Gamekeeper gets long service award

Mike Tipping, the head gamekeeper for the 7,000-acre Place Newton Estate at Wintringham, near Malton, has been presented with a CLA long service award in recognition of 40 years of working in the profession.

The award was presented to Mr Tipping by the Duke of Kent, along with the Duke of Marlborough and CLA President William Worsley, at The CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.

Mr Tipping said: “I’ve loved country sports for as long as I can remember and feel extremely fortunate to have had such a long and fulfilling career as a gamekeeper.”

He began his career in 1971 at the age of 23, when he worked on the Welburn Estate near Kirbymoorside before moving on to the Castle Howard Estate where he was gamekeeper for a syndicate run by Geoffrey Wardle Darley.

Mr Tipping moved to the Place Newton Estate in 1986, where he has been head gamekeeper for 25 years.

He was joined 17 years ago by his son Matthew, who works alongside his father on the estate as a second gamekeeper.