The Standing Conference came together in 1978 to present to Government and to the public a more effective case in defence of those countryside sports involving a live quarry. 

The Conference began as a result of an informal meeting between representatives of the leading countryside sports organisations, on the initiative of the late Lieutenant Commander John Anderton, OBE, VDR, the then Director of the Wildfowlers Association of Great Britain (subsequently BASC), and the late Major General Robin Brockbank, CBE, of the British Field Sports Society.  The Earl of Carnarvon, KCVO, KBE (then Lord Porchester) accepted the invitation to become Chairman, and together they drafted the agenda for the first meeting on November 28th 1978, when the theme was ‘Shooting and Fishing in the Rural Economy’.  The Earl of Carnarvon remained Chairman until his death in September 2001 when he was succeeded first by The Earl Peel, GCVO and in 2007 by the The Lord Mancroft. In 2021, The Marquess of Abergavenny succeeded Lord Mancroft

 Lord Carnarvon, assisted by the first Convener Mr Reginald Lofthouse, FRICS, and later by his successor Mr Eric Carter, CBE, sought to invite influential and distinguished speakers to address the meetings.  These included Government Ministers and senior Departmental civil servants, chief executives of the Government Agencies, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), senior representatives of the media, and leaders of the important non-government organisations.  All were involved with or linked to countryside sports and other countryside activities, were concerned with the management and use of rural land and water, and countryside education.   The Chairman, Convener and Secretary also played a crucial part in raising funds to finance reports and surveys commissioned by the members of the Standing Conference, and in securing office and administrative facilities at the College of Estate Management, Reading.

To date, the Standing Conference has held 87 meetings, most in London and the three most recent held online as the result of Covid. Three special meetings were held in Scotland in 1987, 1991 and 1996.  The Duke of Edinburgh first addressed the Standing Conference in 1980, and subsequently attended the 10th Anniversary Meeting in March 1988.  In October 2003, he attended the 25th Anniversary Meeting of the Standing Conference held in the Great Hall of the Worshipful Company of Butchers in the City of London, and a copy of his address is attached to these papers.