Countryside Alliance looks ahead to the Festival of Hounds

There are only a few more days to go before the gates open at the East of England Showground where thousands of us will unite to celebrate our wonderful packs of hounds. The 136^th Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show and the Festival of Hunting, taking place on Wednesday 17 July, are an opportunity to see the very best examples of foxhounds, beagles, harriers and basset hounds competing for the prestigious honour of claiming a championship whilst meeting up with friends and enjoying “everything hunting”.

The Alliance is delighted to be a key sponsor again this year and we invite you to join us for light refreshments throughout the day in our hospitality stand which will, as usual, be located near the Vice Presidents’ marquee. Representatives from the Alliance look forward to welcoming members and supporters to discuss the future of hunting and other matters that are of importance to you.

There is something for everyone at this year’s event, with gates opening at 9am and the judging of harriers and beagles (Rings 4 & 5) commencing at 9.30am when the inter-hunt relay also gets underway. The parade of Sealyham terriers will kick off the action in Ring 1, where various displays and other activities will take place throughout the day, with the ever-popular Young Handlers’ Class expected to draw a good crowd there at 2pm.

The judging of the modern foxhounds in the Fitzwilliam Enclosure, the Old English foxhounds (Ring 2) and the basset hounds (Ring 3) will get underway at 10am. During lunch, the judging of the Hunt Picnic Competition will take place, before the action starts again after lunch with the bitch hound classes in all rings.

There will be much to enjoy next Wednesday – whether you are supporting your local pack of hounds or your hunt’s inter-hunt relay team, competing on the flags, attending to stock up on new kit ahead of the start of the season ahead or simply to going to socialise - but we will also be closely following the King’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament.

We know that there should be other matters of concern for any government, but hunting has been used as a political tool before, so we are ready to take action should there be any indication that our activities will be targeted in the next session of Parliament when the priorities for the newly-elected Labour government are laid out. Even if there is no further mention of their commitment to ban trail at this stage, there are still risks that other measures could be brought forward so we must not deviate from proving that our hunting activities are properly conducted, well-regulated and do not require further legislation.

This may be the last year that this much-enjoyed event will take place at the current venue, with details of the new location revealed in due course, but the Alliance, working in association with the British Hound Sports Association and others, will do everything we can to ensure that we can all look forward to celebrating our wonderful packs of hounds at Peterborough and on the hunting field for years to come.

Image: Hattie Austin Photography