Crowds greet Hunt's Boxing Day meet (From Western Telegraph)

Crowds greet Hunt's Boxing Day meet

AFTER a disrupted season, because of foot and mouth disease, the Pembrokeshire Hunt held its first meets of the season in Haverfordwest last week.

Two days after the first meet on foot at the kennels, an exceptional crowd lined Castle Square, Haverfordwest, on Boxing Day.

There were surely 2,000 people there and a wonderful sense of relief among those on foot that the countryside is open again, said Pembrokeshire Hunt chairman, Mr John Davies.

He added: Many of those in the crowd were not hunt supporters, but just people who are relieved that everything is back to normal again. When the huntsman broke his hounds in Castle Square you could hardly move.

There were around 60 horses in the square, with a further group waiting at Haverfordwest Racecourse.

About 20 anti-hunt protesters gathered in Castle Square and made their protest loudly, but peacefully.

Mr Davies said it was like the parting of the seas as the hunt moved through the crowds at High Street to the Racecourse.

At the Racecourse, the field secretary took hunting permits from all riders to show their horses are from disease-free areas.