Camp following
Sir: As the gypsies sit round the camp fire, stewing something succulent in a pot, they peruse their copies of Horse and Hound pausing only to remark: 'I see Ginny Leng won at Burghley Horse Trials again.'
Yes, it is a beguiling picture of our readership conjured up by Nicholas Col- eridge in your excellent Diary (28 Octo- ber). He comments on the huge influx of gypsies into Stow-on-the-Wald because the wrong date for the horse fair was published In Horse and Hound.
We were somewhat stunned here to learn that scores of police had been called in to control our traveller readers who were busy trotting horses and ponies up and down in a car park. What happened was that a person who has advertised with us before sent in a small, single-column advertisement for the Fair giving a date which we printed accurately. But our inquiries reveal that there are several factions seeking to hold a Stow fair and thus there was confusion. Another gather- ing took place the following week.
As your diarist remarked: 'What other magazine can prove so dynamically its reader response?' The horse makes no distinctions in choosing his friends; nor does Horse and Hound.
Michael Clayton
Editor, Horse and Hound, Kings Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1
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