All our yesterdays.
Extracts from the Whitehaven News circa 1956/7
Hound catchers ‘running in’
One members solution and I quote.
‘Erect a barrier to accommodate not 10 hounds but 50 with pig wire set high enough for the hounds to be caught underneath and high enough so that nobody can get over. this would eliminate any running in and give catchers every chance of getting to their hounds. Raise the finishing tape six inches from the ground on short stakes. This would simplify the judges task and also give the hound men a better view of the finish and save many a dispute as to what had won.’
That all trail rags should be area owned and identified after use by the judge to ensure privately owned rags had not been used.
“This is now a rule but in those bygone days trails were run with your own rags. made of anything from carpets to an assortment of garments and the steep was a conglomeration , the main ingredient being second hand bitter. “
Towards the end of the season;————————————————————————————.
‘This week has probably been the quietest of the season. We had only four meets on Saturday and only two mid week meetings.’
‘I wonder how many meets there would have been if there had been a fight for the title. Had there been a Furness rival to either Wingate or Lonning Lad. I fancy the Ulverston area meets for October would have been much heavier.
A load of tripe!
A fortnight ago I reported on an incident in the Whitehaven area of hounds coming in at the end of a trail with distended stomachs. two hounds I know for certain had eaten a large quantity of tripe. someone must know who is putting the stuff down and a lot of owners would dearly love to lay hands on him. The low cunning displayed in the laying of the bait would in itself suggest that the chap isn’t quite as he should be.
A peculiar feature of the Wasdale Head trail was the running of Woodland; he was well above the rest of the field as hounds laboriously picked their way over the steep slopes of Lingmell and was at times some 300 feet up the fell . He ran a good race and was slightly in front at times but his peculiar method of running caused him to lose ground when the hounds turned down for the valley .
And Finally :
If you see a lot of chaps down ‘south’ busily engaged in spraying a field with disinfectant from a watering can , don’t jump to conclusions that they are agricultural experts trying out a new weed killer . The probability is that a trailer has just passed that way and the chaps with the watering cans are trying to make things difficult for the hounds by destroying the scent.
There is the first extract from the fifties – As you can gather there was quite a bit of fiddling , it didn’t matter where your hound went, members came up with daft ideas , the editor said what he wanted.
