A MESSAGE FROM SANDIE

A huge thank you to everyone who made the 2010 Reunion a fantastic event yet again.

Terry and Belinda did a sterling job at organsing and making the whole thing happen and the new format proved to be a great success. Thanks to you both for your enormous effort. They were of course helped by Pauline and Lynne whose other halves, Steve and Ian, again deserve a special mention for all their hard work setting up the rings, tents etc., and generally getting the field ready beforehand and clearing up afterwards. Thanks to Di for taking the photos on the day and maintaining our website. Thankfully, the weather was with us yet again. Shannon was obviously looking down on us.

There were far too many helpers on the day for me to remember I'm afraid and I'm bound to miss someone out if I try. Thanks to you all, you know who you are.

Thanks to our all our judges not least of all Tina and Nick. You all had very hard decisions to make indeed.

Jackie and Ron were missed this year – no excuses will be accepted next year, you MUST attend, it just wasn't the same without you.

This year has not been a good year for IRR, it's been tinged with sadness and ill health but despite that, never has a dog needing our help been neglected. This is mainly due to the fantastic team of fosterers, transporters and helpers we have and on that note I would like to say a special thanks Andy, Simon, Malcolm (Midlands) and Lynne ( Bristol) for getting up in the middle of the night to meet the transport. Sometimes they get a phone call at 2a.m. telling them that the venue or time has been changed, which is not funny, but they just get on with it.

Although they had nothing to do with the Reunion, I would like to thank a few people in Ireland who helped IRR dogs during my illness, Gill, Martina, Eila and Toni you are true gems and we all thank you so much for your help.

Thanks to everyone who dug deep into their pockets to help our forever foster dogs, especially Bonnie, Holly and Maximillian – without you their treatment would not have been possible.

A few fundraising events have taken place during the year, Rally in the Valley was organised by Jane White and Chrissie Heath is a wiz at car boot sales. Thank you both so much for the time and effort you put into these events.

Lorraine , Pauline and Jackie are the backbone of IRR and it wouldn't exist but for their effort and the time they dedicate to our cause. They always know we're in trouble when they get a phone call from me on their mobiles, but always come back in a short time with a solution. Thanks for everything you've done over the years, it just isn't going to be the same without you Pauline.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who gave one of our dogs a loving forever home.

I look forward to seeing you all again next year.

..............................................................................

REUNION 2010 REPORT (from PAULINE)

 Since our 2009 Reunion, it has not been the best time for Irish Retriever Rescue with both Sandie and Jan fighting serious illnesses and Lorraine having the agony of watching her Mum struggle with terminal illness before finally losing her battle days before our event.

 The job of organising the Reunion, together with a small band of loyal local helpers, normally falls to me but, in March 2010, I also succumbed to illness so it was Belinda, ably assisted by Terry, who took over the whole job from me. This was on top of helping relieve me of several other of my IRR jobs and as well as still continuing with their fostering, merchandising and Sponsor Dog organising jobs.

 Because of all these difficulties, we decided to postpone our annual Photographic Competition until the Autumn and to downsize the 2010 Reunion Show to make it more manageable.

 Without all the hard work put in by Terry and Belinda, our show simply would have been impossible to run this year so we all owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

 The Reunion was held on Saturday 18 September, once again at Bury View Farm & Camping Site, Corston Fields, Nr Bath BA2 9HD. As always Sallie & Jim Bowden welcomed us all warmly and made our stay on their campsite as pleasant as possible.

 We noticed that more people seemed to take the opportunity to camp or have B&B in the area his year which gave more time to properly catch up with old friends and meet in person people who have become friends through the wonders of the Internet.

 Once again, the weather was extremely kind to us, the sun shone brightly in the morning and it remained dry all day, if a bit windy in the afternoon. As always, it was wonderful to see so many happy, healthy dogs especially when we remembered how needy many had been when they first came into our care.

 This year I was hoping for a relaxed Reunion day, with plenty of time to chat, but, despite having a wonderful band of helpers keeping me going, there were still 101 jobs as usual, I went into totally focussed Sergeant Major mode. I can only say many apologies to anyone that I appeared to ignore or was unable to speak to on the day.

 REUNION THANKS

Alison Garforth and Sarah Cooke (www.waggytailsdtc.co.uk) of Waggy Tails Dog Training Club judged the Working Together classes together in the morning whilst Tina Flavell ( http://www.tinastails.co.uk/ ) ably assisted by her steward, Cindy Lockley, judged the afternoon Novelty classes. Once again, our local Holistic Vet, Nick Thompson (www.holisticvet.co.uk) came along to pick the winners of our top awards for us. Thankyou to all the judges for giving their valuable time.

 A huge "thankyou" to Dave Brown for being so brilliant as MC which meant working hard pretty much all day without a break. He brought a lot of humour and interest to the proceedings, which didn't go un-noticed, and he tried to make sure everyone thoroughly njoyed the show. Of course, Dave's job rather disintegrated at the very end of the day (but nobody could blame him for that) as his IRR rescue dog, Prince, handled by Wendy, stole the show by winning Best Golden Oldie and then going on to claim Best in Show. Dave was certainly one very proud Dad:))

There was a marvellous team helping me in the Prizes / Entries marquees this year and I really couldn't have got through the day without them.

