21/05: WYE BEAGLES DOG SHOW/AIR AMBULANCE

Yesterday David and I spent the day in a field in the grounds of Olantigh Towers, Wye, Kent.  This is the home of James and Jane Loudon, whose son, Alex Loudon, was famously dating Pippa Middleton (sister of Kate) until recently.   James Loudon is 'old money' and involved in lots of charitable works.  He is a huge supporter of the Air Ambulance Service.  This is the Drive and a Statue in the garden (photographed from the road outside)

Wye Beagles staged a public dog show which included a Kennel Club licenced Companion Dog Show and regional/national championship qualifiers for  Working Terriers & Lurchers.  There were also obedience classes, a novely scurry and Terrier racing plus a few 'funnies'  like waggiest tail, prettiest bitch, fastest bun eating dog etc.

David and I 'manned' the Air Ambulance stall at the Dog Show to help raise funds by selling novelty gifts and promoting the charity's lottery etc.   Although it didn't rain it was extremely windy and we were concerned about our little Gazebo and all the gifts blowing away. We didn't put it up to its full height and parked the car alongside to try to shield the Gazebo from some of the wind and thankfully the wind did drop a little by mid afternoon - but it was pretty cold.

I had plenty of opportunity to wander round to photograph the dogs and chat to people - I enjoy this kind of show where the dogs aren't all Pedigree and 'Best of Breed' - normal people/normal dogs - many of whom had interesting stories to tell.    Everybody loves the Air Ambulance so we didn't need to 'sell' it - most people know of somebody who has benefitted by its service (or are happy to contribute to keep the helicopter/medics flying in case they are ever in need of its services)

A huge thanks has to go to Alistair from Mallards Farm (close to where we live).   We often stop by the Farm shop to have a 'taster' of whatever seasonal fruit is on offer and to buy our fruit/veg.   Yesterday he donated several trays with punnets of the most delicious strawberries for us to sell at £1 punnet - proceeds going to Air Ambulance.   They were a huge success.    One chap who'd bought 2 punnets early in the day and gone home - drove back late afternoon to buy more but was out of luck as we sold out within a couple of hours. Read about Mallards Farm

Anyway, here are some photos of the lovely characters I met.

Sittingbourne Retired Greyhound Trust are always looking for good homes for retired dogs - He was such a big softie (loved being stroked/cuddled) and has a beautiful white spotted coat.   I'm sure it won't take long to find him a loving family home.

A couple of beautiful and very well behaved Shelties

This lovely man told us that he had always worked on farms but had a nasty accident in 1998 when he got tangled in a compost shredding machine.   Medics put him back together again but his lower face/jaw and left arm are held together with metal pins/plates and he has lots of scarring (thankfully he stopped short of showing them all to us) LOL.   He now works for two ladies, one of whom breeds Min Pins and the other runs a rescue kennel.    The lurcher shown here was recently found on the Romney Marshes - tied below water level and left to drown (!!!)  the other little dog is the result of his Affenpinscher (Monkey Dog) getting amorous with one of his bosses Min Pins .... funny looking little thing!

 and how cute is this little chap?

and this one:

Little Min Pin with attitude!

These two lovely characters are litter brothers .... not quite 'twins' though :-)

These are some of the Wye Beagles waiting for the huntsmen to take them into the ring to 'do their stuff'

and having fun in the ring

Tug of War (the dog won)!!

This Reggie who was watching the proceedings calmly looking very cute with one ear up and one down.  Unfortunately when he saw the camera he wanted to get closer so I lost the pose.  Somehow I managed to knock the camera setting from Autofocus to Manual focus so many of the pictures I took after this are fuzzy (I was soooooo annoyed when I realised but it was too late by then).

I have so many photos .... just another couple though as I need to crack on with some work!!

Some of the dogs weren't too sure about being in the limelight and needed reassurance from 'dad' 

and this final pic ... just because I think its 'cute'

 

Oh and I met up with the three lurchers shown in my last post (I photographed them a couple of years ago at a Fun Day at the Dogs Trust local to my home).    I think I said previously that they are  Mum and Daughters.    Its actually Mum (who is now 7) and son and daughter ... just to put the record straight.