The Countryside Alliance is delighted to announce that Lord Daresbury, Charles Moore and Chris Horne are joining our Board in September 2020.
Lord Daresbury and Charles Moore have replaced elected Board members who have stood down, and will themselves be standing for election at the Alliance AGM in December. Chris Horne has joined as an appointed member for a three-year term.
Alliance Chairman Nick Herbert said: "I am delighted that we have been able to attract such high quality individuals to join our Board. Their experience and insight will be hugely valuable to the Alliance's work for the countryside, and I am very grateful to them for agreeing to give us their time.
"We will be seeking nominations from members for further elected board vacancies in September, and are particularly keen to hear from potential candidates with expertise in farming and environmental policy."
Notes to Editors:
Charles Moore began his career as a political correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, before going on to edit The Spectator from 1984 to 1990. He then became editor of The Sunday Telegraph, followed by The Daily Telegraph from 1995 to 2003. He is also the author of Margaret Thatcher's three-volume authorised biography. Charles is also a keen hunting man and a staunch defender of the rights and beliefs of rural people and communities. He lives in East Sussex, and was awarded a non-affiliated Peerage last month.
Lord Daresbury
Lord (Peter) Daresbury has been Master of the Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn's Hunt for 29 seasons, and was Chairman of the Masters of Foxhounds Association from 1999 to 2005.
A keen racing man, Lord Daresbury won the 1975 National Hunt Chase on Sage Merlin, the 1982 Aintree Fox Hunters' Chase on Lone Soldier and was twice National Hunt Amateur Champion, as Peter Greenall. He retired from racing in 1986 having ridden 275 winners. He was Chairman of Aintree Racecourse from 1989 to 2014, where The Lord Daresbury Stand is named in his honour.
Lord Daresbury joined the family business, The Greenalls Group PLC (latterly known as De Vere Group PLC) in 1977, becoming Director in 1984, Managing Director in 1989 and Chief Executive in 1997, before stepping down in 2006.
Chris Horne
Chris is managing director of GunsOnPegs, the online marketplace for the buying and selling of shoot days. Brought up in the Suffolk countryside, Chris has always had a passion for country sports, which started by going beating on the local shoots. Growing up he attended many meets of the Thurlow or the Suffolk Hunt on foot. The area was also blessed with great Point to Points, with Higham and Marks Tey being firm favourites in the calendar.
He founded the internet business, GunsOnPegs in 2007 with his father James, in what was supposed to be a hobby project to sell days at a friend's shoot. Thirteen years later, Chris runs the business full time. They now have 115,000 registered users, which includes 6,000 shoots.
Chris has been a trustee of The Country Food Trust since its early days, and is an advisor to the British Game Alliance. He is also a big supporter of the country sports organisations, championing the work of Countryside Alliance, GWCT and BASC through GunsOnPegs wherever possible.
The Board
The Countryside Alliance Board is currently made up of five elected board members – Johnnie Arkwright, Richard Fry, Andrew Ogg, Karen Silcock and Caroline Squire – and five appointed members – Paul Dunn, Mary Perry, Guy Portwin, Charlie McVeigh and Bill Tyrwitt-Drake. The Chairman, Nick Herbert, and Chief Executive, Tim Bonner, are ex-officio members.