NewsSOCIAL16 August 2011 We are holding a club social gathering after training this Thursday, 18th August, at the Lime Kiln, which is 5 minutes up the road from the training arena, head towards Langport and it is on the right hand side. All members & their families are invited to attend. This is a good opportunity to meet one another, especially for new members to have a chat with the people they see on the other side of the arena, the trainers and club officials. There is no charge to attend as everyone will buy their own drinks/food.
SKITTLES & AGM16 August 2011 The club is holding a skittles evening at the Royal George at West Coker on Thursday 10th November, so there will be no training that night. Prior to skittles, we shall be holding the 2011 Annual General Meeting. A buffet will be provided, free of charge to members and £5 to members guests. We hope to see as many members as possible, and plan to organise car sharing to save fuel & allow you to have a drink. Full details will be emailed to all members shortly.
UKA NATIONALS WEEK14 August 2011 WOW !! What a fantastic week, in the boiling hot British Summer. For a small club, Yeovil Agility was extremely well represented. Sue Mosedale, Paula Tennyson, Gill & Rich Abbott, Sarah Dickinson, Kirsty Campbell, Claire Phillips, Lizzie Lang, Emma Waller, Sally Mildon & Judi Packett were competing on all or some of the days........... with some brilliant results. CONGRATULATIONS to all our members who succeeded in gaining many clear rounds & place rosettes during the week (A full list of results will follow) Several competitors took the opportunity to camp overnight at the show ground, relaxing & and chatting after the day's events whist consuming a well deserved wine, beer or cider. Gill & Rich indulged in the luxury of the Travel Lodge 5 minutes drive away, and found the Harvester next door very much to their liking. Highlight of the week was "The Nationals Competition" Any dog & handler gaining a UKA qualifying round during the previous 12 months was eligible to enter. The competition being held over 3 nights, with numbers being whittled down to the best 25 for round 2 and best 15 at each height for the Saturday Finale. Following the fantastic result of Sue & Fred, in finishing 3rd in the Maxi height in 2010, there was great interest from YAC members in entering this year. Sue & Fred, Gill & Sunny, Judi & Ned, Sarah & Izzy, Paula & Rollo and Lizzie with both Benjy & Kalli entered. The Tuesday course was very tricky and many competitors fell foul of the traps, but it was amazing watching our folk competing in the same ring as the real experts, several of whom represent England in world competitions. Qualification to round 2 was extremely difficult against such a field, and unfortunately only Sue & Fred and Gill & Sunny achieved this. So we all gathered together in ring side chairs again on the Thursday for round 2. The course seemed even harder, particularly for large fast dogs, who thought they knew where to go ahead of their owners, but the tricky judge had laid a minefield of traps ! This time Sue & Fred were just outside the top 25, so were on the shortlist as reserves for Saturday, but once again Gill & Sunny got around the course with only 5 faults + time faults. The small dog handlers do have an advantage as there are less competing at that height. Gill finished 11th without being eliminated, and surprisingly the best 4 eliminations were re-instated in the toy height to give a full 15 competitors for Saturday. Gill took care not to tire Sunny or herself out during the Saturday, competing in a morning steeplechase and an afternoon agility course just to get warmed up.......... hardly necessary in the Gloucestershire sun ! The Saturday course was by far the most difficult yet, and was spread over a massive amount of ground, with the longest course time we have ever seen. There was the daunting sight of 2 tunnel entrances side by side just after the see-saw, with the left hand one being on the correct course. HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Gill from all our club members, for completing the course, again with only 5 faults + a few time faults, which was sufficient to give her & Sunny 9th place ! Yes...... WOW ......What a fantastic week............and we are all looking forward to doing it again in 2012.
NEW TRAINING FIELD14 July 2011 The Committee have worked hard to secure a new field for training and practice purposes. It is situated alongside the camping field of The Masons Arms at Lower Odcombe. This will provide members with the benefit of training on grass as well as the all weather surface at WHW. The first class to be held at the field will be a 6 week obedience course, starting on Saturday 6th August at 10.00am. The first Beginners Agility course will start on Sunday 1st October. For more information about either of these please use the 'Contact Us' facility.
UKA NATIONALS WEEK14 July 2011 There will be no agility classes on Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th of July as most of the trainers and many members will be competing at this prestigious week long competition.
Dorset County Show21 March 2011 I am happy to say Dorset County Show have asked us back again for another year. With over 28,000 attending the show we have kind of got use to doing large displays now!
Dorset County Show08 September 2010
In the middle of August Yeovil Agility Club had the honour to be asked to provide Agility Displays and Public Have a Go sessions at the Dorset County Show at
We were given less than three weeks notice and as many of our members were either on holiday or away competing on that weekend it looked as though we were going to have to turn down the opportunity to play with our dogs for two whole days.
Our Club has in the past had friendly matches with two other Agility clubs, both used to giving displays, both based in
It was then a scramble to put everything into place, making sure everyone knew where to go, working out timings for the Displays and Have a Go's, and sorting a rota so that everyone had a chance to have a look around the show and spend some money. Then of course our senior instructor had the
We were all nervous when the time came, although we were used to performing in public none of us had done so at such a prestigious venue, but when we got started the nerves just melted away.
We have always found people en
When it came to the public Have a Go, we had a queue most of the time. Most people had their own pet dogs with them, but those who didn't were able to borrow one of our dogs to take around a simple course of jumps and a tunnel. Again, everyone en
We usually charge £1 for Have a Go, all of which goes to Charity, but the Show organisers wanted to provide it free of charge for the Show visitors and so promised to match the numbers we had Having a Go with the equivalent amount of money donated to charity. So over the two day period we raised £166 for charity.
Everyone who took part in the two day event had a great time, and we all hope to be invited to repeat the experience again next year. However, it wouldn't have been possible without the co-operation of the two Dorset clubs, so Thank You to Portland Dog Training Club and Chesil Bank Dog Training Club, and hope to meet up again next year at the Dorset County Show
The
I didn’t realise how many people were watching until I saw the photo's. We also had time to look around the various exhibits and there were a lot, we walked about 8 miles that day so we were tired when we returned home. I hope we are asked back next year if so please put are names down. Terry, Janette and Milou (I'll put your name down, because we have been asked back for 2011)
To view some of our other photograghs from the show please click on the following link:
|
Yeovil Agility Club
Agility For All
