Andrew Branton responds to badger cull announcement
Recorded on July 19, 2011 using a Flip Video camcorder.
Dominic Dyer at Taunton Anti Cull March 7.9.13
League visits Somerset badger cull zone
Manchester hunt sabs badger cull 2014 sabotage
Our exploits sabotaging the badger cull in Glos 2014. Thanks to The Prodigy for permission to use their music :-)
Tiverton Boxing Day Meet 2019
Protestors have vowed to return to Tiverton’s Boxing Day meet “until foxes are safe.”
The Tiverton Foxhounds meet each year at Tiverton Pannier Market before trotting through the town centre. This year, for the first time, they were greeted by around a dozen protestors with placards calling for the Hunting Act 2004, to be enforced.
Holly Perris was one of those who lined Fore Street to show her anger at the Tiverton Foxhounds on Thursday, December 26.
She said: “We’re out here today to protest the hunt because trail hunts invariably lead to dead foxes. It’s a loophole in the law which needs to be closed, and we’re here today to send the message that the ban needs to be enforced and we need to protect our wildlife.
“We want people here today to feel a little bit more uncomfortable. There’s only a few of us, and there’s a lot of them, but we know we’re doing right, and they’re doing wrong, and they need to feel that.
“I think we got our message across. People were angry with us, pulling our signs, yelling at us, so we rattled them and annoyed them, which is what we came here to do.
“I applauded children as they came past on their horses as it’s not their fault, they’re dragged into this, and frankly I think it’s unfair on them and hopefully I think a lot of them will grow up and join a lot of us here in the protest knowing that it’s wrong.
“We’ll be back here next year. We won’t stop until foxes are safe.”
Another, Marta Ainley said she was told to ‘f-off.’
She said: “I’m very against wildlife being disturbed and killed just for fun. They don’t die quickly.
“The terrier men go out before the hunt and block up badger sets which is also illegal so that foxes when they go to group to escape being ripped apart, can’t disappear into. All in all, they do a lot of damage to the countryside, and I hope that the hunting act isn’t going to be repealed
“They’re allowed to hunt, but they’re supposedly meant to follow a pre-laid trail which they never do.”
Hundreds of people gathered in Tiverton Pannier Market to see the hounds and horses arrive at around 11:00 am.
Speaking to the crowd, Kelvin Thomas from the Tiverton Foxhounds said they were hunting within the law.
He added: “It’s probably the wettest year we have had, but we’re all good to go, we have a lot of fun, and we continue to have fun.
“There are several people, some of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party that are left, have got some placards out on the main street, I’ll let you have a word with them as you go.
“We’ll come back next year, and we’ll always keep coming back. It’s part of Tiverton’s heritage, these are the Tiverton Foxhounds, and we’ll keep coming back, and it’s wonderful to see everyone turn up and support us.”
Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton said it was “great” to see supporters of the hunt.
He added: “It was a wonderful election result; as far as I was concerned anyway. We won a couple of votes; we have Brexit on the way – what was all the fuss about?
“Seriously, it will be nice to have a new agricultural policy and a new environment policy. Let’s plant the trees where it’ll do some good, not just plant trees where they won’t. Let’s sort out flooding, let’s sort out soil erosion and let’s make sure we have a healthy farming community as well as a healthy hunting community here in this area.
“It’s great to see you all, and we will take stock when we get back to Parliament. We’ll take the numbers and see what to do about hunting. We will then talk to the hunting fraternity to work out precisely what you might like to have done either repealing the Hunting Act altogether or changing it.
“Until we’ve taken stock of exactly who is in Parliament, we cannot decide that today.”
Mr Parish added that the new intake of northern Conservative MPs would change the House of Commons for the better.
“It’s lovely to see Mr Bercow go off on his holidays and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, although Labour, he’s a great guy, he’ll make a great speaker, and he won’t interfere with Parliament as Bercow did,” he added.
“It’s really lovely for me, in particular, to go back to Parliament and instead of debating things late at night, losing the votes, taking the legislation, bringing it back, losing it again; but finally we’ll be able to win the votes and hopefully Boris will be able to negotiate a free-trade deal with Europe so Britain can go forward in the world and we can be a great country.”
Tiverton Traditions, 1920s - Film19876
Film documenting Tiverton steeple chase of 1913 - riders clearing hedges and falling off of their horses over them. Shots of equestrian enthusiasts watching the races and walking through the countryside.
Beating the bounds in Tiverton, Devon, England in 1926 - people gathered in Castle Street with canes.
Badger catching newsreel.
Market day in Bampton, Devon.
1 Scrambling in the 1970s, Devon and Somerset area.
The tracks featured as far as I can remember are.
At minutes
1 - 4 Crowbeare Farm, Torrington
5 - 7.45 Wrangway, Wellington
7.45 - 9 possibly Torweston Farm, Williton near Minehead
9 - 10.30 Unsure where this is, can you help ? ?
