2011/33

MBC Badge Co (Manufacturer)

A Countryside Alliance badge. Purchased as part of the Collecting Cultures project.
This badge is an orange and yellow Countryside Alliance badge. It was purchased from eBay seller 'donegalmartin' from Greater Manchester by MERL as part of the Collecting Cultures project. The seller had originally acquired the badge at the Midland Game Fair, which is an annual event held at Weston Park in Shropshire that offers a number of activities and demonstrations such as clay pidgeon shooting, falconry, gundog events and traditional rural crafts. The Countryside Alliance was formed in 1997 from three organisations: the British Field Sports Society, and the Countryside Business Group and the Countryside Movement, both of which were formed with help from the British Field Sports Society. The Countryside Alliance promotes issues relating to the countryside such as food, farming and country sports. To date the focus of its campaigning has been to defend hunting.

1 badge: metal; good condition

Email, Isabel Hughes, MERL to Ollie Douglas, MERL, 01 December 2011 - 'Pondering on how to spend a bit more on Collecting Cultures, I found there are various Countryside Alliance ephemera on sale at the moment. They are: // Countryside Alliance Badge - £1.99 (2 more days to bid) // Countryside Alliance car sticker - £1 (5 days to bid) // Hunting Ban 2002 – “I was there” badge £4.99 (item to buy) // Countryside Alliance jigsaw (perhaps a jigsaw too far) – 99p (5 days to bid) // You can have a look yourself by searching Countryside Alliance or Hunting Ban // Sadly, none of this will count as 10 years old yet but I am tempted for that price to buy it and just donate it to the museum or ask that we buy it out of donations. What do you think?', Email, MERL to eBay seller donegalmartin, 08 December 2011 - 'Dear donegalmartin, I have purchased this for the museum where I work. I would be really interested to know how you came to own this badge, in particular whether there is any connection with the protests about the hunting ban legislation.', Email, eBay seller donegalmartin to MERL, 08 December 2011 - 'Hi, i got it a few year ago at the midland game fair, i don't think it was any sort of special edition or done for the protests. I was on the big march in london at the time myself and there was a badge produced for that but im keeping that for now. ATB Martin'

Brierley Hill