Weather puts paid to Boxing Day hunt
More than 500 people braved the frost to see off possibly the last Boxing Day Suffolk Hunt near Whepstead on Monday.
Despite strong support and vows to fight the hunting ban, due to start in February, it was the cold weather which put a halt to the hunt – frozen ground forced organisers at Hawstead Place to abandon the event.
Master of the Suffolk Hunt James Aldous said: "We are not going to pack up, but we are going to act legally, by trail hunting, until we win the court cases.
"It will not be quite the same thing and will be artificial but we are keeping going.
"I would be very sad if it went. It has been something I have enjoyed all my life and it would be sad for the younger people not to enjoy it."
Spectators have joined the hunt for years, seeing it off and then following it through the countryside.
Ken Kiddy, from Gazeley, said the hunt was a social event.
"It used to be a social event the whole village came out for. It costs nothing and hurts nobody," he said.
Rupert Brown, who let the hunt on to his land at Hawstead Place, said many people had turned out just for the spectacle but there were around 150 strong supporters.
Hunt organisers are challenging how the hunting ban was brought into law in the High Court next month and will seek an injunction if that fails.
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Weather for Bury St Edmunds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
