Stour Valley Newsletter December 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEARwww.stourvalleyagilityclub.co.uk

Founder and Hon. PresidentFrances Elliott

Honorary MemberMary BakerAudrey Weekes

CommitteeChairmanCarol Maclean 01303 874190Email cazmaclean@hotmail.comSecretaryMelanie Buxton 01797 270769Email: mel@wagnbone.co.ukTreasurerJudi Cross 07962900942Email: judiacross1@btinternet.comOrdinary MembersDee Morgan 07973671069Email: deemorgan@talktalk.netElaine Smith 07903321821Email: elaine1milo@aol.com Sue Culmer 07761344726Email: s u e @ m a g i c a g i l i t y k 9 . p l u s . c o mNorma Thompson 07796 180231Email: pollynjack@btinternet.com

InstructorsMelanie Buxton Dee Morgan

Sue Culmer Norma Thompson

Judi Cross Elaine Smith

Christopher Phillips Jennifer Bannister

Dear Members,Once again our new starters have reached

the end of their initial training. We hope theyhave enjoyed their introduction to agility andwill continue to join us on a Thursday evening.

Congratulations to Elaine who passed herAgility Instructors training course as anapproved instructor, commiserations to Judiwho was seriously ill with a migrane andconsequently missed lectures.

Thank you to all our trainers, especiallythose that have stepped in at short notice, dueto circumstances that we hopefully will nothave next year.

Finally, I would like to wish all of you ahappy, healthy and peaceful Christmas andNew Year.

Carol - Chairman

Santa’s Puppies

Competition Report

The competition season is beginning

to slow down now so only a few to

m e n t i o n :

Handler: Judi Cross

Dogs: Liza, Keira, Marja

Breed: Samoyeds, Finnish Lapphund

Height: L a r g e

Results: 8th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd and a 1stplace with another 2 clear rounds.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Handler: Dee MorganDogs: Candy, CheyBreed: L u r c h e r sHeight: L a r g eResults: 2 x 7th, 6th, 2 x 4th, 3 x 2ndand a clear round.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~Handler: Julie Macey

Dogs: Stanley, Gilbert

Breed: King Charles Caveliers

Height: S m a l l

Results: Several clear rounds

Handler: Elaine Smith

Dogs: Ben, Roxy

Breed: Lurcher/ Spaniel

Height: Large/ Medium

Results: 9th, 4th, 2nd and a clear.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Handler: Sue Culmer

Dogs: M a n y

Breed: V a r i o u s

Height: L a r g e / M e d i u m / S m a l l

Results: 2 x 5th, 3 x 2nd.

Handler: M a r i a

Dogs: S k y

Breed: Border Collie

Height: L a r g e

Results: 14th, 2 x3rd and 2 clears.

Report from Sue Culmer

Thank you to everyone who filled in thequestionnaire I recently emailed to you allabout the club show for 2011 and also tothose I spoke to at club about helping nextyear. We have decided to go ahead with theshow and it will be held on September 17thand 18th 2011 so please put these dates inyour diary now. We really do need all handson deck on both days to help run the showand also with the setting up on the Fridaybefore. A lot of the preparation andorganisation is done through out the year buton these days it's your physical presence wedesperately need.

We are offering a free training day with DaveMunnings for all those that help and believeme that's not to be missed!

We also hope that our new members will getinvolved who may well be competingthemselves and can offer there assistancealso.

The committee just wants to say to you all, ifmore of you help, the more time we have onthe day to spend with our dogs and seefriends and share experiences. So pleasesupport us to make our show one of the bestin the calendar year.

We may well be setting up a showcommittee to share out some of the pre-showpreparation, so thank you to those that haveoffered that help.

Thank you from all on the Stour ValleyCommittee.

Sue Culmer

Stour Valley & 2010Another year over and what a year it has

been.

We began the year with snow on the groundfor most of Jan, Feb, and March which meantthat we had to cancel club on a few occasionsbut eventually the weather broke and thespring came and before we knew it we forgotall about the cold weather. The competitionseason kicked off in style, so off went ourmembers, almost every weekend, enjoyingour sport that we love, and having fun withtheir dogs at the same time, how bad is that.

Special mentions go to those that have wonout of their existing grades this year, they are,Sue Culmer moves up to grade 6, Julie Maceymoves up to grade 6, Elaine Smith moves upto grade 2 and Maria Thomas moves up tograde 2.

