Introducing The Country Food Initiative

Dear Shoot Owner,

I am writing to ask if your shoot would like to join The Country Food Initiative, supporting The Country Food Trust, which has been launched to help feed people in need and which involves the shooting community.

So far The Country Food Trust has fed 100,000 people across the UK using our delicious meals which use pheasant and partridge, and our aim is to feed another 1 million people in the next five years.

There is a plentiful supply of pheasants with more being shot each year as the sport grows. At the same time, there are 14 million people in UK in poverty who have to decide between the basic necessities including food, clothing and heating, and last year alone over 1 million people visited Food Banks across the country.

The Country Food Trust has the support of all the main shooting organisations including BASC, Countryside Alliance, National Gamekeepers Organisation, National Game Dealers Association, Moorland Association, and National Organisation of Beaters and Pickers Up, as well as The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and we now need yours too.

The aim of The Country Food Initiative

The Country Food Initiative has been launched by The Country Food Trust & GunsOnPegs, who have donated their time and effort, for free, to manage the initiative. In order to achieve our ambition, we are looking for shoots to support people in food poverty and significantly change the way that game meat is processed and sold in this country.

How to join and what we would like from you

To become a part of The Country Food Initiative we would like you to donate a percentage or all of your dead birds along with a donation of £1 per bird. This donation will pay for the processing of that bird into meat and meals to help feed those in need. It really is that simple. The donation could come from either the guns on the day or from the shoot itself.

If you would like to take part in this exciting initiative, then please contact GunsOnPegs by emailing theteam@gunsonpegs.com.

How it works

First of all, you need to decide how many birds and therefore, how many pounds, you’d like to commit to The Country Food Trust. You then introduce us to your existing game dealer so we can form a link with them and negotiate a price to then purchase the processed meat from them. Your donation means that we can receive the game bird meat we need back, fully processed, in order to link in to our food distribution network.

You don’t need to worry about anything else, just spreading the message to your guns on shoot days so they can contribute to your committed amount. By becoming a part of the initiative, you will receive a starter pack containing leaflets and samples of our food to show your shoot’s support in your shoot room.

The Country Casserole is also available to buy for your beaters or guns lunch, or for elevenses. Some shoots are also giving or selling the Casserole to guns at the end of the day instead of a brace of birds. Remember for every casserole you buy, one will be donated to someone in need.

If any gun would also like to make a large donation, then they can designate which underlying charity receives the Casseroles. More details are available on The Country Food Trust website.

I do hope you would be interested in supporting this worthwhile charity and endeavour to help us resolve this significant issue in our sport whilst helping those who are most in need.

Many thanks indeed for your support,

Chris Horne - Managing Director, GunsOnPegs
Supported by:
Tim Woodward - Chief Executive, The Country Food Trust

The Country Food Trust 
Registered Charity Number 1162699 
Tel: 020 7096 6354 
www.thecountryfoodtrust.org