What a wonderful day we had at our Rally, even though the weather was against us this year, we have had no summer to speak of so getting Mollcroft ready was a nightmare. For weeks coming up to the Rally David and I tried hard to get our grounds into some sort of order, but the land was so wet and sorting out our Paddock for parking became the topic of conversation - What will we do if the rain doesn't stop? - How can we cut down such wet grass? - Where will people park if we can't get it done? - it went on and on. Even the night before the Rally David was out in the Paddock cutting and chopping what he could until about 9.30pm, how we managed to get at least some of it done is beyond me.

Our Judge Liz Ballantine and her husband Alan came down from Scotland the day before the Rally and David went off to Luton Airport to pick them up, I am not quite sure what they expected would happen then, but I know that they worked tirelessly from the minute they arrived at Mollcroft on Saturday lunchtime until leaving for home on the Sunday night. They helped put Gazebos up, sort out a wasps nest (great), put the ring up nothing was too much trouble for them, in between of course making tea. A big thank you goes to Liz and Alan Ballantine, and I know they enjoyed their weekend as much I appreciated all their hard work.

On the weekend of the Rally I have some very old friends come to stay, they are Carmen and Leroy Jones and my Goddaughter Jessica, they don't own Samoyeds, but are always happy to help me in any way they can. Carmen knows that at some point I am going to be screaming about something or the other that is not going right and she just ignores me. I couldn't manage all that the Rally involves without their invaluable help and they work so hard for the Rescue on the day of the Rally, Carmen on the Tea Stall and Leroy doing anything he can, he is the one that always does the sausage race and he can usually be seen handing out the sausages to all the Sams entered. I think he secretly likes this job! I have already booked them for next year, ah. My other biggest helpers are Avis & Preston Haffenden, they work for months getting all the Goodies that are given out at the Rally, they pester Trades people to death and I am sure they get the Goodies for their pure persistence and the Traders must say "just give then the stuff or we won't get rid of them". Avis and Preston also bring their Gazebos, help put them up and generally never stop. They never cease to amaze me and without their help towards our Rally it wouldn't be the success it is.

The weatherman said that the weekend of the 29th August was going be good, but why do we listen to them. We got up early to rain, which meant we couldn't get the tables out for all the different stalls then at about 10am the rain stopped, so we all rushed about like headless chickens getting the Tea Stall up and running to put table cloths on the Cake Stall, attaching balloons to the Gazebos and showing off my newly acquired Rescue Banner. In the midst of all this I had to let my own dogs have a good run around Mollcroft as I knew they were going to have to be tethered all day, which they can't quite understand, it being their land and all but they were eventually put by their cages and all tied there so that they couldn't go walk-about through our Village (as they have been known to do in the past).

I was amazed at how many people and dogs turned up, although the weather wasn't too bad in the end, we just had a couple of small showers in the afternoon but at about 4.30pm the heavens opened but most people just carried on showing their dogs or buying from the Stalls rain or no rain, it was great to see. As always it is so good to see a lot of the Samoyeds I have re-homed looking happy and loved, and it is here that I have to apologise to anybody at the Rally that I didn't get a chance to speak to: Rally day for me is so busy I seem to be running around doing this and that, trying to get to see everyone but not always succeeding.

Watching some of the silly games we do with the Sams always makes me smile, you can see how much they enjoy their day and then to see them all with their Rosettes that they have won is just wonderful. It was, also, good to see so many Child Handlers entering, it's a shame we can't do this at Open Shows, but you have to put their names down beforehand.

Our Best in Rally went to a dog called Barphy, a 4yr old male, who had a terrible life before coming onto Rescue and he really enjoyed his day.

Rally day for me is hard work, but now when I sit back and think about the day I can only smile and at one point I was speaking to Penny Roberts who was wet through after the heavy rains and she said it to me "I love coming to the Rally because it is NOT a chore but so much FUN and her beloved Sams enjoy it so much". So you see it is not just for Rescue Sams but all Samoyeds who enjoy a good day out and I think next year some of you Show people should come along and see what fun it really is and why we do work so hard to make people realise that our beautiful breed consists of all sorts of Samoyeds, not always the best looking ones, but STILL Samoyeds needing love and good homes.

I want to thank all the people and Samoyeds who came to our Rally day and I hope they had as much fun and enjoyment as I did. I would now like to say a big thank you to the following people in no particular order:

Valerie Blewitt for her great work on the Tombola Stall, Olive Hampton & Lee Ross for coming to the Rally with the Samoyed Association Stall, Lee Tim & Loren for all their work on the day and beforehand, Betty East for her lovely cakes yet again, Mr & Mrs Cash for doing the Raffle for me, Mark & Trudy Coates for either manning the Barbecue or working on the Tea Stall, Carmen, Leroy & Jessica for all their help. Andy Fry for all his work on our Rescue Page. Avis & Preston what can I say, thank you never seems enough for all your help. My biggest thanks of course go to Liz & Alan Ballantine, our lovely Judge and Steward.

People have already asked when the next Rally will be and I hope it will be around the first weekend in August 2005. I look forward to seeing many more Association Members at the next Rally.

Best wishes to you all and your Sams and thank you to all the people who have taken on Rescue Samoyeds and given them the love they deserve.

Linda Brasier,
Chief Rescue Officer,
The Samoyed Association.