Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2010 | Page 59

Island Life - August/September 2010

interview

Boxing Day, and we hunted all day.
Then I went back to Gatcombe, and
left him there the night, and returned
the following morning to hack him
from Gatcombe the seven miles back
home.”
Harold was also a member of the
Pony Club at 10 years of age, saying:
“We would go and camp at Hill Farm,
Gatcombe, have instructions and have
competitions at the end of it. You
learned a lot about horses because you
had to do everything yourself, but the
late Ken Gill also taught me a lot.
“There was no transport for horses
in those days, so if the hounds met
at Havenstreet at 11.0am, they would
leave Gatcombe at 9.0am, hack
down through Blackwater and over
St George’s Down to here. The horses
were very fit, and had to be.”
For the last 20 years Harold has been
an integral part of the committee that
runs the Ashey Scurry and Isle of Wight
Grand National. He and friend Barry

Photo: Harold pictured with his goat at Brickfields 1989

Elliott build the course every year.
“It takes us a week to build but
before that we spend a few evenings
planning what we are going to
do,” he said. “Next year is the 20th
anniversary, so we are going to alter
a few things round. There are usually
six hedges, but we are thinking of
nine or ten. We changed the course
five years ago, bringing it back in
distance, because we thought some of
the horses were not fit enough to get
round. He said modestly: I was lucky
enough to win the Men’s Open and the
IW National one year- back in 1993.”
He also trained point-to-point horses
in the 1990s and admits “I had a lot of
fun. It was on the mainland, and I rode
a couple of winners myself.”
He and Andrea were also invited
to meet the Queen at a tea party at
Buckingham Palace. He smiled; I don’t
know who put me forward to go, but it

Photo: Harold pictured at Hackwood Park 1963 (1st)

was an enjoyable day.
“I also play a bit of table tennis –
you have to make time to do these things. I
have brilliant staff at the farm, and I couldn’t
manage without them.”

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