TOMORROW, the North West, once again, is the reluctant host of the notorious hare coursing event -- The Waterloo Cup. For three days the normally quiet and peaceful fields of Altcar will echo to the excited, sickening cheers of hundreds of hare coursing fans as they witness the breaking up of harmless hares.
In 1911, Lady Florence Dixie asked: "What more aggravated form of torture is to be found than coursing with greyhounds?" Herself a foxhunter, she noted "the awful terror of the hare depicting itself in the laid-back ears, convulsive doubles and wild starting eyes which seem almost to burst from their sockets in the agony of tension which that piteous struggle for life entails."
For hunt followers previous events still evoke misty eyes, hopefully, soon, memories will be all that remains of this most callous and cowardly of pastimes.
G METCALFE (Mr), Moorhey Crescent, Bamber Bridge.
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