I T HAS certainly been a busy weekend socially. On Friday evening, it was the Hartington sports annual dinner and dance at the Bentley Brook Hotel, near Ashbourne. On Saturday evening the great social event of the Staffordshire Moorland calendar, the Moorland hunt ball, filled the Three Horse Shoes at Blackshaw Moor to capacity.

I have always been a big supporter of both Hartington and Longnor sports and wakes committees because, after all, they are both events held in the autumn that have been in existence for generation after generation. Not only do both events provide great fun and entertainment they also bring together town and country folk alike to keep traditions alive that are so important for the social fabric of the countryside.

I always take my hat off to the organisers of the myriad different country shows and events.

Events like the annual dinner dance that we attended on Friday evening are certainly an enjoyable way of putting several hundred quid into the coffers of the committees. I can't let Friday evening pass without mentioning the outstanding meal we were served up by the staff at the Bentley Brook. It was one of the best meals I've had served up at a dinner dance for many a year.

As for the great social event in the rural calendar, the hunt ball must rate as the number one function.

I was pleased that yet again senior master Edward Upton had kept the event in the Moorlands and we returned for the second year in succession to the Three Horse Shoes at Blackshaw Moor. Following the success of Friday night's function the Three Horse Shoes again rose to the occasion to provide us with another outstanding meal and excellent service. A good yardstick to success at any event is how many bodies are left standing at the end of the evening and certainly on Sunday morning as the clock chimed 1am and carriages were called, 90 per cent of the 160 revellers were still rocking the night away to the sounds of the disco.

The Moorland hunt has now been going for more than 30 years and it will be interesting to see, if we get a change of government, whether or not there will be a lifting on the current restrictions that ban the hunting of foxes by packs of hounds. Not only will the argument rage between politicians and the anti-hunting fraternity, I can tell you chatting to a good number of hunting folk on Saturday evening there are strong feelings that it would be better to leave the status quo and this whole subject of lifting the hunting ban be left well alone. The jury is still out and my advice would be very simple. If you are happy with what you have got, leave well alone because another pitch battle on the streets of London wouldn't do the cause of hunting much good.