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The music of the pack is it’s I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her be; And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking, And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea gulls crying
John Masefield from Sea Fever
The same sentiments can be applied to hunting as, little by little, the days start to draw in and the cogs of the complex hunting machine slowly begin to turn; the first early tentative mornings cubbing, portly horses dragged in from the field and plodded round the lanes, final cuts of silage taken. Anticipation is all part of the pleasure, even more so after the deprivations of last year and worries over the future.
One of the great benefits of hunting is what sociologists would call the ‘community factor’ – in other words us, the Hunt Supporters Club. With their normal ignorance and arrogance our opponents retort with ‘Let them join the WI or the Bowling Club.’ But, as so often, they miss the point – or perhaps they very well understand the strength of the hunting community and, because of this, want to destroy it. In retrospect I am not sure whether the first rally we went to in Hyde Park shortly after Tony Blair was elected in 1997 was a good move – there he was, puffing himself up with pride and importance and a huge majority and along came the Countryside and invaded his Capital City. Perhaps it was then that he (or she) decided to pursue the policy of ethnic cleansing which has continued for the last five years.
This edition of Cry is full of exhortations for you to attend the Liberty and Livelihood March on September 22nd; many of you will do so, quite understandably some will be unable to do so. However every Hunt Supporter can pledge their support by registering on the telephone number 0900 102 0900. This March will be much slicker and quicker than the previous one; there are two routes which converge in Whitehall with buses dropping us off close to the start points and then moving to a collection point at or near the finish. And please don’t feel that the buses are compulsory; if you wish to make your own way there of course that’s fine too but please let Elizabeth Hanmer know on the form in the centre of Cry so that you can be added to our total headcount; if you can offer a lift as well that would be even better.
Communication is the lifeblood of any community and, thanks principally to John Godwin and Jo Wakeham, Sir WWW Hunt has now joined the www at www.full-cry.co.uk – you can even read back copies of Cry there as well as keep up with current and future events and see photographs. (As these are taken by Mrs Wakeham quite understandably most of them are of Mr Wakeham but you can see the odd hound as well.) Get your children/grandchildren to plug you in if necessary!
Still on the communication front we are drawing up a Hunt e-mail directory; many of you kindly filled in the proforma which was sent out a couple of months ago but if anyone else would like to be included please e-mail your address to david@higham.taurusuk.net.
FROM OUR CHAIRMAN
Whilst travelling by train to London last month for the great vigil in Parliament Square I was questioned by a Jordanian woman as to what sort of stickers I was putting on my children’s shirts:
“March for Liberty & Livelihood” I said. We then spent the next hour discussing amongst other things how we were fighting for what we wanted in our respective countries. She wished for tax free children’s books and clothes – something that we take for granted – as well as time to see her husband; he worked both the European and Muslim week – ie seven days out of seven.
I explained why we HAD to march on September 22nd in London in order to protect our sport and the rights of rural people to live their lives responsibly in the way they wish. I can only plead that everyone registers with the March Office telephone number 0900 102 0900 and to please return the marching form, a copy of which is included in this edition of Cry, with their marching details and request for seats, if required, on the Wynnstay Buses. Be There! We will march 40 abreast down Whitehall, passing the Cenotaph in silence; a continuous flow of humanity forcibly putting our point across.
June now seems a long time ago but I can just remember one dry Sunday when we held the Inter Hunt Sports Day. Un fortunately the Cheshire teams thrashed us at Tennis, Croquet and Cricket but were unable to do the same on the Bowling Green. I hope everyone enjoyed taking part and a big thank you to all who helped organise the day.
I hope that we will be able to have three successful Area Rides in the Autumn; these are now the main source of our income so they are pretty vital, particularly after the ravages of foot and mouth and the weather over the last few years. We will be holding monthly soup lunches this Autumn and Winter following last year’s initial success. If you would like to host one of these please let me know; they were certainly great fun and much appreciated last year.
