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Many, many congratulations to Ditton Dog Training Club on their 50th Anniversary, and for giving us another two-day competition to remember.

I was there for both days. On Saturday I competed, and on Sunday I stewarded.

Saturday was hot. An early arrival at the show, I was soon sheeted up, checked in, and ready to present myself promptly at 9.00 a.m. for a running order with Eric in the B ring under Denise Harrild. I’m not quite sure why I entered B – a moment of confident over ambition! Anyway, I trained as we are nowhere near ready, but we came out to nice comments particularly from experienced, higher-level handlers who had come to see the round and watched us do the heelwork and retrieve. I am often dismayed to read that people have less than positive experiences in and around the rings, perhaps I am naïve or too thick skinned, but I have always found the camaraderie of Obedience very positive.

I also trained A under Wendy Hanlon and worked Novice under Gill Winyard and, by my own yardstick, I was pleased with our work.

The infamous Dermott McSquirmott also worked Novice under Pat Burford and was not last. I was outraged, we are losing our edge, we fully expect to be unassailably last and we were usurped by ¾ of a point!

Sunday, I stewarded Ticket for the lady dogs for Linda Baldock. This was hugely good fun, and we had a cohort of lovely handlers and for the most part, from my perspective, it went smoothly. It’s sad that people baulk about volunteering. I always enjoy my stewarding and I work on the assumption that I am very unlikely to kill anyone or, worse still, their dog. If I make a mistake, I make it a policy to be quick to own up and apologise. Today I managed to get completely tongue tied in calling one turn for one handler finally spitting it just about in time, and there were two more minor blips all duly reported to the judge and deemed sufficiently immaterial to change anything in respect of the scores. If you judge, steward, scribe, or scoreboard you are giving up your time, you are only human, and shows cannot happen without volunteers. I work Novice and A, I’ve learned a lot as a steward and would commend anyone to be brave and have a go!

In general shows look after their volunteers, but Ditton really pushed the boat out for us today. A sit-down English breakfast to set us up for the day, a goody bag for the judging tent, roast chicken and all the trimmings followed by a dessert at lunch, and tea and cake for after judging. I need hardly eat for the next week! Plus, Ashford Rugby Club seems to have a cohort of good and cheerful cooks and helpers who deliver man sized portions with a smile! There were speeches at lunch to mark Ditton’s 50th anniversary, Barry Fitter’s retirement as a Ticket judge, and Linda Baldock’s first appearance as the same. All in all, it was quite a celebration, topped off in the afternoon by a fly past from the Red Arrows. Very fitting I thought.

As mentioned, this was Linda Baldock’s first ticket judging appointment and I must highlight the work that went in. The round was designed well in advance, laminated, and given to me to learn. On Saturday, armed with a can of white spray paint operated by Linda’s long-suffering husband, Nigel, we walked and walked and walked the round marking the ground for reference as we went. Maddie, our scribe, her equally long-suffering husband, Dave, and Nigel “worked” it so I could see the turns in action, and then Maddie’s dog was pressed into service, at the end of a long hot day, to work the round so we could get approximate timings. It really was an operation of military proportions. Finally, just to reinforce the thought and effort, the send-away markers flanked by angels were made by Nigel. The back markers represented Linda’s past working dogs – Jedi, Jessie, and Jay Jay now, sadly, over the Rainbow Bridge, and the front markers each represented a pet dog now, also, sadly no more. How poignant is that in terms of a story attaching to the ring? I was very impressed.

So, all in all, a really lovely, enjoyable weekend. Thank you, Ditton, for all the hard work. Here’s to the next 50 years!

Katrina Arnold

Monday 24 October 2022 

Advert

 The Kennel Club is staging a series of special lunches to celebrate either particular breeds or activities. 

Here is an opportunity for up to 45 ‘Obedience enthusiasts’ to meet and enjoy lunch in like-minded company. This is an ideal opportunity to see the Kennel Club London premises and meet key staff and members working to support the discipline. 

The timetable for the day is; 

10.30 Suggested arrival 

11.00 Meet the Clarges Street Teams 

11.30 Tour of Art Gallery 

11.45 Tour of Library and Obedience updates 

12.30 Bar for pre-lunch bubbles 

1.00 Lunch 

2.30 Coffee in the Bar Lounge 

3.00 Opportunity to re-visit Art Gallery/Library to research 

4.00 Departure 

The Cost for the day is £45.50 per person, payable on booking to secure your place. 

