At a recent committee meeting the Glamorgan Hunt and Llangeinor & Pentyrch Hunt took the difficult decision to cancel their point to point fixtures at Ystradowen on 29th March and 12th April respectively. At the same time the Oakley Hunt have unfortunately decided to cancel their meeting scheduled for 16th March at Brafield-on-the-Green, Northamptonshire.
In communication with The Point-to-Point Authority (PPA), Peter Thomas the Glamorgan Secretary and Clerk of Course, said “Following a large amount of discussion, investigation, checking, canvassing and heart searching, it is with deep regret that I have to confirm that both the Glamorgan and Llangeinor/Pentyrch Hunts will not be staging their scheduled fixtures. This course of action is extremely disappointing to all concerned and the decision was not taken lightly.”
Paul Miller, PPA Chief Executive said “ Unfortunately the number of Welsh point-to-point hunt certificates has failed to recover since Covid, when the different travel arrangements in Wales completely stopped the sport there, with numbers down again so far this season”
The hunts have a proud record of staging fixtures since World War II, becoming a core part of the rural social spring calender.
Thomas continued “I would take this opportunity to stress that both hunts wish to remain within the point to point arena as there may well be developments of different fixtures within our area. I am sure these options will be discussed in the near future, and offer our sincere best wishes to all those fixtures for the rest of the season”
At the same time the Oakley Hunt have unfortunately decided to cancel their meeting scheduled for 16th March at Brafield-on-the-Green, Northamptonshire, due to financial pressures. However, they are hopeful that they may be able to run a joint or amalgamated fixture next season”
Miller continued “ For a variety of reasons many fixtures are facing a range of financial pressures including increased costs and lower profits. A key part of my role is working out a viable and sustainable financial blue-print for fixtures, looking at how they can reduce costs and increase profits to make them a more attractive risk. It takes a lot of money to put on a fixture so we want to ensure they get a good return for their investment”