changing world. We’re going through a media revolution; political change – Lord Home – can be swift. New issues, new evidence and new threats will need to be confronted, dealt with and managed, and I’m looking forward to working with all of you to meet all these challenges, but also to seize new opportunities.
I want to leave you in no doubt of our priorities for the Association. I want to see this Association as one which puts its members first. You are all at the heart of what we do every single day. I want to work co-operatively with others because I believe that increases our strength. I want to see a world-class organisation, one that is recognised for its authority, its expertise, its credibility and its evidence base.
Thank you all.
4. Awards and Presentations
The President asked the Chief Executive to announce the presentation of awards.
The Ian Richardson Trophy
The Ian Richardson Trophy is awarded annually to the person who, in the view of BASC employees, has done the most for the Association in recent years.
James Reynolds, aged 17 at the time, set up a successful petition and Facebook campaign and helped gather the support of over 12,000 shooters across the UK against WH Smith’s decision to stop children from buying shooting magazines.
The trophy was awarded to James Reynolds by the President.
The Tim Sedgwick Trophy
The Tim Sedgwick Trophy is presented to a person who, in the opinion of Council, has contributed markedly to the fortunes of BASC and who is not a Council member or a member of an advisory committee.
David Gray is a retired wildfowler who recognised the importance of shooting groups buying land for shooting and conservation and suggested a fund to help in this regard, which had led to the creation of the Wildlife Habitat Trust.
As he was not able to be present at the meeting, the trophy had been presented to David by the WHT trustees on 21 May.
The Stanley Duncan Conservation Trophy
The Stanley Duncan Conservation Trophy was awarded to Rockland Wildfowlers Club. The trophy was presented to Malcolm Huggins, Chairman, and Charles Dowding, Treasurer, Rockland Wildfowlers, by the President.
Malcolm Huggins gave an illustrated presentation on the conservation work of the club on their recently purchased marshland at Rockland Broad.
Special Presentations
Special presentations were awarded by the President to:
Des Green
Des has been invaluable to the deer stalking membership, having been involved with the stalking scheme at King’s Forest for the last 8 years, conducting deer stalking outings and ensuring members obtain the maximum benefit and enjoyment from them. He has been a BASC member for almost 25 years.
Bruce and Elaine Marks
Bruce and Elaine have been demonstrating best practice with their working ferrets in professional pest control at BASC events since 2005. Their ferret section on the Young Shots days is memorable for a lot of youngsters, who are riveted by Bruce and Elaine’s first-class communication skills.
Tim Callaway
Tim, an invaluable supporter of BASC, has worked as a volunteer at numerous shows and events throughout the Midlands region. Hard-working and dependable, Tim has been an asset to the Midlands region for almost a decade.
David Conway and Jim Spalding
David and Jim were nominated for completing the work started by James Dorrington to restore the Payne-Gallwey Holland & Holland punt gun, currently on display in the Duke of Westminster Hall.
Bill Harriman gave a brief talk on the history of the gun and its link to BASC.
Helen and Steve Crick
Helen and Steve put on scurries for the Midlands and Welsh regions and organise teams of volunteers to assist. Helen has also helped at Crufts for the past three years and this year ran the invitation scurry for BASC.
Doug Conroy and Roger Evans
Doug Conroy and Roger Evans are members of the Pembrokeshire Wildfowlers’ Association and were nominated for their hard work and commitment to wildfowling and their longstanding committee membership. Doug has been a BASC member for over 29 years and Roger Evans for over 25 years.
5. Chairman’s Report
The President invited the Chairman to report.
The Chairman presented longstanding Council member and previous Chairman Robert Irvine with a decanter to mark his retirement.
Martyn Howat: My Lord President, ladies and gentlemen, firstly, my Lord President, can I thank you for your service and support to the Association again over the past year. We welcome your sage advice, we welcome your calm counsel to the Association, and we are very grateful for your support.
The last year, ladies and gentlemen, has been an exciting and indeed remarkable one for your Association. I will attempt to give you a view of some of the significant developments which have taken place.
Firstly, however, I want to say a huge thank you to our retiring Chief Executive, John Swift, who you all know so well. Secondly, I want to give a warm welcome to our new Chief Executive, Richard Ali.
