British Association for Shooting and Conservation

Infobox Company
company_name = British Association for Shooting and Conservation
company_
company_type = Conservation
foundation = 1908 (WAGBI)
location = Marford Mill, Rossett
key_people = Stanley Duncan, founder; Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, patron
area_served = United Kingdom
num_employees = 103
company_slogan =
homepage = http://www.basc.org.ukThe British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) is a British organisation whose mission is to promote and protect sporting shooting and the well-being of the countryside throughout the United Kingdom and overseas.

They represent wildfowling, game, and rough shooting, deer stalking, target shooting and air gunning, pigeon shooting and pest control, gundogs, promoting practical habitat conservation, training and the setting of standards in country sports and undertaking appropriate research.

History

WAGBI

The organisation started out as the Wildfowlers Association of Great Britain and Ireland, (WAGBI) in 1908. It was founded by Stanley Duncan, an engineer from Hull, who was also a highly experienced wildfowler and naturalist.

He founded WAGBI to advise wildfowlers, protect coastal habitats where wildfowl lived, and to defend shooting from "anti" extremists wishing to outlaw the sport.The long expected attack on wildfowling came in 1953, when legislation which the Association regarded as both unfair, unnecessary and very restrictive, was introduced in Parliament. WAGBI spoke out to politicians over the unfair proposals, and the result was the Protection of Birds Act 1954, which, thanks to WAGBI's intervention, was a far more balanced piece of legislation than had first been contemplated.

In 1950 WAGBI had five affiliated wildfowling organisations, and had grown into a huge organisation with some 120,000 members, over 1,600 affiliated clubs and a staff of 70.

BASC

In 1981 WAGBI changed its name to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC). This change was agreed at the Annual General Meeting of that year in recognition of the fact that shooting sports required a single representative body and that WAGBI was the most suitable placed organisation to take on that role, being the largest and most well known.

The new organisation expanded into covering all country sports as well as conservation.

In 1975 the Gamekeepers' Association of the United Kingdom (founded in 1900) became a part of the Association.

Modern day

The BASC is the UK's main governing body for country sports and also the main voice of shooting in Parliament, often advising the government. [ [http://www.basc.org.uk/content/political BASC - Political Affairs ] ]

In December 2007, BASC announced that they had reached a record high of 127,000 members, having increased by 15,000 since November 2000. [ [http://www.basc.org.uk/content/bascs_membership_numbers_ BASC - Membership numbers hit record high] ] BASC also has a youth section of the organisation called Young Shots, formed in 2003. The aim was to encourage more young people to learn how to shoot safely and to respect guns. This is to encourage more young people to become involved in country sports and to acknowledge the hugely important role of conservation in the countryside- not just in order to preserve country sports but in order to maintain the countryside as a whole. The BASC believe that by learning to respect guns children will be less inclined to be involved in gun crime, a major poilitical issue in the UK at present. [ [http://www.basc.org.uk/content/young_shots1 BASC - Young Shots ] ] [ [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=635352003 Scotland on Sunday ] ] The organisation is run by a democratically elected council of members. The council is charged with overseeing the management of the affairs of a growing, multi million-pound turnover organisation, which has very public responsibilities.

Key aims

* Strong and unified voice for shooting
* All party backing for shooting
* Balanced comment in the media
* Continued opportunity to go shooting
* High standards

ee also

* Hunting in the United Kingdom
* Game Conservancy Trust
* Wildfowling
* Game (food)
* Gamekeeper

References

External links

* [http://www.basc.org.uk BASC Website]