Dress Code: Guests are expected to dress appropriately when visiting the Club’s dining room, bar and lounge areas. 

The requirement for gentlemen is a suit or jacket, trousers and tie; while a similar standard of dress is expected 

of the ladies (smart trouser suits are acceptable). 

Jeans, leggings. fleeces and trainers are not acceptable. 

Unfortunately, numbers are limited to 45 guests and places can be booked for this occasion with 

Pat.ford@thekennelclub.org.uk or by phoning her directly on 0207 518 6894 

Bank transfer details are; Kennel Club A/C no. 80771643 

Sort code 20-95-87 

Ref. Obedience Lunch 

Please let Pat know by email if you are paying by bank transfer 

Phew, a heatwave leading up to the show but thankfully a lot cooler on the day. Thank you firstly to the Rugby Club for kindly allowing us to again use this beautiful venue, right opposite the beach which as usual, our campers made the most of.

Our grateful thanks to all who helped us put the rings up, there was quite a crowd which made short work of the job in hand. Thank you all so much. Thank you to our judges and stewards for giving their day up to cast their expert eyes over the competitors and their dogs, thank you to Paul Middleton for sailing the ship smoothly.

Congratulations to all of our winners, and to our ticket girl winner Kathy Russell and our ticket dog winner Julie Rowlands, all the best for Crufts 2023.

Personally, I would like to thank Jackie Muir and her friends for selflessly giving up her day to raise £1000 for the British Heart Foundation, such an amazing achievement.

And this is where I let you all know that I’m now stepping down as Show Secretary, after about 40 years in the job – apart from a short break in the middle – I’m now finding the responsibility increasingly difficult, especially after the year I’ve had, I find I now don’t have the same commitment which is paramount to running a successful show. I’ve invited Jackie Muir to take over, which thankfully she accepted. She will still of course, have my full support and that of the rest of the team, but I’m sure she’ll be involving her own club members too, so as you can imagine, I’ve left it in very safe hands.

Thank you to Wendy, Anne, Richard and Karen. You’ve been amazing and I’m sure you will continue in the same vein.

See you round the shows. x

Karen Davies

NWKent Champ & Open Shows

Another show weekend done and dusted, we run on a weather cycle of one year searing heat and the next rain or the constant threat of downpours – we got heat this year and hotter than all the apps said it would be but we all survived and I think the club quite enjoyed the early finish on Sunday.

I have to thank all the judging teams for enduring the conditions without complaint. This proved so difficult with change of judges over both days, some never made it to the published schedule which gave me a frantic few days early in the year so my thanks to all those who accepted my plea right up to 2 days before when Covid struck yet again, too many to mention! But we appreciate so much that this did not impact on the quality of judges, something we pride ourselves on, one little bit. I must give special thanks to Paul Cook for stepping in to judge the Dog CC when Richard Kebble had to drop out- we had a special judges present especially for Richard but Paul accepted it with good grace, he then stewarded for Victoria Cook the next day, both gave up their entire weekend for us, much success to you two, you deserve it.

I am very proud of our own members who are a well oiled machine, know what needs to be done and just get on with it, this makes such a difference to running the weekend and there were many rosettes gained too – so you can help at a show, work and win, we had 3 class winners!

Thanks go to Teresa Paterson for her invaluable help, there is not much that she does not know. Sandra Cobbold – CS and our rock, her calm approach to any issue is hugely valued by us all.

This year we took on Obreedience, a disappointing entry but I gather that those that attended had a good experience.

One issue that was a cause for concern was the handler who left her dogs in her car without enough ventilation, cover and even water, 2 dogs in small boot area and 1 on the front seat. We opened the doors to let air in, when the handler appeared she did not seem at all concerned – Sandra Cobbold had some words. Dogs deserve better owners.

We had a large selection of judges gifts so we decided to play Dingo Doggy Bingo – choose a card and match a present – this caused a fair bit of amusement so I think we will do this again, everyone went home happy.

We are back next year 22 & 23 July, hope that we see you all there.

