'Trail hunting, cruelty and countryside debates' - your letters, plus when steam ruled the rails in a 1955 picture throwback

Hunting is about vermin control

Mr Norton is quite right when he says “hounds being put down” is not an argument for allowing trail hunting to continue.

I’m not sure I understand that his argument about continuing breeding when the ban is in the offing, is any different from the thousands of random dogs being bred for pets, many of which don’t have a guaranteed home to go to when they’re weaned. Isn’t he against this too?

The arguments for or against the hunting ban should not be about hounds or jobs or traditions, these are relevant and important, but historically, hunting was about managing vermin - in this case foxes. If I’d seen a fox in my field, I’d have thought ‘lovely’, unless my ewes were lambing, then I’d be anxious. I once had to intervene when I saw a fox circling a ewe trying to protect her new lambs from him whilst also producing her third! He would definitely have taken one if I hadn’t gone out, and would probably have come back for another later.

But, are the ‘antis’ against the killing or the enjoyment? Both, really, because if they can’t win on the cruelty tack, they’ll go for the ‘dreadful rich people who love the killing’. Wrong on all counts. It’s ridiculous, but what do I know, I’d be accused of being a cruel, rich farmer. Wrong all counts.

R Allen, Ellesmere

Speedway on track in Buxton

Former fans of the Cradley Heath and Wolverhampton – and Birmingham, Stoke and Coventry – speedway teams who are missing their sport might like to know that the track at Buxton raceway is being re-activated for the 2026 season, and they are entering a team in the National Development League.

Details of fixtures are not yet known, as it's early days, but they will be posted on the Speedway GB website in due course. If they follow previous years' practice their matches started at 3pm on Sundays. For what it's worth, it used to take me about an hour and a quarter to get there from deepest Wombourne, and the trip up there is very scenic, passing as it does through part of the Derbyshire Peak District. The track itself is situated high up in the Peaks and is probably the most picturesque in speedway.

M B Willis, Wombourne

Is Sir Jack sending rain?

Musing over the amount of rainfall we've had in the region recently, it's not hard to imagine the late Sir Jack Hayward sitting on his cloud, lamenting the state of his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers, and reacting accordingly...

Rockley Battye, Perton

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