FishingOur opinions and news on angling in the UK, complemented by Countryside Alliance Foundation’s Fishing for Schools project which aims to get fly fishing onto the National Curriculum and has had stellar success in teaching youngsters about the natural world through fly fishing. Read The Countryside Alliance’s Activities page for more information. |
 Take a friend fishing!Tuesday, 21 May 2013 The TAKE A FRIEND FISHING (TAFF) campaign, organised and run by the Angling Trades Association, is back again! TAFF is designed to encourage regular anglers to take their family members and friends fishing over the Spring Bank Holiday period to let them try the sport for themselves. Free one-day rod licences (each worth £3.75) from the Environment Agency will be printed in newspapers, magazines and featured online so that anglers can take a mate or a family member on a fishing session between Saturday, 25th May and midnight, June 2nd 2013. Read more Casting for Recovery UK & Ireland - 2013 retreats now open to applicationsMonday, 22 April 2013 Casting for Recovery UK & Ireland, the unique medical charity which blends counselling with fly fishing, has opened its 2013 programme of retreats to applications. The Countryside Alliance is a founding sponsor of this charity which offers paid-for-retreats for ladies who have, or have had, breast cancer and uses the natural world to enable ladies to move forward from their illness. Retreats in 2013 will be held in Hampshire, Co Antrim, Co Mayo and Angus. Click here for the application page of the website. Read more Belvoir Fieldsports 12-20 ClubThursday, 4 April 2013 With an eye on the future of country pursuits, Emma, Duchess of Rutland is launching the Belvoir Fieldsports 12-20 Club, with a three-day residential summer term exeat camp on May 28-30, 2013. Aimed at 11-14-year-olds, it will be held in the grounds of Belvoir Castle and will offer an educational hands-on approach to a range of country pursuits. So if you want your son or daughter to camp out under the stars at Belvoir Castle during the summer term exeat, try their hand at fly fishing, have a go at clay shooting and learn the importance of gun safety and field etiquette, exercise the hounds before breakfast, play cricket with former England professional Darren Bicknell, learn more about keepering and estate management, then this really is the ideal opportunity. Read more Teaming up with the Angling Trust on cormorantsFriday, 28 September 2012 Tens of thousands of postcards have been sent to MPs as part of the Angling Trust’s cormorant campaign, which is supported by the Countryside Alliance. If you haven’t already contacted your MP, please visit www.anglingtrust.net/cormorants to find out how you can help protect fish stocks. If you have any photographs of fish damaged by cormorants or goosanders, please send them to cormorants@anglingtrust.net to help build a picture gallery of images. We believe that we can win this battle, but we need your help to do so.  Newsletter of the Wheelyboat TrustTuesday, 21 August 2012 Our friends at the Wheelyboat Trust have published their summer newsletter which you can read below. The Wheelyboat Trust is a registered charity dedicated to providing disabled people with the opportunity and freedom to enjoy waters large and small all over the UK. The Trust helps and encourages venues open to the public to acquire Wheelyboats for their disabled visitors and to help groups and organisations acquire Wheelyboats for their own use. The Trust says "Our vision is straightforward - open access for disabled people on waters everywhere via a range of Wheelyboat models to meet everybody’s needs." The Countryside Alliance is in full support of the Trust's aims, especially from the point of view of the National Angling Participation plan to get more people angling. Read on for the newsletter, featuring a very special guest this season. Read more Action on cormorants!Friday, 3 August 2012 The Countryside Alliance is working with the Angling Trust and other organisations on a campaign for action on cormorants and goosanders to protect our fish. The campaign aims to get these birds added to the general licence. There is an ongoing Ministerial review of licensing, and a decision is expected in November. We need your support now to help get better protection for our vulnerable fish stocks. Please write to your MP now, it will only take a few minutes. Read more Fishing for Schools reels in Parliamentary supportFriday, 29 June 2012 Teenagers from across England and Wales were honoured at Parliament this week at the inaugural Fishing for Schools Awards. Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to three exceptional youngsters. Read more Fishing for Schools encourages youngsters into the countrysideFriday, 27 April 2012 Countryside Alliance Executive Chairman Sir Barney White-Spunner writes: Some readers will have seen that last weekend I was in various newspapers talking about my vision for the Countryside Alliance and British countryside in general. You can read the articles in full by clicking the links at the bottom of this piece, but I wanted to share a couple of the key points that I made in the interview. Read more Have your say on Invasive Alien SpeciesSunday, 11 March 2012 Invasive alien species are estimated to cost well over £2 billion a year to the UK economy and have a hugely detrimental impact on our native species such as the red squirrel and native crayfish. In response to these issues, the European Commission has launched a survey asking people across Europe for their views on tackling invasive alien species. Read more Barney White-Spunner and Charlie Jardine on CATVThursday, 1 March 2012 March 2012 - New Executive Chairman Barney White-Spunner was interviewed at the Jackson-Stops and Staff Countryside Alliance Point-to-Point on 26th February. On a glorious day Barney outlined his remit, views and hopes in his new role while our President, Baroness Mallalieu and Angling legend Charles Jardine also contributed, with Charlie cheerfully hailing the "new age" with an Executive Chairman who is passionate about angling. Read more |
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