Post on 28-Jun-2018
transcript
ROYAL ARTILLERY HUNT
Hunting Clinic/Newcomers Weekend 2015
Friday 2 October
19.00 hrs for 19.45: Pub supper
The Malet Arms, Newton Tony,
Wiltshire. SP4 0HF
Tel: 01980 629279
(dodgy mobile reception!)
Welcome and Meet up
Saturday 3 October
07.10 hrs: Arrival Larkhill Racecourse, Wilts.
The Racecourse is off the A303 direction Larkhill Camp; turn right
at the Golf Driving Range following the RA Hunt signs on the track
grid ref SU130456. As it is on Salisbury Plain, it does not have a
postcode. The nearest is SP4 8QT Larkhill Army Barracks which is
nearby, please do NOT turn in but follow the signs as above!
07.15 hrs: CHECK IN (lady with a clipboard)
Any problems ring 07780 547696
Dress: ratcatcher (breeches, boots, shirt & tie & tweed jacket or Barbour)
07.30 hrs: Meet and move off (mounted)
10.30hrs: Coffee (inside the Racecourse building)
Introduction:
Pippa Grob MFH
Brought up in
Leicestershire, Pippa
came into hunting by
the traditional route through The Pony Club. She has hunted with
numerous packs and also in both Ireland and France. In her eighth
season as the civilian Master of the Royal Artillery Hunt.....still
hasn’t conquered her orientational ‘dyslexia’.
11.00 hrs: ‘The RA as a Military Hunt’: Lt Col A H McD Cameron MBE RA MFH
Lt Col Cameron hunted on and off with the RA
since 1981 as Service permitted, whist regularly
competing in the Army & RA Hunter Trials since
1993 and in later years as Secretary. He is a
Military Equitation Instructor and ran Army
Saddle Clubs in Bramcote, Hohne, Herford, Thorney Island and Kirton
in Lindsay. He joined the RA Mastership in 2013.
11.30 hrs: ‘Hunting - people, business and fun’
Sam Butler Sam is a Chartered Surveyor owning and running his own
business, Butler Sherborn in the Cotswolds. He has been
in practice for 35 years with 5 offices specialising in
country property and farm sales, management, renewable
energy, valuations and equestrian. Sam has hunted in
Warwickshire all his life and since 1982 has been
Secretary, Master and now Chairman. He continues to
Field Master twice a week if he can!
In 1997 he joined the Countryside Alliance’s
Campaign for Hunting, which he chaired, and
as a board member, until 2005. During that time this saw the
running of the countryside marches, the rallies, families for
hunting and all operations run through the march office. He coordinated the
Alliances’ response to the Burns Enquiry and to the Government’s
consultations on hunting. During these 9 years Sam travelled and visited
hunts all over the country, rallying, mobilising and raising money.
Throughout, he made the arguments for all forms of hunting including terrier
work, coursing and stag hunting as well as beagling and fox hunting. Sam is
married with three children in Gloucestershire with the family keen country
sports men and a wife who is an equine veterinary surgeon. When time
allows Sam shoots, the more informal the better, and spends Sunday
mornings ferreting!
12 noon: ‘From Chukkas to the Cry’
Surgeon Commander Harry Rourke RNR Harry Rourke read medicine and natural sciences at Cambridge, trained as a surgeon
all over the UK and is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in Liverpool. He joined the
Royal Naval Reserve and attended Dartmouth Royal Naval College in 2009. In 2010
he deployed to Afghanistan as part of the field hospital on Op. Herrick. He started riding in 2009
after being encouraged by a Cavalry Officer at Dartmouth, later taking up polo in 2010. This year
he won the Captains and Subalterns trophy, the third
oldest trophy in sporting history and importantly beat the
RAF in the Duke of York cup. Graduating from the RA
Hunt Newcomers Weekend in 2011 he now finds it
difficult to distinguish whether he prefers polo or hunting
it being largely dependent on the time of year. Recently
he was delighted to be awarded his hunt button by the
RAH with the concomitant expansion of
his dressing up box! For the next year he
is studying at military staff college but
normally lives in Chester and owns a
single but very sweet polo pony, Ella.
12.30 hrs: Lunch
13.00 hrs: Visit to the RA Hunt Kennels
Robert Moffatt
Huntsman
(return direct to the racecourse)
14.30 hrs: Riding cross country jumping over the British Eventing course
Dress: smart casual
Please bring a body protector (if you have one, there will be some spares) No peaked hats
16.00 hrs: Tea
16.30 hrs: ‘Looking the Part – Hunting Dress/Equipment/Etiquette’
Colonel R A Winchester
Chairman, Royal Artillery Hunt Col Dickie Winchester first hunted with the RA Foxhounds when he was 8,
with little skill and to no effect, retiring from the sport shortly afterwards for
10 years in order to concentrate upon growing up. On commissioning into the
Royal Artillery at 18, he was told that hunting and nightclubbing were
essential activities of skilled Gunners; he quickly rediscovered the sport,
spending numerous Wednesdays and Saturdays on the Plain developing his
eye for the ground and his stamina.