Really well done to all of you. Some of ourmembers competed for the first time this year.They are Roz with Bertie, Shaun with Jess,Maria with Sky and Helainie with Slinky allgaining experience and in some caseswinning places. Not a bad start.

We have also had more instructors trainedto take classes. Judi, Chris and Elaine havebeen teaching almost throughout the year.Jennifer, Roz and Helainie covering classeswhen needed, all gaining valuable experienceand contributing to our member's successeswith there fresh ideas. We have been blessedwith so much talent, and it has been greatlyappreciated as it has been a challenging yearfor a number of our instructors. Norma, astalwart of our club, a long serving memberand always ready to help, support and cheer

and never down beat, has been suffering fromcancer for a while now. Unable to teachbecause she finds it hard to walk but stillworking hard for the club, on the committee,we owe her so many things, thank you Normafor just being you and we hope to see you atthe Christmas party.

In July Mel and myself, Dee, were bothdiagnosed with breast cancer, how bizarre isthat. We both took it on the chin and got onwith the surgery and the treatment. Mel is nowback teaching and continuing with hertreatment and I will back teaching when minefinishes in the new year.

And so with the support of our great team ofinstructors we were able to keep the clubrunning. I personally would like to say a bigthank you to all of you for all your support andI'm sure Mel and Norma feel the same.

It's at this point I would like to congratulateElaine Smith on passing the Agility ClubInstructors course she took in October.Having been on it myself I know how tough itis. Well done.

We also have a new treasurer this year, JudiCross. Judi has implemented new ways ofgetting you to pay, on time, I hope! And shecontinues to do a fantastic job in keeping ourclub finances in order.

In September we had our annual club showwhich again was a real success. We have agreat venue down the road and once againwe were blessed with good weather. Ourshow is a favourite with competitors becausenot only do we offer good camping pitches butwe have access to acres and acres ofexercise fields, greatly appreciated by both

dogs and handlers. We had so many greatcomments saying we just have to keep doingit every year. It also enables us to earn theclub some money so that we can update ouragility equipment and only a few weeks agowe took delivery of 20 new jumps, a dog walkand seesaw, all painted in our club colours.Fantastic.

So, soon the winter will be upon us, we haveour party night organised for you and aChristmas dinner date if you choose to comeand before you know it we will be in 2011.How quickly time passes.

We hope you have enjoyed the past year atStour Valley Agility Club and look forward toseeing you all back next year on ThursdayJanuary 6th 2011.

It only leaves me to wish you all a veryMerry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Dee Morgan on behalf of the Committee

Diary DatesDecember 9th - Christmas fun night

• if anyone has any raffle items to donateplease bring them on the night or give to acommittee member beforehand.

December 16th - Christmas Dinner

A great fun night at the Conningbrook Hotel inAshford, 3 course meal, wonderful company anda disco all for £14.95 per head.

Stour Valley Calendar 2011This year for the first time we have produced

our own club calendar featuring most of yourdogs that train with us.

I have tried to include every one but thereare some that are missing, either no photo’swere submitted or we were just not able touse the photos for quality reasons. But thefinished product is a great representation ofour canine friends and we do hope you wouldlike to purchase one or two.

It has been a non profit making venture andthe price is £6 per calendar. We only have a fewleft, please see Dee or Elaine to purchase one.

Dee Morgan

N o t i c e B o a r d

Important ReminderWe would like to remind all members to arrive ontime, particularly those in the first two classes, toarrive at 6.30pm if you are able, to help set up thecourses for the classes so that we can start ontime and also before leaving at 9pm can you allplease help to put equipment away.

Also in classes where there are mixed heightstraining would you please help the instructor toput poles up and down when asked. Thank you.

Payment DatesJan 6th 2011 £12.00

Show SchedulesAnyone looking to compete, log onto:

w w w.agilitynet.com or

w w w. a g i l i t y e y e . c o . u k

A d v e r t i s e m e n t sFor all your canine massage requirements

please contact Elizabeth Ford on 01233502536 or go to her websitew w w. d o g s c a n h e a l . c o . u k

Agility Equipment

For good quality made agility equipment,highly endorsed by Toni Dawkins, pleasecontact David or Angela on 01233 733024.

Club Clothing

If anyone would like to purchase club clotihngthis can be found on our website:

www.stourvalleyagilityclub.co.uk