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Fishing for Schools
Casting for Recovery’s 100th participant
Media training for huntsmen
Quotes of the week
Fishing for Schools
The Countryside Alliance Foundation was set up last year to build on the element of Alliance work that has always been inherently charitable. This includes persuading, educating and informing the public about the countryside and helping to protect the natural environment. One of the most important projects the Foundation is running is ‘Fishing for schools’ which gets fly fishing on to the school curriculum. The main target group for the project is children between the ages of 14 and 16 with special educational needs. The aim is to teach young people the skills of fly-fishing and in doing so explore and enjoy other areas within the natural world.
The Foundation is lucky to have Charles Jardine, a passionate angler and brilliant teacher, running the project and his impact alone is enormous. Children cannot help being drawn in by his enthusiasm and teachers and care assistants are constantly amazed by his ability to hold the attention of even the most challenging students.
The course has already run in 20 schools and the potential is almost limitless. The course is run in accordance with the Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network, which is recognised by the Department for Education and Skills and therefore counts towards a personal effectiveness GCSE.
We believe that the opportunity for children to experience fishing, nature and the countryside within the curriculum whilst working towards recognised awards should be open to every child who would benefit. There are many different ways you can support the Foundation such as donations, becoming a patron or helping us source funds from family and charitable trusts. If you can help, or would like to know more about how to get ‘Fishing for schools’ into your local school, please e-mail
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Fishing for schools, and the Foundation’s other work, could not have a greater impact.
On one recent course an autistic child was so engaged by Charles’ fly-tying demonstration that he talked to him. It was the first time he had ever spoken to anyone outside his family. This is the sort of work we should all be proud to support.
Simon Hart
Chief Executive
Casting for Recovery’s 100th participant
Casting for Recovery UK & Ireland, the unique outdoor programme which provides fly fishing retreats for women who have, or have had, breast cancer, hosted its first Republic of Ireland retreat at the Mount Falcon Hotel at Ballina, Co Mayo from 10-12 June. The retreat also saw the milestone of CfR’s 100th participant.
Casting for Recovery (CfR) provides fly fishing programmes at idyllic retreats around the UK and Ireland. Any woman who has experienced breast cancer is eligible to apply to attend a retreat (with medical clearance from their doctor). Retreats take place over two-and-a-half days and all accommodation, meals, counselling, and professional instruction are provided at no cost to participants due to the financial backing of the Countryside Alliance. Appropriate clothing and fishing tackle is provided by Orvis UK.
Fly fishing is a gentle exercise which requires no strength and is exactly the sort of exercise in which recovering breast cancer patients can participate safely. Fly fishing also offers those on retreat a chance to reflect and escape in tranquil surroundings. Casting for Recovery was founded in the United States in 1996 and has since helped over 3,000 breast cancer survivors. In the UK and Ireland it began in 2006 and 100 women have now been through the programme over eight retreats.
The UK and Ireland Programme Co-ordinator is Sue Hunter, who recovered from breast cancer to become an international gold medallist fly fisher. Sue said: “Casting for Recovery exists to provide a supportive, fun and memorable experience for participants, and I can’t think of a better environment in which to provide that than the beautiful Irish countryside. I am also delighted that 100 ladies have now been through the programme – this is a great milestone for everyone in the team who has worked so hard to make this happen. Mount Falcon has been a breathtaking backdrop for our particular brand of therapy and I am sure that many lifelong friendships have been made here over the course of the retreat.”
Media training for huntsmen
As reported in today’s Horse & Hound (H&H), the Countryside Alliance is currently running a series of media training sessions for huntsmen in preparation for repeal of the Hunting Act.
The latest session, which took part in London on 23rd June, saw Gerald Sumner of the Vale of Aylesbury with Garth & South Berks and Michael Scott of the Old Berks put through a series of mocked up interviews, including a radio interview and a round-table debate.
The training, carried out by Radiant Media, which is run by journalists with BBC experience, is a vital part of our work leading up to repeal of the Hunting Act. As the Alliance’s Tim Bonner told H&H, “Part of the reason why hunting was banned was the stereotype of the arrogant, aloof and out-of-touch hunting world, and some of that was because of the way we interacted with journalists.”
Communication is vital if the hunting community is to secure a long and thriving future for hunting post-repeal, and both huntsmen agreed that the experience was beneficial.
Quotes of the week
“Today is the end of the Government's consultation period on a "new independent body for animal health". Such an organisation may sound like another innocuous quango, but the truth is more sinister: it's an attempt to shift cost, responsibility and, above all, blame away from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the event of another major outbreak of animal disease.”
30th June: Charlie Brooks in the Daily Telegraph: “Farming has a beef with vegetarian ministers”
“….by adopting the proposals in the Rural Manifesto political parties will be signalling an end to the divisive politics which has dogged the relationship between the countryside and government over the last 10 years.”
1st July 2009: Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Simon Hart writing about our Rural Manifesto in the Yorkshire Post
“The all-party parliamentary Middle Way Group worked with the Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management to produce the document, which concluded the hunting ban of 2004 is "unscientific, unenforceable, socially divisive, and harms, rather than improves, animal welfare". It continued: "Further it was passed in a way that shamed the Parliamentary process – simply a bad law, and therefore it must be repealed."
29th June: Western Morning News - "Fox hunting ban 'harms animal welfare'" on the Middle Way Group report "Hunting, wildlife management and the moral issue"
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