News for June and July .........

Peterborough, Daily Telegraph, 25th July
The Liberal Deomocrats hold an ambivalent attitude towards foxhunting. Some of their MPs have spoken against the sport, rather fewer in favour. That might change with the appointment of Elizabeth Peplow as their director of press: Peplow was, until recently, the assistant editor of Horse and Hound. Some Lib Dems are said to be unhappy but the Countryside Alliance is welcoming. "Liz has always treated the hunting issue fairly", says a spokesman, "and that will assist the Lib Dems".

Have the Marches had their Day? RWF Poole writes in the Weekend Telegraph, 22nd July
Willie Poole joined some 7,000 people gathered in East Market Street by Waverley Station, Edinburgh to march along with Scottish gamekeepers in fraternal protest against Lord Watson's anti-field sports bill. Willie writes that it was generally agreed that the march had been a waste of time and was hardly going to have Lord Watson disappearing up his kilt. The marches, it was decided, had had their day, and had utterly failed to convince the politicians of the folly of their ways. Ever since the Hyde Park Rally, I have said that I hoped the politicians would see sense and not underestimate the feeling in the countryside. Well they haven't and they have. Feelings that afternoon were running high and it was not just whisky talk. The sense is that the Governments, both of them, are looking for trouble, and trouble is exactly what they are going to get. The tactical discussions were about exactly how many tractors it would take to snarl up the M8 motorway (not many) and the feasibility of "gridlocking" Edinburgh (very feasible). This may inconvenience the life of urban man, but, then, it would be very inconvenient for country people to have their whole way of life destroyed.

"Who will be the first to go to Prison?" writes Robin Page in his Country Diary, Telegraph 15th July
If an election were called tomorrow, who could I vote for? The answer is nobody. Like hundreds of thousands of others I am effectively disenfranchised. I have never known the mood of farmers and country people to be so black. There is civil disobedience and rebellion in the air. The farming and rural communities feel betrayed by their politicians, their Parliament and their union representatives.
Our predicament was encapsulated at the Royal Show last week, Nick Brown, the Minister of MAFF, was there. Like a frightened rabbit, he scurried from establishment pavilion to establishment pavilion, with his minders ensuring that he did not meet any real farmers or farmworkers. How on earth can a politician who appears so ignorant of country matter hold so much sway over our rural communities? if you destroy farming and rural communities you destroy the very soul of the countryside, and that is exactly what this Government is doing.
Who can we turn to for help? it seems to me that we must start helping ourselves; we must take a laf out of the French farmers' book. I am getting my marching boots out again and oiling my muck spreader: if country people are to be sidelined, discriminated against and victimised, we must do what any other minority would do.

Daily Telegraph, Saturday, 15th July
Peterborough writes ........... "Michael Foster, the anti-hunting MP, proves himself a master of precis. Having pored carefully over the complicated 200-page findings of the Burns report, he writes to his constituents to save them the trouble. "Hunting with dogs 'seriously compromises the welfare of the fox'," he reports. "This means it is cruel."

M4 Motorway Closed, Friday, 14th July
"A Bridge too Far!" is how Countryman's Weekly described the closure of the Second Severn Bridge by a group of pro-hunting and farming vehicles. Over 260 vehicles from Wales, the Midlands and Exmoor converged onto the Severn Bridge and successfully brought traffic to a standstill for a couple of hours. This protest showed how a small group of people with limited resources and at short notice can demonstrate their capability of bringing traffic to a standstill and blocking the Severn Bridge for a brief time. It was a short sharp message to the government showing what can be achieved.

This was on the day that the Prime Minister and MPs were considering the Hunting Bill and Burns Report in Westminster.

Exmoor Hunting Poll, Thursday, 13th July
Results in this week of a hunting poll covering North Devon and West Somerset conducted by the North Devon Journal came out in favour of retaining the current status quo. A 53% majority of those who voted said if they were an MP asked to give their view on the issue of hunting they would vote for the current status quo to be maintained. 44% said they would vote for an outright ban on hunting.

The poll was conducted over 4 weeks polling an amazing 1,759 votes, far outstripping response to any other recent campaign or issue. The pro-hunt votes topped the poll by 161 votes.