Back to John for a moment, if I may. We heard a lot from John in his address earlier but I will try and summarise a few more thoughts about John Swift and his contribution to our Association. John has led BASC, the largest and arguably the most successful voluntary shooting organisation, since 1988. It is probably the most remarkable and successful shooting association anywhere in the world. He has made an outstanding, significant and distinctive contribution to shooting, rural life, and conservation on a national and indeed international scale. He has spent a lot of time in Europe, he knows the Europeans, with the legislation coming from Europe, with so much control coming from Europe, John’s knowledge and expertise in that area has been second to none.
His work has required vision, moral courage, hard work, leadership – often lonely, John, but honestly you weren’t ever alone; we were all there behind you.
Going back to his beginnings, John joined WAGBI in 1972 as a Conservation Officer. He was an adviser to the EC on the Birds Directive. We have heard about general licences. On a European level he played a key role as ambassador for the high standards promoted by BASC. Under his leadership BASC has become a respected force in conservation. Make no mistake: the blend of conservation and shooting is our strength. He has developed close and highly effective working relationships with agencies and political parties, and I’ve seen much of that. He has launched Greenshoots, and we’ve heard of Greenshoots, an increasingly important product that links shooting and conservation, and if you haven’t looked at it yourselves, I encourage you to do so. It is a wonderfully powerful tool and it is helpful in the management of shoots on all sorts of levels, not just on wildlife. You can even put your drives on there and your stands on there and where your feeders are and so forth. It’s really great.
Codes of practice: John was responsible for codes of practice, for deer stalking qualifications, the Deer Initiative; all created under John. Collaborative working with other field sports organisations and rural bodies – not always an easy job, that. It’s not always easy working with other organisations. I liked your analogy of one foot in and then see if the other one follows. It doesn’t always but sometimes getting that first foot in is a really difficult job.
John of course oversaw the construction of the communications building, which we all celebrate so much.
Judge Bishopp said of BASC: “In my judgment, it is an inescapable conclusion that, without BASC’s campaigning, advisory, educational and land management activities, sporting shooting in the United Kingdom in all its forms would be of materially poorer quality, and in some forms would not exist at all.”
One of John’s greatest achievements, in my view, however, is the staff. He has been responsible for building a remarkable staff base. We have about 115 staff. In amongst those 115 people we have a tremendous knowledge of sporting shooting and the range of skills required to run an Association like ours. To my mind, they are our greatest asset.
We don’t say farewell to John entirely, of course. He is going to continue his work as Chairman of the Lead Ammunition Group, work for BASC on FACE, and he will be in the wings to help and advise, and become sage-like into the future. I very much hope, however, you find some time to enjoy your newfound freedom, shooting, of course, and also I know your passion for diving. Thank you, John, from us all. We wish you well.
Now I come to John’s successor, Richard Ali. First, Richard, I have to tell you one thing. We expect no less from you. Richard comes to us from a solid rural, business and food background. He has a great deal of experience of leading associations and is highly skilled and experienced in the political arena. He comes to us with clear leadership qualities. He was the unanimous choice of Council from a very strong field indeed.
Richard has hit the ground running, and I have to tell you he’s hit quite a few clays. I also have to tell you I asked him earlier today how well he slept last night and he said, “I kept waking up, and then when I was asleep I was dreaming about clays.” So you can tell he is truly becoming one of us! The only comment I would make, Richard, is there are other things that young men should dream about however.
One of his recent achievements has been that he went and addressed the National Gamekeepers Organisation. Any members of the National Gamekeepers Organisation in the audience? Thank you, so I know how hostile or not my audience might be. They are a fairly eclectic mix of people and they were absolutely enthralled by his presentation and hearing what he had to say, and he went a long way to forming new alliances and friendships there. Well done.
As Richard has said himself, he has been around all of the offices and so forth, both in the English regions, the five English offices, and also in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and that has been really supportive to the staff and very informative for him in discovering what they do and what their needs and issues are. We know that Richard is going to take BASC from strength to strength, building on John’s solid foundations. BASC did well to attract somebody of Richard’s calibre. You are most welcome, Richard, and we look forward to working with you, and wish you every success.
