Something's brewing in the car park of a back street pub in Swindon! Ferret-folk are coming together in groups to discuss each others little fuzzies and who is going to compete in what group.

It is STARescue's latest outing of joint ferret racing and ferret show which is creating quite a furore. Space is tight in the car-park but the tubes for racing are already set out waiting for the 'off' and at the same time eager ferret owners are congregating in the various tents and gazebo's trying to avoid the dark rain clouds above but this wouldn't dampen their spirits anyway; there is fun to be had and 'dammit'; a shower of rain isn't going to stop this ferrety bunch. Even the locals have turned out in interest and some quite obviously cant believe their eyes. I spoke to one person who told me she had 'never seen anything like it' but had an overall look of reminiscence as she went on to tell me she 'remembered that her father kept ferrets'.

Marcy and Dawn from STARescue are busy making sure the entrants for the show and the racing are all being checked in and by the time I got the chance to talk to Marcy there were already over 50 entrants for the various categories of the show. As per normal it was separated into Polecats, Albino's, other colours, disabled etc and the groups were being filled out by new entrants all the time. Marcy certainly had her work cut out but she embraced it with ease and soon had everyone under control.

I was keen to see some ferret racing as I had seen it at fetes and shows but STARescue have got a bit of a reputation with their wonderful array of ferret-fun

obstacles within the course - and I wasn't disappointed.

After about an hour of ticking boxes once and checking ferrets twice, the young show stewards came out and started demanding that the various ferrets which are entered into the show are handed over for the judges to inspect. Some of the stewards were new to the role but carried out their duties with a high-level of professionalism.

At the same time the ferret racing was getting underway in the car-park and with a great deal of cheering, whooping and encouragement the ferrets were put through their paces as they navigated through the various see-saw's and bridges to complete the course. Each winner took a small prize but it was satisfying to see that it was all taken in the good spirit and nature that it was intended. No-one was over competitive and at the end of the day it is good fun for both the owners, spectators and especially the ferrets.

I am sure an excellent day was had by all and I especially would like to thank Marcy for taking the time to invite FERT to the day to spectate. It was a great deal of fun and a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday.

STARescue have further details of their ferret racing on their own website and this can be found at http://www.starescue.org.uk