Eileen Restell

Coventry Champ Show – 09th July – Secretary Report

I always feel like I am making an Oscar acceptance speech when writing these reports but we really couldnt do it without the help received so here goes…

This year, having not held a show since 2019, I really felt that we had forgotten that elusive something but everything went off brilliantly.

I am so grateful we have the venue we do, we are so lucky and so are the judges with the fabulous lunch the club steward George and his wife Mary puts on for us.

Again it was a hot one, which seems to be the norm for us. Thank you so much to all the helpers who helped moved all the equipment, set up and put away. We lost Les Perry, Pat Perry and Roy Clarke to Covid, I hope you are better soon and poor Jaqui Spurgeon to a badly sprained ankle, rest up Jaqui x

Thank you to our judges and stewards who worked their socks off, you are all fab. Happy Retirement to Roger Gunby who has judged every year for us and is now having a well earned rest.

Special thanks to Annegret Tack-Benton, Lyn May and Jane Barstow who stepped in to helps us out at the last minute.

Thanks to Lisa Fellows our superstar first aider, whose skills, thankfully, were not required this year.

Thanking you kindly to Jan Morse for manning our training ring and for giving me a good work out

Thanks to all the committee members that dug in and helped make the day a success and thanks to Petneeds and Bev Hotson for having a stall with us.

Mega

congratulations to our Ticket winners Pauline Hill and Rachel Millington, good luck on the green carpet!

Thank you to our competitors for entering our lovely little show x

I am so sorry if I have missed anyone out !

See you all next year – Kelly and Jean x

Oh my word. What a show that was. So many things went wrong but as always it comes right at the end – except that it didn’t for one class. But that has all been rectified now. All rosettes and the trophy sent off. Apologies all round. It was a shame that it happened, for the first time ever, on the very last show being held at Chieveley. But we are okay now.

Talking of rosettes. You all know the problem I had with Rosettes Direct wanting 8 weeks notice!!, so I found this Summerfieldrosettes21 off Amazon/EBay who verbally guaranteed their arrival by 27th May but which actually arrived on 6th June, BUT they hadn’t put the NDDTS on the tails although I had paid for them to do just that.. I was disappointed but at least we had rosettes. Hooray.

Before that happened I was forwarding all the entries sent to me on to the printer but one envelope with 13 entries in it got lost. Luckily I kept a record of everyone’s, name, cheque, classes etc so was able to contact every ‘lost’ person and add them, belatedly, to their respective classes. Becky is an exceptional and helpful Printer thank goodness.

We had several judge changes. Poor Bill didn’t know what he was judging, he was changed so much but whatever I threw at him he was his usual wonderful self and simply said OK. To all the other changed judges I thank you so much for your patience and to the non-changed ones – you know I thank you very much just for being you. I hope Carol Bath has fully recovered from her illness and able to enjoy working with her treasured dogs again.

Saturday dawned fine, bright and sunny and the original team of Carol, Angie Ruth and I arrived and had fun marking out the rings, so carefully and successfully planned by the intrepid Angie. That is such a fun day and is one of my own highlights. The rest of the ‘crew’ arrived later and set to work putting up the rings etc etc. It was lovely to see so many busy people working together, happily. They all worked their socks off and were ready to receive the four caravans when they arrived – later.

Sunday was again sunny and bright. We were there by 7am to find Kate and Jane already up and at it. I am incarcerated in the hall today, sorting out the 9 bags and boxes of kit and papers, needed to finish the show preparation. The burger van was up and ready for business very early and the smell, even inside the hall, was amazing and mouth watering. They also excelled with the afternoon teas. People were so happy to have a delicious snack to devour before their journey home. I hope Sarah’s Grills made their quotas.

We were graced with the presence of HRH The Queen, and her Corgi, Kate and William and to keep them company the wonderful Cliffy. Lots of photos were taken with them.

We had several items for our excellent Chief Steward. David Moxon, to solve. What an excellent job he did, with no fuss, a real treasure. I just had to mention a problem and there he was, solving it. Amazing. Thank you David.

Lunch was again a triumph with Beef Bourguignon and Chestnut and Mushroom stroganoff on the menu and Key Lime pie and Chocolate Strawberries for pudding. Wow. What more could anyone ask for.

I don’t know if you saw the birthing of St John’s Ambulance people. I booked two, and they turned up, very early, followed by another one and then – a fourth man. Thank goodness we didn’t need them but they were there ready and waiting. Great stuff.

