Ramblings Fifteen
It was in early December that I received a call from Captain Wallace to say he was coming up to the Eastern Counties and would like to have a day in the car with us. Well, as you can imagine, this put the fear of God up not only me but all of us! He happened to choose a meet which was probably the most difficult one on the card and was sandwiched between two main roads with Colchester not far away either! We prepared ourselves as best we could and hoped that we had put enough country together to give our visitor from on high a reasonable day. Coats were cleaned to perfection, boots polished until you could see your face in them and sixteen and a half couple drawn out for him to inspect. With everything ready I was just about to sit down to my evening meal when the phone rang and the very distinctive voice announced it was “Ronnie Wallace here” and that he was unable to come in the morning because it was necessary for him to attend an important meeting in London. Well, there was a certain amount of relief I have to say, but I also believe it would have been very good for us if he had come as maybe we could we have learnt a lot from him. Like many of his generation he was very supportive of us younger huntsmen and he kept a genuine interest in what we were all trying to achieve. As a result of this I was privileged for him to judge my last Essex and Suffolk Puppy Show in 1987. This was the day the young bitches coursed the kennel cat, Newman, round the field right in front of him! It was their normal party trick but was something we could quite well have done without on that occasion!
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