I've decided to do a dedicated blog for the show this year as I know not everyone is a member of the Wiccs forum, so if folks would like to comment on here about their day and experiences, then everyone gets to experience the feeling that goes with the show.
Friday The weekend started here with a convoy over the showground, transporting the marquees and the stalls. Mick & Julia gave their weekend up to man the fort at Wicc HQ and make sure everything was safe and sound while we were busy with the show, so huge thanks to them. The showground soon started to turn into 'Wiccs Fest' as the marquees went up and folks started to arrive with caravans, motorhomes and tents. The Catering Corps got everything ready for the weekend - barbeques at the ready!! At Wiccs we like to cater for everyone, so we had the meaty bbq manfully organised by Dewayne & Alex with their glamourous assistants (The Bosses!) Amanda and Zoe, and then we had the seperate veggie bbq, once again organised by Iona & Simon with the help of their boys. They also catered for our folks with food intolerances, providing gluten free goodies.
Saturday Saturday was the agility part of the weekend. We had more entries than last year, which was nice. The gang that organised the agility worked like troopers to make everything run smoothly. Thank you guys!!! I admit that the agility is not my favourite part of the show, and sadly we had to speak to people about harsh handling! Not Wiccs folks I hasten to add. I wish people would attend and compete at the Wiccs agility show in the spirit in which it is put on. It doesn't count towards anything, it is FUN - fun for the people, but most of all, FUN FOR THE DOGS. When it stops being that, then it makes me wonder if it is worth doing it at all - because that certainly isn't what we are about. The judges were lovely people and when they were introducing themselves in the morning to the competitors I was really pleased to hear that they were saying this is a fun event, just you and your dogs enjoy yourselves. I really appreciated that. Thankfully 95% of the people present were there for the right reasons and enjoyed the day in the spirit it was meant to be. The weather was extremely kind to us and down right hot in parts. Lots of 'glowing' people by the end of the day! Pauline popped out in the afternoon to pick up our Irish visitors from the train station. Marie, Norma and Annette from Limerick Animal Welfare had flown over especially to support us and help out for the weekend. The Wiccaweys class was won by Little Floss and her Dad Colin (he is just 'borrowing' her from me) and I was really, really proud of both of them. They now hold the Bran & Dru Memorial Trophy for a year, and I hope to get a photo of them both with their prizes once the trophy has been engraved. Thank you to those that supported us on the Saturday.
SUNDAY!!!!! This is what it is all about! I was so excited I could hardly sleep Saturday night. On the way over we took a call from our Judge Nick to say that he wouldn't be able to make it due to a family illness. Brains went into overdrive to work out who would be judging! We decided to have several different judges, including our Irish girls. We were over at the show ground bright and early and ready to go. Folks started arriving at 10am on the dot. MrsB decided to have a trial run of her 'Rowing Challenge' - MrsB is doing a rowing challenge in a couple of weeks to raise funds for Wiccs and DogStar, and she decided to publise it by doing the 'Opphs Upside Your Head' 80's Rowing Dance in public!! The practice session consisted of MrsB, Pauline and Amanda - who in her excitement to race over and take part managed to tear her calf muscle and had to be whisked away to A&E!! She returned to run the Barbeque on crutches! What a trooper!! Alex and his girlfriend Zoe held the fort with the help of Nick & Karen while Amanda and Dewayne were at the hospital. Pauline, Alison and Penny The Tea Stirrer were on the cake and teas stand and doing stirling work. Liz took up residency in the ring with her mic and was once again the Compere without compare!! The games were soon in full swing, with dogs and people racing in the Sausage Race, dancing round the Musical Mats and showing poise and balance (notice I have my tongue firmly in my cheek here) in the Tennis Ball and Spoon Race. Patch arrived to judge the fun agility competition which was already in full swing thanks to Helen, Colin and Steph. The flyballing gang set up the equipment for people watch and and have a play on. The Good Citizen Crew set up their bit at the top of the field and we now have several more Good Citizens than we did at the start of the day. Lindsey took her obedience competitors into the top field and this year we had a really good turn out for both of the obedience classes.
Fantastic!!!
Various folks helped out on the Wiccs stand over the weekend, but special mention must be made for Sharon and Buddy who manned it all weekend. Carol provided wonderful display boards again with lots of pics and info. The Bric & Brac, Raffle, Tombola and Silent Auction were all busy. Dot was doing stirling work at the entries tent with Annette helping. The T-Touch folks came along with a stall as did The Squirrels and the DogStar stall, and Bernie and co from Rochdale Dog Rescue.
Dancing Our Judge for Heelwork to Music didn't turn up as her car broke down on route, so we had one competitor for the class, and then Sharon & her Wiccs dog Blue who missed the class because they were at the agility ring went in the ring and gave a demonstration for us anyway. You can see that here. I was very, very proud of them both!
MrsB was next into the ring, wearing very tight shorts for the Rowing Challenge! We managed to persuade other folks to join in and we had a row of lunatics, I mean rowers across the showring. Hilary was going round with a board trying to persuade people to part with a pound to sponsor MrsB for her forthcoming challenge.
The Wiccaweys Hero's of the Year were announced as Paul & Midge - for their mad challenges, for running literally 1,000's of miles across the country raising awareness for Wiccs and collies in general! They are just amazing!
