COUNTRYSIDE supporters from Swindon are preparing to join thousands of protesters in London on Sunday.

Up to 250,000 people are expected to converge on the capital to defend a way of life that they say is under threat.

The Liberty and Livelihood March has been organised by the Countryside Alliance to protest against the Govern-ment's plans to ban foxhunting.

Joining the marchers will be the Ponting family, who have farmed in Purton for the last 150 years.

According to Will Ponting, the issue of fox hunting is the thin end of a much larger wedge.

Mr Ponting, 37, said: "My main concern is hunting because my wife is directly employed as a groom for the hunt horses and I also keep horses here that are owned by people that go hunting.

"That's the personal reason if it's banned my wife will lose her job.

"I hunt as well it's part of our tradition."

But he stressed that as a farmer, he would also like less bureaucracy and the ability to compete equally with producers from abroad.

"Every time a farmer complains we get told we get all these subsidies," he said.

"We don't want subsidies, we just want a level playing field and a proper market for our products.

"Take South African beef for instance, we have incredibly high standards now in this country, our beef is the safest in the world.

"But we continue to allow imports from countries like South Africa which don't have the same standards and are allowed to flood the market. All these issues are interconnected.

On Sunday morning the Pontings will join 1,500 other hunt supporters as they converge on Swindon to head up to London on two chartered trains and 10 buses.

Alex Mason, a beef and arable farmer from Bibury, near Cirencester, has been co-ordinating the transport.

He said: "I think this will be the biggest countryside march ever. Fox-hunting is the reason I am going.

"But farmers are also angry. We are bitter and confused and don't know why we are being pilloried."

n Don't forget to order your copy of Monday's Evening Advertiser. We shall be sending a reporter and photographer to London to report on the march and local reaction.