HUNTSMEN have paid tribute to countryman Joe Tindall who has hung up his horn after 40 years' service with the Glaisdale Hounds.

Fellow huntsmen and women, friends and family gathered at a dinner in Whitby last night in his honour following his retirement on Thursday.

Crowds from the Cleveland, Farndale, Goathland, Saltersgate and Staintondale hunts also gathered at Ainthorpe's Fox and Hounds pub to pay tribute.

The 67-year-old Methodist first showed interest in the Glaisdale Hunt as a boy.

"I used to sit on my dad's knee and ask him to tell me a hunt story. I used to follow it over the dale on my bike or on foot, running over the fields," said Mr Tindall.

Since getting his first horse at 21, Mr Tindall has fond memories of the hunt.

"I've returned home at all times of the day and night. Sometimes I have ended up miles away near Pickering and Rosedale, and had to walk back occasionally," he said.

Mr Tindall and his son, David, work at Castle Houses Farm, a dairy farm with a few sheep, and the hunt kennels moved there when he started service in 1963. He has built up a good relationship with local farmers and landowners.

"We work well together and there is nowhere the hunt can't go," he said."Farmers know I am concerned as much for their stock as my own. But after 40 years I am getting a bit old."