During the day we were given many possibilities to explore for future venues to hold next year’s show – several were provided by the StJA volunteers and if anyone knows what there is about and if it would be suitable for a dog show it would be them, as they patrol this type of event all the time. So there is hope for next year. ~We shall just have to wait and see.

Then THE problem raised its ugly head. I have no idea how it happened but it did and I am so sorry. But as soon as I got home the following Monday I set about sending the Trophy and rosettes off post-haste to their rightful owners. Well done to you all and Congrats to Dee. I also had 6 Specials to send off but only two were sent as I only had two numbers to send them to. No clue on the results sheets or the actual rosettes. And for my delight I had five little plastic boxes of smelly dog treats (now gone). Also I had two dumbells left – one had a full address and I have contacted that entrant – the other just had KILO on. Anyone know who this could be?

Then came the worse part of the Show – Clearing up and cleaning out. Its such a sad occasion and everyone tries to help and get themselves home as fast as possible. My bags and boxes get mixed and muddled and, as most Show Secretaries know, things get so messed up it takes several days to sort it out.

Well that about it. Fingers crossed for next year. But thank you all for coming and giving us such a brilliant day with brilliant people and in brilliant weather.

God Bless Doreen – Show Sec

The first show since covid it was great to be back at the beautiful venue of Rozelle Park. We really are so lucky to have such a fabulous venue with so many great walks. The ground in both the main field and camping field is just perfect and held up to the heavy rain on Thursday night and all day Friday.

The weather was kind to us on Saturday and Sunday just a bit windy.

Thanks to Bobby for sorting out the camping spots and his helpers Craig and Adam me and Denise decided to leave them to it best not involved in that department. Great job done as usual everyone had plenty of space.

Massive thanks to Denise and Bobby who are there when I need them them not just on the show but the run up too. There was a great band of helpers and I can’t thank Adam, Hazel. Dave who helped endlessly during the weekend the help was very much appreciated.

Thank you to Kirsten and Adam on car parking also thanks to my bag ladies and to everyone who popped in looking for jobs to help with.

Thank you to Gillian and John from Prestwick club also coming along to the show offering helping hands.

This was the first show since loosing my Mum and I decided to have slates made to be gifted to each winner it started off with just the Pre-beginners and beginners because they were the classes my Mum most enjoyed to judge but I then decided to get them for all winners. Linda Portch I can’t thank you enough for making these for me they were absolutely beautiful all that I wanted and more just perfect.

Thanks to my brother David for donating one of his gas showers which was won by Helen Murray great prize to win.

Thanks also to everyone who donated raffles.Massive thanks to all judges. stewards, scribes for giving up your day and thanks to the decoys a couple of people did it for the first time and enjoyed being involved.

Lastly thank you to Prestwick D.T.C for entrusting the show in my hands and just letting me get on with the job.

Well done Karen Aarons winning Bitch CC and making your girl up to a champion (subject to KC approval) well done Emma and Ghost winning the Dog CC was lovely to see him winning a ticket in his homeland and getting one of my Mums slate trophies.

Well done to everyone who won and got placed over the weekend. See you all next year.

Karen Otto
Show Secretary

Loughborough Shows.

A big thank you to all our judges and stewards who gave their day up so you could work your dogs, without people like them there would be no shows for any of us.

Thank you to everyone who helped in some way shape or form, Tony, Delia, Jill Jacki, Cheryl, Diane, Sam and Denise not forgetting Sam’s partner and Cheryl’s hubby and son who helped taking everything down after the show.

Thank you to Lyn and Mick Tozer who helped setting up, Anthony Snook first aider for the weekend, Julie and Neill doing the car parking both days and help with scent decoy etc.

Thank you to Bev on the scoreboards both days and a big thank you to Janet Beverley for all the help she gaves us both days, it was most welcome.

Don’t think I have forgotten anyone but if I have thank you as well.

The show went very well both days Saturday morning we had a cool breeze but it did warm up later in the day but one consolation at least it was dry all weekend.

Thank you to all competitors for clearing up, after walking the bottom field no rubbish at all was left or any dog waste either so thank you.

We didn’t have such a big turn out this year for the quiz but I think those that went enjoyed it, you donated very generously towards Lou Jackson’s charity which ended up with just over £400 I am sure the rescue place will be pleased with the money.

