Charlotte Hignett

Whether it is fundraising, taking children under her wing or helping out with the skinning, this Fernie “good egg” is always on hand to help

- Frank Houghton Brown

THE first memory of hunting for Charlotte Hignett with her beloved Fernie, is on a leading-rein with her father at the Boxing Day meet on Great Bowden village green in 1975. The legendary Bruce Durno, whose wife Derries is the daughter of Charlotte’s grandfather’s butler, was hunting hounds.

Lieutenant-Colonel Hignett was a World War II veteran who commanded Phantom squadron, one of the first of our special forces, and he was rescued from the Dieppe raid by HMS Fernie. He was a joint-master of the Fernie for 10 years following the war and was the vice-president and a founding member of the hunt supporters’ club. Charlotte’s father served as chairman of the same club and now Charlotte herself holds the chair.