HantsFurs

2012-10-15T23:16:29Z

86.129.53.59:

The '''HantsFurs''' is the name given to a regional [[furry]] group centered around the county of [[wikipedia:Hampshire|Hampshire]], UK. The majority of HantsFurs members reside in either [[Wikipedia:Southampton|Southampton]] or [[Wikipedia:Portsmouth|Portsmouth]], two major cities in the area, though the number of members in other large towns such as [[Wikipedia:Basingstoke|Basingstoke]] are growing.<ref>[http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?showtopic=26309 Hantsfur local directory on UKFur]</ref> [[Furmeet]]s used to to be organized through the group's mailing list and forum, although the [[UKFur]] forums are currently more commonly used. Meets are much more sporadic than those other groups in the UK, with [[mini-meet]]s being more common.

The group was officially founded by [[SlyCat]] in March 2000 by creating the mailing list due to the increasing number of furs in the area. The mailing list is now currently owned by [[TK Tiger]]. As of August 2009, the group had over 120 subscribed members{{fact}}. The Hantsfur section of the UKFur forums contains a “register” maintained by Bezel, which lists 133 members as of 13 June 2012.

In addition to the UKfur Forum Subsection, and the Hantsfur Website, there is also a Twitter feed @hantsfurs

==Southampton==
Since [[Slycat]] took a break from organising these at the start of 2010,<ref>http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?showtopic=21535</ref> larger meets were replaced by smaller, more informal "Fursday" mini-meets every Thursday.<ref>http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?showtopic=22444</ref> These eventually became incredibly popular despite being on a week day. In September the Fursday meets moved to weekends and now occur fortnightly, arranged by [[Stokes]] and [[Wrathwolf]]. Other "mini-meets", such as evening bowling competitions are also occasionally arranged.

Toward the end of 2011, there was a drive to vary the activities of the (now Saturday) Southampton meets, as they seemed to all have largely the same format. A need for more advance notice was apparent too, and so the meet dates for 2012 were agreed upon in advance, looking at a once monthly format, trying to avoid clashing with other meets where possible. Organisation is done on a volunteer basis, with Mercury, Weremoco, Labpup2001 and Scrappyfox all having organised and run meets.
Activities from meets in 2012 have included bowling, fursuit photoshoots, shopping in town, a trip to Marwell Zoo, Picnicking on the Common, Fursuiting in the Hobbit pub (v well received); with other ideas always being welcome.

Fursuits are welcome at some Southampton meets, depending on the activities and location. These are published in advance.

From September 2012, Mercury will be moving and is unable to help with Southampton meets, so Weremoco has taken over (and rules with an Iron paw)

==Portsmouth==
[[NamuGriff]] temporarily took over organising the Portsmouth meets, but resigned from this post in May 2010. Meets are currently sporadic, and usually organised by [[Palaeofox]], [[Silverwind]] or [[Furgus]].

==Basingstoke==
Basingstoke meets started in November 2009, organised by [[Red Russell]] and [[Rikka Hyou]],<ref>http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?showtopic=19946</ref> attracting around 20 attendees. Meetings then took place on an (approximately) bi-monthly basis until May 2010, when there was a temporary hiatus due to Red Russell moving and changing jobs.<ref>http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?showtopic=24561</ref>

Organisation of the meets was then handled by Rikka Hyou and [[Snowdog]]<ref>http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?showtopic=25465</ref>. [[EmberOfThePhoenix]] then joined the team of organisers after the meet in September.<ref>http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?showtopic=26173</ref> and then reached another hiatus.

Basingstoke meets took place approximately every three weeks till January 2011 where it was put on hiatus.<ref>[http://forum.ukfur.org/topic/29311-basingstoke-furmeet-12211/ Basingstoke Furmeet! 12/2/11] on [[UKFur]], dated January 23,2011. Retrieved June 7,2011</ref>.

[[Paw-Fox]] started hosting the meets <ref>[http://forum.ukfur.org/topic/33424-basingstoke-meet-saturday-6th-august/ Basingstoke Furmeet 06/08/2011]</ref> from the start of August 2011 before handing over the organisation to [[Mellish]] at the start of June 2012.<ref>[http://forum.ukfur.org/topic/37763-basingstoke-meet-saturday-the-2nd-of-june/ Basingstoke Meet - Saturday 2nd of June] on UKFur.</ref>

As of October, the meets are on hold due to Mellish needing to handle serious family issues. There is currently no estimated date on which the meets will restart. <ref>https://twitter.com/HantsFurs/status/256787909531799552</ref>

==Bournemouth==
Once a year around the end of July, a trip to Bournemouth is organised for the group by [[Blaster_Hedgie|Blaster Hedgie]], who has also organised the yearly Halloween and Christmas meets from 2007 onwards. Regular Bournemouth meets have became somewhat sporadic but, with an upsurge in the number of furs in the area, there seems to be renewed interest in organising such events.
==Website==

Around September 2010, Slycat took an attempt on designing the new version of the HantsFur website as an approach to welcome new people to the meets.<ref>http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?showtopic=27034</ref> Users via the website can also add their event into the UK Furmeet event listing database and this is displayed on the main page of HantsFur

In October 2010 Slycat became the forum moderator of Hantsfurs on [[UKfur]].

==References==
<references/>

== External links ==
* [http://www.hantsfurs.co.uk/ HantsFurs Website]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hantsfurs/ HantsFurs Mailing List]
* [http://www.furmeets.co.uk/group.php?id=3 HantsFur events] on [http://www.furmeets.co.uk/ Furmeets.co.uk]
* [http://gallery.furmeets.co.uk/v/hantsfurs_meets/ Photos of HantsFur Meets]
* [http://www.tigertailsradio.co.uk TigerTails Radio show]
* [http://www.furmeets.co.uk UK Furmeet event listing]

{{United Kingdom}}
[[Category:Regional groups]]
[[Category:Mailing lists]]
[[Category:England]]
[[Category:2000 births]]

WikiFur - User contributions [en]

HantsFurs