10.45 Andy Roberton getting a trophy but what for ?
11 - 11.30 Tiverton MX club, Haddon Hill near Bampton, above
Wimbleball Lake
11.30 - 13.30 Sandyway near Simonsbath
13.30 to end Banger racing, little America near Bideford
All filmed on silent cine film, transferred to DVD and uploaded to You Tube
Filmed by Derrick Jenkins from Lynton N. Devon.
Some of the riders featured are.
5 Guy Winsor, south west champion
6 Gerald Winsor
7 Rob Blake
13 Ros Fraser
17 Rob Gapper
27 Paul Studle
29 Roscoe Shepperd
45 Ted Thompson
46 Badger Goss
47 Dave Wells
59 Roger Neale
76 Ron Kellaway
Bryan Wade
John Treble
If anyone can shed more light on the tracks or riders please let me know.
Sorry about the awful music, use the mute button.
ENDURO RIDE Nancemellin
GREEN LANE RIDING Nancemellin
Schoolboy Scrambling, MX and Trialing, Devon and Somerset area.
The tracks featured as far as I can remember are.
At minutes
0 - 2.50 Schoolboy Scramble, #149 Chris, 100 Yamaha
#46 Andy 125 Dalesman
2.50 - 4.15 Exmoor MX, Allercott pitts near Timberscombe,
#118 Nick 250 1975 Bultaco
4.15 - 5.50 Wrangway MX, Wellington #93 Nick 1977 400
Maico
5.50 - 7.40 Trial Andy 250 Bultaco, and Jeremy Lethaby 125
Honda
7.40 - 10 Schoolboy scramble #149 Chris 100 Yamaha
10 - 11.15 Haddon Hill, Tiverton Club, above Wimbleball lake
#93 Nick 1977 400 Maico
11.15 - 12 On the moors
12 - 12.55. Wrangway, Wellington, #122 Nick 1975 250 Bultaco
12 - end Schoolboy scramble #49 Chris 100 Yamaha
All filmed on silent cine film and transferred to DVD then uploaded to YouTube.
Filmed by Derrick Jenkins from Lynton N. Devon.
Some of the riders featured are.
5 Guy Winsor, south west champion
6 Gerald Winsor
7 Rob Blake
13 Ros Fraser
17 Rob Gapper
27 Paul Studle
29 Roscoe Shepperd
45 Ted Thompson
46 Badger Goss
47 Dave Wells
59 Roger Neale
76 Ron Kellaway Bryan Wade John Treble
If anyone can shed more light on the tracks or riders please let me know.
Sorry about the awful music, use the mute button.
HUNTING- IF IT LOOKS LIKE HUNTING..........
Created using Serif MoviePlus!
Silverton Street Market 1st August 2015
The Silverton (Devon) annual Street Market was a great success with varied stalls, much food (and drink!) and good entertainment. The weather was perfect!! What more could you ask for? Enjoy The Somerset Paddies singing Wurzels' songs outside The Lamb Inn. Visit next year if you are able (First Saturday in August!).
Don't turn the clock back to cruelty
On the anniversary of the Hunting Act, the League Against Cruel Sports takes a look at hunting with dogs before 2004. The film is extremely distressing but it's important to see the reality of hunting and what a repeal of the Act will make legal again.
Please ensure that once you've watched the film you share it with your friends and family and go to our website to contact your MP. league.org.uk/hunting
Wetherspoons White Ball Inn Reopens in Tiverton 2019
Pub goers in Tiverton are “absolutely loving” their new look Wetherspoon White Ball Inn.
The pub reopened after ten weeks on Tuesday, August 27, following an £850k refurbishment which saw toilets moved upstairs and new floorspace created.
Prior to opening, the pub chain invited 2,600 guests for a free meal and lunch as part of their soft opening.
“People in Tiverton have absolutely loved it,” manager Ben Grainger said.
“We have got 29 draught products, just on the lagers, the ciders the stouts. Then we’ve got real ale; ten on the at any one time, I don’t think any pub in the area has got that many. Then we’ve got local ciders. We now sell pizzas; we are punching out so many pizzas we can’t believe it.”
Mr Grainger added that it was good to have the team back together again.
“We had staff down in Tavistock, Admiral Collingwood in Ilfracombe, they were in the Imperial. To get all of us back under one roof, you can’t explain how excited we all are to be here.”
Mayor of Tiverton, Councillor Colin Slade, officially opened the new-look pub.
He said: “I think it means a lot to have Wetherspoons back in Tiverton. The pub is popular and has been for a number of years. Everybody knows Spoons, it’s got a wonderful location by the bridge and River Exe, a great place to be out in the beer garden on a sunny day, but now, of course, it’s all been improved.
“We have had to do without it for 71 days while it’s been closed. Was it worth it - of course, it was.
“It’s a fantastic refurbishment, and the loos are brilliant, everything is good about it now.
“Visitors have even more choice of food and drink, and they’re serving pizzas and fantastic value food all day including breakfast for £3.60 – where can you get value like that?
