People who are pro hunting and people who are anti hunting automatically assume that all farmers are huntsmen, An incorrect assumption by BOTH sides of the argument.

Dorothy, Margot, Andrew and myself attended what, now that there is a legal ban, plus the death of Mrs France-Hayhurst (pictured on the right a great hunt supporter) may well have been the last ever Bostock foxhunting meeting.

We came to record the event and as we were near the old Hall I couldn’t help but imagine what it must have been like 100 years ago in the days of the Colonel (Mrs F-H’s great grandfather).

These days the Hall is converted into a residence with flats and houses but they must have been quite a sight. The estate was ten times larger than it is today and the Colonel and his friends would have been able to ride all day without going off land he owned.

Most people here own perhaps one or two hunting horses and will only bring one to a hunt. Back then they would have at least three one for morning one for the afternoon and one as a spare should one become lame.

In Tatton Hall there is a painting done in the mid 1800’s showing the Cheshire Hunt and there is a Mr France Grandfather to the Colonel.

In those days it was only the big landowners who hunted, today membership is more open, although some hunts are quite selective of their members..

Master (the man in charge) for the day was Andrew (not webby) pictured here and these two ladies were also locals.

These horses as you can see are big animals and personally I couldn’t ever see myself riding one.

The meeting was quite a social event and I saw quite a few people I only meet on a yearly basis.

Finally for those of you interested, did they catch a fox? the answer was NO. Two nights later I spotted one only 50 metres from the gate to where we had been sitting on the side of the road eating a rabbit.

Quite an interesting day PHIL.

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