The 75th Anniversary weekend was two years in the planning as the General Committee wanted to hold something very special to celebrate 75 years of the Flatcoated Retriever Society and honour it’s history and the people who have made it what it is today.
A working party was set up; Jan Egginton chair, Jane Jones, Roz Bellamy, Heather Harley, Louise Jones, Liz Branscombe, Charlotte Wear, Kelly Holland and Sarah Young and the group have met regularly over the past two years to plan such a major event in minute detail.
The weekend seemed to come round very quickly at the end, and we planned something for everyone to enjoy. We were blessed with good weather throughout which was also ideal for those who camped over the weekend.
On the Saturday there were many activities going on throughout the day. The scurry, 5 object pick up and the three ‘ Have a go rings’ Agility,Rally and Obedience/Place board were busy all day. The scurry brought out the competitive streak of the participants with some people having several go’s at the scurry to try and improve their times.
The awards were given out for these events later by the people who ran them Inger Alexanderson, Sharon Tamlyn, Sarah Young, Sarah Egginton, Steve Newell and Roz Bellamy.
Four sessions of Gundog Training for puppies and Beginners of various levels were held with Phil Bruton and Clare Gould. These sessions filled up very quickly and we had reserves.
Knowing the weather was going to be hot, Jack Harris and Sarah Egginton set up apple bobbing and ingeniously created a vessel to hold the water, this cooled and was much enjoyed by all the Flatcoats and their owners.
Lauren Broome the Society’s Junior Coordinator took the Juniors taking part around all the activities. Bethany Bryant, Molly Davis, Hugo and Benji Taylor looked to be having a lot of fun and all won a special 75th Anniversary rosette and a Goody bag.
Throughout both days Kelly Holland worked tirelessly giving trimming demonstrations and for a donation to Flatcoated Retriever Society Rescue,Rehoming and Welfare she happily trimmed anyone’s Flatcoat for them. Kelly is an Area Representative for the scheme and this was much appreciated.
In the afternoon an interactive Breed Standard talk took place with Jane Jones and Jan Egginton ably assisted by Flatcoat models, handled by Roz Bellamy, Vicky Davis, Kelly Holland and Caroline Hewison.
The emphasis was on how the Breed Standard was written to describe a dog that was bred to work, (Shows came later) therefore it had to be ‘Fit for Function’ with correct moderate construction and this should still apply today.
David Bellamy was the Judge for our next event, Judge’s steward was Louise Jones. This was a Show Match with an entry of over 70 people who gathered in the in/out ring in the marquee. Classes were scheduled for Baby Puppy through to Veteran and culminated in the fun classes, ‘The Dog with the Waggiest Tail’ and ‘The Dog the Judge would Like to Take Home’. (See live feed on the FCRS FB page), we all wanted to take that happy puppy home.
Rosemary Talbot our previously scheduled judge had kindly donated prizes for all the class winners which were very much appreciated by the winners.
Time now to enjoy an amazing barbecue cooked by Paul Davis and Paul and a few drinks from the Copper Beech Brewing Company. S E Davis &Son Ltd had kindly donated extra meat for all of our enjoyment.
The Davis family also steamed up one of their collection of steam engines for our pleasure throughout the day, ‘The Conqueror’ was a sight to behold and you can still see this engine on a live stream video on our FB page if you were not there. We were also blessed with a fine view of displays of the ‘Red Arrows’ who were at Ragley Hall over the weekend this caused major excitement.
Tobias Sullivan our Official Yumove Photographer for Saturday kindly took photos on the day. – Please click this link to view photos Toby Sullivan Photos on behalf of Yumove
We were very fortunate that General Committee member Jenny Campbell arranged sponsorship with Yumove and 120 Goody bags were distributed over the weekend to exhibitors and competitors of the Show Match and Doubles Test. (1 per household) Goody bags were also given to all Judges and Helpers as we think you will agree that they deserved it for willingly giving up their time for the enjoyment of all.
Now the shop; Charlotte Wear who runs the shop has restocked it with some marvellous new merchandise.Members took the opportunity to collect their beautiful 75th Anniversary keyring a commemorative gift from the Society. Charlotte and her helpers took in excess of a massive £2,000 over the weekend..well done ladies.