From the Editor of Horse & Hound, 13th July
"The Government's cynical move to announce that it would bring forward a hunting bill in the next session of Parliament, BEFORE it had even debated the Burn's Report, which it had instigated, has left country people understandably lacking confidence in New Labour's integrity. Put simply, the Government is playing politics with country sports and the livelihoods of thousands of people and the lives of several million. Coming up to an election, that would seem to be a pretty dumb move, but when the Prime Minister is rattled, he does do silly things.
At last, the Rural Action Group (RAG) has showed its hand and I commend our Welsh friends for their initiative. The Severn's rolling roadblock is likely to trigger a series of similar protests which will increase in intensity until this Government realises that it has got the hunting issue all wrong. One West Country newspaper described RAG as 'Anarchists with manners'. That's how it must continue.

"If you're not for us, at least be neutral", Cilla Webb, Somerset County Gazette, 23rd June
Pro-hunt group Endangered Exmoor has appealed to MP Jackie Ballard to take a neutral position on the sport's future. In an open letter to the Taunton Liberal Democrat MP., the organisation, which was set up just over a year ago, says it cannot understand her position. Mrs Ballard has remained firm in her opposition to hunting and reiterated only last week after the publication of the Burns Report that she would vote to ban it. Endangered Exmoor chairman Jeanette Branton said that Lord Burns had singled out Exmoor as a unique place that would be severely affected, both economically and socially, if a ban were implemented. The letter to Mrs Ballard says: "A great part of your constituency covers Exmoor and we fail to understand how you can continue to refuse to battle on behalf of your constituents. You cannot let your personal feelings compromise your professional duties as our voice in the House of Commons. If hunting were banned our culture and way of life would be destroyed. If you feel unable to support us then you must take a neutral position".
Mrs Ballard has in the past warned her rural constituents that they must be prepared to diversify and insists Exmoor has tremendous potential to replace hunting in its economy. She said the area was unique because of its environment, landscape and isolation and many people would want to visit it because there was no hunting.

County Gazette poll came out on the side of hunting, 16th June
A telephone poll conducted by the Somerset County Gazette last November revealed an overwhelming majority in favour of hunting. Seventy-four per cent of the 9,000 voters registered - 6,918 - backed the sport, while just 26%, or 2,449 callers supported a ban.

"Anger Spills over at hunting ban protest" - Western Morning News, Tuesday 13th June
The first skirmish in what promises to be a long and itter battle was staged yesterday when hundreds of angry demonstrators gathered outside Parliament in protest at the Government's announcement of plans which could finally outlaw all hunting with hounds.
The demonstrators, including some waving banners saying "Endangered Exmoor", handed in a petition signed by 400,000 people calling on the Government not to ban hunting. The noisy demonstration was peaceful but the sense of anger was palpable among the protesters, who brought traffic to a standstill. The hunt supporters said it was a small taste of what was to come if the Government pressed ahead with legislation.
Inside the House of Commons, Home Secretary Jack Straw said a Government Bill to outlaw hunting was likely to be included in the Queen's Speech in November. MPs would be given a free vote on a range of opinions, including an outright ban on hunting. Mr. Straw said that the Government was "neutral" on the hunting issue, but felt it was appropriate for MPs to come to a "proper legislative conclusion". His statement coincided with the publication of the Burns Report into hunting with dogs, which found that between 6,000 and 8,000 jobs relied on hunting and that, if it was banned, it would take seven to ten years for them to be replaced.

