Date: Saturday 5th December 1998
Time: 11am
Location: Old Surrey & Burstow FH Bassett's Manor, Hartfield, East Sussex.

A pretty rough day out in Sussex this one as we had to put up with shit policing, gangs of farm lads out to give us a good kicking and uppity riders and followers. And they didn't manage to kill any foxes!

Our van was stopped by the police to be searched on the road a mile or two from the meet, so we all decanted and route marched straight to the meet much to the dismay of the police who thought we would just wait and let them delay us. As we got to the meet, the hunt were at the first draw, and literally as we rounded a bend in the road, a fox came belting out of the small covert on our right and headed for Hartfield. In full view of the riders lined up along the road, we got in front of the hounds, sprayed the line of the fox, and legging it over the hill towards Chartner's took the hounds for a little run the opposite way to the fox!

It was difficult for the huntsman to get close to where we were with his hounds, but when he managed to get into the same field, he started to accuse everyone of assaulting him. This was a bit rich from someone who has been convicted of assault himself, but the police as usual took his word as gospel and arrested a sab who just happened to be standing nearby. Later released without charge, he will sue the police as this is the only way we can get any satisfaction out of them!

The hunt stayed in a very small area of land around the meet, perhaps thinking the steep hills would tire us out. Pretty soon it became clear why they were hanging around in this area as a call went out on the radio that sabs were being ambushed on a bridleway at Bolebroke Castle. As the rest of the sabs raced to the scene, it was clear that the police had given up and handed the rule of law over to the bumpkins the hunt had brought in to give us a kicking. When we arrived at the scene, the first sab to have been attacked was sporting a spectacularly broken nose after being hit by a hunt follower on a quad bike riding down the bridleway. The sab was trying to make a complaint to the senior officer from Kent police in a Land Rover Discovery. This prick was having none of it though, and refused to take the complaint - with the sab stood bleeding in front of him!

After this, more fighting broke out further up the path as hunt supporters tried to pick off a lone sab only to find he was the first of a larger group! With the police losing control completely, the thugs came off a lot worse than the sabs - which was nice!

We continued to sab with little fear of attack from the bumpkins now that they were thinking twice about attacking sabs. The police reaction was predictably to get tough about trespassing, although when it started to rain heavily, their enthusiasm to enforce this mysteriously evaporated! The hounds got onto a strong scent heading North towards Holtye, and it was the intervention of sabs to call them back that stopped the pack piling over the A264 after the fox. The hunt called it a day shortly after this.

Sadly things had not finished for the sabs, as the same hunt followers involved in the attempted ambush earlier overtook the sab van on the A264 and fired a catapult through the front windscreen of the van nearly blinding the driver who had to swerve onto the grass verge to stop. Fortunately for the sabs, the intelligence of these people is not great, and they were in fact driving their trade vehicle with the family name and number on the side! The police were duly informed, and even they could not ignore this blatantly dangerous attack - and so had to grab up the father and son. Cold comfort for the sabs who had to drive back up the A22 with no windscreen in the pouring rain though!

We later heard that the hunt had been trespassing on private land for part of the day, and were having to apologise to several landowners in the area! Their excuse was apparently to blame the sabs for disrupting their hunt, and calling the hounds onto the private land. This was a bit rich considering the sabs were being ambushed down a farm track when they were supposed to be running off with the pack. Still, the hunt would never lie about these things would they?!
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