Boxing Day 2025 will live long in the memory of the hunting community, not merely for the large crowds and incredible scenes around the country highlighted across the media, but for the unmistakable sense that something profound may have shifted that day.

Those of us who stood shoulder to shoulder on village greens, in bustling town centres and on windswept verges where overflow parking spilled into fields, will know exactly what that shift felt like. It was pride. It was defiance. Above all, it was solidarity - an outpouring of support for our hounds, our hunts and the dedicated hunt staff who remain professional even in the face of relentless pressure.

The scenes were nothing short of extraordinary. Packs of hounds were welcomed by vast, smiling crowds, families wrapped in scarves against the cold, children hoisted onto shoulders and a sea of familiar - and unfamiliar - faces who had come not just to watch, but to be counted. And as masters addressed their respectful crowds with words forged from experience and a love for their hounds, their speeches cut through the winter air with a quiet authority that inspired, united and steeled us for the battles ahead.

For many, the sobering reality that the government intends to press ahead with a ban on lawful trail hunting could have cast a shadow over the day. Instead, it acted as a spark. From Cornwall to Northumberland, attendance figures soared, and the message could not have been clearer: this community will not quietly fade away.

We are under no illusion that politically we have a monumental fight on our hands. We have been preparing for this moment for some time, and under the leadership of Sir Ben Wallace, we are campaigning alongside the British Hound Sports Association to protect hunting’s future. The road ahead will be challenging, uncomfortable at times, and demanding of every one of us. But Boxing Day showed us something we must hold onto - we are not isolated voices crying into the wind. We are an extraordinary community, bound together by shared values, heritage and an unshakeable belief in what we do.

This is not a cause we are creating from nothing, but an alliance already forged through years of shared adversity - and now is the moment to strengthen it, expand it and turn our collective resolve into lasting action.

Boxing Day 2025 was not just a celebration of all that we hold dear. It was a call to arms.

The Countryside Alliance continues to do everything in its power to fight for your way of life, but we can’t do it without your support. Now, we are asking you to support us in whatever way you can, to enable us to press on and face these threats head on.