History
of BASC
The
Black Hut at Patrington Haven on the Humber, where WAGBI was conceived.
The
Wildfowlers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland, known as
WAGBI, was founded by Stanley Duncan, a Geordie whose work later
took him to Hull. He was an engineer. He was also a highly experienced
wildfowler and naturalist and his object in forming the Association
was threefold. He sought to help the professional wildfowlers, then
eking out a meagre living on our coasts; he was becoming alarmed
at the increasing drainage and subsequent development of much excellent
wildfowl habitat and he realised that as time went by it would be
necessary to defend the sport of wildfowling against factors that
were moving contrary to its interests, namely the growing enthusiasm
of extremists bent on total protection of wild birds.
Today there are no longer any professional fowlers other than for
a few guides. But there is a new breed of protectionist and, thus,
the threats to wildfowling grow stronger - much more so than was
the case in 1908 when, having canvassed and obtained the support
of far-seeing and experienced sportsmen, our founder called an inaugural
meeting in his wildfowling hut, which, until destroyed by floods,
stood at Patrington Haven, not many miles from Hull. Rules were
adopted, Stanley Duncan became the Association's first Honorary
Secretary which office he held for 40 unbroken years. The famous
wildfowler and sporting author Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, Bt., was
elected President.
WAGBI, with the support of a small committee, built up a system
whereby there would be, in every wildfowling district, officials
capable of giving advice and able to represent and support wildfowling
and associated interests whenever they became threatened or were
likely to be so.
The
Threat to Wildfowling
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.
Although a strictly voluntary organisation, with no paid staff,
a small group of public-spirited men gave considerably of their
time, energy and private funds, determined that the interests of
wildfowlers be given a fair hearing and their beliefs recognised
and upheld. Many meetings were convened and thousands of letters
written, whilst there was considerable lobbying of Members of both
Houses for, in the opinion of those serving the WAGBI cause, there
had been very considerable misrepresentation of the true facts.
The protracted and sometimes heated deliberations culminated with
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.
The effect of the publicity and behaviour that preceded the 1954
Act was so profound that throughout the country there developed
a determination that never again should genuine sportsmen find themselves
in similar circumstances. All over the country those who valued
their sporting heritage and its future began to seek membership,
and many of them, with WAGBI's help and advice, set about forming
local clubs and associations, thus bringing together many who, individually,
could do little to safeguard that future, but collectively could
and would - if it became necessary. This did not mean, however,
that wildfowlers would cease to follow their sport singly or with
a companion or two as they did in Stanley Duncan's day.
Wildfowl
Conservation
In 1949 the Nature Conservancy came into being. Its functions, of
relevance to wildfowlers, were to provide advice on the conservation,
control or protection of natural fauna and to establish, maintain
and manage nature reserves in Great Britain, many of which embrace
shooting zones jointly created and managed with WAGBI.
When the Conservancy was first formed it was felt that the cause
of wildfowling had been ignored whilst the naturalists were well
represented and, therefore, decisions would be made and discussions
would be held without reference to our opinions. Ultimately an informal
wildfowl discussion group was set up at which all shades of opinion
were represented.
This group, founded at a time when wildfowlers were full of bitterness
and suspicion at what they considered to be the 'scheming and unfair
propaganda' that had taken place behind the scenes prior to the
1954 Act, became the recognised and fully established Wildfowl Conservation
Committee in 1960.
It constituted a formal gathering of many interested bodies with
a genuine interest in the future well-being of wildfowl and their
habitat, whilst providing its members with regular opportunities
for discussing a wide range of concerns. From a beginning fraught
with suspicion and mistrust grew, among many things, complete accord
and confidence, with the chair alternating between the Wildfowl
Trust and WAGBI.
The
Growth of WAGBI/BASC
In 1950 WAGBI had five affiliated organisations, namely Southport
& District Wildfowlers' Association (1887), Morecambe Bay Wildfowlers'
Association (1929), Blakeney and District Wildfowlers' Association
(1927), Frodsham and District Wildfowlers' Club (1938) and the Tay
Valley Wildfowlers' Association (1949). Subsequently it has grown
into a huge organisation some 120,000 members, over 1,600 affiliated
clubs and registered shooting syndicates and a staff of 70.
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.
The formation of local affiliated organisations, now covering all
forms of sporting shooting and not merely wildfowling, with the
support and backing of their parent body, BASC has provided much-needed
common meeting grounds.
In 1975 the Gamekeepers' Association of the United Kingdom (founded
in 1900) became a part of the Association.
Throughout the UK support, help and guidance is provided by full-time
regional directors centred on four English regions - the North,
East and South East, South and South West, and Midlands - and there
are three national centres - Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
National headquarters at Marford Mill is responsible to Council,
which is elected by the Association's members. It is very much a
full-time and professionally administered operation. Under the chief
executive it has specialist teams covering:
firearms
game and gamekeeping
media and communications
research
conservation and land management
training
The
Association is represented on, or works most closely with, many
committees and organisations, including the Countryside Alliance,
British Shooting Sports Council, Central Council of Physical Recreation,
Clay Pigeon Shooting Association, County Conservation Trusts, Crown
Estate, Duchy of Cornwall, Duchy of Lancaster, Game Conservancy,
Gun Trade Association Ltd., International Council for Bird Preservation,
International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau, National Trust,
Nature Conservancy Council, Royal Society for the Protection of
Birds, Water Recreation Sub-Committee of the Regional Sports Councils,
Wildfowl Trust, national, regional and local nature reserve committees,
and FACE (UK) (Federation des Associations de Chasseurs de la EU),
for which we provide the secretariat, Council for Country Sports
and the Standing Conference on Countryside Sports. The last three
'umbrella' organisations the Association helped to found.
The Association's current work, responsibilities and aspirations
are complex, broad-based and becoming more so as the world shrinks,
the countryside changes and the people demand greater access to
it
But ours is an ancient and honourable sport that the BASC, as was
the case with WAGBI, is determined to maintain for future generations
as well as its current devotees.
BASC Services