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Princess Anne Hunt Annual Meeting and Hound Show

  • Sunday, May 07, 2023
  • 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Upper Shirley Plantation, 700 Shirley Plantation Road, Charles City, VA 23030

Registration is closed

Please join us on May 7, for the Annual Meeting and Hound Show at the home of PAH member Suzy Dameron. The business meeting begins at 2:15. We will raise a glass of Upper Shirley champagne to the end of another great year with Princess Anne Hunt and start the new one in style. You will enjoy a short re-cap of last year's successes and challenges and riding members will  be asked to vote on last year's minutes (viewed  in the member section of the website) the following officers for the PAH Board of Directors:

President: Katherine Mitchell (two-year term)

Vice President: Robin Somers-Strom (one year, finishing Merri Musso's term)

Secretary: Rachel Toquothty (two-year term)

Director: Jim Daniels (two-year term)

Following the business meeting and hound show, you will enjoy refreshments and beverages. The hound shows gives you a unique opportunity to see our top dog hounds and top bitches- in action and try your hand at judging, along with our juniors participating in the MFHA Junior Judging program. It also gives Martyn and chance to do a practice round before the May 28th Virginia hound show and June 3rd Bryn Mawr show.


Several PAH juniors, are participating in the MFHA junior judging program, learning about judging hounds with Martyn. Whichever Junior comes closest to the results of our visiting outside judge will be awarded our top Junior judge. He or she will be invited to show hounds in the junior class at the Virginia Hound Show. Members and guests will be encouraged to try their hands at judging hounds too!  It all promises to be a fun afternoon with hounds, so mark your calendar and plan to be there.


And this is how the day went by Travis Gibson and Katherine Mitchell

Annual Meeting; Hound Show; and MFHA Junior Judging Competition


by Katherine Mitchell and Travis Gibson

About 50 members and guests joined the Board of Directors on Sunday at Upper Shirley Plantation to toast the new PAH year; learn about how things went last year and participate in a PAH hound show with Martyn and Sue Blackmore.  We were greeted by host Suzy Dameron with Upper Shirley champagne and the news that her first grandchild had just  been born. About 70 percent of the event teams for 2023-2024 were filled at the meeting by volunteers. Katherine will be reaching out to you this summer to sign up if you weren't able to be there.

We all marked the occasion of the traditional "changing of the guard". Mark Wenger and Cynthia Porter concluded their terms as Board Directors as did Elaine Honneycutt who finished her term as secretary. We thank them so very much for their  service on the Board and Christine Sweet for her service as Membership Chair.  One of the most significant appointments of the year was the appointment of Merri Musso as our new Master, joining Travis Gibson, MFH and Ed Mitchell, MFH.  This is the team of Masters who will work with PAH leadership to position Princess Anne Hunt for our next century of hunting. Merri was on the nominating committee this year with Katherine Mitchell and Jerel Johnson. She oversaw the vote of Jim Daniels to the Board as Director; Rachel Toquothty as Secretary; Robin Somers-Strom as Vice President and Membership Chair; and Katherine Mitchell for another term as President. 

Other details from the business meeting and highlights from the year can be found HERE  in the minutes from the meeting which includes the president's report;  Hounds and Hunting; the Membership report; theTrail Ride Series; and the Treasurer's Report by Tim Watson. Tim shared the numbers for last year and the news that due to inflationary increases in expenses there will be a 6 percent increase in membership dues next year, beginning in August. This is the first increase since 2019.


Following the business meeting, Master Travis Gibson introduced the PAH Hound show and our first MFHA Junior Judging Competition.  Participating were Steven Cardoza, John Savage, Evan Savage and Sophia Savage.  Professional Judge, Matthew Cook, the Huntsman with Farmington Hunt. Eight PAH hounds competed. Members were also given judging sheets and encouraged to see if they could match scores with the professional judge. Sophia Savage won the junior judging competition. She was invited to participate in the Junior handling class at the Virginia Hound Show on Sunday, May 28th.


After the hound show, members and guests enjoyed refreshments made by the Board of Directors and a landowners bar, manned by Mark Wenger with help from Steve Musso. We all did a good job demolishing the almond amaretto cake made by Robin Daniels who also had PAH merchandise for sale. The weather was perfect until the first drop of rain came down as we were cleaning up and heading home.




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