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Written by Alana Coombes
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Wednesday, 29 July 2009 |
2009 Holkham Fair Team Event
We were kindly invited by the Norfolk Gundog Club to enter an Open team at this year’s two day Holkham Fair on the weekend of the 18th & 19th July 2009. Our captain Samantha Morley had previously run for us at the Castle Rising event.
Team members were:Sam Morley with Brindlebey Zulu of Rushbrigg
Barbara Kuen with her Labrador bitch Dipplelodge Pippin, and Reuben Corbett with Oakvalley Blackjack
The weather had been awful. Sam and Barbara chose wisely to stay at a comfy B&B, The Crown Inn at Gayton. Others were not so lucky, deciding to camp out. After a gruelling journey from Worthing, Reuben finally pitched tent in a torrential storm well after midnight, and then had to prepare supper for five! Saturday came with unsettled weather. The first day’s competition of three tests was to be run in front of the gallery with the area being modified for each test. Short grass made up a long central arena. On the far side away from the gallery a strip of heavy cover dropped into a 40yd wide ribbon of water over to grassland on a steeply wooded hill. On the gallery side to the viewer’s left we had chestnut trees, dense cover bordered by a low picket fence. To the right a long wooden strip of fencing stretched from the lake to the gallery. Test 1 consisted of two blinds over the long fence, one to the left and one to the right, followed by a mark in the water to be taken last. Sam had to take the first retrieve to the right. Barbara then had to work her dog away from the first retrieve and over the fence to the left. Reuben took the mark in the water which by this time had drifted towards the resident ducks! Good scores were won here. Test 2 from the other end of the strip, with two marks into cover and a blind over the picket fence. Both marks were thrown on a similar angle and the first mark thrown had to be picked first. Sam took the first mark in one cast to a round of applause from the audience! The second mark fell under the trees and just behind the blind. Barbara took this with ease. Reuben was left to take the blind over the fence. Initially his dog overran but was asked to hunt closer and picked. Again, all three dogs received good scores. After lunch and onto test 3 we had three blinds over water with our backs to the gallery. Our dogs had to enter the water out of sight of their handlers. All three dogs excelled at this and by the end of the first day our team stood a close fifth out of twelve. Sam was in her element because she was beating Mike Tallamy from the Suffolk team by one point! By the Sunday morning the weather had improved; broken only by the odd blustery shower. We started with the first Test, a walk-up during a drive. A mark thrown in front of the fence and two marks over also included a distraction in the form of a crossing rabbit! This was a tricky test where we had to nominate our retrieves and some difficult decisions had to be made very quickly. Unfortunately the test didn’t go according to plan and we lost valuable points which greatly affected our commanding position. The second Test and last before lunch, three blinds, one close to the water which was taken by Reuben; one further down the field into cover which Barbara took, and the third blind further again into cover which Sam took. All three dogs made light work of these. However, our disappointment with the previous test meant we didn’t make the cut at lunchtime when the top six teams were taken through. Not to be disheartened we spent an enjoyable afternoon either shopping at the Fair or watching the Suffolk Team take the trophy in great style. Tony Parnell won the individual award with 97/100, Sara Gadd from the Suffolk Team took 2nd place with 96, Mike Tallamy and Matthew Ager again from the Suffolk team were joint 3rd with 3 others achieving 90, with our Sam Morley next 8th with 88 points. Holkham Fair is a most enjoyable weekend break. A mini Game Fair in a beautiful setting, and for us made all the better in convivial company watching a Gundog Team competition at its best.
Mike Crutchley
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 29 July 2009 )
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Written by Alana Coombes
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Wednesday, 10 June 2009 |
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Southern Inter-Club Gundog Team Test 2009 ‘A & D fields top Open dog!’ Last year’s winners Utility Gundog Society (K&ES Branch) ran this year’s Inter Club event at Gardener’s Farm, Ashburnham near Battle on 31st May by kind invitation of newlyweds Andrew & Nicky Ward-Smith. Fifteen mixed level teams gathered early on a sunny Sunday morning for a sumptuous full English breakfast in the barns, our first taste of Ben van Praagh’s catering triumph. Six tests were set in rolling Sussex farmland and a month’s hard work had gone into preparing this immaculate course which included some interesting water tests, much appreciated by the dogs! Penny Allanson-Bailey running her trial winning bitch Plum, supported by a jovial Tom Walsh with his young novice dog Finlay together with Peter Martin, our novice handler with his flatcoat retriever bitch Maisie made up the team. They had been hard at work training together every Saturday at West Dean and were looking confident, if a little nervous. Sporting our new pale blue team polo shirts we got off to a very good start. Three fairly tricky marked retrieves were dealt with quite cleanly. Then our confidence slipped a bit at the second test with a couple of unlucky failures. It was that sort of test which wasn’t all it appeared to be, requiring some analysis in preparation. This we found easy after the event! Then a series of very hard exercises, some in very long grass tested even the most experienced competitors. The novice dogs struggled occasionally, but it didn’t get us down and we spent the day in good humour and enjoyed the tests immensely, taking several well deserved 20’s in the process. Penny impressed the judges by making some of the monster retrieves look easy. After a fabulous lunch served up by Ben and his great team of girls, the winners were declared - URC Essex branch. We were not surprised when our Penny Allanson-Bailey won first individual Open award with a bumper score some ten points ahead of the field. Well done Penny and Plum! Essex will be hosting next year’s event, and we don’t envy them. Julia Smith, Roger Wade, our excellent Judges and all their many helpers have organized an event that will be a hard act to follow. M.Crutchley
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Written by Alana Coombes
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Tuesday, 19 May 2009 |
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Arun & Downland Gundog Society
Inter-County Working Gundog Team event 2009
Held at Castle Rising by last year’s winners Norfolk Gundog Club on Sunday 19th April, in spring sunshine, fifteen Open level teams gathered for what was to be a close contest throughout the day.
Our team, Sara Gadd giving her little black bitch Laurel a run, together with Mike Tallamy (with Brindlebay Butler) and Samantha Morley our newest member from Suffolk running her yellow Brindlebay dog Zulu, gave the competition a run for their money. By lunchtime, after half a dozen closely scored tests our team was in fifth place, just six points behind the leaders and eventual winners Clwyd Retriever Club captained by Leigh Jackson.
The afternoon session started in the woods. A picking up test, with Mike having to send Butler out past Sara’s returning dog. Laurel’s dummy was almost a temptation but we got away with it! The last test of the day challenged some of the teams, with the dogs having to go over a stream out into white grass. We’d worked this area in the morning and it was full of thistles and spring nettles, but we did well and finished a respectable seventh on the day. Sara Gadd’s 2007 IGL qualifier Sebow Laurel of Brindlebay took third place with 170/180.
If you would like to see a few short videos of our team on YouTube please search on ‘Arun & Downland’(photos now in 'Photo Album')
Mike Crutchley
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Last Updated ( Friday, 29 May 2009 )
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Working Tests 
