2007 Show Report
The fourth Woodham Ferrers & Bicknacre Companion Dog Show was once again a great success with initial calculations suggesting over £700 was raised for the Danbury , Bicknacre & Little Baddow First Responders and £300 for the Fell & Moorland Working Terrier Club.
We had an excellent turnout, so we were pleased we had expanded our facilities with the purchase of a marquee having won a grant from Chelmsford Borough Council. Additionally, the recently opened "Priory Pet & Country Supplies" were in attendance.
In the novelty ring, Kerri Lewis had many wonderful dogs to judge of all shapes and sizes. However, a spaniel from Danbury had the waggiest tail, winning a 12kg sack of "Wagg", the best six legs had travelled all the way from Witham the best veteran had travelled all the way from Hampshire and like the best crossbred puppy won a free vaccination from Clarendon House Veterinary Centre. Of the twenty dogs lined up in the Championship, Kerri had a hard choice to make, but the 15kg sack donated by Priory Pet & Country Supplies eventually went to "Faith" whose owner, Mrs Lockett had come from Rawreth. Faith's owners also won a perpetual trophy, sponsored by Paul Bailey Car Sales and a Champion's rosette and certificate. The Reserve Champion had come all the way from Wood Green and won a special rosette, a sack of Burns dog food and a certificate.
In the pedigree ring, after much deliberation, our judge, Paula Steinborn-Busse, selected an Irish Wolfhound owned by Ms Cramphorn as the Champion winning a 15kg bag of Purina Dog Food donated by Priory Pet & Country Supplies, a stunning rosette and certificate and like the Novelty Champion, a perpetual trophy sponsored by Paul Bailey Car Sales. The Reserve Champion was a Besenji called Arwen whose owner had brought him all the way from Harwich to our show.
In the lurcher ring, our judge, George Saunders, was delighted with the line up in the Championship and had difficulty selecting a Champion as there were so many excellent dogs to judge. However, Pat Flatman was the Champion winning a 15kg bag of CSJ Command Performance and a CSJ Winners pack and the Reserve Champion was Rob Hollyer with Tilly. Tilly was also successful in the Child Handler class with Clare Hollyer qualifying for the East Anglian and LurcherWorld Child Handler Championships.
In the terrier ring, which was again very well supported, judge John Newberry chose "Twist" as his Champion owned by Georgina Beaney, winning a 15kg sack of food from Nevendon Pet and Tack Centre and the Reserve Champion went to Graham Daniels' dog, "Digger". It was a family affair with William Beaney coming through to win the Child Handler class with another "Digger" qualifying for the East Anglian and LurcherWorld Child Handler Championships.
Qualifiers for LurcherWorld, The Countryman's Weekly, The East Anglian, Hartington Wakes, NWTF were also awarded to the Champions and Reserve Champions and the Earth Dog Running Dog Qualifiers were awarded to Graham Daniels with his terrier "Digger", having come second to A Wickens' terrier "Tyke" and in the lurcher ring Sara Jones qualified with Zeus.
We were disappointed with the number of entrants in the ferret classes, although James Pegram was impressed with the quality, especially that of the Champion, "Tigger" owned by Miss J Hurst who qualified for the Hartington Wakes Pride of the Peaks Championship and the British Ferret Club Championship and won a special rosette, certificate at a 15kg bag of ferret food donated by Steve's Garage.
It's hard to go away from our show empty handed: All the children who entered won a bag of sweets donated Priory Village Stores, 1 st place win a toy for their pet from South Woodham Pets and 1 st - 4 th places a set of notelets from Bryn Parry Studios. In all other classes cases, rosette winners win a sample bag of Burns Pet Food, and various class winners receive other large prizes including donations from Supreme Petfood Ltd, Pascoe's, Dodson & Horrell, W&H Marriages, Wagg and of course Priory Pet & Country Supplies.
There were 50+ raffle prizes including donations from the above and more from Richard Poulter, our Borough Councillor, Bryn Parry Studios (including some beautiful clocks), South Woodham Leisure Centre, Jan's Greyhound Gifts in Rayleigh, Fish4Dogs, Kingswood Canine Therapy (massages for dogs) and much more!
We are thankful also to Jardine Lloyd Thompson for their donation, to UK-IT Solutions for supporting our website, to LMB Professional Solutions Ltd for assisting with the printing and to Grandma Plonkas for feeding our judges and stewards. We must also mention Paul Bailey Car Sales, who sponsored our perpetual trophies back in 2005 and Church & Hawes for their continued assistance with advertising.
And a final thank-you to the Parish Council for allowing us use of the playing field and facilities!
Anyone with queries regarding our show can call 07703 170512 or email wfbdogshow@btinternet.com or check out our website at http://www.wfandbdogshow.co.uk/
We were delighted with all the positive feedback we were given, and during the course of the coming year we will be making more improvements - perhaps to do some racing next year or purchase a better sound system, even though Julie proved very popular and entertaining with her megaphone!
Finally, thanks to everyone who came. Without you and your dogs, we wouldn't be a success at all!