Chairmans Reports
Chairmans Report for the Open Show April 2023
The Club once again held its Spring Open show alongside South Western Gundog Club at Matford Livestock Centre Exeter. Held on Saturday the 15th April our Judge Fiona Walker travelled from Scotland, she drew a good entry on the day. It has always worked having 2 shows on the same day at this venue, both clubs have the benefit of drawing a good entry and it certainly was a good entry this year. Blessed with lovely weather we were able to hold the show outside, the sun stayed out most of the day and there was a good atmosphere. Our BIS winner was Linda Cole’s Rooksbury Phantasia JW. Congratulations to Linda and her lovely Bitch. Well done.
There are lots of photos of all our winners and the full results and placings are on the club’s web site.
My thanks go to Fiona Walker for judging and to our committee for all their help on the day.
Thank you to South Western Gundog for allowing us to join them.
Thank you too all the exhibitors for supporting our show and we look forward to seeing you all in the summer, at our Open Show held at Paignton Ch. Show in August.
Glennis Hewitson (Chairman)
Chairmans Report for the Championship Show March 2023
Our Championship show was held on the 19th March 2023, at Hutton Moor Leisure Centre, Weston-Super-mare. The club is celebrating its 50th Anniversary as a registered reginal club this year. We wanted to celebrate the anniversary by making the show special this year. We were grateful to our two Swedish Judges for accepting the appointments, both judges have many years of experience in the breed and drew a lovely entry. Sjoerd Jobse judged the Dogs and Henric Fryckstrand judged the Bitches, both had lovely quality entries. All our 1st prize winners were given soft toys and food vouchers, all our classes were kindly sponsored by members of the club.
We gave a free gift to all our exhibitors a lovely key ring with the club’s logo. We also had a large number of cup cakes to give out also with the club’s logo on, they were rather delicious and very popular. (Thank you to my daughter for making them). We had several stalls who also supported the show selling lovely treats and gifts. There was a lovely friendly atmosphere and plenty of applause for the winners.
Our two judges thoroughly enjoyed their day and thought the classes were of a high quality, placing some lovely dogs. All the results of the winners and some super photos can be found on the website. Thank you to Anthony Maidment & Denise Stanton for the lovely photos. Best in Show went to Mr. & Mrs. Kipps Sh. Ch. Cadwst Flash Flame To Wheatcroft. Huge congratulations to them on a super day.
Thank you to our Judges and exhibitors for making the day so successful, our thanks for your support and a big thank you to the committee for all your hard work.
Glennis Hewitson (Chairman)
Chairmans Report for 2022
Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the Committee, it is my duty to present to you my Annual Report.
Finally, 2022 saw the world get back to some kind of normality, with the Pandemic seeming to be a thing of the past social gatherings and events were back in full swing.
Our Championship Show was held back in Weston-Super- Mare in March where we have always held the show for many years, it just felt right, everyone knows the venue and we had a lovely entry, our judges where Pat Taylor, judging Dogs and Marilyne Lade Judging the Bitches. All the results are on the Website.
Our two Open shows went ahead as normal, the Spring show was held at Matford in Exeter alongside SW Gundog Club, once again the weather was great and were able to hold the show outside, our judge was Scott Williamson we had a good entry. The summer Open show was held for the 1st time alongside Paignton Championship show in August. We were able to have a ring partly undercover next to the Champ show ring which worked perfectly. Exhibitors could watch both rings with no problem blessed with super weather the show went well. Our judge was Petra Wred from Sweden who drew a super entry
I hope everyone who entered enjoyed their day. Again, all the results and super photos are on the website.
As a club we aim to hold events for all our members and once again the Filed Trial and Working activities had a full program of events throughout the year. Stuart Robson and Marion Hanman organized the Trials and Working Test which I am pleased to say went well and had plenty of support. You will find a full report of all these events on the website. I would like to take the opportunity to thank both Stuart and Marion for all their hard work planning these events.
We were able to hold seminars again and in October we held a Trimming and Handling Day, finishing with a Match, aimed at new commers to the breed, it was a very popular event, we had a great deal of interest and support. These days are always very popular and there is always something we can learn from them. Thank you to all who helped on the day, there are lots of photos on the Web site.
Following on from this event we also held a Breed Appreciation Day as a joint event with the GRC of Wales. The KC requests that each club holds one of these events every 2 years. We did find it difficult to get support for this event, so it was best to hold it with another club to save on costs. Penny Gowland was our speaker on the day, she gave a very in depth talk on the breed, this was followed by a discussion session and a question paper to answer, pleased to say all our candidates passed on the day. We also held two on-line seminars organized by Su and Meaylee which proved very popular, we had to turn some people down from taking part, this is possibly the way forward with the raising costs of hall hire and travelling costs. Thank you both Su & Meaylee for their hard work on this event.
