Cheshire's hunting networks mobilise more volunteers

Volunteers of all ages from the Cheshire Hunt and the Wynnstay Hunt have been helping the national effort during the coronavirus outbreak and proving how vital hunting's communication networks can be during a time of crisis.

As well as having doctors, nurses and others involved in the medical and caring professions amongst their supporters to whom the nation is so grateful, young hunting enthusiasts have been writing to the elderly and vulnerable, while others have been delivering prescriptions, cooking and providing "Meals on Wheels", and generally providing all round support to those most in need at this time.

As part of an initiative to help support local businesses that have been affected by the lockdown, one Cheshire Hunt supporter - who also works for the NHS - has not only been delivering flowers and other supplies to her elderly, self-isolating neighbours, but has also set up a communications network to help promote, advertise and support local businesses.

Edgar Brothers, a business with close links to another Cheshire Hunt supporter, has been providing goggles for a Cheshire hospital as an alternative to the visors that were reported to "steam up and are uncomfortable".

As a result of recipes being shared throughout the lockdown, the Cheshire Hunt are now compiling a Cheshire Hunt Cookery Book - including some of the Masters' favourites recipes - with a donation from the proceeds being given to a local cottage hospital.

Members and supporters of the Wynnstay Hunt have also been incredibly active, with one person single-handedly chopping, loading, and delivering logs to an elderly couple.

Others have provided meals on wheels, cooked soup for farmers in isolation and delivered shopping to people who are unable to leave their homes.

Polly Portwin, Head of Hunting at the Countryside Alliance, praised those involved: "Co-ordinating these extraordinary acts of goodwill takes a huge amount of time and effort, not only by those who are busy getting their hands dirty, but also by those who volunteer to find people to help in the first place. The networks that hunts have established within their own communities are quite remarkable and hunting should be proud of the willingness of its supporters to get involved in whatever task they are given."

Wynnstay Hunt supporters that have enrolled in the Overton on Dee's Community Buddy scheme have been helping to deliver meals on wheels in the Penley and Overton areas from the Penley Rainbow Centre, which is a rural community charity that provides services to those in need including the disabled. Meanwhile, prescriptions have been delivered in Malpas and surrounding areas, again through the local community buddy scheme, while other supporters have been providing soup to farmers in isolation - more unsung heroes of the coronavirus who have been keeping the nation fed - and to elderly and vulnerable people in The Wyches, Tybroughton and Whitewell.

Those sewing for the NHS in Horseman's Green and Overton on Dee have also been receiving help from approximately 30 Wynnstay Hunt supporters who helped to provide bed linen, cotton and buttons that have been required to help with the national effort in providing vital supplies to those on the front line.

A spokesperson for the Cheshire Hunt said: "With the hunt's communication lines open to vast numbers of hunt supporters, our volunteer army is not difficult to mobilise with people wanting to help because they want to help make a difference."

"In our generation there has never been a more important time for us to support our community," explained a spokesperson for the Wynnstay Hunt. "Many Wynnstay supporters have volunteered to help those who are isolated - delivering shopping, collecting prescriptions and, more importantly, being a friend and support to those who live in this wonderful rural community."