Horsham Newfs

Beale Park Newfoundland Club Spectacular 2006

Friday 16th June dawned bright and sunny - with the car packed and dogs loaded we left for Beale Park after school, expecting to arrive by 5.30 pm allowing plenty of time to set up and relax on the Friday evening before the weekend events started on the Saturday morning. The journey however took 3½ hours and was horrendous, being so hot and slow - the squirty water bottle came in handy to spray the dogs down in the back of the car to try to keep them cool, also quite useful for the children! On arrival we found the Horsham Newf gang already set up and having their pre-dinner drinks! Wendy and Panda arrived shortly after us - having also been caught up in the traffic.

There was a full itinerary of events for the two day spectacular:

50 metre boat tow
Puppy swim
Veteran Swim
A tests for junior handlers
Have a go carting
Beginners Carting
Good Citizen Awards
Obstacle Course
Ring Craft
Parade for veterans and rescue dogs
Welfare raffle, Stalls and Memorabilia.

We woke bright and early on the Saturday to another blisteringly hot day and words over the tannoy of
‘ Good Morning Campers’.

The Horsham Newf group was involved with the 50 meter boat tow, safety boat in general and the swimming display. Sue, Robin, Mark, Keith, Kev and Nick worked tirelessly over the two day period to ensure everyone wanting to do a boat tow had an opportunity of doing so.

Various awards can be handed out as ‘firsts’ obtained by members of the group over the weekend, my nominations are: Debbie for falling into the boat, rather than out; Mark for running out of petrol (in the boat); Jackie being very good natured about Jeff’s initiation ceremony - it was a hot day and nappies didn’t seem necessary; Ben for surviving the weekend without getting hurt; Robin for being a superhero (as always on hand with his Paramedics bag). And then of course the usual hiccups of lost glasses, sunburn, hitting heads etc. (you know who you are).

Achievements of the canine variety:

Bronze citizenship: Aoife and Merlin
Silver Citizenship: Panda and Aoife
Have a go carting: Monty, Aoife and Orla had a go!
Beginners carting: Bronte
Obstacle course: Orla, Bronte, Alfie, Panda and non newfs Niblet and Jenson
A test: Emily did the A test for fun with Panda and Bronte (both of whom would have failed had it been a real test) and then worked Ebony and Monty for Sue and Robin - and PASSED! (on a personal note thanks to S & R for letting Ems have this opportunity - she was so chuffed).
Special Swim: Hugo (who is blind) successfully did the boat tow and rescue stranger!
Parade: Panda entered the rescue dogs parade and Kayos, Dexter and Robbie were all in the veteran parade.
Display: We were first to do the display on Saturday and had a great audience who clapped and cheered - the display was excellent and much appreciated by all. On Sunday we were second to do the display and were flattered to see the ‘SEWN’ group had taken a lot of our display and incorporated it into their teams efforts - still both displays went well apart from Panda’s over enthusiasm with the hand rescue!

Saturday night seemed to be fairly quiet - it had been a long hot day - until some members of the group were ‘coerced’ to join Mad Mick for his 50th birthday celebrations - I didn’t go so what happened is only hearsay, however when I last saw Mick at Ragley Hall he still had a nasty shavers rash!

Sunday was busy finishing everything we wanted to do and then packing up as we had to go home on the Sunday evening, the others stayed on until Monday. All the children received certificates for the events they had entered (Emily got a special mention for swimming so many dogs).

I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and felt it was well organised and attended. Beale Park was an excellent venue and it was lovely to be able to walk the dogs in the early morning and evening and allow them to have a paddle to cool down - although I did have a panic on Sunday morning while walking the dogs early through the long grass wearing flip-flops and Emily pointed out it would be a good time for snakes to be out - you’ve never seen me run so fast back to the path!

Lots of people came to the event to enquire about joining the group and to see what we do. Beale Park itself looked great with all the caravans, tents, awnings, windbreaks and flags in so many different colours. Everyone was good natured and encouraging of each dog’s achievements and of course the weather made everything so much better.

Sadly this was Panda’s last camping trip and she will be missed by everyone, especially during the evenings when she would come and show off her new tricks, pull Wendy off her chair and show off her grinny-grinny .

Jo, Emily and Jack McKay

2006 News