Our Rescue service continues to be busy and sadly we had to say goodbye to Sarah Hughes who decided to step down as our main coordinator. Sarah worked very hard sorting the rescue service out and we thank her for all her dedication and time. Penny & Henry Dingle stepped up and offered their help to take over the position, working alongside Terry & Jane Mace with help from other members of the committee and club this seems to be working well. Since last summer Penny has rehomed many young dogs which seems to be the trend since the Pandemic. Most dogs do have some issues so time & patience to get them settled into their new homes is most important.
Our thanks go Penny and all the helpers who give up their time to check out the new homes and assess the dogs before rehoming it’s not the easiest job to do and can be quite stressful.
Financially we are very much in difficult times, with the ever-rising costs of venues and other expenses but I feel the club is very stable and our Treasurer Jenny Clarke does a very good job of keeping an eye on the figures. Our aim is always to try and cover our costs for all events but sometimes this is not always possible. Our membership stays steady with many working members joining the club. Thank you to Jenny for all your hard work.
I would like to send our thoughts and condolences to all the families of members and past members who have lost loved ones over the past year.
I would like to mention Su Porter our club Secretary, she works very hard behind the scenes with all the club’s administration, dealing with the shows, licenses, all the everyday things that need to be covered. Thank you for your support.
Finally, my thanks go to all the other committee members who help throughout the year, the club would not function without you. Last but not least the members who continue to support our Shows, Trials, Tests and seminars, again without your support the club would be the same.
Ladies & Gentlemen, Members of the Committee please accept this as my Annual Report.
Glennis Hewitson (Chairman) May 2023.
October 2022 Events
GROOMING AND TRIMMING EVENT/ BREED APPRECIATION DAY OCT 2022.
In October we held two events, firstly our Grooming and Trimming day held at Oake village hall on the 2nd October. Chris Briggs very kindly offered his time to give a very in-depth demonstration on the best way to bath and groom your dog for the show ring giving many handy tips. Following on from this Meaylee Lewis showed everyone the best way to handle and present your dog in the show ring giving everyone help and one-to-one help. After a lovely lunch we moved onto the Match, judged by Maike Masters which was great fun and enjoyed by all.
I hope everyone enjoyed the day. It was a really good attendance hopefully we can do the same again next year.
Our 2nd event held on Saturday 15th October was a Breed Appreciation Day. We are asked by the KC to hold such events every 2 years. We combined our day with the GRC of Wales, with the 2 clubs working together it helps keep costs down. Attendance was not great which we expected, 10 candidates were singed to take part but only 5 arrived on the day. Our speaker was Penny Gowland who kindly gave up her time to come down and run the day. Penny gave a very good talk about the breed with plenty of time for questions and answers followed by a hands-on demo and mentoring.
The candidates all passed the multiple-choice questions, this gives them the ability to move up the judging lists for the future. The committee of the GRC of Wales supplied us all with a good lunch.
These events are expensive to run and hard work to organize so it is nice to see some support from our members.
Thank you to the committee members who helped on the day.
Glennis Hewitson (Chairman)
Chairmans Report for 2021
Ladies & Gentlemen, members of the club and committee, as Chairman it my duty to make a report of the club’s activities and present it to you as my Annual report.
2021 like 2020 proved a difficult year for many reasons, we started the year still in a Pandemic and it was hard to know quite when it was all going to end, restrictions for running events were still in place which meant we were unable to book venues to hold events. Eventually in the Spring, things began to improve and outside events started to take place. We took the decision to hold our Championship show in the summer alongside Paignton Champ show in August. It was perhaps the only way we could hold a show at the time. Unfortunately for us the weather proved difficult but we did manage to hold the show and it went well eventually. Details of all the winners and photos can be seen on our web-site. We were also able to hold our Open show in October but again we were hit with problems when our Judge was taken ill so we had to quickly find a replacement for her. Lara Williams stood in at the last minute, the show was well supported, there was a lovely friendly atmosphere and with hot pasties for all supplied by Sally Main it was a lovely day. All the results and photos can be seen on the web-site.
Rescue has continued to be quite busy Sarah Hughes along with help from Jane & Terry Mace have had several young dogs to re-home, again we are seeing the after effects of the Pandemic, families purchasing puppies they can no longer keep, we did think this would be the case. It is always a difficult job and along with help from the committee we do our best for all these lovely dogs. We have a new helper with rescue Penny Dingle who had joined us with the hope she will take over from Sarah next year. Thank you to all who have helped find homes for the dogs we have taken on.