Other than a few visits to
neighbouring packs, and a spell with the North
American packs, he has continued to hunt with
the RA for the last 34 years, whenever postings
and operations permitted. Although he now has a
skilled eye for the ground, sadly the riding and
nightclubbing skills still have some way to go.
He was Joint Master for 3 seasons 2010-12, and
is now Chairman.
He is also Chairman of both the Army Equitation
Association and RA Polo. Having just completed 4 years
as Commandant of the Royal School of Artillery, is about
to join the Reserves.
17.00 hrs: ‘A day’s Hunting’
Chris Austin MFH
Chris Austin learned to ride as a child
while living in Switzerland. He is a
former Master of the Vine and Craven
and has been a Master of the
Kimblewick for the last 15 seasons.
He was previously Director of the
Association of Masters of Harriers
and Beagles and has judged at most
of the major hound shows in the
country.
Horn calls by the RA Huntsman: Robert Moffatt
Robert has been in hunt service since the age of 15. He
has experienced hunting foxhounds, beagles and
studbook harriers and was Huntsman of the Easton
Harriers for six seasons. He has been Huntsman of the
Royal Artillery since 2008.
(time to return to hotel afterwards if desired, dress casual for barbecue)
19.00 hrs onwards: Bar & barbecue
(with Hunt Supporters and guests)
21.00 hrs: ‘Hunting tales’
Rory Knight Bruce
Rory Knight Bruce is our friend and neighbour
having been a Joint Master of the Tedworth
foxhounds (1997-2000) but who still returns
regularly to functions from his native farm in Devon.
He is the author of 'Red
Letter Days: Hunting
Across the British Isles',
and has been a reporter on
hunting for all major titles -
The Daily Telegraph, Daily
Mail, Country Life, Horse
and Hound and The Field
for almost thirty years. In
his professional life he was
a reporter on the staff of
The Spectator and Evening
Standard.
He is here to talk to us about 'Hunting Tales' which
includes days in Wiltshire, Scotland, Wales, Ireland
and France and has previously been introduced by
one master as 'The Russell Brand of Foxhunting."
THE BRITISH HUNTING COLLECTION
courtesy of Tony Roberts will also be on display The British Hunting Collection started in 1989 with a small display at the
Warwickshire & West Midland Game Fair at Ragley Hall and has become a large
travelling exhibition. The Collection is a unique snapshot of British hunting
history with items in the collection dating as far back as the 18th century.
To date it has an impressive collection of the following:
Over 300 hunt uniforms
Over 700 hunt buttons and badges
Hound lists
Diaries
Photographs
Tools and artefacts
Colourful and informative displays
Plus all sorts of meet and puppy Show cards and memorabilia
Sunday 4 October
09.15 hrs: Prince Sports Massage business of sole practitioner
Elizabeth Prince MSMA
‘No more aches and pains’
Elizabeth is a SMA Level 4 qualified Sports Massage Practitioner and a
member of the Sports Massage Association. She qualified in 2005 and
has over 7 years experience. Offering a highly professional and
effective service to her clients, Elizabeth will focus on your specific requirements.
Elizabeth is a former elite rower who won a silver medal competing for England in the single
scull at the Commonwealth Games Regatta in 2002.
On retiring from rowing Elizabeth ran the London
Marathon in 2003 en-route to being selected to
compete for the Great British Triathlon Age Group
Team for both Olympic Distance and Long
Distance in 2004. She is now a regular (but no
longer elite) endurance sports participant. She ran
the Lakeland 50 ultra distance fell race in 2011. In
2012 she switched to open water swimming
completing a 10km and a 14.1km.
Lulu often follows the RA Hunt as a runner but whilst learning to ride spent most of her
childhood exploring the tracks on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border. As a youngster she used
to hunt with the HH and RA when her pony and she could hitch a lift in someone's box.......
Regular switching of sports keeps life interesting and challenging for Elizabeth but it also
keeps her up to date on the demands of various different sports. It also maintains the need for
regular sports massage herself, so when it hurts please believe that she fully understands what
you are going through from regular first hand knowledge!
10.00 hrs: Hack out over The Plain including optional fences (dress: smart casual)
Drinks and lunch
with RA Hunt members and guests
12.30 hrs: Welcome:
Lt Col John Jago OBE
Vice President
Lt Col Jago first whipped in to Colonel Freddie Edmeades
at the RA Hunt in the season 1955/56 and continued until
leaving Larkhill to attend the Long Equitation Course at
Melton Mowbray in 1958/59, hunting that season with the
Belvoir, the Cottesmore and the Quorn. He continued on
returning to the Plain in 1959 until departing for Kenya in
1961 – two seasons were with Major Pat Ryall, as Freddie
had a two year gap due to a posting.
From 1962 to 1964 while serving in
Chester he hunted with the Wynnstay and
the Cheshire before service in Germany
and Aden, returning to hunt with the RA
from 1967 to 1969. From 1974 to 1975
he hunted the Dhekelia Drag in Cyprus
and then returned to Larkhill where he
became Field Master to Colonel Peter
Heaton-Ellis and then to Major David
Thatcher until 1981. On returning from
two years in Northern Ireland in 1984 he
resumed hunting with the RA and took
over as sole Master in 1985, hunting
hounds for eight seasons until 1993.