Finally our Annual Dinner will be on Friday 22nd November at Bangor Racecourse where we will no doubt be well entertained by Clarissa Dixon-Wright and Johnny Scott. I hope that this will be a very popular evening so please book your seats/tables quickly for what I have no doubt will be a memorable evening.
DIARY DATES
30th August Dinghy Race & Midnight Steeplechase (see below) 15th September Malpas Horse Trials 22nd September Liberty & Livelihood March 3rd October Hunt A.G.M. Chorlton 7.30 pm 13th October Area II (Whitchurch) Ride 20th October Area III (Malpas) Ride 27th October Hanmer Church Ride 22nd November Annual Dinner, Bangor on Dee 5th & 6th Dec. Hunt Entertainment & Christmas Auction All donations for the Auction gratefully received
AREA I (Wrexham)
We had a very successful Show at Bryn y Pys where once again the weather was blazing sunshine. My thanks to all the people who helped and particularly to Gerald Williams for yet again letting us use his wonderful show jumps. It takes a great deal of organisation and help to put on the many varied classes and to make it such a success. For the computer minded amongst you there are some excellent photographs on the web at www.fotofire.com .
There have been a few changes to our Committee. Our longest serving member, and probably the longest serving Hunt Supporter ever, Gladys Wadsworth, has decided to retire after many years of service to the Hunt Supporters and Hunt in general. Glenys Matthews has also kindly agreed to become joint secretary with Linda.
Although we are very much hoping to hold our Cross Country Ride in the autumn we are looking for a suitable field for parking; any offers or suggestions will be gratefully received.
Ann Jones
AREA II (Whitchurch)
It is rather scary taking over as Secretary of Area II from someone as efficient as Elizabeth Hanmer. Firstly because she has done such a good job for so many years, for which I know many people who know her much better and for longer than me are extremely grateful. Secondly because flipping through old Cry magazines she is definitely better at writing than I am.
Nick and Susie Brunt very kindly mucked out their barns to enable some 240 of us to enjoy a Midsummer’s Hog Roast at Hornspike Farm. We were incredibly lucky with the weather and even luckier with the hard working band of helpers.
The whisky wheel and dog agility were great fun, but funniest of all was the Line Dancing! We raised a total of £1,115.65 so a big thank you to everyone involved. Our next event is the Area II ride on 13th October so hopefully see you there.
Alex Martin
AREA III (Malpas)
We held our Donkey Derby on Sunday 28th July by kind permission of Mr & Mrs Duncan Perks of Broxton Gates, this year we also included terrier racing and dog agility to keep everyone amused. It was a very successful and entertaining afternoon. I would like to thank all our sponsors and all the people that helped on the day, I was unfortunately away for this event but I am informed by Pat Adams that there were very few hunt supporters there which was very disappointing.
Our cross country ride to be held on Sunday October 20th, will start from Stretton Hall Farm by kind permission of Mr & Mrs Simon Chantler. This will be over a course which has not been used for many years, only the older ones of us will remember it starting from Brian & Mary Rutter's, following a similar course and all having a tremendous ride.
My thanks to Pat Adams who has kindly agreed to take over from Trudi Teasdale-Brown as the secretary of Area III, Trudi is moving away from the area and we would like to thank her for all her hard work and wish her well in her new home. Henry Tomlinson has agreed to take over from me as Chairman next year and we are very happy to welcome Wendy Chesters, Norma Shaw, Kit Reid, & Tom Gilruth as new members of our committee.
Suzanne Davies FROM THE HUNT CHAIRMAN
I am grateful for the Editor’s kind invitation to write a ‘few’ words in Cry for it gives me an excellent opportunity of updating you all on Hunt matters. I would like to start by thanking two people. Firstly my predecessor Colonel Sir Charles Lowther for his excellent stewardship over the last six years and secondly our retiring Joint Master Barry Woolham for all he has done in providing us with such wonderful sport in the past five seasons.
