DAR Diary of Activities

2001

January

The New Year was celebrated by joining up with Leeds and Sheffield sabs for a meet of the Barlow in their home village. About 150 assorted 'tails' and 'no-tails' turned out but when it came to deciding on whether to follow the hunt or go back into the pub, the majority decided they didn't care that much and scuttled back inside to leave the hunt to carry the banner of field sports by their sorry selves.

The local police were their usual unbiased and welcoming selves, stopping the van and searching it for what seemed hours while sabs had to hike a good 2 miles away from the meet to where the hunt had actually decided to start hunting! On eventual arrival, field sabs were treated to bumpkins flipping their lids, and running around with sticks and generally threatening to do 'this an that' to sabs, all watched over by a South Yorkshire Police Superintendent who happened to be riding with the hunt! No wonder the local constabulary wre falling over themsleves to be seen dealing with sabs when we have the down-right cheek to turn up! On the hunting side of things, not much occurred and when it became clear that sabs were gaining on the hunt they gave in and packed up early at 1.00pm.

With the overwhelming support in the Commons for the hunting ban and the collapse of the prosecution against the Quorn stewards, Notts asked us to join them and test the 'water' with the Quorn. Very little hunting was done all day and the hunt seemed to be content on riding around a large disused airfield for most of it. There was surprisingly little aggro from the support.

Running with the High Peak

February

The last meet of the season, Derby did a sole sab of the Meynell. After sabs successfully split their pack, the hunt retreated into a private park. A quick decision was made to try a quick dash up the road to the High Peak. After finding them almost immediately, sabs repeated their Meynell success by splitting the pack within 1/4 an hour. After sabs ran off with one half, the hunt decided to call it a day. They also suggested we should leave them alone and do the Meynell the next week (which never happened due to FMD). After making sure they were packing up, we returned to the Meynell who themselves were packing up (because of us?).

The Ecofest stall

The Big Break

When Foot and Mouth outbreaks started cropping up throughout the country, the countryside was literally closed down within a week. This went on for all of spring and most of summer, stopping all hunting, fishing and shooting. Our wildlife must have enjoyed their safest year for over 200 years.

As a group we also enjoyed a well-earned rest. Things have been kept ticking over by members supporting the Newchurch Guinea-pig Campaign, monitoring local circuses known to exploit animals (although animal movement restrictions caused them to rethink their usual acts), and running a number of fund-raising stalls including one at the Derby Eco-fest.

December

A surprisingly high number of hunts managed to receive their hunting permits in time to start hunting from the 17th of December. Both the High Peak and the Barlow were intending to start on the 22nd. Derby covered the High Peak while Sheffield/Leeds covered the Barlow. Both hunts cancelled at the last minute due to the harsh icy conditions.

Toying with the idea of going to one of the large LACS organised anti-hunt protests on Boxing Day we, instead, decided to take a token force to the Meynell opening meet. A small band from Derby and Wolves (cheers guys) successfully reminded the parade that we had not forgotten them! Again there was no hunting due to the frozen ground. A small demo at Newchurch on the way back rounded off a fairly uneventful day.

The Meynell was again visited on the following Saturday. There was a poor turn-out of support probably due to the meet being unadvertised. For some reason they seemed disgruntled that we had managed to turn out for it. The police/special branch also seemed slightly annoyed with us as HRH Prince of Wales had also decided to turn up! There were no kills.