The report also found that the Westcountry, and particularly Exmoor, was the heartland of hunting. Lord Burns told the Western Morning News: "Exmoor is a place apart. There are a lot of hunts there and it means a huge amount to people there. All the aspects of social and cultural life that we talked about in the report were very much in evidence there."
Last night, many at Westminster questioned whether hunting could be banned before the next General Election, and whether a ban might falll foul of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Dismayed villagers vow to fight back - Report by Gloria Schofield, Western Morning News, Tuesday, 13th June
There was dismay and defiance in the Westcountry hunting village of Exford yesterday as news of the Bill expected to ban all hunting with dogs came through. In the bar of the Exmoor White Horse Inn the mood was sombre. Landlord Pete Hendrie said: "We are supposed to live in a democratic society, and something like this is taking away human rights. It will criminalise people who have always tried to be completely law-abiding." He said he believed even if hunting was oficially banned, the sport would continue. Mr Hendrie added: "The Government has only seen one side of country folk so far - the nice side."
Exford farrier John Kent predicted, like Mr Hendrie, that huntsmen and women would not accept a ban without fighting back. Country people, he said, were eeling increasingly militant and prepared to show their defiance against what they saw as ludicrous attempts to change country life by people who knew nothing whatever about it, and cared even less. He added: "How can they possibly police any law againt hunting with dogs, when we haven't even got a community policeman and the nearest police station is 10 miles away? If 100 horses go up hunting on the moor, how do they intend to stop it? A law would be completely unworkable." Like many other villagers, he questioned the logic behind the Government's stance. "Presumably, I would be breaking the law if my terrier went off chasing a rabbit."
Above the bar was printed a notice saying: "Hunting first - what next?" Someone had written underneath, "Blair's funeral."
Suggestions that deer would be more humanely killed by stalking, and foxes by lamping, met with derision. Jim Winzer who takes Exford's many visitors on "Safari Trips" to see the thousands of Exmoor deer, said neither method could ensure the direct, clean kill of an animal which was assured when hunting with dogs.
As Mr Hendrie pointed out, how would the Government manage to quantify how much money is lost by all the people associated with hunting: not just those whose livelihood is absolutely dependent on the sport, but those whose ability to stay afloat also depends on it.
David Whitehouse, the village's postmaster, said half his trade would be lost if hunting was banned, and all the people who use his post and bank services and his shop no longer came.
Huntsman Donald Summersgill, who cares for the Exford-based Devon and Somerset Staghounds, took me to see the 60 couple of hounds in the yard, all of whom have their own names and personalities and whose care is, it was clear, his life. "I look at them and I think, what is to become of them?" he said.
Joint Master of the Hunt, Diana Scott spent yesterday at the London demonstrations. "People are really angry", she said. "If this is a democracy, God help us all. This is a very sad day for England".

"If the hounds go, our village will slowly die" - Report by Sean O'Neill, The Telegraph, 13th June
The tension in Exford was real yesterday as the villagers awaited details of the Burns Report. the economy of this Exmoor village, home to the Devon & Somerset Staghounds, is more dependent on hunting than anywhere else in Britain. The season lasts from August to May, and people from across the country come to ride with the Devon & Somerset when their own packs have stopped hunting. They keep the stables, farriers and hotels in business through the winter. They spend money in the pubs, shops and garages. But when news that Burns was anti-hunting and the Government would introduce a Bill began to filter through via radio and television, faint hopes were replaced by resignation and sadness. "it is what we expected", said Peter Hendrie, 43, manager of the White Horse Hotel. "A third of our business stems from hunting. That is the difference between employing people full-time or part-time. Instead of a year round hotel, we will become a seasonal hotel. In the winter, when now we employ 25 to 35 people, we will be reduced to a skeleton staff."

Jeremy Connell, 49, the hotel's bar manager, said he would be reduced to twiddling his thumbs during the winter months. "Hunting represents a huge swathe of our business", said mr Connell. "It will be devastating for Exford. If they go ahead with a ban I can see the village dying. From the farrier and the huntsman the effect will be felt all the way down the line to the shop and the post office".

David Whitehouse, the village postmaster, said a ban on hunting would cost him 50% of his business. He said: "All the local businesses, the hotels, the stables, bank here with me. If they suffer, I suffer. Fewer businesses means less mail in the sorting office. Would we still have enough mail for four postment? The retails side of my business would also be hit and, with rural post offices already under threat, it does not augur well. The Government seemed to have made up its mind last week before it even saw the Burns Report. That was insulting. I don't think they have considered the knock-on effects">

At his forge, John Kent, a farrier, says the hunt creates 85% of his work. Mr Kent, 55, has already decided not to take on any new apprentices. "One lad has just finished his apprenticeship and he will be the last", said mr Kent. "I've trained 17 or 18, but if I took one on now and they ban hunting I would simply not have enough work or him". Mr Kent said his remaining hope was that people would ignore any ban. "people feel Parliament has no right banning something that is a way of life in the country. They are criminalising law abiding people. It will be a long, hard battle and the Government is taking on some very influential people. I think there will be a revolution.