As you all know the Foot and Mouth restrictions that remained in place until Christmas made last season extremely short and this in turn placed an enormous strain on our hunt finances. Despite this I am very pleased to say we ended the season with a small excess in income over expenditure. This happy situation was primarily as a result of some very positive and effective fund raising activities that have occurred thought out the year. I do not wish to single out any one individual or activity for thanks but rather to say that it has been a wonderful team effort in which the Hunt Supporters Club has played a significant part. Thank you all.
As short as the season may have been it was quite remarkable that we were able to enjoy such excellent sport after such a long lay off. There are many I would like thank for this. In particular I single out the landowners and farmers who welcomed us so warmly over their land despite their concerns. The Mastership and Hunt Staff for their hard work in keeping the show on the road particularly throughout the difficult months of August to December. The subscribers for the prompt and generous payment of their subscriptions with no guarantees of any hunting and finally to those who kindly made donations. Without such exceptional support in a difficult year the season might have been very different.
For the coming season the only Mastership change is the retirement of Barry Woolham. As far as the Hunt officials are concerned Anthony Anson becomes a Joint Secretary together with Nancie Shepherd and Jeannie Chantler. Dealing with other hunt matters, our new web site is proving extremely popular with those with access to the Internet and we are looking to develop it further. For those without it we hope to make better use of faxes and produce a rather more effective system of keeping everyone informed. In due course it is hoped that the Hunt Secretaries will have an e-mail facility and fax.
In the last few months a sub committee has carried out a review of the hunt finances and arrangements. They have made a number of recommendations and the Committee will consider them in due course.
We are all too aware of the threat that is facing our sport. The good work that many of you are doing in ensuring hunting survives is so appreciated. Planning for our support of the Countryside March on 22nd September is underway and I am extremely grateful to the Chairman of our Hunt Supporters Club for agreeing to mastermind the Hunt’s participation. I do hope that as many of you as possible will be there and that you will do your best to encourage attendance by those that may not be immediately involved with hunting but support it.
E C W MorrisonPUPPY SHOW REPORT
This year’s appointed date – Friday 7th June – again obliged with damp conditions. The judges were both distinguished former Masters of Foxhounds and Amateur Huntsmen: Colonel the Honourable Nick Crossley (formerly the Derwent and the Middleton) and Neil Ewart who needs no introduction.
We had a slightly smaller entry of 16 ½ couple. This was due mostly to the shortage of hunting last season. With some of that entry still to enter we did not need quite as many this time. The stallion hounds used were along conventional lines. Our own Painter ’95 - a full brother to the tremendous Paragon and virtually as good. We also used two Old English dogs; Muskerry Cricketer ’94 and Duhallow Cleaner ’94.Cricketer was the sire of Belvoir Poacher ’98 who has been such an influental Old English sire. Duhallow Cleaner was bred along similar lines to Belvoir Colonel.
The doghound puppies were disappointing in that the Old English dogs threw very heavy progeny. This left Painter’s offspring as clear winners with the judges awarding first place to Chieftain walked by Mrs Nick Brunt.
The 12 ½ couple of bitches were an extremely different prospect. The last seven or eight couple were all pretty level and with some quality but again Painter’s progeny prevailed with Harmless and Hasty (both out of Habit ’99) first and second and Chaffinch (out of Chosen ’00) third. The first two bitches were both walked by Mrs Simon Martin and Harmless also won the Sir Edward Hanmer Cup for the Best Hound.
Often the most coveted prize – that of best working hound for 2001- was awarded to Alibi walked by Mrs Anthony Anson. In a season when many young hounds weren’t entered she went straight into hunting without the benefit Autumn Hunting – quite an achievement.
This was a particularly poignant Puppy Show. A presentation was made to our retiring Joint Master, Barrie Woolham. Barry was asked to join the Mastership by Robin Gundry and then ‘saw’ me through my first four seasons. He has been the most tremendous help and an outstanding servant to the Hunt. On behalf of everyone, thank you Barry.
William Wakeham
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Friday 7th June 2002 was a very special day for me. Retiring from the Mastership of the Wynnstay which I have enjoyed and have had a lot of pleasure in being Master for the last five years.
