Club News

3 weekends in December - Elveden Christmas Tree pulls. A fantastic effort by some regular and newcomer dogs helped make this a huge success again. The Club missed a lot of its big male carting dogs (+ a pregnant Dusty) but nevertheless raised over £3,600 in aid of East Anglian Air ambulance (who did a fabulous flypast), Hemsby Lifeboat and the Animal Health Clinic December At short notice we were asked to join the Christmas parade with carts for the light switch on at Bury St.Edmunds. The dogs loved it and Troy and Nelson made it onto national TV. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6th October Gillian's day - We bravely endured the most savage day of wind and rain for our Club competition. Troy valiantly fought to defend his title but the heavyweight carting boys were up for it and in the water one dog swam ahead of the others in an enjoyably high standard to grasp the trophies. Well done for all who attended and took part in the best possible spirit RESULTS: Water Carting Obedience 3rd Buffy =3rd Troy , Bronwyn 3rd Barney 2nd Barney 2nd Dusty 2nd Troy 1st Dusty =1st Monty,Barney, Bungle =1st Bungle, Dusty Overall winner carting and obedience: Bungle Overall disciplines: 3rd Monty 2nd Barney Winner = Dusty --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September Great Yarmouth Maritime festival. The heavens again opened on the Saturday. We performed an excellent water display with some different dogs this year as well as old heads . The dry displays continue to go down a treat as did Bungle's bucket (who refused to stop all day Sunday) and some grooming displays by Greg and the President ! Thanks to everybody's generosity for our most successful tombola yet. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 28th Hemsby Herring Day Good weather - i don't believe it. A good crowd for all the stalls and a 1st class display. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 18-22 - Cromer carnival. A new venue combined with a Club camping holiday . We did 2 land demos on family day in a huge arena - and if we thought it had rained at our previous events it was a light sprinkling compared to this. The water display went extremely well - with participation from the the RNLI as well. The crowds gradually grew and the organisers realised what an attraction our dogs in the water could be. On parade day we watched the awesome Red Arrows and then assembled for the grand parade. Who can forget the emotion when hearing thehuge roar from the crowd as the dogs were seen for the 1st time in the parade pulling their decorated carts - and the applause and friendliness all the way around. 10th August - the club split into 2 groups to perform 2 water displays at Hemsby and Downham Market. Hemsby ran like a dream with a friendly crowd. After carrying the boat down a long slipway and spending an hour clearing weed from the bank the Downham gang were given a whole 20 mins between dragon boat races. We squeezed in a 30min display which went extremely well including saving a local dignitary (and dragging her therlough the weed! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd August And so to a new venue - Sheringham - We started with a dry display as the 1st event of the Carnival and the heavens utterly opened on the walk to the green. There was no crowd until the rain stopped & instantly we had a reasonable number to join in the new interactive display. The sea display was in the afternoon - a great natural viewing arena from above and the PA could be heard for miles. We could only time the display on an incoming tide - fast incoming at that ! - stakes and ropes and dogs were moved rapidly and frequently but the display went really well. Highlight - after Ian brilliantly negotiated down a huge flight of steps with 2 heaving Newfs he finally went A over T once on the beach ! --*------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ July 27th Time for the Wells display. The weather was kind- bright sunshine emerged for a day from our miserable summer. A huge crowd built up during the day . Really enjoyable big display topped by Monty's monster multi (17 people against the tide). We raised our biggest total ever for the Wells Inshore lifeboat as well (£ 700 I think). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 22nd - Diss Mere - Video link --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 6 2008 1st day of training - yippee ? It was an arctic wind that met us at the lake - it was warmer in than out- & it was shrivelling in there to start with ! New drysuits for some, new engine for others, Pete still in his wetsuit and the dogs were sooooooooo happy to be working again - and nobody guessed LIz is such a screamer when riding a giant banana ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- March walk 2008 The club and visitors met at somewhere near world's end for the march walk-that's Gedney drove on the Wash - who on earth built a village there is beyond us. The walk was extremely windy and very, very, very flat - all the dogs got very excited at the sight of a tree halfway round and the non-club dogs also experienced stinking wash mud for the 1st time. The pub at lunch had a 'hillbilly' atmosphere - they even re-employed the cook for the day for us - which seemed worrying with all the smoke pouring out of the tiny kitchen - but the end result was excellent simple fayre after a long walk. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- February walk 2008 Well, the snow held off and we had a good turnout for the amble through Thetford forest. Unfortunately some members thought the briefing said 1.5 miles - in fact it said walk was 1.5 hours so those that have put on their winter fat (owners or newfs ?) got a decent workout followed by well-served lunch in nearby motel. Sylv's enterprise with exclusive newfie clothing went down a storm, especially with Rach.("i want one, and that one and that one") and in the enthusiasm we said yes to about 6 million displays this year ! aaarrgh! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2008 - January walk A bright day out at Old Hunstanton and a pleasant walk along the breezy beach. Good to see Buffy and Ebby after their bloat escapades and Bronwyn and Tukka after their operations. Also welcome was a dog (now called Sam) rehomed through the Club. A leisurely lunch followed in the nearby pub. Happy New Year.