Kevin Dawes introduces Ellie to slobber, while some of the mounted field discuss the day's possibilities.

It was good to see a good number of people attending on foot. We were delighted to see Mr. John Ellis and Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Batten at the meet, who had kindly given us access to their land along with Mr. Anthony Silk. The Ellis girls found an excellent way of enjoying the view without getting their share of slobber.

The hunt was greatly helped by the cooperation of the local shoot run by Mr. Simon Towers.

Three good hunts were planned for the day. Quarry Captain Neil McAlpine and co-quarry Chris Lee had a slight mishap on the first hunt when they went a bit off course forcing the Master to stop hounds and contact them by radio as they were seen disappearing over the wrong hill. Much mickey taking ensued, but our quarries' map reading improved with faultless 2nd and 3rd hunts.

It is rumoured that the Master had a refusal at the first jump of the day. When asked if it was true he replied "I refuse to answer that on the grounds I might incriminate myself." We'll take that as a "yes" then!