Meet The Team

Jude

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I have found my happy place with Northumberland Hunt Watch!

My journey to join the team started with an unwavering love of all things ‘animal’ from childhood and led me, in time, to study Zoology and Psychology at St Andrews University. Following on from this, alongside my love for and study of animals, I realised I was developing a huge interest in human communication and behaviour, was aware of my growing social conscience, and thirst for adventure. I applied for and got accepted on a life affirming expedition to the Solomon Islands for 3 months with Raleigh International to undertake community and zoological projects. Then in the same year, I joined the Metropolitan Police in London. Both these experiences undoubtedly left indelible marks on me and I feel now I can probably deal with most situations life can throw at you, with calmness, resilience and understanding.

When I left the Police some years ago, I moved back up north and concentrated on my love for animals. I have been involved in animal rescue now for many years – wildlife, cats and dogs. Living all these years in rural Northumberland, I have been also able to fully understand the rural community and its relationship with the local wildlife. I haven’t necessarily always liked what I have seen….

Volunteering with Northumberland Hunt Watch seems the most obvious and appropriate role for me now. It ties in my strong sense of right and wrong with my love of wildlife. I have also met the best group of individuals – strong, committed, passionate and above all fabulous animal loving human beings – all of us working together to protect persecuted wildlife in Northumberland. I know the group is going from strength to strength and look forward to the year ahead.

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Lynne 

I am Lynne the group founder and leader. I am also a PhD researcher of criminology at The University of Northumbria. I am never off duty, when it comes to fox hunting, so My PhD research project examines the policing of organised fox hunting with hounds in England and Wales, aiming to explore how the criminal justice system is failing foxes.

I am also qualified teacher, and hold two business degrees from the University of Sunderland. Prior to studying for my PhD, I was a lecturer in Business studies for 8 years, and program leader for 3. Before all that, I ran my own business.

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I felt propelled take a break from teaching, to do my PhD research, as it was another way that I could help the foxes. Fox hunting is significantly under researched, and as a crime. I hoped therefore, to raise awareness of the plight of foxes to a new influential audience.  My research focus, was shaped very much by my own experiences. I have funded the PhD myself through savings and loan, in the hope that my findings will go some way to influencing future policy change. My fees alone are almost £15,000, which goes some way to illustrate how passionate I am about this. When I complete later this year, I aim to publish a Truth about Trail Hunting book  I have presented my research at the Criminology Conference in 2021 and I have a co-authored a Criminology journal article due to be published in the near future.

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I founded this group in March 2020. I already had a number of years' experience in the field, monitoring in another area, before setting up this group up. My second time out monitoring a hunt [with a previous group] I witnessed a fox killed by hounds, I swore then, that one day I would get justice for that fox, and all the other silent victims out there. The spirit of that fox drives me, and I will never give up on her. With a strong sense of justice, I will always fight for what I believe in. 

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When I founded this group, there was no group covering Northumberland, despite having nine fox hunts alone. Most of these hunts had been untouched for many years; left to their own devices – not any more. I couldn’t bear to think of all the foxes out there alone, with nobody to help them, so I had to do something. I’m not the sort of person to just sit around – If I want to change something I will go and do it.  We covered 8 but will be covering all 9 of these hunts, in an area of around 3,000 square miles with diverse and challenging terrain and in some very isolated rural locations, so we are always learning and developing our skills.

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From the beginning, I had a vision as to exactly how I wanted this group to be, and I think we’ve achieved that. As a result, we have made an impact on hunting in Northumberland in a short space of time. This is due to having a strong committed and loyal team with me, who all share our group ethos –  we jokingly refer to as our Kumbaya ethos.  As a group, we are always professional and non-confrontational, that is a must, we have a code of conduct and expectations for behaviour that all team members must abide by and agree to before they even come out with us. We are always polite and friendly.

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I passionately hate fox hunting (and all animal abuse) but I don’t hate hunt people. One of my strategies, which comes naturally, due to my teaching background I suppose, is how I am able to separate the behaviour from the person. It’s the behaviour, fox hunting, that I have a problem with and not the person. That helps me to remain calm. That's not to say I don't use my teacher voice on them when I need to. I have a very strategic approach, and will always consider how individual and group actions may impact our aims at a later date. Wildlife is a the centre of our group ethos, and as a result, I don’t just think about today’s fox, but tomorrows, next week, next year etc.

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I am a realist, so I know that fox hunting will not cease overnight, but as a team we are working hard towards this end goal – to end live animal hunting in Northumberland. The Hunting sight need not disappear; they can have an enjoyable ride around the countryside and all the pomp and ceremony that accompanies it, but just don’t kill animals to do it. It really is that simple. Trail Hunting does not exist, it is a cover for fox hunting, and therefore, I am committed to making sure that all the hunts in our area convert to humane drag hunting, or face the consequences - prosecution for their crimes against wildlife. I never give up, and will always achieve what I strive for.

