SCHOOLCHILDREN braved the cold yesterday to join huntsmen for the 80th anniversary of an annual meet.

Bedale Hunt, based at Little Fencote, near Bedale, North Yorkshire, has been meeting at Aysgarth School for the past 80 years.

Yesterday, pupils mingled with the hounds and spectators for the first meet since the controversial ban on hunting with dogs was passed.

The very first meet at Aysgarth took place in March 1925 at the suggestion of the acting master, General "Billy" Allgood, of Charlcot House, near Masham, whose nephews had attended the school.

The school magazine reported: "The VI and V (forms) and all bona fide riders to hounds followed until lunch time. We hope this will become an annual institution."

The day of the meet became a holiday until the late 1980s. Boys followed the hounds in their football strips or on their ponies, with the stragglers rounded up at the end of the day.

Bedale Hunt has now appointed a new team of joint masters and signalled its intention to carry on hunting within the law.