To our dedicated supporters thank you all

Jeremy Payne, Director of Fundraising and Bruce Russell, Director Scotland

(L-R) Archery was just one activity on offer at the unique Dorset inter-shoot challenge; the popular Edinburgh and South-East shoot walk; staff from the Alchemilla Restaurant prepare for the delicious game cookery evening at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire.

County committees have had another strong year, projected at £800,000. London events raised £230,000. Major donor income at just under £1,085,000.

Scotland had a strong year and exceeded its fundraising target.

In England, the fundraising team had another very good year, with estimated income of just over £2.5 million. We had our best year ever with major donors who kindly gave more than £1 million for the first time. If anything, the uncertainty of the times has increased, so we take this as a sign of the importance this very generous group attach to an active and thriving GWCT. We are sincerely grateful to all of those who supported us in this way.

The total amount raised, represents thousands of hours of volunteered time by hundreds of people who are part of our county committees. This income is equivalent to our annual budget for all of our uplands work and our grey partridge work. Shoot sweepstake income has once again increased to approximately £170,000, an increase of about £30,000 on last year. This is a very impressive outcome, particularly in this competitive area, so a heartfelt thank you to all those who chose us as your beneficiary, and of course to your guns.

GCUSA contributed £280,000, an impressive first ‘score on the door’ for its new President Ron Beck, with a hugely successful annual auction. London events benefited from a very popular Ball, and the exclusive Le Gavroche dinner hosted by Michel Roux Jr. The latter has established such a reputation (including for the amazing wines sourced by Sebastian Riley-Smith) that places sell out within days.

On behalf of all my GWCT colleagues, sincere thanks to all of you who helped fundraise in 2019. It’s clear to most of us that the need for our work has never been greater, which means your support has never been needed more.

In Scotland April 2019 saw a change in directorship in Scotland as I took over from Adam Smith allowing him to concentrate on policy work. Adam passed on the fundraising responsibilities, having made a large dent in 2019 donor fundraising and having seen David MacRobert and his team produce another marvellous result at the Glasgow auction.

Success in Glasgow was matched by another great performance by Bryan Johnston and his team at the Scottish auction at Prestonfield. Scotland’s regional groups led by Malcolm Leslie (Edinburgh and SE), James MacPherson-Fletcher (Highland), Rory Cooper (Grampian), Mike Clarke (East Tayside) and Hugh Arbuthnott (West Tayside), all surpassed their targets. The Grand Grouse Draw was a huge success and it was also another good year for the Scottish Game Fair under the experienced eye of Hugo Straker. For all of you reading this who more than played your part and gave your time freely to organise events, donate auction lots, bid for auction lots or so generously donate funds, a huge thank you from GWCT Scotland. We are also extremely grateful to more than 50 organisations who sponsor our events. These partnerships are an enormous part of what we do and once forged, they are long and successful. The good news is that overall Scotland exceeded its fundraising target.

There remain some very challenging issues in Scotland, particularly around grouse shooting, in a charged political environment. The requirement to play a strong part in the post-Brexit climate change, rural, wildlife and conservation debates, means that Scotland’s research-based work and pragmatic approach will remain essential to influence tomorrow’s challenges. And that starts with fundraising. I thank you all in advance.