“We know there are always stories about things not being good in Tiverton, shops closing and so on. These things come and go, the economy goes up and down, but it is a mark of a town success that companies like Wetherspoons continue to invest. The future, I think, is looking pretty good.”
The Mid Devon Show 2017
THE chairman of the Mid Devon Show has said conditions for the 24th event of its kind were “about the most trying” so far.
Despite heavy rain battering the showground at Knightshayes the previous day, thousands were not put off by the conditions and were able to enjoy a grand day out on Saturday, July 22.
Peter Pugsley, who has been chairman of the show for 11 years, said: “This year has been about the most trying of all the years we have had so far. Yesterday when the rain was teeming down I was going around telling traders that the show was on and I was met with incredulity.
“They said ‘you’re not serious’ I said ‘I am serious, we do not cancel, we will go ahead’ and we’ve been blessed with much better weather today than was ever forecast.”
Mr Pugsley said that the condition of the showground was not bad, and that it was worse in 2015 when the show was first held at Knightshayes.
He added: “We’ve had wonderful support from the National Trust who are one of the land owners here, and we always get terrific support from the other landowner here, Richard Frankpitt and Sons. Without them of course we couldn’t carry on, so we are extremely grateful to them, and the third landowner, where we have the bus stop, the land belongs to Devonshire Homes and our tenant there is our Mayor Wally Burke and nobody could be more supportive of the show than Wally.
“We’ve had a terrific team of volunteers working incredibly hard to bring it all together and I sincerely hope everyone believes that it is a very good, very satisfactory show.”
This year’s show president was the Bishop of Crediton Dame Sarah Mullally who said it was “absolutely great.”
“Clearly we’ve had a bit of rain but the community has worked together and it’s just been absolutely brilliant,” she said. “I always enjoy watching the livestock judging. It’s a real measure of the skill we have in our communities and of course I love the children and the way they interact with all the events.
“I think it’s so important to have this show to bring the community together. People meet up and old friends are reunited and make new friends. It’s also about reconnecting people who may have lost touch with their rural heritage of this wonderful part of the country.”
Entertainment was in abundance across the showground with groups including Barracuda and the Wyndham Arms Singers at the music and dance pavilion, schools in the youth tent and in the Main Ring, the highlight being Moto Stunts International.
Tony Baily from Moto Stunts International said Devon crowds were always the best.
He said: “It’s fantastic in the arena, but outside the arena with the wet weather from yesterday it’s been really wet and muddy, but once we’re in the area, it’s been fantastic and we’ve had a great show here.
“You can’t beat a Devon crowd, coming from Devon myself. Hopefully they have seen things that they never forget, people riding bikes in various ways; backwards, forwards, on the back wheel, we’ve got a wheely car and we’ve had two cars provided by Westcars as well as riding through fire.”
Across the showground, crafts were on display from groups and organisations across Mid Devon as well as stalls from different businesses and charities.
This year’s show charity is Devon Communities Together, a rural community development organisation, helping communities to help themselves.
Chief Executive, Elaine Cook said: “We have a very good working relationship with the local church and Bishop Sarah who knows about our organisation so she very kindly nominated us as her charity of the year at the show.
“We’re having a good day, it’s been great, people are coming in and it’s a good opportunity to talk about our work as well as raise a bit of money for the charity.”
Another organisation which was celebrating at the show was the Mid Devon Attractions Association who used the event to officially launch their campaign to boost the profile of the region’s tourist hotspots.
Phil Brind from the Association said: “We’re putting the word magnificent in Mid Devon and doing that, we’re representing the attractions in Mid Devon including the Horse Drawn Barge, Coldharbour Mill, Bampton Heritage Centre, Badger Watch, Knightshayes plus a host of others.
“We are getting a great response from the public, and it’s going really well. We’re also involved in the branding of Mid Devon and that’s what we’re working on at the moment, to show people who live and visit here, that Mid Devon is a wonderful place to be, to live, and enjoy.”
Me driving 2481 to Bangor
Me driving 2481 to Bangor
Devonshire.
Devonshire peoples.
Johnny Kingdom - a tribute
Johnny Kingdom - Devon wildlife film maker and photographer, who filmed the wildlife on his beloved Exmoor. Rest in peace, Johnny.
23rd February 1939 - 6th September 2018
Nancemellin hare and hound 2019
First ever hare and hound/enduro.
League Against Cruel Sports sanctuary exposé
Exposing the tuberculosis in deer on LACS' Baronsdown sanctuary on Exmoor
SPIRIT OF THE 60'S
Join Gerry Burr on Britain's biggest classic motorcycle run. 500 motorcycles from the 50s and 60s gather each year at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton for a classic bike run around Somerset. Gerry seeks out the motorcycles that capture the spirit of the 60s and we follow the run to the East Somerset Railway at Cranmore. There are BIKES, BIKES and more BIKES on this biggest classic bike run in Britain.
Available to buy from: