Latest News

£ 75  No 18  Billy Birkett.

£25 No 63 Lexie Raybould.

First of all the Hound Trailing Association offers its condolences to all those who suffered in the recent floods especially those members who were flooded out . Russell and Wendy were two who suffered and the rest of the association wish them well and hope they get back to normal as soon as possible.

Now we go back to remembering a hound that in the all time record of senior wins is the fourth highest with 54 but never won a Championship and is therefore not in any annual .

The hound in question is Black Diamond who had the misfortune to be born in the same era as Perivale, who is regarded by many as the best hound of all time.

‘Diamond ‘ won 173 trails between 1946- 1952. As a pup he won 18 trails in 1946. He won 14 in 1947; 54 in 1948; 42 in 1949; 24 in 1950 ; 16 in 1951 ; and 5 1952. The wins were as far afield as Barrow in the south, Warton ,Blackwell (Carlisle) Aikton and Frizington. As with most hounds the older you get the more local you become and in 1952 his wins were Ulverston, Allithwaite, Holker and Flookburgh . He also recorded 45 seconds and 34 thirds. One of the best but not always remembered!

Humour in the sixties : Somebody wrote to the news warning the officials about the alleged use of illegal substances being used in trailing : The list was as follows –

Egg Nog — Sherry Special – Arsenite Annie- Vets Vim – Strychnine Sam- Bella Donna- Spanish Gyp and Top Secret. The sender remained anonymous but I’ve a good idea it might have been the ‘old fella’.

The reason being – on opening a cupboard I discovered an array of exotic substances on questioning the old man I was assured that they weren’t for the hounds but for my mother!

The funeral of ‘ POP’ Robinson will be at Uldale on Monday 14th December at 11 am. Midway between Uldale and Ireby.

Langdale Ranger  — Rhinestone Cowboy- Jenny’s Pride.

Langdale Jack    —-  Dairy One- Dairy Dancer.

Sundays Meeting of the area Committees has been cancelled.

Will be rearranged for a later date.

Rearranged for SUNDAY 13th DEC Con club Keswick 2.00pm.

1 Delete rule 55.3.

2 Alter Rule 36 to . The owner of a hound which competes in a trail for which it is ineligible shall be fined.

3 Alter rule 59 .Entry fee can be increased in proportion to prize money.

4 Fresh rags to be used for all trails .

5 Every week  One All- in trail to be held in the HTA.

Hound trailing history was made on Saturday when hounds from the HTA, Border HTA  and Yorkshire HTA competed in a four trail meet at Lowther park, near Penrith.It was the first occasion on which a joint meet has ever  been held and the Low Deer Park at Lowther Castle was an ideal venue for the first ever ‘ national’ hound trail meet .

The meet was organised in aid of the Willie Irving Testimonial fund and the popularity of the retiring secretary was reflected in the large audience that attended from all three of the competing areas.

There was a total turnout of 200 hounds of which 141 HTA , 47 Border and 12 Yorkshire. All four trails were won by HTA hounds, the Border claiming three minor tickets.

Arrangements for the meet were in the hands of the Penrith Area Committee and were warmly commended by the President of the HTA , Mr Henry Kirkby and the President of the BOrder HTA , Mr C Dodds. They also thanked Captain, the Hon A G Lowther , who acted as starter and judge and Mrs Lowther who presented the trophies.

There were thrilling finishes to all of the trails. In the Vaux brewery senior trail, HTA senior table leader , Whiplash was joint favourite with Demander, the 1963 puppy Champion and the winner of the Vaux trophy at Kendal Show this year. At least 40 of the 65 runners were racing down the long, straight finish at the same time.Scawfell and Whitrigg Lad led into view but Demander came through in brilliant fashion to beat Scawfell by half a length, Whiplash although only fifth was beaten by less than four lengths and there were twelve hounds in a space of ten yards.

Even more exciting was the finish of the maiden trail in which Western Lady just pipped Deep Mist by a head to win the Matthew Brown Brewery stakes .

Longcroft ran a great race to narrowly beat Landmark in the John Peel brewery stakes for Dog puppies and High Lady won by a length from Miss Lesley in the Dutton brewery stakes for bitches.

Now if my memory serves me right, the hounds finished along the old racetrack and the public and bookies were parked along side the River Lowther.

It was one of the first trail meetings where bookmakers had to be licensed and the customs and excise visited the venue to check on whether all the bookies were indeed ‘ licensed’. They started checking and hadn’t gone far when two or maybe more ‘ bolted’  that is,  they downed tools grabbed what they could carry and ran along the riverbank towards Bampton , hotly pursued by the C/E.

What’s in a name – Loyal that won the trail at Winster is not the Loyal11 that put up a great show in last years puppy championship , but was a six year old hound with the same name. On being registered , an undertaking was given that the original Loyal would not run. Well it did or did it?

I was there and the consensus of opinion was that it was the young Loyal that won but it was the old loyal ‘on the boards’.

Woman owners are also encouraged to take their hounds to Ambleside by the offer of special prizes for the first maiden and maiden puppy owned by a woman.

The number of bookmakers at the 1960 Grasmere sports has been restricted to 30 at £5 . A number of bookies are averse to paying £5 but there is nothing they can do about it.

