Coakham Bloodhounds News

Dear Subscribers and Followers,

Firstly, the Masters and Committee would like to thank you all for your continued and unstinting support.  We plan to resume hunting with certain additional guidelines. Until further government review, we will be hunting in Tier 2 (Sussex) ONLY and will accept subscribers and ticket holders from Tier 2 ONLY. We are conscious that followers in Tier 3 (Kent) will be disappointed and we hope to review that as soon as the guidance becomes clearer. If we are able to hunt in Tier 3 (Kent) we will, subject to guidance, hunt in Tier 3 - but will be open only to subscribers and ticket holders in Tier 3. We do not condone the crossing to and from Tiers, per the guidance, and will be filtering at the booking in stage. We would appreciate your compliance. We will be publishing revised dates as soon as possible and, once again, thank you for your continued support. Master Blagg has kindly offered to take questions as he himself is in Tier 3 and will not be hunting until the guidance changes. We will take questions at our email coakhambloodhounds123@gmail.com and will pass them on – we ask that you do not trouble the Masters unnecessarily at this time. Meanwhile work continues uninterrupted at Kennels and we look forward to publishing Sussex dates very soon.

Masters and Committee

Important Information About Hunting This Season

The Hunt Committee met on Tuesday 1st September to determine the modus operandi for hunting this Season in the present Covid 19 pandemic.  This is:

• You must not come hunting if you, or anyone in your household, has Covid 19 symptoms or is self-isolating.
• Please take reasonable steps to observe social distancing.
• Please wash your hands before leaving for hunting and sanitise them regularly throughout the day where possible.
• Please ensure you have a facemask and hand sanitiser with you whilst riding in case you are asked to assist in an emergency and cannot maintain a social distance.
• As always follow the Field Master’s instructions and try not to crowd in gateways or at checks.
• Sadly, at this stage, we cannot offer a Stirrup Cup nor will we be able to offer Tea. You are welcome to bring your own refreshments and consume them at an appropriate social distance. We do not condone the sharing of hip flasks and the like in the field and ask that you respect this request until restrictions are eased.
• You must sign a current disclaimer and ensure we have your details so that we can observe track and trace requirements.

The Committee has determined that the field must be limited to thirty mounted followers who will form a “bubble”. Huntsman and staff will remain entirely separate throughout the day and will form a different “bubble”, as will the Quarry. Car and foot followers do not fall within the remit, but we ask that everyone respects the rules and guidance and endeavours to observe them at all times.

To meet the restrictions we will return to booking in, which will be done by email to facilitate track and trace obligations. Priority is given to Full Subscribers and Ticket Holders, in that order.

The Committee fully appreciates that for many occasional followers who hunt on Cap and have been huge supporters in recent Seasons this may mean that hunting opportunities are limited this Season. Wherever possible we will advertise vacant spaces and as soon as restrictions ease we may be able to accept more followers.

Booking in will be as follows:

Subscribers and Ticket Holders can pre-book their place on any meet on the published card in advance.

Sunday meets – open to Caps (if there are spaces) on the Wednesday before. Booking closes at midday on the Thursday before to allow for administration. If you are coming out on Cap you must pay as soon as your booking is confirmed. This is not refundable.

Wednesday meets – open to Caps (if there are spaces) on the Sunday before. Booking closes at midday on the Monday before. If you are coming out on Cap you must pay as soon as your booking is confirmed. This is not refundable.

The email account for bookings is coakhambloodhounds123@gmail.com we cannot accept bookings by any other medium or we will fall into chaos.

The Committee accepts this is both a draconian and cumbersome regime but if it enables us to hunt safely and within the guidance it will be worth it. As the pandemic plays out we hope to ease some of these requirements.

It is with huge regret and disappointment that we have to surrender to Covid and admit defeat. We made plans, we reformulated the plans, we changed them a third time and we kept hoping but it is clear that we will not be holding a Ball this year.

This annual event is not only great fun, it raises much needed funds to keep us going and the hounds fed.  We thank everyone for their support and patience. From this Friday, we will start processing Paypal refunds for everyone.

If anyone does feel like they would like to donate a small part of their ticket to the Coakhams, please email us at coakhambloodhounds123@gmail.com with your wishes.

(Many people will not see this message so the first they will see will be the full refund in their account).

Hunt Merchandise