Countryside Alliance
Their main aim is to 'Give rural Britain a voice', and has around 105,000 members.
As the public can become a member (for around £70 a year) they would be considered a promotional group, as they promote a cause, unlike interest or sectional groups, who's membership is only available to a few individuals (well, those few individuals who can afford £225 for a gold membership but whatever )
The group was formed in 1997 from the British Field Sports Society, the Countryside Business group and the Countryside Movement.
The group have participated in several movements and have a number of campaigns, one of the most prominent being their participation in the Hunting Act. Countryside Alliance was against the passing of the 2004 Hunting Ban and lobbied for its appeal, and continue to promote hunting on their website.
They also support and encourage customers and supermarkets to stock food from British farms, another one of their campaigns being 'Game to Eat', aiming to popularise game as a meat of choice. Other campaigns and issues they confront are against the closure of rural post offices, calling for better broadband connections in the countryside and supporting deer stalking across the British Isles.
The group also do some work in primary schools. They organise educational talks and trips to the countryside for schoolchildren, run the 'Fishing4Schools' initiative, aiming to help children with special educational needs by taking them to angling and also try to popularise falconry for schools (because having birds of pray being handled by 5 year olds is totally safe.)
Some of the most prominent members of the administration team include Baroness Mallalieu QC, a labour peer who acts as the President, the chairman being Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for Vauxhall, Lord Mancroft, a convervative peer.
