How to join the URC
This section of the site is for new members or those gundog enthusiasts thinking of joining the club. Information is provided covering
- An introduction to the retriever breeds
- An introduction to the club activities, shows, tests, trials and training
- Information about joining the club and the forms needed
- How to contact the Area Secretaries
To help you decide which is area is best for you to join the areas are listed BELOW THE YELLOW BOX with a brief description and the most local postcodes to help you decide. When you have decided please look in the yellow box below which helps with the best person to contact.
---AREA INFORMATION---
BORDER COUNTIES AND COTSWOLD AREA
This area covers South Wales, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and parts of Worcestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset.
There are three training groups centred around Stroud, Mendip and Gloucester and training classes are held in and around these areas usually starting in April and finishing in August each year. Classes are held for puppies, beginners, novice, and advanced handlers and dogs. Each of the Groups presents Progress awards as appropriate. Contact details for these Groups can be found on the Border Counties & Cotswold Area section of the website.
Each summer, we plan to run Working Tests for Puppy, Special Puppy, Novice, Novice Dog Novice Handler, Intermediate, Open, and Veteran categories. Venues for the tests are spread throughout our region so that everyone has a chance to run their dogs locally from time to time. We also run a Water Training Day and, if possible, one other special event which could be a training day or an evening talk.
As with all the other Areas of the United Retriever Club, we take our turn at setting up the URC Field Trial every few years.
Border Counties is a friendly and welcoming Area and we hope that all our members enjoy our activities and the quality time with their dogs.
Local post codes are BA, BS, CF, GL, HR, LD, LL, NP, SA, SN, SY, TF, WR.
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AREA
The Bucks Area covers a significant area. We currently have members ranging from Surrey, W. Sussex, NW, West and SW London, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and parts of Hampshire.
Regular training takes place on the first Sunday of every month at Sunninghill Park starting at 10.15am for all levels from Puppy to Open. New members are always welcome. This area of land is part of the Crown Estate and it has a huge lake in the middle of it for water training. For directions see the Bucks Area ‘Activities’ section. click here to go there
Local post codes are GU, HA, HP, KT, OX, RG, SL, TW, UB, W, WD
ESSEX AREA
Although called Essex area, it does in fact also cover Suffolk, the majority of Norfolk, and parts of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and London that are not covered by other areas.
Training Classes
We usually have 6 training classes, starting in February and finishing in May. These are held on Sunday mornings. The classes are split into groups for puppy, novice and open abilities. We are also having a one off training event, details available in the Essex area section of the site as are the training class details.
The classes are held near Gt Leighs which is between Chelmsford and Braintree off the A131
Working Tests
We hold four working tests a year: Two open (one in sugar beet if possible) and two puppy (or special puppy), novice and veteran. The location varies each year, but the grounds are based around Chelmsford, Colchester, Halstead or Sudbury (Suffolk) areas.
Field Trials
In line with the other areas, we also host a Novice Trial every 3 years and an All Aged Trial every 9 years.
We also try to run an additional event, which in previous years has included sugar-beet training day, and a water training day.
Common post codes are AL, CB, CM, CO, E, EN, IG, IP, N, NR, NW, RM, SG, SS, WC
HAMPSHIRE AND SOUTH WEST AREA
Hants and South West Area covers Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. Our training however tends to be located centrally within the region. Evening sessions are usually split between two sites: one in Dorset, the other Wiltshire. We aim to provide a varied but progressive training base for all ages and abilities.
In addition to our regular evening sessions, we hope to put on two or three training days. Depending on the locations, these offer different, ground specific, challenges: hills, water, woodland etc. Further details will be published on the Hants and Southwest Area training page of the URC website.
We organise working tests each year, looking to cater for dogs at all stages: Puppy, Special puppies, Novice dog/Novice handler, Novice, Intermediate, Open, Veteran dogs and Junior handlers. Locations will vary.
We also host Novice and All Aged Field Trials on a rotational basis with the other areas.
Local post codes are BH, DT, EX, PL, PO, SO, SP, TA, TQ, TR
LINCOLNSHIRE AREA
Most of the members of the Lincolnshire Area live in Lincolnshire, though we have several members who live in neighbouring counties, close to the border with Lincs.
Each year we run training and informal match days, usually on Saturdays. In the morning, there are three or four training groups and, in the afternoon, we have a number of tests reflecting the morning’s themes and preparing members for competitions.
We organise five working tests: novice, open, puppy and junior handler and veteran, novice walked up and open walked up. As with the training days, we hold the tests at various venues around the county
local post codes are HU, LN, NG, DN, PE
MIDLAND AREA
The Midland Area runs from north Worcestershire to Peterborough and from Loughborough down to Milton Keynes..
Our events are mainly held from Derbyshire in the north down through Leicestershire and Rutland to Northamptonshire and are easily accessible from the M1, M6, A14 , and A5.
Postcodes have seemed to work, in the past-some new members want to belong to a particular area.
Our events and training are not set in stone as it depends what grounds we get and what help is available.
Over the last few years we have run puppy/beginner training which I have taken at Cottesbrooke/Guilsborough approx 10 miles from Northampton/Market Harborough/Rugby/Daventry and Novice at Cottesbrooke which Laura Marsh has kindly taken but she is not on the committee and is Field Trial Sec for Coventry so we cannot guarantee she will go on doing it. Training in the northern end has not taken off as there is already training by Midland Gundog, Coventry, East Midlands and Dove Valley besides lots of individual trainers!
