THE Cattistock Hunt traditional Boxing Day meet is in Beaminster this year – 15 years after saboteurs forced the hunt out of Bridport.

The hunt approached the town to ask if they would be welcomed and councillors agreed they would be delighted to host the event and Masterchef Mat Follas’ Wild Garlic restaurant is putting on the refreshments.

Town council chairman Isabel Maling said she was looking forward to seeing the hunt in the town.

She said: "They asked us because they thought Beaminster would be a nice venue. It went to council and we said we would be delighted.

"It will bring a bit of country flavour and country colour to the town on would otherwise be a rather a dull day.

"We don’t have to do a anything. The hunt do everything themselves from the stirrup cup, to organising the police, the roads and the parking.

"Personally I think it is very nice. It is part of English tradition. I know a lot of people are terribly anti hunt and anti this and anti that. I have never been astride a horse in my life and I am certainly not a hunt follower but I don’t have any objection to it.

"They would put an awful lot of people out of work if they had to give up and I think it would be a shame to see yet another British tradition going by the way side."

Cattistock joint master Liz Elliott said a scent trail would be laid early in the morning by a team on foot, quad bikes and horses.

She said: "We have liaised with all the authorities and hopefully there will not be any disruption in the town.

"We have not had any traditional antis for years. We occasionally have hunt monitors out.

"I have no idea whether we are going to be confronted with 20 banner waving banshees or not, I just don’t know. It is a publicised meet so if they come, they come. If they do hopefully they will be no trouble.

"From our point of view we have put everything in place as requested. I am not aware that we are anticipating any trouble.

"I think what everyone thought that once the 2004 bill came in they wouldn’t see horse, hounds, riders out in the countryside but obviously the hunting fraternity were not to be so easily defeated so have worked a way around it where we can produce something not dissimilar to what we had before. By doing more planning.

"We are not committing an illegal activity. I think half the protestors were against the sight and the spectacle of it as much as anything else.

"All the farmers are still as happy to allow us to cross their land."

Masterchef Mat Follas said he was flattered to have been approached to do the refreshments.

"I love tradition and the history of the hunt particularly for me as a foreigner I think it is a great tradition.

"I don’t have a strongly held view on hunting. I understand both arguments but I don’t subscribe to either. I know it sounds like I am sitting on the fence but that is the truth of it.

"My local village is Cattistock and they are a significant local employer and as that I think they should be supported."

Douglas Batchelor, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports said: "We do get quite a lot of reports from Dorset and we are led to believe there are increasing incidents of illegal hunting.

"The key thing for this Boxing Day is that hunters believe the line they have been spun that this will be the last Boxing Day meeting before the act is repealed but they said that last year and the year before.

"There is no public or political appetite for a repeal beyond two or three politicians.

"They have been given advice to go into towns and are trying to create this idea that there is increasingly support for them coming back but if you look at the polling there just isn’t."

The hunt will be gathering in the Square on Saturday December 26 at 10.30am.