Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2011 | Page 98

EQUESTRIAN

here was the last thing on their minds.
However, when they eventually
moved here, Ken and his brother
Robert ran the S.A. Payne nursery
in Arreton Valley, initially growing
cucumbers, before moving on to
tomatoes in 1982. Later the brothers
joined forces with three other nurseries
to form Wight Salads in 1987, which
Ken remained involved in until selling
out in 1993.
The move to Ashey enabled Sue to
pursue her love of hunting after a
10-year gap, this time with the IW
Hunt. With her two horses Misty
and Flossie life was idyllic, with Sue
reflecting: “I have hunted with a lot of
Hunts all around the country, but the
one on the Island is undoubtedly the
friendliest. It is like being part of a big
family.
“The Island isn’t very big, but we
have every sort of countryside, making
it ideal, and of course the views are
spectacular. Going hunting enables
you to see parts of the Island that most
Islanders never see. So I soon became
completely hooked again.”
Sue soon joined the Ladies Hunt
Ball committee, later to become chair.

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Then in 1987 came
an unexpected
surprise. She said:
“Master of the Hunt
Michael Poland
invited Harold
George and I over
‘for a chat’ and asked us
to join him in the Mastership. As we
left Harold told me it was the only
time he had ever known me speechless!
Never in my wildest dreams did I
think it would happen.”
Generally Sue had a wonderful five
years as Joint Master. But there were
also the very anxious moments. She
continued: “Because of anti-hunt
campaigners we had bomb threats, and
we were seriously targeted. The IW
Bomb Squad often had to come to the
house because of hoax calls.”
Between 1988 and 1993 when Sue
was joint Master anti-hunt feelings
were running very high. There were
several alerts, and paint stripper was
thrown over cars, with the police
insisting the family took every call
seriously. But amid the concerns there
was one alarm that turned out to be
somewhat amusing. She recounted:
“We were told not to open
any Jiffy bags, and one day
one arrived in the post.
“We phoned the police, who
told us to put it in a bucket
away from the house. The
police arrived along with a
bomb squad member, who
suddenly burst out laughing.
He opened the package to
discover it was a video from
the Master of the Foxhounds
Association, sent to all Hunt
Masters for educational
purposes. A similar one sent
to a Master in Salisbury was

actually
blown up in a controlled explosion –
oh dear, what an own goal!”
Sue added: “All the problems made
me livid but even stronger. I have
respect for genuine anti-hunt people.
I will sit and talk to them, and don’t
have problems with any of that, but I
do have problems with some of their
tactics which sometimes were way over
the top.”
When the ban on fox hunting
was introduced in 2003 virtually
every hunter, including Sue, was
left horrified. She hopes one day it
may be overturned, but is not totally
convinced. She still hunts in its revised
form whenever she can, despite a back
injury, and has her two horses Woody
and Gordon, stabled at the family
home.
Sue, who has also displayed her
riding skills at the popular Ashey
Scurry, was made a Life Member of
the IW Hunt in 2009, and this year
she was honoured with the Presidency,
succeeding the late John Kingswell.
She said: “It is a great privilege because
it is a tradition and history that goes
back hundreds of years.
“It has been difficult for Masters to
keep the Hunt running, but thankfully
it is still extremely well supported. I
feel that if hunting ever finished on
the Island because there wasn’t the
support we would never get it back.
On the mainland you can amalgamate
Hunts to help finances, but on the
Island we are very isolated.”