What does BASC stand for?
 The British Association for Shooting and Conservation.
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.
There were three main reasons why he set up WAGBI.
- He wanted to help professional wildfowlers;
- He was becoming alarmed at the increasing drainage and subsequent
development of much excellent wildfowl habitat;
- He realised that as time went by it would be necessary to defend the
sport of wildfowling against the growing enthusiasm of extremists bent
on total protection of wild birds.
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.
There are currently 123,000 members and that number is growing every year.
The association’s national headquarters is based at Marford Mill in Rossett, North Wales. There are also five regional centres across England and three national centres in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
There are currently 103 people working for BASC across the country.
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. In practice, the Council, as a body, delegates day-to-day running of the Association to the chief executive. This does not, however, detract from the Council's overall responsibility.
The organisation’s patron is the Duke of Edinburgh. There is also a president, chairman, council and a chief executive.
The following departments are based at head office: firearms, gamekeeping, media and communications, deer, research, conservation and land management, marketing, fundraising, wildfowling, membership and shooting standards. These are overseen by directors and heads of department.
The regional offices are headed up by directors who oversee regional officers and administrative staff.
Our mission is to promote and protect sporting and shooting and the well-being of the countryside throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. We represent our members' interests by providing a voice for sporting shooting which includes wildfowling, game, and rough shooting, deer stalking, target shooting and air gunning, pigeon shooting and pest control, gun dogs, promoting practical habitat conservation, training and the setting of standards and undertaking appropriate research.
BASC is a national representative body for sporting shooting. We have five strategic objectives:
- A strong and unified voice for shooting
- All party backing for shooting
- Balanced comment in the media
- Continued opportunity to go shooting
- High standards
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Home > About BASC > Why join BASC?
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BASC is the largest and oldest shooting association in the UK. Founded by Stanley Duncan in 1908, we have grown to become an internationally recognised shooting and conservation body. Our professional staff of over 90 people offer advice and support to members through the following areas:
BASC has the UK's only full-time firearms team, offering help and advice on all firearms matters and protecting the lawful right to use sporting firearms.
We have forged cross-party links to ensure the voice of responsible shooting is heard. Our media team is improving public attitudes to shooting - and can help you bite back after negative publicity.
Members automatically receive up to £5 million legal liability cover, £10 million employer's liability insurance and £5 million product liability cover when engaged in BASC - recognised activities (recreational activities only).
BASC is the only field sports body with a dedicated gamekeeping team, offering comprehensive advice on all aspects of game shooting including game, habitat and shoot management.
BASC is taking the lead role in setting standards and providing training for professional and amateur stalkers. We can also provide access to stalking for our members via three stalking schemes in partnership with Forest Enterprise and North West Water.
BASC promotes the highest standards of safety for shooting and related activities. All our coaches and assessors are quality assured by independent national awarding bodies.
We robustly defend our belief that the shooting community plays a major role in conservation. BASC works to safeguard shooting opportunities and develop best practice in wildlife conservation and land management.
Authoritative research underpins BASC's role as the champion of sporting shooting, improves advice offered to members and ensures the wise use of quarry species.
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