The Percy hounds started early morning trail hunting on Saturday 14 September 2013. We had a very good Autumn trail hunting with many good mornings had. Mornings of note were from North Lyham, South Lyham, Shoreston and Alnwick Moor. I was very pleased with all the young entry, the dog hounds entering slightly better. Hunting especially well were Glendale, walked by Mrs Emma Howie, Glatton walked by Mr and Mrs Stephen McCarthy and Allbury walked by Miss Becca Connor. There was very little between these dogs in their work but Glatton came out on top as he hunted on eighty nine days and will be the Best Working Dog at the Puppy Show.
There were also three young bitches that hunted very well, Posie and Polaris, walked by Mr Chris Newlands and Miss Aimée Straughan and Altitude walked by Mr Billy Crole with Altitude going on to be Best Working Bitch at the Puppy Show.
We had our Opening Meet on 02 November 2013, we had a very good November and December and the hunting remained good until the second week of January 2014. The later part of the Season was not quite as good due to the very wet weather but we were very lucky due to our very good farmers, land owners and keepers that we kept going, only going on foot one Saturday due to the extreme conditions.
Once again it was a massive team effort both at the kennels and out hunting. Donna Cowens did a tremendous job in her first season as stud groom keeping the horses on the road all winter. Robert Truscott also did a very good job both in the kennels and out hunting. Robert has moved on after three years with us to go to the Kimblewick as 1st whipper in and we wish him all the very best in his future. As always Allan Morris was a big help in the kennels and out hunting and a very big thank you to him and amazingly he didn’t manage to fall off all season! Also a big thanks to my father, Stephen, who is also a great help in the kennels and is our main trail layer on hunting days and what a good job he does. We also have a lot of help in the country, a big thank you to Neil Potts, Robert Dobson, Mattie Matterson and Gary Whitfield. Mattie has now retired as keeper at Newlands, he has been a massive help to the Percy Hunt and we wish him all the best in his retirement.
Also thanks to Phillip McCarthy, Chris Newlands, Aimée Straughan, James Walker, Lizzie Howie and Ben Lambert for their help at the kennels and to Ali Grey for all the straw he provides both summer and winter for the hound beds.
The Pre Puppy Show is Thursday 03 July 2014 and the Puppy Show is Saturday 26 July 2014, both at the kennels, all are welcome and I look forward to seeing you all during the summer.