Earlier today we blogged about the second local community meeting held in Goathland on Wednesday night, where more concerns were discussed about grouse moor management in the area (see here).
For convenience, here are the notes we published this morning, written by meeting attendee Richard Gray:
We’ve now received some additional notes from another blog reader who attended that meeting and these add a bit more detail to proceedings:
Raptor Persecution UK 
Such a pity the second contributor chose to remain anonymous so we must choose to believe or disbelieve that his account was a full one and his assertion that he is not involved with the “shooting industry” directly or indirectly.
It wouls appear that he is not a local inhabitant or he would have been known to the first contributor and one can only ponder as to what his interest was in attending a meeting of this sort in a small Yorkshire village.
George,
The second contributor is from our side of the track and attended because he shares concerns about the damaging impact of grouse moor management in the North York Moors National Park.
We’re grateful that he was willing to provide his notes to supplement those of the first contributor.
Thanks for the clarification.
George, maybe you skimmed the first line of the notes from the second note-taker?
Ach, maybe life has left me too cynical by far Anandprasad, but suspicion comes from experience and an understanding of how they approach things like this. Anyhow, I was happy to be corrected.
I was there as well, I went because I’d read about the last meeting on this blog. I’m not from Goathland but I live just outside the National Park on the opposite side and attended out of personal interest in the issues of grouse moor management. I can confirm this is all pretty accurate and covers most of what was said.
I can add one or two minor things. When the comments were made about George Winn-Darley and his trustworthiness (or alleged lack of), one of the guys leading the meeting tried to steer it away from that sort of talk, presumably to keep things on track.
I wonder if there’s been some confusion with organisation names, as the North York Moors Moorland Organisation, the Moorland Association and the North York Moors National Park were all mentioned by an attendee at one point when discussing who was supposedly giving money to who, and I struggled to follow it.
This is all typed from memory, I didn’t make notes while I was there.
https://nymmo.org/trailblazing-funding-north-yorkshire-moors/
This is the document that was mentioned and caused some confusion about the similarly named organisations
Thanks for that, it makes more sense now. Seems the National Park Authority made a successful bid for lottery funding, and the David Ross foundation helped with the match funding for it. And then the North York Moors Moorland Organisation (which includes Ross’ Rosedale and Westerdale estate) wrote about it.
Can’t see any dates and times there though, is this anything to do with that lottery funding plaque that appeared on a shooting lodge on the Rosedale and Westerdale estate and then disappeared? Mark Avery blogged about it back in 2016.
NYMMO formed a few years ago to promote the work done by local grouse moor estates, and there are similar moorland groups for other regions, including the Yorkshire Dales, Nidderdale, Peak District and Angus Glens. They’re independent groups, separate from the Moorland Association but pro-grouse shooting just the same.
Do I detect a common theme here? Public relations is seen as very important in the grouse shooting industry. Whether it is a national organisation, an area, or even a single estate, they feel it beneficial to have a PR presence, ready to spring into action if needed. Much of the media and many MPs, up to now, at least, have always been quite happy to take PR spin when crimes are uncovered as fact and repeat it. It is confusing. Just as well we have RPUK who stick to facts.
Indeed they lay the PR on very thick, sometimes to the point of farce – ‘Look! Here are our gamekeepers…… GIVING BLOOD!’,’Head keeper Hector McGlumpher loves handing out surplus grouse at the Old Folks home!’. Mind you there’s a rumour that it’s starting to get more sophisticated courtesy of free advice from a hunting, fishing, shootin former Labour Party spin doctor who’s moved up north. Mind you nothing will change the facts which stay resolutely on our side.
Hello, I live in the Peaks and am experiencing something similar in my local area. I’m interested to know if there’s access to officially scribed minutes from this meeting?