If anyone would like to judge for us next year please contact me and those that did this year I hope you enjoyed the bottle of wine.

Nearly forgot the surprise get together Sheilagh Hyde organised for Bill Pykett’s birthday on the eigth of June who will be 80 and still judging, well done Bill and I hope you enjoy your special day. I had to jiggle his lunch time to fit it in but it all worked out in the end, I think Bill was lost for words for once he was quite surprised.

Thank you all once again now to start on next years show.

Ruth Lewis

CHESVALE DOG TRAINING CLUB
OPEN SHOW SUNDAY 1st MAY 2022

After having missed two May shows due to covid it was a surprise we could remember all we had to do! However, the Chesvale Team worked like a well-oiled, if not slightly creakier, machine.

We were extremely lucky to have YuMove sponsor our show again this year. They were extremely generous in not only sponsoring the rosettes, prize cards and trophies for this show but also for our August show. They also provided the most fantastic gifts of their products for the 1st, 2nd,and 3rd placings in every class. Everyone arriving at the show was also given a ‘Chesvale 30’ discount voucher code to get 30% off their orders. This discount is ongoing to use whenever required. We cannot thank them enough for their support and I am sure the recipients were impressed with their generosity.

From arriving on Saturday afternoon, armed with grass blowers and mowers to ensure all the rings were clear of any lose grass clippings, setting up the rings and turning up early on Sunday morning to assist with ‘tent erection’ and generally working like little beavers all day to make such a wonderful day for everyone. Not only our members but also husbands mucked in with whatever needed doing. The ladies in the kitchen, Gail, Pauline, Lynne and Stephanie, yet again supplied a fantastic spread for the judges and helpers at lunchtime and the second team, Jo and Sally, came in to serve the afternoon teas and lovely homemade cakes.

The judges were again brilliant this year with all but one of them suppling their own ring steward so only had to find a couple of people who could do sums and colouring in for the scoreboards. I can’t tell you how much help it is not to have to find loads of ring stewards!

With no stay ring to accommodate we altered our layout this year which allowed for a much larger car parking area and leaving plenty of room for the dogs to have a run around.

The two training rings were manned by Donna Bastin and Sue Monk with Chrissie Skelly and Hazell Williamson running the list of people waiting to have a go. They worked so hard all-day helping people practice and raised £140.00 which will be donated to The Red Cross Ukraine Appeal. I know everyone appreciates the opportunity to train in a show environment under two experienced handlers, so many thanks go to the team for their time and support.

The tombola was run by the Mc Shane family! The tombola made a fantastic £110.00 and this will also go to the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal

I can’t thank all our members individually in this post as there were over 30 of them! However, I must mention Clare Williams, our Show Secretary, without whom the show could not operate. The rest of our members know how grateful I am for their help and support.

Finally, to all the competitors who attended – we hope you had an enjoyable day and thank you for all the lovely comments and expressions of thanks for putting on a show. A little thanks goes a long way.

Our next show is on Sunday 28th August, pre-beginner, beginner and novice only, so look out for the schedule which will be available shortly. Also put next year’s May show date in your diary, Sunday 7th May 2023.

CAROL SPENCER
Show Manager

Apart from the weather

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped Rugby Champ show on the 1st May go ahead & run smoothly.Roy & Shelagh Page,Kath Hood & Peter Height. For measuring the rings out with us.

Kathy helping before & at the show with anything she could & Peter for stewarding C & taking over the camping.

Brian Luckock for stepping into Daves shoes as Chief Steward.Sheilagh Hyde for offers of help & arranging the Frying Squad competitors catering.

Sharon & Lorraine from Ashlawn Rugby Club for providing the judges Yummy lunches.

Paul & Richard for judges & member’s breakfasts & judges drinks & thank you’s lunchtime.

Sheila Huntley for her waitressing through the lunchtimes

Teresa Paterson for her fab work on our show printing.

Judges & Stewards for giving their day up for us.

& finally all our club members & their family who worked their socks off setting the show up on the Saturday & making sure all went smoothly on Sunday until the very end.

Congratulations to our Ticket winners & making their dogs into Champions Jenny Gould & TaoPhil Barnes & Scarlett

My apologies if I have missed anyone at this trying time.

Mary Ray
show sec xx