Speaker: Alastair Martin
Secretary & Keeper of the Records
The Duchy of Cornwall
The son of a farmer and keen hunting mother, and a land
agent for the last 30 years, Alastair found that hunting
fitted into his life quite easily. That was until he was
appointed to run the Duchy of Cornwall Estates and, as
he is based in London, he is now presented with some logistical challenges.
Having been blooded at the
Tedworth as a child, he has hunted
for most of the last 40 years with
the Mendip Farmers’ Hunt and
was Chairman for a number of
years until recently.
A lifetime riding horses, albeit
mostly just out hunting, has sadly
not revealed any real skill or
ability on his part.
14.30 hrs: ‘Never Give Up’
Nigel Morland
Chairman
Surrey Union Hunt
Nigel Morland will talk about how he
only started riding aged 30, and didn’t
start hunting until he was 40.
He now hunts every week and is truly
blessed with a lovely hunter, Trinny, who
is such a great jumper she was selected
for the 2012 Olympics and went on to
win Bronze for her rider at Greenwich.
When he first started
hunting he was simply embarrassing - often taking 3 attempts to clear the
simplest hunt jump - but he persevered and now even acts as field master on
(rare) occasions.
15.00 hrs: The Golden Rules – a forum: Pam Baker
Field Secretary Pam’s early hunting was with the West Kent but being horseless at Uni took
to her feet with the Castleton Beagles. The pack operated on the Wentlodge
levels and hunting involved frequently getting wet to the waist if you
misjudged your leap over the reens (drainage ditches). A chance
conversation whilst extracting themselves from a particularly deep one
found her exercising the Tredegar Hunt Chairman's horse and the joy of a
free day on a Tuesday (never mind attending lectures) if he was busy at work. Once settled into
working life she hunted in Kent with the Ashford Valley, then the West Street Tickham, where
she became serially and often in parallel Secretary, Point to Point Secretary and Treasurer.
Somehow she managed to hunt twice a week but does remember one
Commercial Director introducing her to his successor as "this is Pam,
your Corporate Management Accountant, she isn't here on a Wednesday
in the winter"! Life slowly shifted to Hampshire, where she hunted with
the New Forest but got "re-called" to the West Street Tickham as Hunt
Chairman and oversaw their dissolution with their country being divided
between two neighbouring packs. Now hunting with the Royal Artillery
and working full time she still mostly manages two days a week; several
work committees having had their meeting days "re-arranged" to allow
this. Life requires the right priorities!
15.30 hrs: Do’s and Don’ts: ‘Final Question and Answer Session’
Ali Wilson (Honorary Secretary)
Ali started hunting with the RMAS Drag Hunt whilst an Officer Cadet
at Sandhurst and then with the Wesser Vale Bloodhounds whilst
serving in Germany with the Royal Artillery. Since then she has
hunted with the Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray and with the
RA since 2004. Ali has been ‘Hon Sec’ of the Royal Artillery Hunt for
the last eight seasons and manages to balance a complex mixture of
Field Secretary, social and information technical communication and
administration. That means she talks to everyone on her extensive
Hunt list. She takes minutes at endless meetings and most importantly
keeps the executive committee on target.
In short she is a lynch pin of the Hunt!
16.00 hrs: Tea
16.30 hrs: Departure
With the exception of Friday evening all homemade meals provided in the Racecourse
Building, Larkhill by well known cook Emma Harrison of Complete Catering
email: CCbyEH@aol.com
come and see us again soon! RECOMMENDED READING/LISTENING:
The Little Hunting Handbook by Annie Cairns £15 http://www.huntingstockmarket.co.uk/product/The-Little-Hunting-
Handbook/42-106.aspx
Hunting Horn Calls CD (£12) http://www.countryside-video.co.uk/shop-item-Hunting-Horn-Calls--
-CD_1_108.php
RS Surtees is the foxhunter's novelist par excellence His novels raucously unveil the half-forgotten
country life of England between the Reform
Bills: horse-dealers and minxy adventuresses
compete for the lolly of lecherous Earls;
spanking great hill foxes outpace packs of
hounds as likely to belong to a grocer as a
Duke; we find Jorrocks and James Pigg, Lucy
Glitters and Facey Romford, Soapey Sponge
and sound Tom Scott – all bucketing across
the pages of English history. To get started on
a Victorian novelist beside whom Dickens
seems slow and Thackeray wordy call 01749
344 338 or e mail support@rssurtees.com
photos of the course will be available from John Eccles Photography
see http://www.johnecclesphoto.co.uk/-/galleries/ra-hunt
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FEEDBACK
We hope you will have a lovely weekend
Please let us know any suggestions/ways to improve the Clinic
Responses to bmgrob@aol.com or hand in this sheet at the end of the weekend
THANK YOU AND GOOD HUNTING!