2011 Reunion
MESSAGE FROM SANDIE
It seems Belinda has thanked everyone – which I would just like to ditto. That just leaves me to thank Belinda and Terry on behalf of everyone who was there on the day for such a fantastically well organised and well run Reunion. An immense amount of hard work and pressure goes into organising such an event which is why it ran so smoothly on the day. Our Reunion was always organised by Pauline in the past, but she had to retire last year for health reasons, so it must be of great comfort to her knowing that she’s handed over the baton to such amazingly capable people as Belinda and Terry.
This has been our busiest year since our inception with more dogs being rehomed in the first four months of the year, than our usual annual quota. We have also lost the sponsorship of neutering/spaying which has put a huge dent in our meagre budget. We now pay 165 euro per dog but we have not increased our adoption fee. It is thanks to the continued hard work of Christopher and Chrissie Heath’s fundraising efforts and going to car boot sales in all weathers that has helped us continue rescuing. Without their dedication and continued hard work, we simply couldn’t continue.
Jan and Phil stepped in to take over the reigns of Website Editors when Di left and they have to be commended for what they’ve achieved in such a short time. Despite having no previous experience of such work and no training whatsoever, they’ve handled it in a very professional manner. Thank you both for stepping into the breech.
I would also like to thank Lorraine and Jackie from the bottom of my heart for their continued support, dedicated hard work, for being there when needed and for achieving the impossible. Nobody can possibly understand the pressure we are sometimes under in helping a dog in need and matching the right dog to the right foster/forever home nor the amount of hours spent on the phone talking to people to achieve this. IRR simply wouldn’t exist but for them.
Finally, A huge thank you to everyone who braved the elements and turned up on the day to support us and to all our fosterers, adopters and supporters.
REUNION 2011 REPORT (from BELINDA)
Having watched the weather forecast over the weeks prior to the Reunion, I finally realised that nothing was going to stop the rain that was due on Saturday and indeed, midway through the morning it came! But to compensate for the first shower, the most magnificent rainbow appeared which hopefully was a good omen. The intermittent squally showers didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits and judging from the feedback we are getting, a good day was had by all.
It was wonderful to be able to greet old friends and to meet new friends, especially being able to place faces to names and seeing all the wonderful dogs, old and new! It is lovely to see how happy and contented they all are now that they are settled in their forever homes.
The campsite was busy again this year with quite a few people staying over in caravans and tents and the field became quite an IRR community over the weekend. By the look of things the dogs seemed to be making as many friends as their owners.
With a lot of the weight taken off her shoulders this year, I am hopeful that Pauline was able to relax a bit and was able to spend more time talking to old and new friends instead of having to spend her day rushing around doing 101 jobs.
We were very lucky this year to be able to welcome Kathryn Crofton, the Irish author of Circles in the Sand, who is making a donation to IRR for every book she sells. Thank you Kathryn for making the effort to come over for the day from Dublin. Kathryn also rolled up her sleeves and helped us in the Prizes tent when she first arrived!
Pauline’s patience, guidance and support throughout the year has been invaluable – thank you P!