Wiccaweys Dog of the Year was next - and this year, we awarded it to that Asbo Granny Puppy herself, Meggie Moo!!! I'm sure people have followed her exploits on the website - she is just hilarious! Her Mum Eleanor was over the moon. Meggie Moo just wanted another burger!
Wiccaweys Parade!! And then it was my favourite part of the whole event. The parade of Wiccaweys Rehomed Dogs. I think the tears were starting to stream even before we started. Paul came into the ring to help with saying hello to everyone as I was holding a couple of Liz's dogs while she was wrestling with Hobie who was getting very excited by the whole event and trying to compere and introduce everyone at the same time. When we called people to the ring to come in for this, there was just a mass tide of people and dogs entering the ring. In fact there wasn't many people left outside the ring! It was totally amazing. Folks and dogs were squeezed into the ring like collie sardines and everyone was happy, smiling and all the dogs were happy and in good spirits. There was an amazing feeling of family and community. I was just totally overwhelmed. Liz introduced each and every family and dog/s and everyone all line up (in several lines!) for a photo and video. Paul and I didn't get chance to take any photos this year, so it people have photos of videos of this we would be very happy if you could share them with us. One of my highlights of the show was suddenly seeing Shep in the line up of the parade. I just burst into tears as soon as I saw him. I recognised him immediately.
We can't have seen Shep for over 5 years, but he knew me and he knew Paul. I was so touched. You can read about Shep on the Evil that Men Do part of the website. It was fantastic to see him and his mum Ali. When everyone had been introduced, folks and dogs stayed in the ring for 10 mins or so while photos where taken, just chatting amongst theirselves and just having a great time. It was like a huge family gathering. No one felt left out, new friendships were made and old friendships renewed. It was just amazing. I took a moment to step back and look at everyone there in the ring and I just lost the plot completely. To see so many of our dogs there in one place, with their families - all happy, healthy and loved and the fact that they have all come to see us and support us with what we do just made it feel like my heart would jump out of my body. The tears were streaming down my face. The one thing that always, ALWAYS touches Paul & I is that our dogs always remember us - and they are happy to see us. They know our voices and they make a bee line to see us. Paul and I both had chapped lips on Monday from lots of doggy kisses on Sunday. It makes us proud that they have happy memories of their time at Wiccs. WE ARE FAMILY And that is it in a nutshell I guess, when you open your home to a Wiccs dog you aren't on your own, you become part of a huge family.
Onto the Classes Once I'd managed to collect myself again it was onto the clases. Everyone had a wonderful time. Pauline judged the puppy class and I foolishly put myself up for Oldies! What could I do when I was presented with an old Bassett!?! LOL! You know I can't resist those ears and eyes! Rob who lends us his field for the weekend judge the Wiccs Dog & Bitch classes for us. MrsB took on the family groups and the child handler classes. Penny escaped from the catering tent to judge the special dogs class. The Irish girls judged a couple of classes and also stewarded for a bit to give me a break, bless them. Mark Squirrel was press-ganged into judging the Snoggiest Dog again - mainly because both Mrs Squirrel, Paul and I like to watch him crawling around on his knees...!! Dog most like there owner was judged by Patch and won by Meggie Moo and Eleanor - who was down on her hands and knees with a tennis ball in her mouth - just like Meg! Patch and I nearly ruptured something laughing at the pair of them! Sam Squirrel took on a couple of classes and as the reigning Queen of the Fancy Dress classes judged that for us this year. It was won by Sonic and his pal who came dressed as Batman and Robin. It was Sonic's first fancy dress class and he was sooooo excited at wearing his costume and seeing us that he wet himself in the ring! So we had Batman with a wee-wee patch on his costume! He had to win!! Bless him, he was so proud of himself.
And then it was the end of the day and time to judge Best In Show. The class winners came back into the ring to be judged - and it was up to Paul & I!! The competition was completely open and we couldn't decide until, in true Meggie Moo style, she decided to have a huge sloopy poo in the middle of the ring and judging!!! TOO MANY BURGERS!!! Poor Eleanor was mortified and on her hands and knees trying to scoop up the results. Paul & I sniggered amongst ourselves for a bit and said - It has to be Meg!! That's Meg all over. I'm old and I don't care!! So Meggie Moo won Best In Show. Reserve Best in Show was Wizi the Wonder Dog who came up all the way from Wales to support us.
And then it was all over and it was time to pack up for another year. Roz had once again taken it upon herself to keep the showground spotless and did all those jobs that folks really don't want to do. We swear she shed tears as the loos were collected and driven away - "we'll meet again, it was a pleasure to clean you"......
The support this year was absolutely amazing. People travelled from all over the country, from right down in Cornwall & Kent, from Wales, up to Up North and even Eire to support us. It was a truely amazing and extremely touching turnout. I'm sure I have probably forgotten something or someone, and if I have I apologise - its not personal. :) So thank you all one and all. We will see you next year!! Give your dogs a big hug from us both!!
Some pics links Ant's pics. Michael's pics. Penny's pics. Simon's pics.
If anyone has any pics of the day they would like to share, please let us know and I can add a link here - and please, please do let us know on the comments section here about your day at the show. :)
Much love to all!
Sarah & Paul
xxx
