Party time

From Whitaker vs Whitaker football matches to a hunting choir roaring carols, top riders know how to let their hair down at Christmastime. Netia Walker unearths the best festive parties

- Netia Walker

WORKING with horses during the long, winter months is not for the fainthearted. The hours are long, beginning and ending in the dark, the weather unkind. The go-to clothing is unglamorous, bulky and vitally waterproof. So is it any wonder that as the festive spirit starts to swirl, the horsey lot enthusiastically swap their wellies for high heels, throw on the sequins, book a blow-dry and hit the party scene hard?

HOW SILENTLY...

THE Beaufort Hunt Charity Carol Service held at the church in Badminton is widely regarded by locals as the signal that the Christmas party season has begun. Every year the hunt holds the traditional, candlelit service and raises large sums of money for local charities. This year St Giles Church, Alderton, will be the recipient of the hunt's passionate ability to rally the troops and raise the funds it desperately needs to enable it to stay open.

Musical enthusiasts might question the audition process for the choir. What it lacks in vocal ability it makes up for in its humour, as field masters, members of the field, car followers and farmers with the biggest personalities are chosen to fill the stalls and roar carols with hearty enthusiasm.

There is a ripple of laughter that spreads like wildfire once their identities are revealed to the congregation as they file down the aisle towards the altar dressed in cassocks, complete with frilly collar.

Matt Ramsden says that the greatest hiatus he has had to negotiate while in his role as master and huntsman of the Beaufort for the past nine seasons has been the vicar banning the choir's customary "warm-up drinks", which take place in the vestry before the service.

"We almost had to move churches," he says with a chuckle.