The Samoyed Association celebrates its 85th Anniversary this year and it seemed fitting to try and make the Rally a bit special, which I hope we did. David and I were in New Zealand for 6 weeks and only came back on 12th July, so getting the grounds and parking facilities in place seemed to be a daunting task and, unfortunately, on our return we found that my Mother was seriously ill in hospital, so it really was touch and go whether the Rally would take place at all, but we decided that the one thing my Mother would not want was to cancel the Rally, as she loves the dogs as much as we do, so work commenced in trying to sort everything out. As usual Avis & Preston Haffenden and Carmen & Leroy Jones were there to help, for without them it would be impossible for David and I do it all, many thanks to them.

The day dawned with a sprinkling of rain in the air and I thought we were in for a wet day, but no, the weather turned out to be just as our Samoyeds would love, not too hot and not wet. About 100 Samoyeds turned up and at one point David said to me we can’t take anymore, the car park was full to over-bursting and there seemed to be people and dogs everywhere, but we managed and you could hear lots of laughter and barking from every direction.

This years Rally was dedicated to Cassie. She was 13/14yrs old and before she was re-homed her life had been terrible. Unfortunately, we lost Cassie the week before the Rally. Cassie had been re-homed with Cathy and Alan Care where she had the best year of her life being loved and looked after by two very special people. I made a board with all Cassie’s photos on and a little story about her and I hope everyone took the time to read it, as she had been a very special Samoyed. Cassie is what Rescue is all about, giving our beloved Samoyeds a chance to live a happy and loved life, what else can we ask.

Our Judge was Charlotte Craig (Samoravich) and she tells me that she had a wonderful day, even though it was so busy, I looked at her at one stage and thought she hasn’t stopped all day. Charlotte said to me she was so impressed by the condition and temperament of all the Samoyeds she judged, a big thanks to Charlotte and I hope she will remember the day for a long time to come, her winners of the day were.

Best in Rally Wills – 7yrs old
Runner-Up Nanook – 8½ yrs old
Best Bitch Angel – 9yrs old
Best in Match Bingley – 2yrs old
Best Puppy Boris –
Some of the Other Class Winners were:- Kaylie – 10yrs old
Gabbie – 9½ yrs old
Sammie - 10yrs old
Bella – 5yrs old
Casper – 7mth old

This year we had our favourite Stalls such as the Samoyed Association Stall, run by Olive & Lee, the Cake Stand run by our very own Betty East, Tombola being looked after by Val and Madeline, the Café selling all sorts of goodies and served by Carmen and her trusty helpers and of course we had our Barbecue run by Mark & Trudy Coates. Mark looked so hot at one point that I thought he was going to faint, a big thanks to Mark & Trudy. We also had a Raffle run by Phil & Amanda Cash. Lee, Tim & Loren’s Stall selling beautiful chocolate Samoyeds and lots more, Lee & Tim do work hard to help raise funds for Rescue and my thanks go to them. This year we had two new Stalls one organised by Andy and his Internet friends, where you could buy for the first time ever Samoyed Rescue Wrist Bands, I hope you all bought one, a big thanks to them for their support and hard work. Also, we had an Artist at the Rally called Frankie Coventry and I found her work to be really good, if anybody wants to contact her to do any work for you then please contact me and I will give you her details, in fact she sent me a beautiful pastel drawing of Cassie, which I have framed, she took the image off one of the photos I had up on the board of Cassie. So as you can see I have a lot of Thanks to say to people who give their time and energy in helping Rescue, not just on Rally day but all year long.

I did smile at one point in the proceeding to see my friend Carmen, who is not a dog owner, but a long standing friend of mine, showing a dog in the ring, I really did do a double take. She was showing Nanook for Debbie Emery, as Debbie is in a wheelchair and found it a little uneven on the grass so Carmen stood in for her, I can only guess what Charlotte the judge might have asked her, as Carmen would probably not have known what answer to give, well done Carmen. She even managed to get him placed Runner-up Best in Rally, she was so pleased standing there with her prizes, I have a great photo of this event and I will remind her of it from time to time.

I hope everyone that came to the Rally had a really good day out and could see what The Samoyed Association Rescue is all about. We managed to raise a staggering £1,274.93, which will go towards looking after our beautiful Samoyeds that have found themselves in need of loving care and treatment through no fault of their own. My thanks to the Committee Members that took time to come to the Rally and answer questions from people who have re-homed our Samoyeds and take part in some of our daft games, it really is good to see as many of you there as possible. I hope all of you that came noticed that we had a Microphone system this year, which made it a little easier to hear what was going on and the person I have to thank for that is Andy Fry who came early on the day of the Rally to set it all up, so a big thanks to Andy.

My thanks as always go to my husband, David, for putting up with my moods when I feel all is not going as I want. And finally a big thank you to everybody that supported the Rally day, especially all those who have taken on a Rescue Samoyed, I hope you get as much joy out of caring for a Samoyed as I know I do.

Linda Brasier,
Chief Rescue Officer,
The Samoyed Association.