1st Winner of Spaines Hall Cup – Garrethall Toddy – LRD – Aaron Wright
2nd Winner of Brettonsfield Trophy – Pinfeathers Daisy – LRB Colin Walpole
3rd Winner of Hassenbrook Cup – FtCh Brockaghs Forba LRD - Jim Collins
4th – Charmpark Fisher – LRD – Arthur Cook
CoM - Pinfeathers Excalibur – LRD - Callum Raywood
Flightline Trophy for Best Essex Entry - Garrethall Toddy – LRD – Aaron Wright
Our first test for the year was the Open Qualifier and the top four dogs then qualify to represent the Essex Area in the URC Area Finals which this year are being hosted by Southern Area and held in Isenhurst Sussex in July.
Bergholt Hall is a new venue for us with plenty of undulating ground and some woodland which all made for some tricky tests which were set by our stewards Mike Lawrence & Roy Tomlinson. The weather was kind to us, a nice dry day with warm sun. We were there by very kind permission of James Faulkner. Grateful thanks to Skinner’s dog food for their continued support.
Our judges for the day were Andrew Wright and Peter Fulcher. It was a long day and we are very grateful to them for giving their time. We are also extremely grateful to all our non commitee helpers , Gordon, David, Frank and Stephen for giving up their Sunday to help, along with our committee helpers, it is very much appreciated to have all this support.
The morning tests consisted of a double memory uphill, with one dummy landing into some dead docks and the other being fairly well straight ahead but if the dogs ran over it they disappeared over the brow of the hill. This proved more tricky than it looked and caugh some dogs and handlers out. The other test was a difficult to see mark which landed in an open grass area and once this was collected the dogs were sent back on a similar line but much deeper for a blind in the edge of some rough; this test also had a boggy area to go through first, up over a small bank and down into the meadow, which caused many dogs to stray either left or right requiring quite a lot of handling.
The afternoon saw two tests consisting of double blinds, one test in the woods without shot, which the majority of dogs all did quite effortlessly. The other double blind was much longer with a blind almost straight ahead but the dogs needed to ideally go through the gap in the hedge on a track out onto the field to then be handled to the right, the dogs which went through the hedge and ditch seemed to lose their line, the other retrieve was out to the right again taking a straight line, over a ditch and the dummy was placed short of the crops....these were preceded by two shots and the handlers had the option which retrieve to take first.
There was a two dog run-off for 1st place and a two dog run-off for 4th place. All the dogs had the same retrieve which was a long mark into some white grasses so they had to hunt for the dummy.
We finished the day with the customary scrummy cakes which were enjoyed with a cuppa and the raffle was drawn before the awards were presented.
It did become a long and epic day, so many thanks again to all involved with making the day run and also to all the competitors for their patience and for the majority whether succeeding or not politely staying to congratulate those in the awards and to thank everyone for making the day happen.