A message from the Countryside Alliance on the Festival of Hunting

This first appeared on the Festival of Hunting website on 22nd July, the day the Festival of Hunting should have taken place.

The Countryside Alliance usually attends hound shows all around the country, starting in early June at the South of England Show at Ardingly and finishing mid-August in Cumbria. Not only do these events offer us the opportunity to see our members and supporters face to face, but crucially give us the chance to educate those who may never have encountered hunting in any form previously.

Members of the public from right across the age spectrum flock to see hounds at the Great Yorkshire Show at Harrogate and to the West of England Hound Show which is an integral part of Honiton Show, however the Festival of Hunting is mainly for the real hunting aficionados and is truly the highlight of the summer for the Alliance team.

In the absence of the hound shows and other public events that the Alliance usually attends - such as Badminton Horse Trials and BBC Countryfile Live - we continue to communicate with our members and supporters through regular emails and the use of social media so we are grateful to the Festival of Hunting for enabling us to communicate our work to you as a supporter of this magnificent one day celebration of hounds. If you would like to receive regular hunting updates and other news from the Countryside Alliance, please sign up here.

Whether you follow on foot or on a horse, it is the hounds themselves that unite us and being surrounded by like-minded people at the Festival of Hunting enables us all to peacefully enjoy everything that is so spectacular about the sport for which we are so passionate. Sadly - and undeservedly - hunt supporters can encounter hostility because of the pastime they enjoy, but on this particular day we are grateful for the chance to openly show our support for hounds and hunt staff while indulging ourselves in all things hunting and hound related.

Like thousands of you, we were disappointed that this year's Festival of Hunting, including the Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show, were unable to go ahead this year, but we look forward to supporting the show again in 2021 and hope that in the meantime we all have an enjoyable season following our beloved hounds.

We have put together a video of memories from previous shows for you, as we look forward to next year's show.