Now I want to say something about staff. I wish to pay tribute to the staff of the Association. Their skills are outstanding, their commitment enormous, the efforts they make on our behalf have helped us to enjoy the sport we love so much, and I know you will want to join me in saying thanks to each and every one of them for all that they have done for us over the past year.
Over the past year I too have visited the far-flung BASC country and regional offices. Some of these, I have to tell you, are tucked away in dark forests or in and around bustling cities. Like Marford Mill, they are staffed by committed, skilled, highly motivated people. They work right at the coalface, serving members’ needs and providing services such as events, attending shows, arranging training for members and the like. In the country offices they add to all of this by working closely with the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies to real effect. They are doing a fantastic job and they deserve our recognition and thanks also.
Now a few words about BASC Council. As your Chairman, I have been determined to ensure that John’s achievements are built on. We have firm foundations, deep roots, and we must take care to maintain that history, but also move the Association on into the future and be appropriate for today. We are incredibly fortunate to have the support of a dedicated team of Council members. They’re all volunteers, who form a body of expertise on all aspects of sporting shooting. They are passionate about the sport, equally passionate about BASC as an organisation, and it has truly been a privilege to act as their Chairman for the past year. We have worked as a team, and dealt with complex issues in a highly strategic fashion, reaching consensus, and that has been incredibly rewarding.
Working with Council’s advice and support, we aim to work with like-minded organisations for the benefit of shooting. This approach is already bearing fruit, as you have heard from others. Through co-operation on shared principles, we are much stronger. We aim to ensure that the BASC brand is fit for purpose – it is a very powerful brand, the BASC brand, and don’t ever under-value it. It is well known and well respected. We want to ensure that BASC benefits its members, who are the lifeblood of the Association. We need to build on the expertise and the professionalism of the staff. I would like to thank Council for their tireless efforts. They deserve our recognition too.
Remember that Council members change, and there are normally new members joining each year, and we will be going through the election process in a moment. You elect them. Please be prepared to stand yourself or encourage others to stand, and make sure that you vote. Not enough of our members take advantage of their rights in this respect.
The past year your Association has consolidated our all-party work. Only a couple of weeks ago, at a meeting with a senior government minister, he said to me, “BASC is well thought of in Westminster.” I wonder how many organisations like BASC are well thought of in Westminster. That is a tremendous credit. We have taken MPs shooting and taken shooting to Parliament in the form of the shooting simulator. We challenged the MCZ proposals in England, with particular regard to the reference areas, and those have now been dropped. We have continued to fight the airgun legislation in Scotland, where the timetable for restrictions has now been abandoned. We have mobilised the shooting family to oppose WH Smith’s attempt to treat shooting magazines as pornography – and well done on that petition. My only feedback to you is, I signed up to that straight away and now I get petitions on everything.
We’ve kept hooded crows on general licences when NE sought to remove them without consultation. We have persuaded Royal Mail to drop their proposals to ban the carriage of firearms. Currently we’re working on the challenging proposals from Europe on firearms and alien species.
The future. The work of BASC doesn’t end. It never will, of course. We face a challenging few years where issues such as lead, rear and release, disturbance and alien species will all affect shooting. Remember our position on lead is clear: no proven, sound scientific evidence against lead, then no change. We face political change; our all-party stance has never been so important. Together we face those changes and continue BASC’s work, ensuring a solid future for sustainable shooting. With over 130,000 members, we are strong but we are never complacent.
Thank you to all our volunteers, be they trainers, or members who help out at shows and events. They contribute an enormous amount to the Association and we are indebted to them for their contribution.
Thank you to all of you for attending today’s AGM, for your support in the past and for your support into the future. Enjoy your sport and good shooting to you all. Thank you very much indeed.
The President offered members the opportunity to ask questions of the Chairman. There were none.
6. Adoption of the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2012
The President invited the Chairman to present the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2012.
The Chairman asked for a proposer and seconder for the adoption of the Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for 2012. Robert Irvine proposed and John Thornley seconded the proposal from the floor. Agreed unanimously on a show of hands. The Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements were duly adopted.
7. Elections
Honorary Life Membership
Peter Wilson
Peter Wilson is the current world record holder for the double trap event, and was a member of the British team for the 2012 summer Olympics. He was the youngest competitor in the men’s double trap event, where he won the gold medal. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 New Year’s Honours for his services to shooting.