On behalf of Geraldine and myself I would like to thank everyone for their support during that time and our thanks to everyone who contributed to my magnificent retirement gifts.
Barrie Woolham
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Joys of Hunting
For myself I cannot fancy a more happy frame of mind, Than his who rides well up to hounds, while “care sits on behind.” There is nothing to allure him in the vanities of life; Ambition, scandal, politics, hatred, emulation, strife, And all those dire diseases men really good discard, Are merged in forgetfulness when hounds are running hard
Old Ballad
POLITICAL NEWS
“Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks….”
Henry Carey – The National Anthem 2nd verse
Would that this were possible; life, as Alice says, gets curioser and curioser. First of all we have Alun Michael delegated to undertake a six month review of hunting, despite Lord Burns having already done an extremely in depth one only twelve months ago. Then he asks for written submissions broadly along the same lines that Lord Burns requested. Then he announces that there will be a three day televised ‘debate’ on hunting in September, shortly before the March.
There is an old army maxim that a soldier with nothing to do is a soldier about to get into trouble. Keep ‘em busy is the cry; make them dig holes then fill them in again, whitewash the coal, drill them, march them up to the top of the hill and down again. This is probably the Government’s game; although they are also trying to buy time from the small but vociferous group of back-benchers who are insisting on keeping hunting at the top of the political agenda. Some interesting complexities have already arisen. For example a separate Bill would have to be introduced to ban Coursing because Coursing is not included within the legal definition of Hunting – it is a test of speed and agility between two greyhounds.
Hunting is now officially banned in Scotland, the first of a series of Appeals having failed to delay the legal date of the ban. However all the Scottish Hunts are in discussions with the Police to determine what is and what isn’t allowed – there are apparently any number of ‘Grey Areas’ which need clarification. Lord Nimmo Smith, who heard the Appeal, made it quite clear what the principal intention of the Act was: “One of the principle effects of the 2002 Act was to make it a criminal offence to engage in the activity of mounted foxhunting with dogs……” So there you have it, nothing to do with cruelty, we are back to the ‘Toffs on Horses’ argument. However this song has a lot more verses to be sung yet.
There have been a wide variety of publicity stunts organised by the Countryside Alliance, The Union of Country Sports Workers and various other organisations – some apparently more shadier than others. Stories abound of the Yorkshire Resistance group known as ‘Roxy Music,’ old shepherds’ cottages in the Welsh hills full of drums of laxative waiting to be poured into the reservoirs, a prominent Welsh landowner suddenly taking a great interest in egg production etc etc. Go Slows on Motorways have been given the thumbs down as nobody notices.
Amongst many other demonstrations 10.00 am Thursday 25th to 11.00 am Friday 26th July was our allotted ‘24 hour Vigil’ slot in Parliament Square and much thanks must go to Mary Wynne-Jones for organising us and to everyone who turned up over the period. I have to confess that I had serious misgivings when driving down, and contemplated going all the way round the M42 and returning to Cheshire, but in the event it turned out to be an amazing experience.
Lots of old friends of the Hunt, chained to their London desks, turned up to give us support and copious amounts of ‘supplies.’ Little old ladies – complete strangers – came up with freshly baked cakes and home made lemonade ‘brewed to the Indian Army Recipe.’ The stand itself was pretty shabby, as was a hand made sign saying ‘Toot 4 Hunting’ (wonder how much Saatchi & Saatchi charged for that one) but the extraordinary thing was that it worked - particularly when hung around the neck of an ex-master not noted for his introvert tendencies (but also a marvellous provider of breakfasts.) Taxi drivers especially, but bus drivers, any car over three years old, bicyclists and for some unaccountable reason virtually all scooters contributed to an endless cacophony of horns and hoots and tinkles.
Fortunately the weather was fine and I had worried about that bloody big clock keeping me awake all night but there was no danger of that – it was impossible to go to sleep. The traffic never let up and neither did an endless stream of visitors, all through the night and into the following dawn. Where on earth were they going at 5.00 am? Milk Recording? An early Cubbing Meet?
