IN AN INVALID CHAIR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 258, 1 November 1932, Page 5

IN AN INVALID CHAIR

FOLLOWING THE HOUNDS LADY APSLEY’S COURAGE "BETTER THAN NOT AT ALL.” When the Vale of the White Horse Hounds meet in Gloucestershire this season, the most ardent huntswoman will follow hounds in an invalid chair slung in a saloon car specially adapted for the purpose. Lady Ansley, wife of Earl Bathurst’s heir, stated last month, when seen at her childhood home, Alarsh Court, Stockbridge, that in a few weeks’ time she would return to her home in Gloucestershire for the hunting, and, despite the grave injuries that have kept her confined to an invalid chair for two years, wil] follow the hounds in her car throughout the season. “I would rather follow in a chair than not hunt at all,” Lady Apsley said with indomitable fire. It was

while hunting with the same pack, of which her father-in-law is master, nearly two years ago that her horse put its foot in a rabbit hole and rolled over on its rider. Lady Apsley’s spine was dislocated. Since that time she has never walked or put her feet to the ground. She lives in her invalid chair. Before the accident Lady Apsley had indulged to the utmost her enthusiasm for every form of sport and healthful activity. She had hunted, played golf and tennis and, for a short period, led the life of a settlor’s wife with her husband in Australia. But hunting was, and still remains, her chief interest.

“I cannot stay away from the hunt,” Lady Apsley said. “I find that I can follow quite well in a car. Of course I know the country, and sometimes I can guess, according to the wind and so on which line of country

the fox is going to take. I get quite good runs really, but, of course, I have to follow the road and so lose much of the hunt.

“I don’t suppose I shall be able to get across country again until someone invents a tank that can do it.” This was said by Lady Apsley with a smile that was like th e rod badge of courage.

“Oh, but the old Duke of Beaufort, used to follow hounds across cuontry in the old type of Ford car,” she went on vivaciously. “And quite well. They used to put chains on the tyres so that they would grip.” During the past few months Lady Apsley has written, in collaboration with Lady Diana Sherren, the Duke of Beaufort’s sister, a book on hunting to bo published shortly, which is meant to be of service to young horsewomen. “It has been interesting working on it,” she said. “Of course it is more of a treatise than a book, being very technical in parts. Some day I. want to write a real book —a novel with a hunting background. But first I must find a plot.” Lady Apsley has her lovely home, her husband, her children, her friends and so she counts herself rich in life’s com-