Sunday, the day of the Doubles test, dawned bright and sunny, and this was very well attended taking up most of the day. All the activities carried on throughout the day, finally finishing around 6 pm. The Doubles Working Test has been reported on separately and we thank all the Judges, Stewards and Helpers who made this the success it was. Acting Working Test Secretary on the day was Roz Bellamy our Society Secretary and Chief Steward was Paul Egginton who worked tirelessly to prepare the grounds and tests, both are experienced at running tests and knew what needed doing.
Thank you, to Steve Davis, Country Shots for agreeing 2 years ago to be our Official Photographer for the Sunday.Thank you, everyone for waiting patiently for these photos Steve has edited over a thousand and the names and exhibit numbers link to his website if you wish to purchase any of them here is the link
Countryshotsphotography
Attached to this post is a commemorative montage Steve has kindly sent to us.
Also thank you to Derek Churchard who has taken some lovely photos of the weekend, please follow this link to review- 75th anniversary weekend photos by Derek Churchard
Thank you, to young Molly Davis who not only was Car park attendant both days but was also helping placing dummies on the test on Sunday. In her free time she entertained all by seeing how many ‘Judges and Helpers’ she could load in the mule and safely drive back up the hills to lunch which she did also at the end of the tests.
Everyone gathered for refreshments and the 75th Anniversary cakes were cut and enjoyed along with the 75th cupcakes that were donated by Chairperson Jane Jones and Vice Chairperson Jan Egginton.
The awards for the activities of the day were presented by Doug Miln, Karen Turner,Inger Alexanderson and Tracey Gale who ran the events on Sunday.
Finally the results were in for the DoublesTest and rosettes awarded to the winning teams and individuals by Acting Working Test Secretary Roz Bellamy. Thank you to Nicola Colson for adding up the scores for this.
Judges were thanked and gifts were presented to them and Molly Davis accepted a gift from the Society in appreciation for all S E Davis provided and did to make this weekend so special.
Thank you to one and All.
The Silent Auction, held in aid of Midlands Air Ambulance ( the hosts SE Davis & Son Ltd chosen charity) and the raffle, held in aid of FCRS Rescue, Rehoming and Welfare Scheme closed at 12 pm on Sunday. They were both very successful and raised large sums of money. Thank you, to Michelle Brown, Mandy Hessing and her sister Shelley who manned the Auction and Raffle all day, helping people bid and selling tickets.
A huge “Thank you”, to all that donated prizes for the FCRS Silent Auction or donated money to the Event, or helped in any way. We could not have done this without your support.
We would also like to give our very grateful thanks to the many people who gave of their time freely to help make this weekend such a resounding success, and from the feedback we have had we know that everyone who came enjoyed the weekend immensely.
We cannot close without mentioning the catering and the kitchen helpers we were catered for by Andrew/Fiona Colson and the kitchen was run by the extended friends and family of the Egginton/ Davis and Colson families( Dawn/Janice that includes you).
To Steve Newell and your friend Steve, you were amazing, thank you for being everywhere we needed help.
The raffle prizes that were left over from the weekend will be used in the FCRS Open Show raffle this Saturday which includes the fabulous hamper donated by our Secretary Roz Bellamy and David.
Show Match Results:
Awards were made to
Best in Match… Hopevalley Morning Dream of Elmstock owned by Val and Den Orme
Reserve Best In Match ….Blacktoft Frozen in Time by Windyhollows (AI) owned by Colson Family
Best Opposie Sex in Match … Windyhollows Ragged Robbin JW owned by Colson Family
Best Puppy In Show …. Hurstclough Joy of the Moors at Elmstock owned by Val and Den Orme
Best Veteran in Match …. Torinmill Gaelic Aurora KCWGC owned by Liz Branscombe
Best Liver in Match…. Windyhollows Flaming Katy owned by the Colson Family
Scurry Winners
Sat (am) Roz and David Bellamy – Winner, Heather and Milo in 8.78 seconds
Sat (pm) Sarah Egginton and Jack Harris – Winner, Jacqui Thomas and Cerise in 7.47 seconds
Sun(am) Doug Miln’s – Winner, Derek and Reuben in 7.15 seconds
Sun (pm) – Winner, Heather and Lottie in 7.71 seconds
Full details of monies raised are shown below.
The FCRS 75th Anniversary Working Party
For Rescue:
Raffle £366
Trimming £155
TOTAL £521
For Midlands Air Ambulance:
Silent Auction £3340
Donation by The Party Tent Company £50
Total £3390
For the Society:
Shop Cash £1025
Shop Card £1031.02 (charges to be deducted)
Honesty £67
Donation £20
Subscriptions £25 + one junior FOC
Total £2168