My two prevailing memories are, on the Downside, that of the Grime; as soon as you arrived you could feel it building up on you layer by layer as traffic streamed round Parliament Square. Well brought up soldier that I am, having a shave on the pavement at 6.00 am, I thought my stubble had grown ½ an inch overnight, before realising it was just Grime. I’m with Red Ken on banning traffic in London. On the Upside, though, was the well brought up Staff Officer who made a great sight changing into his pyjamas at midnight. He made an even better sight at seven in the morning en route for Euston, having forgotten he was still in his pyjamas………….
THE HUNTSMAN’S RETURN
This was written, anonymously, sometime in the 1960’s after a Tug-of-War which took place over the Saighton Brook between the Wynnstay and Cheshire Hunts. Wilkin took part and forgot to shut his hens up beforehand, the consequences of which are graphically described below.
The moon shone above with a pale ghostly light, As the vixen crept out in the dead of the night. She pricked up her ears as she paused and she listened, At the thought of a fat juicy hen her eyes glistened. She knew that the huntsman who lived just below, Had a pen of fine pullets – down there she would go.
So she set off to trot across meadow and wood Till she came to the field where the poultry pen stood. She prowled all around it, and there, to be sure, In front of her eyes was the wide open door. She stopped just a moment to eye each fat hen, And she thought of her cubs back home in their den, Which the huntsman had kindly dug out in the spring, Little knowing what trouble upon him it would bring.
Then she bit off the heads of first one and then two, What a time she did have – how the feathers all flew! Till her wicked old jaws were dripping with blood, As she picked up just one and made off through the wood. When the huntsman returned from the great Tug-of-War, What a sight met his eyes and Oh how he swore! He stormed and he raved and he tore at his hair, But the vixen was now safely back in her lair.
Should he catch that old fox, and I’m sure that he will, I hope I’ll be there and up at the kill
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Attached to the Space Shuttle are two big booster rockets called solid rocket boosters or SRBs. These are mad by a company called Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed them would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs have to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site, passing through a tunnel in the mountains. The US standard railroad gauge (the distance between the rails) is 4 feet 8 ½ inches, so the tunnel is slightly wider than this but this of course limits the size of the SRBs.
Why is the US standard railroad gauge an apparently random and meaningless 4 feet 8 ½ inches? Because the railroads were built by ex-patriate Englishmen, and this also happens to be the standard English gauge. Why? Because the original railway lines were laid by the same people who built the pre-railway tramways, and that is the gauge that they used. Why? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, and that was the wheel spacing that they used. The reason for using this width was because the ruts in the English roads were this width, and to use any other width would be to risk a broken axle. Why were the ruts on English roads this width? Here we have to go all the way back to the Romans who built the roads in the first place and whose chariots were made to specifications laid down by Imperial Rome, amongst which was that the wheel spacing was to be 4 feet 8 ½ inches.
And why did the Romans choose 4 feet 8 ½ inches for their wheel spacing? Because that is, broadly speaking, the combined width of the two horses used to pull the chariot.
So a major design feature of what is arguably the world’s most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the size of a horse’s bottom………….
