AN HISTORIC hunt will return to Uttoxeter’s Market Place for the first time in decades for a special New Year’s Day event.
The Meynell and South Staffs Hunt, which holds a Boxing Day hunt at Blithfield House, near Abbots Bromley, will start its January 1 hunt in Uttoxeter and hopes the event will be a real family affair.
The hunt did hope to hold an event last winter in Uttoxeter but was hit by the big freeze which made the hunt potentially dangerous because of the icy conditions underfoot.
The news that the hunt will be held on New Year’s Day has been welcomed by Uttoxeter Mayor David Brookes who said he was ‘chuffed to bits’ at the news.
He said: “It will form a major attraction in the town centre on New Year’s Day. They did try to arrange a meet earlier this year but the bad weather put paid to that.The weather is bad again at the minute and who knows what it will be like on New Year’s Day but arrangements still have to be made.
“I am pleased that the hunt has seen fit to put Uttoxeter on the fixture list and I look forward to seeing as many people as possible from Uttoxeter and the surrounding areas coming out and meeting the hunt.
“It will be a family event given the day it is on and hopefully I will be able to see the hunt off. I have always felt it is a perfect place for it.”
Master huntsman of the Meynell and South Staffs Hunt Richard Parrott told the Advertiser they were ‘excited’ about the event and said they were holding it on New Year’s Day to cause minimal disruption.
He said: “The main reason we have chosen Uttoxeter on New Year’s Day is that we wanted to cause minimal disruption to the town.
“We are based in the Staffordshire/Derbyshire area and Uttoxeter sits beautifully on the boundary of both places.
“We like to engage with the general public as much as we can and I think it is a golden opportunity to do so on that particular day and meet as many people as we can whatever their views.
“I would like to thank the surrounding farmers and landowners who have kindly let us use their land as we don’t go anywhere without permission.”
Head huntsman Jamie Nicklin said he hoped having the hunt in Uttoxeter would raise the hunt’s profile.
He said: “We hope to bring hunting to the general public a bit more which has been hard since the ban and we don’t want to be a closed shop anymore.
“We have been meeting at the Dog and Partridge, in Tutbury, for 100 years but it has been a long time since we had the hunt in Uttoxeter.
“I am definitely looking forward to it as it will be nice to meet in the town centre.
“The public opinion from people that I have spoken to is that they are thrilled about it.”