Michael Alldis
Michael, a former BASC Council member, has made his facilities at the EssexShootingSchool available to BASC free of charge, enabling the Association to host a wide range of courses from there for Young Shots Days to Ladies Days through to DSC1 courses. Michael is also a former director of the CPSA.
By a show of hands, Peter Wilson and Michael Alldis were awarded Honorary Life Membership.
Election of Members of Council
The President invited Jill Jones of Baker Tilly, the Scrutineer, to present the results of the elections to Council for 2013.
The votes from these valid papers were cast as follows in the order they appeared on the ballot paper:
The following were duly elected to Council: J Graham and D Greaves.
Wildlife Habitat Trust – trustees for 2013/2014
The President introduced the nominations for the election of trustees for the Wildlife Habitat Trust.
Alan Jarrett, proposed by Lee Freeston, seconded by Mike Sherman, was happy for his name to go forward. The nomination was carried by a show of hands and Alan Jarrett was duly elected.
Anthony Holliday, proposed by Thomas Gee, seconded by Matthew Cutting, was happy for his name to go forward. The nomination was carried by a show of hands and Anthony Holliday was duly elected.
8. Appointment of Auditors for 2013/2014
It was proposed that Baker Tilly UK Audit LLP be reappointed as auditors for the year ending December 2013, as recommended by Council. Carried unanimously on a show of hands.
9. Any Other Business by Leave of the Chair
There being no matters of Any Other Business raised, the President thanked those present for their attendance and declared the meeting closed at 12.20 p.m.
| National Election | Totals |
| Ballot papers received | 2,030 |
| On-line voters | 935 |
| Total voters | 2,625 |
| Number of papers received after the deadline | 3 |
| Number of spoilt papers | 44 |
| Number of papers for checking and validating | 2,578 |
| Number of papers deemed void | 10 |
| Number of valid papers | 2,568 (6,543 valid votes) |
| National election candidates | Number of votes |
| Michael Hardy | 1,382 |
| John Graham | 1,100 |
| Martyn Parfitt | 1,084 |
| John Thornley | 1,600 |
| Alan Jarrett | 1,377 |
| National Election |
Totals |
| Ballot papers received |
2,215 |
| On-line voters |
490 |
| Total voters |
2,705 |
| Number of papers received after the deadline |
2 |
| Number of spoilt papers |
44 |
| Number of papers for checking and validating |
2,659 |
| Number of papers deemed void |
11 |
| Number of valid papers |
2,648 |
| National election candidates |
Number of votes |
| S Ogden |
972 |
| M Sherman |
987 |
| R Garner Williams |
492 |
| H Abbott |
463 |
| A Jarrett |
940 |
| G Owen |
365 |
| C Zambuni |
1,229 |
| C Allan |
372 |
| P Culley |
1,003 |
| National Election |
Totals |
| Ballot papers received |
1,665 |
| On-line voters |
250 |
| Total voters |
1,915 |
| Number of papers received after the deadline |
0 |
| Number of spoiled papers |
21 |
| Number of papers for checking and validating |
1,894 |
| Number of papers deemed void |
15 |
| Number of valid papers |
1,879 |
| National election candidates |
Number of votes |
| J Davies |
598 |
| A Troup |
705 |
| S Willis |
605 |
| N Griffiths |
794 |
| C Allan |
626 |
| J Pursglove |
588 |
| M Howat |
904 |
| L Freeston |
1,229 |
| H Abbot |
665 |
| D de Gernier |
690 |
L Freeston M Howat N Griffiths Alisdair Troup David de GernierThe result of the Wales election to Council 2010 is as follows:
| Wales Election |
Totals |
| Ballot papers received |
626 |
| On-line voters |
16 |
| Total voters |
624 |
| Number of papers received after the deadline |
0 |
| Number of spoiled papers |
13 |
| Number of papers for checking and validating |
629 |
| Number of papers deemed void |
6 |
| Number deemed eligible as voters were not resident in Wales |
441 |
| Number of valid papers |
182 |
| Wales election candidates |
Number of votes |
| Sir R Jones |
139 |
| G Owen |
43 |