A 1960’s WYNNSTAY ALPHABET
A is for Adams who stops out our foxes Some people say that he keeps them in boxes B is for Benson or Brushie the Scout - A blast on the whistle, you know he’s about. C is for Charlie – the fox and the chase On a good scenting day it’s a hell of a pace. D is for Doreen, for Jerseys supreme; She’s usually known as the Pony Club Queen. E is for Ellesmere, the place for tonight, Don’t drink too much or you’ll go home quite tight. F is for Francis – or better known Fred - still rides the same bicycle so it is said. G is for Gilbert, he’s small but he’s tough; He rides those young horses no matter how rough. H is for Huntsman we can’t do without; You won’t find a better in Britain I doubt. I is for Iscoyd where Godsals reside; They’re willing to help outdoors or inside. J is for June and Jockeys and Jumps, She can tell you the odds and also what’s Trumps. K is for Kenyon with the Gredington Stud, If you drive in that Park you’ll get stuck in the mud. L is for Lowther, for speeches renown; He’s sometimes employed by the Queen up in Town. M is for Malam of earthstopping fame; If the fox goes to ground, well he’s not to blame. N is for Needham or Neville Hill-Trevor; Two keener Fox-Hunters you’d never find ever. O is for Ormrod, identical twins; - They also ride horses as like as two pins. P is for Paul who puts up the posts And builds a tiger trap better than most. Q is for queuing by Queens of the Hunt, They push and they shove till they get to the front. R is for Robards – a whip we’ll remember, Good Luck to you Hugh, on the First of Novemebr. S is for Salmon (some call him Joe) Whatever he’s riding that bugger will go! T is for Tushingham, Tom Irons or Tim; If fences are broken just telephone him. U is for Unions; we don’t have them here, The reason why not? We’re all of good cheer. V is for Veryan, Valentine, Viv; Three glamorous wives to put in a seive. W is for Wynnstay or Wilkin or Wynn, Three names to remember while fox-hunting’s in. X is for X-ray to find out what’s wrong; It’s only been bent so it won’t take too long. Y is for You who’ve supported our Show, There’s still more to come so please don’t all go. Z is for Zeal and the Zest of the Hounds, A holler, the horn and all hunting sounds.
WYNNSTAY BRIDGE
For the winter of 2001 – 2002 we had a record number of entries in the tournament with over 80 ‘couples’ playing. I hope everyone enjoyed it – as a result I was able to send cheques for £500 each to Sir W W Wynn’s Hunt and the Shrewsbury and Mid Wales Hospice.
We held the finals here at Broad Oak on May 24th when Margaret Owen from Shrewsbury again won the ‘Cup’, this time playing with Christopher Taylor against June and Peter Ockleston. Lady Woodall and I managed to get to the finals of the ‘Plate’ – she is 94 and I am lucky to have such a great partner! We were finally beaten by Martin Cooke and Richard Hoffman – Richard standing in at the last moment for Stephen Trowbridge who unfortunately had to take his father into hospital on the evening the finals were played.
I do hope that everyone will play again this year and also encourage Bridge playing friends to join in too.
Diana Warburton-Lee
This is perhaps an appropriate moment to thank you, Di, for your tremendous feat in organising 80 couples to play in both Cup and Plate and to raise such a magnificent sum too.
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THE HUNT SUPPORTERS CLUB
Patron: Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Bt. President: Mrs D.W. Hutchinson Smith
Vice Presidents: A.R. Hewitt Esq.; J Chantler Esq.; P. Robinson Esq.; Mrs G. Lea, J.P.; Mrs J. Taylor; J.C. Barnett Esq. Mrs J. Chantler.
Chairman: Mrs G Hanmer 01948 710 634
Hon. Secretary: Mrs C Purcival 01829 782 585
Treasurer: P Lawrence Esq.
Editor of Cry: David Higham, Rose Farm, Coddington, Tattenhall, Chester CH3 9EN 01829 782 420 (H) 01829 782 757 (W) david@higham.taurusuk.net
Area I (Wrexham)
Chairman: Mrs B Jones 01978 780 870
Secretary: Mrs Linda Maurice, Cinders Fm, Overton Rd, Ruabon, Wrexham LL146HL 01978 822 424
Area II (Whitchurch)
Chairman: S.N.R. Brunt Esq. 01948 710 678
Secretary: Mrs S Martin, Lyneal Wood Farm, Lyneal, Ellesmere, Shropshire SY12 0LE 01939 233 227
Area III (Malpas)
Chairman: Mrs J Davies 01829 250 212
Secretary: Mrs Pat Adams, Greenfield Farm, Bradley Green, Whitchurch, Shropshire 01948 860 394
The Stable Boys
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