Sid Westcott who has ridden with the Devon & Somerset for 61 years and is master of the Minehead Harriers foxhunt, said many people were talking of defying any ban. "When hunting people get together we ask each other what would we do", said Mr Westcott, 66, a farmer. "if my friends were to keep hunting, then I would so so as well, to back them up. I rode a pony to my first meeting of the Devon & Somerset Staghounds when I was five and I have been hunting ever since. It is a huge part of my life. If I couldn't hunt with hounds I would not ride again. If there is a ban then my huntsman loses his job, he and his wife and daughter lose their home, and the hounds will have to be put down. It sounds pretty disastrous to me".

Donald Summersgill, huntsman with the Devon & Somerset, knows that if the hunt goes the hounds will, in all likelihood, have to be killed. He said: "Every time I look at them I feel a pang because I don't know what their future is".

Fearful but defiant, in the village where hunting is a way of life - Report by Audrey Gillan, The Guardian, 10th June
They may feel they are being hounded out of existence, but in Exford they are determined not to go quietly.
The headline on the local newspaper billboard says it all: "Anxious wait for hunt report". The people of Exford, a compact Somerset working village that nestles in the centre of Exmoor, say they have knots in their stomach as they wait for the findings of Lord Burns' Inquiry to be published. Exford more than any other place in the United Kingdom, relies on hunting for its economy. This is the home of the Devon & Somerset Staghounds and a number of foxhunting packs are based here or nearby. Evidence of hunting is everywhere. Horseboxes and Range Rovers with "Endangered Exmoor" car stickers are all around and the howling of the kenelled hounds can be heard in the distance. In the bar of the Exmoor White Horse, the walls are hung with hunting trophies, memorabilia and pictures of the hunt. Punters are urged to bu "The Hunting Gene", a pro-hunting book, and a woman sipping a lunchtime drink has a stag's head tattooed on her arm. here, hunting is in the blood.

Statistics vary but a large number of local people say they will be badly effected if hunting with hounds is banned. Pro-hunting lobby groups assert that it will ring about the end of the rural way of life, that countless people will be made unemployed, and most of these will be concentrated in the South-West.

Jeanette Branton is the owner of the village livery yard behind the Exmoor White Horse and a founder member of Endangered Exmoor, which campaigns pimarily for the preservation of hunting and a traditional way of life. She keeps 15 horses or hunting people during the season, each paying £85 a week. Sitting in the tack room amidst cartons of hoof oil, tins of saddle waxes and rows of tack, she says: "if hunting was banned I wouldn't have a business at all. I rent the yard from Lord Townshend on an annual basis and I wouldn't carry on doing that". mrs Branton has worked with hunters since she was 20. Durin the hunting season - Exford's is a long one at nine months - she employs two local girls full-time and another two part-time. She says: "Exford is a working village. We have got a blacksmith, a village school. Nearly everybody in Exford of working age is employed in and around he village, which is quite extraordinary. A ban would spoil Exford, a village like this would go forever".

Shooting
The Crown Hotel is a hunting hotel. Its sketches, paintings, even duvet covers are all representations of the hunt in one way or another. Mike Bradley has managed the Crown for six years and has been in the Exmoor hotel business for 22 years. He estimates 15% to 20% of his business is hunting related and another 20% comes from shooting. "We don't cater purely for field sports but the Crown has been synonymous with the hunt. It does bring a lot of revenue to the area", he says. "It's very, very important as far as the hotel is concerned. The hunting and shooting are at times of the year that without it there would not be a lot of trade. It actually enables us to keep staff all the year round".

If the Government goes ahead with a move to ban hunting with hounds, however, Exford will not go quietly. "We are not going to say that's it, we better just carry on with our lives", says Mrs Branton. "The countryside is really going to rebel against a ban. I am sure mr Blair will be aware that it is going to cause huge unrest in the countryside". In Exford, people are not prepared to say they will break the law and carry on hunting. But sometimes, when they are talking about the sport, their eyes tell you a different story.

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