President’s Report for year ending 2014
With the AGM coming up shortly, it is time for me to comment on the past year for our Club.
As in other years, we held two Champ Shows, in June and November, and a Ribbon Parade in January.
The November show was our second themed show, this time to raise funds for Koru Care and children with health problems. The theme was ‘Let’s Go for Gold’ and once again, our Committee and the people who entered the show embraced this with golden outfits. We also held a fancy dress competition at lunch time which was wonderfully supported with people and dogs in amazing outfits. Fortunately, the Koru Care children had to choose the winners, which wasn’t easy as the competition was stiff. Everyone deserved something for the effort they had gone to with their costumes. I don’t have any photos at present but I am hoping we can get some up on our website to share with our members.
It would seem that most show folk enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere when showing and having some fun, as well as having the opportunity to do something for others. They presented the dogs they are so proud of and dressed in the gold theme. In reply, we had gold prizes for all the winners and had some beautiful bouquets to give to the Best Dressed Male and Female and for the breeder of the Best in Show.
I was very pleased with the work our Committee put into this show as well as the June show and Ribbon Parade too, but when the judge emails to say how much they enjoyed our Show, then that is very gratifying. So often, we hear no more when the judge leaves, so it is nice to get positive feedback and know we compare favourably with the many other clubs around the world.
On the other hand, our Ribbon Parade was not well attended this time, although enjoyed by those who came along. We joined with the Southern Bulldog Club as before and had a perfect day for the shows but unfortunately the numbers were low. We may need to rethink how we go about this for the future. I would be reluctant to drop our Ribbon Parade as I believe it is a great way for those new to showing to have a go at it, and it is a low key, fun day for people and dogs. However, we may need to do more to promote it next time round. Our Committee can look into this.
We held a fund raising meal this year which was successful and raised some extra funds for our Club, thanks to Norma Shelley who organized this for us. It would be good to make this an annual event for members and friends.
Our competition for Best Utility and Best Non Sporting Dog of the Year has fallen flat. Few entries mean that it is not worth continuing after two years of running it. That is not to say we don’t have some particularly nice dogs within the two groups, but obviously their owners are aiming for bigger and better awards than what we can offer.
Our AGM is due soon and I am hoping that we will continue into the coming year with a Committee of enthusiastic people. Our current Committee has done well but we will always need a group of people who are prepared to do their bit so we can share the workload equally. Too often the various jobs are done by a small group of people. Thank you to those who have served on our Committee and supported us by attending meetings and shows, and put some of their precious time into helping out. I know everyone is busy in their lives. Your assistance is very much appreciated.
And to all of our members, thank you too for supporting our small club. We need our members or we would not have a club at all, but for some, this club is the one to join when you don’t have your own specialist breed club.
Once again, I would like to extend an invitation to anyone who has an interest in helping our Club, as we can always do with more people on our committee to offer their knowledge and assistance to us. It is healthy for our Club to have new people at the helm to bring in new ideas that we can use.
We will continue to hold our shows and try to make them interesting and fun for you.
We look forward to your continuing support this year.
Hilary Stace
President
As in other years, we held two Champ Shows, in June and November, and a Ribbon Parade in January.
The November show was our second themed show, this time to raise funds for Koru Care and children with health problems. The theme was ‘Let’s Go for Gold’ and once again, our Committee and the people who entered the show embraced this with golden outfits. We also held a fancy dress competition at lunch time which was wonderfully supported with people and dogs in amazing outfits. Fortunately, the Koru Care children had to choose the winners, which wasn’t easy as the competition was stiff. Everyone deserved something for the effort they had gone to with their costumes. I don’t have any photos at present but I am hoping we can get some up on our website to share with our members.
It would seem that most show folk enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere when showing and having some fun, as well as having the opportunity to do something for others. They presented the dogs they are so proud of and dressed in the gold theme. In reply, we had gold prizes for all the winners and had some beautiful bouquets to give to the Best Dressed Male and Female and for the breeder of the Best in Show.
I was very pleased with the work our Committee put into this show as well as the June show and Ribbon Parade too, but when the judge emails to say how much they enjoyed our Show, then that is very gratifying. So often, we hear no more when the judge leaves, so it is nice to get positive feedback and know we compare favourably with the many other clubs around the world.
On the other hand, our Ribbon Parade was not well attended this time, although enjoyed by those who came along. We joined with the Southern Bulldog Club as before and had a perfect day for the shows but unfortunately the numbers were low. We may need to rethink how we go about this for the future. I would be reluctant to drop our Ribbon Parade as I believe it is a great way for those new to showing to have a go at it, and it is a low key, fun day for people and dogs. However, we may need to do more to promote it next time round. Our Committee can look into this.
We held a fund raising meal this year which was successful and raised some extra funds for our Club, thanks to Norma Shelley who organized this for us. It would be good to make this an annual event for members and friends.
Our competition for Best Utility and Best Non Sporting Dog of the Year has fallen flat. Few entries mean that it is not worth continuing after two years of running it. That is not to say we don’t have some particularly nice dogs within the two groups, but obviously their owners are aiming for bigger and better awards than what we can offer.
Our AGM is due soon and I am hoping that we will continue into the coming year with a Committee of enthusiastic people. Our current Committee has done well but we will always need a group of people who are prepared to do their bit so we can share the workload equally. Too often the various jobs are done by a small group of people. Thank you to those who have served on our Committee and supported us by attending meetings and shows, and put some of their precious time into helping out. I know everyone is busy in their lives. Your assistance is very much appreciated.
And to all of our members, thank you too for supporting our small club. We need our members or we would not have a club at all, but for some, this club is the one to join when you don’t have your own specialist breed club.
Once again, I would like to extend an invitation to anyone who has an interest in helping our Club, as we can always do with more people on our committee to offer their knowledge and assistance to us. It is healthy for our Club to have new people at the helm to bring in new ideas that we can use.
We will continue to hold our shows and try to make them interesting and fun for you.
We look forward to your continuing support this year.
Hilary Stace
President