Well, that’s another one over and done with – a lovely sunny day on the Saturday for the Championship event which was unfortunately not repeated on the Sunday but that didn’t appear to dampen spirits!
My sincere thanks to all our participants, Wigton club members, Lune Valleyites at the booking-in tent and the Orange Army in the marquee, the volunteers in the stay ring especially in Sunday’s damp conditions and to all our judges and stewards.
Difficult to pull just a few names out of the hat but Roger Beasley and Carol Birks must get a special mention for mowing the entire area, Jackie Reid our “in house” caterer for the gorgeous spread she always puts on, Geoff Graves who travels each day just to stay steward, Ruth Griffith for doing her Saturday professional and official Chief Stay Stewarding bit and Ken Lewin who jumped into the breach on the Sunday when Dave Banks’s wife Penny was taken ill and had to be taken home (hope you are on the mend Penny).
As it was three years to the day since we lost Pam, the receipts from Angela’s cake stall, the caravan quizzes and the silent auction of pictures were all for the benefit of Eden Valley Hospice in her memory and the total of these amounted to £406.20 – thank you to everyone who so kindly contributed.
I must thank our Isle of Man friends as they alone contributed almost 120 entries to the show (there can’t have been many dogs left over there!) and it is not a cheap trip over here for them. I hope our other newcomers enjoyed our Cumbrian hospitality and will return in the future.
Linda Spencer-Nicholson not only judged in the wet on the Sunday but also organised the raffle, tombola, picture auction etc.
Thank you to everyone who left the venue in a tidy condition – the owners at Dalemain were delighted and we are booked for next year – congratulations to all our winners especially Julie and Mario in the Dog Ticket and Alison and Danni in the Bitch – have a great Crufts.
Pat Wilson