We usually run a walked up training day on cold game in August in the Lichfield area, some years we run a novice training day in the Spring either near Rugby or Northampton, some years we run a Novice or Open Cold Game test this has been near Kettering / near Burton on Trent
Most years we run an Open and Intermediate test this has been near Shepshed/near Market Harborough/near Markfield. We run Puppy, Novice dog/Novice handler and Veteran tests near Coalville. The AGM and committee meetings are at Burbage near Hinckley.
local postcodes are B, DE, DY, LE, LU, MK, NN, PE, ST,WS, WV
NORTH MIDLANDS AREA
The North Midlands Area serves Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire and adjacent areas. We also have some members in adjacent counties including Staffordshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and South Lancashire.
We have a great variety of training grounds and test venues. In Yorkshire and Derbyshire there are heather moors, steep hills, fast flowing rivers and stone walls to jump. In Nottinghamshire there is farmland with sugar beet fields, stubble & hedgerows, parkland with lakes and wide open spaces, or forest with woodland cover and wire fences to negotiate.
The Area usually organises 12 training sessions per annum with a small fee for each session attended. During the year the tests are held on 5 dates. A Puppy Test, Novice Test and Novice Handler test are held on the same day. There is also an Intermediate/ Novice Cold Game Test combined with a Veteran test. An Open Test is held in May, whereas there is an Open Cold Game Test walked up in September. At the end of the season there is a test day for training class members.
Members reside in any of the following postcodes : CH, CW, DN, HD, HX, LS, M, NG, OL, S, SK, YO, WA, WN
When you are happy with your choice this link takes you to the page where you can download the URC Joining Form, fill it in and post it to the Membership Secretary. There is also a Standing order mandate available to use if required on the same page.
NORTHERN AREA
The United Retriever Club Northern Area includes all the land from West and North Yorkshire and Lancashire, right up to the northern most point of the British Isles. In addition, a few Northern Members, reside in parts of Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales.
The Northern Area covers a large part of Great Britain, and members from other areas who might be on holiday are very welcome to join training sessions; working and walked-up tests being hosted by the Northern Area, during their visit to “the North”. Likewise, when Members of the Northern Area are on holiday in other areas, they are made welcome where they happen to be at the time of that Area’s event. This feeling of being made welcome in all areas, as well as in one’s own, is what makes the United Retriever Club a good club of which to be a member.
The United Retriever Club Northern Area wishes its members to have the opportunity of working their dogs over a variety of different types of pastureland, woodland, water, etc. A programme of Working Tests; Walked-Up Tests and Training Sessions is created annually to encompass these different aspects of the countryside.
The venues to which we are fortunate to have access are as follows:
Naworth Castle which is in the area of Hadrian’s Wall and is where all the Earls of Carlisle have resided for many centuries, is an interesting venue and in addition to pastureland, contains a river and hillside covered in woodland.
Lazonby between Penrith and Carlisle also contains undulating land and water.
Shap in South Cumbria, between Penrith and The Lakes, is one of the highest areas in England and excellent for working tests, walked-up tests and training.
Winster near Lake Windermere in The Lakes of England has a good sized lake, surrounded by undulating land, woodland and bracken and was the area chosen to hold the United Retriever Club’s Inter Area Open Working Test Finals in 2011.
Claughton Hall in Lancashire also contains a smallish lake and undulating countryside.
Wolfen Hall north of Preston, is where excellent walked-up tests are held annually and has the added advantage of toilet facilities and a barn where members can enjoy a cup of tea and/or coffee.
Meols Hall in Churchtown near Southport, is the southern-most venue of the Northern Area and apart from not having any hills, contains all other aspects of the countryside required for enjoyable events of the Northern Area. At different times, in previous years, both Wolfen Hall and Meols Hall have hosted Novice Field Trials for the United Retriever Club.
Since the Northern Area was founded in 2003 and until recently, working tests and training sessions have been held in Southern Scotland. It is hoped that in the future, our membership in Scotland will increase to enable us to, once again, hold events in these areas and possibly, in the future, even further north in Scotland.
local post codes are AB, BB, BD, CA, DD, DG, DL, EH, FK, FY, G, IV, KA, KY, KW, LA, ML, NW, PA, PH, PR, SR, TD, TS
SOUTHERN AREA
Our membership covers Kent and Sussex, both East and West with some members in Surrey and a scattering from Essex. Training this year runs every two weeks from March and covers the same areas, from Cowfold to the west to Eastbourne in the east and up into Kent and Surrey too so venues within reach for everyone.
The beginning and end sessions will be on a weekend morning whilst the summer sessions when the light permits, are held on Thursday evenings. We will also have a Beginners Walk-up Day and an Experienced Walk-up day.
As far as Tests are concerned, we currently run 4 days, starting with a Novice with Puppy Award at the beginning of April, an Open Qualifier in May, Puppy & Novice in mid July, and Veteran and Novice Dog/ Novice Handler tests in the middle of August.
Finally we have an unclassified test for good Novice and Open dogs at the Crowborough Ploughing Match on the last Wednesday in September. We also invite members to attend team events on our behalf, some of which are fun and some prestigious; these may be Open dogs, or a mixed team event including Novice dog Novice handler, Novice and Open. “