PIPEWELL FOOT BEAGLES AND WESTERBY BASSETS
17 December
@cfaustenl23
Oakham, Rutland
AS more than 70 supporters huddled on the frost-smattered lawn at William and Jane Cross’s aptly named Hilltop Farm in Rutland for a joint meet between the Pipewell Foot Beagles and the Westerby Bassets, it struck me what a close-knit gathering it was. Not only were there representatives from foxhound, beagle and basset packs, but there were generations of families wherever one turned.
Most heart-melting was the hosts’ 10-month-old grandson, propped up in the back of a Kubota vehicle from which mulled wine was being served to fire up the followers about to stride out into the white-tinged countryside.
As one of the joint-masters and a whipper-in of the Pipewell, I was fortunate to have insider knowledge of the day, but many there hadn’t expected eight couple of beagles and eight-anda-half of bassets to be hunted as a combined pack. This may have seemed a hare-brained idea of Ed Turner, joint-master and huntsman of the Pipewell and Jack Moncur, joint-master and huntsman