The Lancashire support group has recently completed its second season of monitoring. With the occasional exception of nipping off to the Cheshire Group to check that they are doing things correctly, and to pinch their chocolate eclairs, we have concentrated this year on the Holcombe Hunt. This oufit is based in Bury, but covers the moorland around Blackburn, Bolton and Wigan, with the odd foray on to the lowlands to the west of Chorley.

In the interests of honesty we must tell you that the Holcombe Hunt lot are completely useless as a hunt. We haven't known them to kill a hare the whole year, but we can take some credit for their lack of success as on the open moors we can get close and be seen to be photographing and filming every move they make.

One of the highlights of the past year was the occasion on which one of the leading hunters at the Holcombe spilled his heart out to us, bemoaning the divisions within the Committee and the problems they had when trying to put together a meet card. Naturally it all went down on tape.

On another occasion we watched as a Horwich man berated the Master following an incident in which his dog Sadie had been so badly frightened by the Hunt that she had to take to her basket for the rest of the day. The Master wsa having a bad day, and his worries were only compounded when he realised that we were filming this confrontation. He put his hand over the lens, a rather foolish act which only made him appear that much more villainous. The result was a large splash in the local newspaper. Sadie's revenge was sweet!

One Saturday we found ourselves standing in front of a local pub, preparing for a meet. Suddenly a car brimming with young toughs skidded to a halt in front of us. Visions of Casualty loomed large as they tumbled out of the motor and headed for us in a menacing fashion. Whilst we bickered over who we should sacrifice they strode right past us and marched up to the assembled hunters to give them a verbal battering.

Perhaps the most deflating moment of the season came at the Waterloo Cup, where there were too few League members present.

We have learned from LACS Head Office that there are around 400 League supporters in this area. Understandably it is often not practical for people to come out every Saturday to monitor, but if you support those who do by contributing to the purchase of the equipment we need, such as cameras and CB radios, we would be most grateful.

By Terry Quinn

Published in Wildlife Guardian, Issue 42, Summer 1999