Amazingly we have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity of holding our working tests, including the Area Finals, at 'Man of Ross', Andrew and Heather Jackson's large fruit farm near Ross on Wye. Throughout these many years, we have always got a warm and helpful reception. We were very pleased to have Andrew present the novice awards at mid-day, and to be joined by Heather who presented the open awards at the end of the day. Once again, the awards were sponsored by Skinners.
We were lucky with the weather, but only just. We started with sunny weather in the morning, but this deteriorated during the day, and we finished packing up just before torrential rain.
Our judges, Phil Bruton and Annie Wales took a card of 18 novices into a field of recently cut barley, where the straw still laid in rows, and lined out with Iris Wright - Steward of the Beat and Operator of the 2017 edition of her 'cunning plan' - walking in the centre orchestrating the retrieves, saluted by shot, and thrown by a dummy thrower off each end of the line. Communication between Iris and the throwers was by muted radios so that no-one except those three knew what to expect. This kept handlers, judges, stewards and even the gallery on their toes, when a shot 'bird' fell in their midst. The test is run on field trial lines and scored as such.
Commencing with straight forward retrieves in the first round where most dogs found their feet, apart from the odd run in, retrieve difficulties were increased in the second round with some behind the line and from both guns in quick succession. At the end of the second round, we had lost four dogs and, as is our practice for novices, we offer those who are out the chance of up to three retrieves so the dogs don't go home without the chance of that number of retrieves.
For the third round, ground game was included and a few 'rabbits' were shot plus we started to see a few low flying 'partridge' being downed. It could be seen already that the quality of shooting was very high with very few birds gone away. During the next two rounds, retrieves were of good standard but inevitably we lost more dogs before the judges called the end of the trial with six dogs standing. Everyone retrurned to base and judges and helpers were treated to an excellent buffet lunch, and the awards were presented, including a brand new trophy for the winner, the Lyanmoreshot trophy kindly presented by recently retired Jennie Dimmock.
Please see end of report for results and list of helpers.
In the afternoon, the 17 open dogs (a disappointing drop from the initial 28 entries) were taken to a slighly closer field again presenting rows of cut straw, lined out as in the morning, but retrieves were quickly more challenging, being mixtures of front, rear, off the end of the line, including ground game. It was soon obvious that we had dogs of a very high standard of competing, with some superb retrieves seen, such that at the start of the third round, we still had 14 dogs. However, the lengthening of the line at that point was the undoing of a number of dogs, First a two dog eye wipe, then a dog got itself out of the area when a second bird was shot some distance away, which proved too attractive for the dog. Retrieves continued, including some long blinds with the occasional dog being lost, until with five dogs remaining, the judges pulled stumps.
With tea and cake for all, the awards were soon presented, thanks given to landowners, judges and all those who gave up their time to perform the various tasks to allow competitors to enjoy their sport. No helpers, no sport!
Novice Results (photo above)
| Position | Name | Dog Breed/Sex | Dog Name |
|---|
| 1st |
Mr M Justice |
Lab D |
Pegmore Echo |
| 2nd |
Mr J Cornforth |
Lab B |
Roxhart Aqene |
| 3rd |
Mr T Dowman |
Lab D |
Gooseberry Hill Gus |
| 4th |
Mr J Cornforth |
Lab D |
Roxhart Teheya |
| COM |
Mr S Pullin |
Lab B |
Roxhart Tinka of Frizelwood |
| COM |
Mrs P Constantine |
Lab D |
Roxhart Red Rum |
Open Results (photo above)
| Position | Name | Dog Breed/Sex | Dog Name |
|---|
| 1st |
Mr J Cornforth |
Lab B |
Mucklehart Gracie |
| 2nd |
Mrs J Dimmock |
Lab D |
Millerise Leo at Lyanmoreshot |
| 3rd |
Mr R Stacey |
Lab D |
Somerset Barney |
| 4th |
Mrs L Pittaway |
Lab D |
Kestrelway Bertie |
| COM |
Mrs L Harris |
GR D |
Gortons Black Thorn Lad of Hawksthorn |
Helpers
| Steward of the Beat |
Iris Wright |
| Dog Steward |
Helen Cripps |
| Judges Stewards |
Linda Carse, Jill Justice, Ian Wilson |
| Throwers |
Dave Miller, Dave Godding, Matt Justice |
| Catering |
Alison Wilson |
| Test Organiser |
Dick Dimmock |