We have been joined by Marion Hanman who is now our Working Secretary. Marion has taken on the role with keen interest. The Working test held in July was a great success with plenty of support for the event. Stuart Robson was also able to hold his Field Trial events towards the end of the year.
Thank you to both Marion & Stuart for all your hard wok organising these activities, as a dual-purpose club it is Important to continue with these events.
As the year came to an end we were finally able to move forward to booking events again and get back on track with some normality. It has been a very tough time for many families and I would like to offer our thoughts and condolences to the members of our club who have sadly lost loved ones over the past year.
Finally l would like to mention Su Porter who has been brilliant in taking over the Secretary’s position, it certainly has not been easy for her and my thanks go to her for all her hard work and support. Thank you again to all the committee members without whom the club could not function and to the members supporting our events through the year. Let’s hope that 2022 will be better for everyone.
Ladies & Gentlemen, members of the club I would ask you to accept this as my annual report.
Glennis Hewitson (Chairman)
Chairmans Report for 2021 Championship Show
Show report for 2021 Championship Show August 7 TH 2021
The last 18 months has been very difficult for everyone, living through a Pandemic has been so stressful and hard for most of us. We are now beginning to get back some kind of normality and one of the things we love is our ability to be able to show our dogs again.
Our main Championship show normally held in March was unable to go ahead so the committee approached Paignton Champ show who agreed to accommodate us in the summer. It was decided to hold our show alongside Paignton at West Point.
Unfortunately on the day the weather took a turn for the worst and as our rings were outside the rain was not going to let up. We had to delay judging, thankfully our judges were very understanding. We were finally able to get the show going having had to set up the rings first.
We had a reasonable entry of Dogs and Bitches and once judging was underway all went well. It was difficult running a show in this way and we hope to go back to Hutton Moor next March fingers crossed.
Thank you to our judges Mrs Lyn Anderson and Linda Harvey-Major for their patience and understanding.
All the results and super photos are available on our Web-site for all to see.
Thank you for supporting our show and we hope to see you all next year in March.
Glennis Hewitson (Chairman)
Chairmans report for 2020
Ladies & Gentlemen, members of the club & committee as Chairman of the club it is my duty to present to you my Annual report.
2020 has proved to be a year we will all remember but not necessary for the right reasons. At the start of the year we all knew about the Coronavirus that was spreading in Asia and we thought perhaps it was not going to hit the UK but how wrong we all were. By March it was looking quite likely we were heading into a Pandemic and that is exactly what was about to happen.
It became a difficult for all clubs running any activities, Crufts went ahead and as we were to hold our Championship show in March also, it soon became a nightmare to organise. Sadly our long standing secretary Fiona Scholes resigned under difficult circumstances in February which meant we had to find a new secretary as soon as possible, very kindly Su Porter offered her services to take on the job. l am sure the committee and myself will be forever thankful she took up the job.
So with much to sort out the Championship show did finally go ahead with change of Judges and referees we did run the show, there were quite a few absentees much to be expected as within a few days the whole country went into Lockdown and that was the end of any events planned for the rest of the year. You can see photos and reports of the winners on the web-site.
Behind the scenes as always, the committee carried on with the running of club, re-arranging events only for them to be cancelled. Su Porter kindly agreed to accept the position of Secretary on a permanent basis, it hasn’t been the easiest task to take on but gradually things are coming together now.
Our Rescue officer Sarah Hughes, along with Jane & Terry Mace and the help of many of the committee and members of the club continued helping re-home many dogs over the past year. It again has been difficult during these times to help all the dogs but we do try our best. Sarah has made her report. We have seen recently of puppies purchased in the lockdown now looking to be re-homed something we all thought would unfortunately happen. Thank you to all who have help make sure these dogs have new and loving homes.
Stuart Robson our Working & Field Trial Secretary was lucky to be able to hold some events in the later part of the year, I do believe we were possibly the only club to do this. His report will give more details. Thank you to Stuart for your support.
It has been a difficult year for many people, so looking forward we hope to that we will be able to meet up with our Golden Friends, attend shows and other events. Our dogs have brought us the much-needed company we all needed in such strange times.
As always, I must offer our thoughts and condolences to the families of members of our club who have sadly lost loved ones during the past year.
Finally, I would like to thank our committee for the time they give the club and to the members for all your continued support without all of you the club would not function.
I do hope 2021 will be a better year for everyone and we can get back to leading a near normal life.
Ladies & gentlemen l would ask you to accept this as my annual report.
Glennis Hewitson (Chairman)