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Despite all this, I do manage some rest and relaxation. To relax, I chill out with my cat, watching the soaps, re-runs of The Bill and documentaries, or reading old fox hunting books. I also enjoy having [quite] a few gins or vodka on an occasional night, out with friends, whilst watching local bands or playing plastic instruments whilst singing loudly and badly at my favourite power ballet club nights. In 2018, I sailed to Denmark in the Tall Ships Race, which was amazing, so I plan to sail in the 2023 one too, to celebrate the completion of my PhD.

My all-time favourite record is Reach for the Stars by S Club 7, and I always make sure that I do just that.

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Lynn

Hi, I'm the other Lynn, one of the senior wildlife guardians for NHW.

The nature of my employment has always been in the care sector, in that time I was keyworker for adults with learning disabilities, who were mainly nonverbal, I became their voice and stood for their rights and kept them safe.

I am now a trained level 3 teaching assistant with experience of mainstream and special educational needs. I am big on safeguarding... safeguarding is to protect a citizens health, wellbeing and human rights, enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. But other than being the voice for the voiceless, I am also very  keen on archery too and involved with a living history group... that's me in a nutshell, thanks for reading.

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Katy

I'm Katy. In my career that I'm now retired from I was a Mental Health Worker. I worked across mutli spectrum personality disorders, functional and organic mental health including dual and triple diagnosis.

I have extensive knowledge of the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. I also supervised a small team within NHS mental health services that acheived fantastic results at every single audit The skills I picked up in this career have carried across to my roles within the Northumberland Hunt Watch family perfectly I'm the volunteer coordinator, one of the senior wildlife guardians and I'm newly appointed to the position of South West region Outreach Coordinator.

I like to be busy ! For Volunteer Coordinator my job is to transition new members in to the group, ensure any training needs are identified and met, monitor participation and absence and smooth out any minor problems within the team. In the field as a Senior wildlife guardian my job is to support the appointed team leader or act as a sub team leader. I'm the gizmo holder and I'm often a little away from my team to enable me to listen to and react to the hounds and the horn calls of the Masters

As SWN Outreach Coordinator my job is to organize outreaches and leaflet drops and to take every opportunity to promote our group in a positive light. I'm really fitted to this role as I spent many years as my Dad's "campaign assistant" for his career in local politics. The Finger a Foxhunter slogan is one of my tea break ideas as is kumbyah ethos and the ladies that picnic lunch. I'm also self appointed team baker.

When I'm not flat out with all this, I have a little part time job for pocket money and I volunteer for an American Non profit running their social media account and group, I also fundraise across a range of human rights and animal welfare causes. 

My other hobbies and interests are very varied I'm passionate about language, I love dialect and colloquial speech, reading factual and self learning books and taught myself to read body language from a book! I'm a keen hill and fell walker and on a rare day off the hubby and I can cover 25k with our dogs and a picnic in our back pack. I also enjoy gardening, visiting ancient and historical places and cookery. If I'm watching a rare bit of telly it's something like a crime documentary, music concert or my guilty pleasure old re runs of House Dr. That's about it beautiful people.

Thank you for reading. Namaste

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Ozzy

Hello I am know to my friends as OZ (I absolutely love Ozzy Osbourne).

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I am passionate about wildlife and all animals. I have worked with animals in my job for the last 25 years. I have been a vegetarian for over 50 years and a vegan for the last 10 years.

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I met our leader Lynne a few years ago when we were both in another monitor group. We bonded straight away and when she set up her own group I joined her without a second thought.

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We are all passionate people and very supportive of each other. Everyone has different strengths so all have different jobs in our team. Sometimes I am on foot but often I drive dropping off and moving teams to where they need to be.

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We never use violence or bad behaviour/language but instead use intelligence and strategy.

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I hate cruelty of any kind to humans or animals.

Join us

Volunteer  with our team Today

A number of Roles available

Do you support our ethos? 

Do you have a passion for saving wildlife? 

Are you a team player?

Can you take instruction and follow directions but also use your own initiative?  

Can you keep cool under pressure and interact with others in a calm, and friendly manner?

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Apply to join our friendly and supportive team today

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Full training and support provided

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All levels of fitness are accommodated 

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Roles

Drivers

Drone operator

Foot team (interventionist)

Foot team video camera operator / monitor (none interventionist)

Field team - support roles

Outreach team

Leaflet teams

Admin and Social Media

Fundraising