To the average person, unacquainted with the topography, area around Halifax, with its neighbours, Rochdale and

Burnley, suggests rather grim industrialism - sombre rows of stone-built houses, mills, factories, railways, lorries, soot and fog. This, fortunately, is only part of the picture. For if one turns one's back on the towns and industrialism, one may suddenly find oneself in utterly deserted moorland, populated only by a few sheep - a high country with woods and rushing streams. The people of the towns have clean fresh air and sport waiting for them on their doorsteps, and have only to come out with the Pennine hounds to find both.

For many hundreds of years, this country has had a hunting tradition of its own, mainly one of foot packs but some mounted hunts existed until very recent times, one of these being the "Rochdale," which was disbanded in 1930, with the encroachment of the towns over the rideable part of the country.

In 1961 it was decided to amalgamate the Rochdale and Pennine, a Foot Harrier Pack, and the South Pennine Fox Hounds into one Hunt to cover the whole of the two countries, retaining the Rochdale Pack. The main quarry is now the hare, although the fox too will be hunted on occasions, thus carrying on the old traditions.

Meets are usually held at moorland or village inns, preferably on a bus route; since the majority of the followers have to work on a Saturday morning, hounds only hunt on Saturday afternoons, although morning Meets and bye-days are fitted in when ever possible. With the amalgamation now effective it is hoped to quickly increase the number of Meets.

The day's sport ends with a return to the inn at which the hounds met; after refreshments, traditional conviviality marks the end of the day and rafters will ring with the words of the old hunting tunes and songs traditional to the area.

Democracy is a much abused word, but if it be taken to mean "of the people and for the people" it fits the Pennine Hunt to a ""T."