Well the eagerly awaited day finally arrived with the Committee only able to set things up at the crack of dawn, at least it felt that way after a full day at National Terrier. With all hands to the pumps we managed it with about 15 minutes to spare but now with a multitude of exhibitors waiting in the (luckily) early morning sunshine outside.
The new venue was an unqualified success – Ok there might be a few things to iron out – but we believe that most people considered the move to Leigh Sports Centre to be a very positive one.
As for the show itself clockwork comes to mind; apart from a little confusion about there being a break in judging (or not) and the raffle being “secretly” drawn so that many prizes went un-claimed.
Also, we could do with some feed back on the provision of refreshments – there was a “café” upstairs run by the venue and I’m sure everyone was aware of the tea/coffee stall just off piste beyond the doors in the far corner; if you imbibed then you would have met Dave Heyes, stuck in there all day
A video essentially capturing the atmosphere of the show was taken by the Staffanatic team from France – Henri Boullault and Bruno Dumont, with a strong dose of the Arctic Monkeys – the link is:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwAGrZEg9Ew&sns=em
A great watch.
The judges on the day were Jim Devine (affix Lendevs) doing the Dogs and Bert Emmett (affix Elvinor) the Bitches
For their critiques with photos down to third place please click on the following link
http://northwestsbtclub.co.uk/nw-sbt-club/ch-show-2017/
And so to the winners the Dog CC went to a bewildered Stuart Breckell with his young home bred dog, only just in Junior, Chiswelstaff Let’s Dance
and the Bitch CC was awarded (from Post Grad) to Club member Dave McKimm’s Biggleswick Fifty Fifty.
Dave was somewhat overwhelmed to say the least (I’d say he was in a daze) whilst breeder Karen Thomas looked like she’d won the lottery, emotion was running very high, with husband Scott coolly looking on.
The dog went BOB, on the referee’s decision – John Farley, looking very much the part on the day and the Reserve BOB went to 50/50, referee not required for that one.
The Reserves went to Ian Houghton’s Dog, Ch Belterstaffs Ginger Joe from the Open class (Left with Ian) from Northern Ireland and the Bitch RCC went to Germany and Katie Weiss’ – Can’t Touch This Great ‘N Glory, placed second in Post Graduate behind the CC winner (right pictured with handler Dennis Weiss).
The Best Puppy was won by Wayne and Karon Jackson’s bitch Jackabyte Miss Moneypenny, (pictured left, with Bitch judge Bert Emmett) well done there, and finally Best Veteran went to Penny Funnell’s Ch Kewaunee Pocahontas for Powerpack, left.
As well as Dave McKimm’s tumultuous win (he got the bitch CC, you know) mention also needs to be made of other NW members doing well – James Ford (pictured right) & Lauren Williams in particular, who following on from obtaining the final JW points for their bitch Dajast Sweety for Jam’n Loz at National Terrier the previous day, they went one better by taking the Junior class at the NW – great stuff.
Another first prize winner was Nick Yorke (left), winning Post Graduate Dog with his dog Braunstaff Feel The Noise, well done, a good win.
And yet another First win for a North West member (literally in this case) – the Axe’s with their home bred young dog taking the Minor Puppy Dog class, a great thrill for the family at the dog’s first Ch show – pictured right
Incidentally, second place in this class was the Brady’s Calazde Black Hawk War, all the way from Swinton (this is in Manchester).
Other creditable second places were awarded to the Butlers with their bitch Joemikeste Play the Game from Yearling; the Mayren’s with another Joemikeste – Queen Of The Nile at Fergiestaffs from the Puppy bitch class and the Lewis’ with their dog Biggleswick Splash Of Ginge in Post Grad dog, this affix I’ve heard of before, don’t know where.
Not mentioned in this bit so far are the Ryans and Allsopps – so I’ll mention them now. Breaking off momentarily from the celebrations – see next item below – Bryn showing Rubericla Trailbreaker took second place in Junior dog: whilst Clare (left) was placed third in Junior bitch with litter sister Rubericla Little Elita One, then in Novice took the Red card.
There was a random spread of lower placings for other NW members, too many to mention here – just suffice to say we’re a Club with that winning mentality!! Always in the cards.
The Allsopps – Bryn & Julie, along with the Ryans – Clare and Eric, took the opportunity to re-mount Cloud 9 and re-live and celebrate their Crufts experience. Clare had baked the cake (left) and had arranged for the glass commemoration (right). For anyone who doesn’t know the dog Rubericla Trailbreaker (RBlue) was the Crufts 2017 BOB winner – owners the Allsopps, breeders the Ryans.
Congrats once again
Many, many thanks to all the exhibitors for a super entry – the experiment of holding our show on the same weekend as National Terrier has paid off to some extent – 70% of exhibitors (counting individual and partnerships as one exhibitor) entered at the NW had also been at National Terrier and virtually all long distance travellers, (including two young ladies from Russia) attended both shows, a special thanks to them.
This ringside shot (above) was taken at the awarding of the CC’s – quite a few people staying to the end and this one below was taken during the Open dog class
The spectator entry at our North West shows has always been tremendous and this show was no exception making for a terrific atmosphere ringside with the volume pumped up for the two CC winners – shock, surprise, whatever it was a fitting end to a great event.
Adding to the atmosphere was the stalls – Bev Harrison (left) and the SBT Annual (plus some of Jane Ropers stuff) and Patrick Enfield with his Stafford memorabilia including Martin Johnson’s vet bed and cleaning stuff..
Barbara Green and the rescue stall (right) – you can get some serious bargains here.
The Club stall (below) with heavily discounted Breed books and Club related stuff.
Finally, (well almost) we have to be very grateful to non committee individuals – in particular Jan Wilson (who stood down from Committee along with husband Ray at the recent AGM) and who spent the entire day nipping back and forth between the rings taking photos of the first three in every class, a very tiring day for Jan who then had to sort out and categorise the shots.
Ray wasn’t idle during proceedings either – he stood in for dog ring steward Steve Simpson after PG dog to the end of the show.
Lastly, Show Manager Alan Ramsden’s missus – Denise – helped out on the Club stall (right) – she also did the same at Crufts, thanks Denise.
Only having a short break meant an early finish for the show – by 3pm things were back to where we started in the morning with an empty hall. Meantime the judges and committee (and others) retired to the Toby Carvery (on the East Lancs) for a late lunch, a fitting end to a great day and for Elaine and myself a very busy weekend.
North West Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club 