Jane Macphail and her wonderful husband Simon (who had both travelled over from Guernsey a couple of days before) completely took over the organisation of the prizes, special awards and rosettes from me. They carefully and neatly laid everything out before the show started and, with great efficiency, handed out all said prizes, special awards and rosettes throughout the day. I simply can’t thank you both enough.

In her usual very efficient way, Chrissie Heath took on the job of taking class entries and then went on to help me work out who had won what and who was eligible for competition for the top awards etc whilst her husband, also Chris, acted as a runner all day for us.

Chrissie was assisted on the entries table by Nicky Herring, who despite feeling very poorly, came with her family all the way from Cheshire just for the day.

Anne and Trevor Tuck, apart from taking the Parade of Rescues entries, also helped with odd jobs as and when required throughout the day. 

Thank you all very much for all your help and for keeping me going. I really couldn't have got through the day without you all. You all worked so hard and definitely stopped me from turning into a gibbering wreck.

A very big thankyou to Di James for doing the photography throughout the day with help from Di Bowler and Nigel Lockley, who also makes a DVD for us which will be on sale shortly . Di also does a brilliant job as our website editor. This is an enormous job and can often be a thankless task so many, many thanks.

Apart from their other jobs, Nigel and Cindy also ran the Books and CDs stall for us again this year. They were relieved of their duties by Maggie and Andy Roberts and also Anne & Trevor Tuck so thankyou to every one of you.

Whilst Andy Bolton once again this year ran the Fun & Games for us, Sandra and Owen brought all their agility equipment and manned the Have a Go Agility for us all day. Sandra and Brian and Owen and Harley also demonstrated agility for us as did Alison Phipps with the amazing Stevie, who is blind.

Our other enjoyable Showtime entertainment this year was provided by Lola’s Travelling Troupe trained by Lynne Jones who clearly demonstrated how to have great fun whilst training our dogs.

Stevie and Lola are also Sponsor Dogs who help raise funds for IRR by putting paws to paper and writing newsletters and sending cards to their sponsors who they were happy to meet and greet on the day. Thankyou also to the other Sponsor Dogs and their generous owners who were able to come to the show and promote what they do for us. These were Digby and Tracey Reader-Hoer, Connie and Belinda McAvoy, Penny and Di James, Buddy and Sally Tooke nd my own Gizmo.

Apart from doing the demonstration, Lynne also ran her “Bears and Bottles” stall and “Guess the money in the jars” for us with help from her own little band of helpers whilst Ian acted as a chauffeur for us, both before and after the Reunion and was in charge of feeding the campers during the evening soiree.

Jane White took charge of Microchipping again and, with the help of Malcolm, Simon and Julie and Rozie, she successfully ran both a Tombola and a Lucky Dip stall so huge thanks to all of you.

Maggie and Ray Long ran the Big Raffle and Guess the Number of Sweets in the Jar with the help of Nigel & Belinda Dracup and, again, this was a huge success so thankyou all. Thanks also must go to Gwen Flynn and Christine Astor for running the White Elephant stall and to Anne Marie Wolohan for, once again, acting as Auctioneer for us in her inimitable way and assisted by Sandie.

Yet again, Pam Morris ran a Healing Tent and Sandra Dalmeijer, with the help of Christine Thomas, ran a CHC stall where they were happy to give advice about natural methods of treatment. Sincere thanks to you all.

Belinda and Terry McAvoy, in the absence of Jackie and Ron this year, ran the Sponsor Dog stall as well as their IRR Merchandise stall. They were ably assisted by their grandchildren, Joseph and Emma, and daughter, Isabella. Little Katie Millar took charge of Guess the Nameof the Elephant so it was a true family affair. Thankyou to you all.

We were also supported once again by Serenity, Gilly’s Gems and Mumsbies Bags who all had their products on sale at the show. Thankyou all very much for coming.

I musn't forget to say a big thankyou to my husband, Steve, and to his friend Mick for setting out the rings and putting up the marquees and gazebos etc. This year, the job was made a lot easier for him because of all the help given by Owen and Dave earlier in the week.

We think we have counted all the monies raised on the day which amount to:-

Entries ..................................................................................................................£226.00p

Sweets in jar.........................................................................................................£17.00p

Big Raffle...............................................................................................................£114.50p

Agility.................................................................................................................... £18.20p

Fun & Games.........................................................................................................£11.00p

Books & CDs......................................................................................................... £63.00p

Auction.................................................................................................................£133.30p

Cottage.................................................................................................................£300.00

Money in jars........................................................................................................ £23.50p

Bandanas / Lucky dip/ Tombola / mIcrochipping....................................................£167.40p

Sponsors for Rosettes, cups etc............................................................................£398.00  

Sale of Calendars, Lucky Nos, Guess the Name, Merchandise on the day.............£187.00

Sale of calendars, cards, merchandise up to day of Reunion................................ £337.25  

Sponsor Dogs new/renew.....................................................................................£130.00 

White Elephant......................................................................................................£21.50

Donations at show................................................................................................£340.00

Stallholders............................................................................................................£25.00

Bears & bottles.................................................................................£390.00p

Amounts to be deducted:-

Rosettes, hire of loos / marquee and table & chairs £461.60p

Grand Total       £2441.05p                          

 

We have already booked the same venue again for 2011, the date for your diary being Saturday 17 th September. If anyone has any ideas for improving the Reunion for next year, we would really appreciate your comments so please write, as soon as possible, to Gizmo on irrreunion@aol.com and we will do our best to accommodate you.