By the way judging by their numbers , they must be doing quite nicely.

This is a true story –  A West Cumberland lady in her garden recently saw a hound running by ,she saw that it was extremely thin and felt sorry for it, she called out to it and offered it some tit-bits which it gobbled up so she gave it some more. She recalled that the poor thing had no hair and was of the opinion that it ‘s owner should be prosecuted for cruelty. Who ,by the way, came looking for it and was extremely rude to the lady when she said she had fed it and that he should be grateful.

Apparently it was favourite in that trail and had a good lead at halfway , this Act explains why it didn’t finish in the first six.

Lowther Park – a  photographer, equipped with the latest type of camera , showed a picture of the finish. Perhaps such a camera would come in useful judging by the many disputable ‘ photo finishes’ we’ve had this season. 55 years ago.

Hound Trailing fixtures:

Monday May 2nd May Day Venue to be decided.

Saturday June 11th Produce Cockermouth area.

Saturday June 25th International HTA  Venue to be decided.

Saturday July 2nd  Produce Ulverston area Venue to be decided.

Saturday July 9th Festival TBC.

Thursday July 28th Ambleside Sports.

Saturday July 30th Cockermouth Show.

Thursday August 4th Ings dog trials.

Saturday August 6th Association trails.

Thursday August 11th Rydal dog trials.

Saturday August 20th Rusland Show.

Tuesday August 23rd Hawkshead Show

Sunday August 28th Grasmere Show

Wednesday August 31st Ennerdale Show

Saturday September 3rd Lowick Show.

Sunday September 4th Loweswater Show.

Saturday September 24th Eskdale Show

Saturday 1st October HTA trails.

Saturday 8th October Wasdale Show

Saturday 15th October Buttermere Show.

Any PROMOTER  wishing to claim dates please forward to the HTA secretary.

All dates are subject to approval by the appropriate area Committees.

The Aspatria and Wigton AGM was held at Wigton rugby club on Wed 11th November,

9 members present.

Colin Satterthwaite  was in the chair and congratulated the connections of Remember Me winner of the dog produce.

The area had 14 meetings- h 14 p 14 or 2 m 2 pm 2 0m 10 vet 1 onw 2 all-in 5.

35 members and 11 kennels

Balance £574.

Dennis and Norma Reay were nominated for honorary  membership.

A discussion on the lack of all-in trails and one a week was put forward for discussion.

Also discussed was the fixture situation and the Whitehaven news.

The main item brought forward was the future of the area itself.

By a casting vote it was decided to inform the Committee that it was the wish of the area committee to disband and let the Committee decide into which areas the trail meetings would fall.

The trails, however would still be promoted by individuals and local committees., under the auspices of the said  Area Committee.

Westmorland Area AGM held at the cricket club Kendal on Monday Nov 9th.

The Chair welcomed 11 members and congratulated the connections of Thorn Dancer , Persian Prince, Mrs McGregor , Marli and all local hounds that had ticketed at major trails also a special mention and thanks to John Pattinson for his input.

The area has 90 members, 23 kennels and 20 trails.

The area had made a loss on the season of £412,

Balance ; £1284.

Two recommendations were passed

1- That a minimum of four rags must be used at all Championship trails. ie fresh rags must be used for the junior trail.

2 That entry fee increases in proportion to prize money.

EG  Three trail meet = PM £80 Entry fee £1

PM £120 Entry    £1 50

PM £ 160 Entry £ 2 00

to be decided by the Committee.

It was also pointed out that some memberships and trailers payment were outstanding.

The Kendal Committee Trails realised a profit of £589.
The Kirkstone Trails realised a profit of £580 of which the Troutbeck social. Coniston foxhounds, Westmorland riding for the disabled and the Eden hospice benefited.

Keswick area AGM held at the Conservative club on Wednesday 4th November.

Members present 12

Chaired by David Loan who congratulated Huntsman’s Kraka and Lone Rebel on their 2015 campaign also touched on the lack of fixtures in the area and thanked the secretary for her contribution to the hound trailing article in the Keswick Reminder.

There were 6 meetings

6 seniors 6 juniors 3 OM 2 OR 1 PM 3 v 1 ONW.

27 Members 6 kennels.

Balance – £ 753 profit from 5 trails which will be distributed to local amenities.

Trophies for 2016 have been donated by the family of the late Peggy Horsley.

There were no notices of motion.

Tuesday 3rd of November – Cockermouth and Workington area AGM was held at the Seaton rugby Club.’

Meeting chaired by P Graham and N. Brown.

Members present- 23

Margaret Pattinson was presented with a bouquet as a thank you for her work in entries , gate, scouting, raffles etc.

£ 568 00 profit on the season.

£ 4068 Bank Balance.

Trail Summary

44 seniors / juniors 22 Open Restricted 12 maidens 12 pup maidens 18 open maidens 7 veterans 3 ONW 2 all-in.

There are 59 members 21 kennels.

£800 was donated to Mountain Rescue- Bridekirk School-Seaton junior rugby- Agricultural shows and Bobby Robson cancer fund.

There were no notices of motion.

There was one recommendation.

Rule 55.3 Established agricultural and horticultural shows where trails are held shall have a clear day.

This rule to be removed.

This was passed and will go forward to the December Meeting.