Britain’s hunts are a rural lifeline in the fight against coronavirus

Puppy shows cancelled. Point-to-points put on hold. Hound shows, team chases, skittles leagues, pony club camp – all have been axed from the countryside calendar. These are not announcements that tend to make headlines. What’s the cancellation of the Cattistock Countryside show when Glastonbury is grinding to a halt? Not that it’s a competition, but it’s a fact that rural areas get overlooked in times like these.

In response, countryside folk are taking matters into their own hands. In my own village in Dorset – a village not big enough to qualify for a postbox – Sylvia, an ex-schoolteacher, has decided it’s essential we have a community pop-up shop for emergency rations. At 66, I’m not sure Sylvia had ‘crisis aid’ at the top of her retirement plans, but needs must. That is the rural attitude: roll up the Tattersall shirt sleeves and just get through the crisis. And it’s an attitude strongly embraced by rural hunts.