04 May Spring Garden Party & B.A.D. 2022
The club’s twice yearly Bernese fun fix week-end went ahead as planned and despite a few problems a ‘good time was had by all’ as the saying goes, at our Spring Garden Party on Sunday 1st May, with many people taking advantage of the Bank Holiday Monday to stay on site for an extra day.p
Saturday – The BAD
This year the club staged its first KC Breed Appreciation Day (the unfortunately acronymed B.A.D.) on the day before.
For those who wondered what was going on these are a compulsory requirement of the Kennel Club for all breed clubs to stage at least once every 2 years as part of the Judges Education Programme (J.E.P.) Some of the elements are identical in this system to the previous Level 2 Advanced Judges system but there are differences in how they are applied in the overall system. This is a big undertaking due to the number of dogs and handlers and mentors and assessors needed to make it work and they all need feeding and thanking meaning, as an aside to everything else, around 70 people have to be catered for. The club would like to say a big thank you to all those who helped with the provision of the day whether with the catering or supplying a dog, or dogs, and handler. These days also need the help of many people in providing dogs and expertise as assessors and mentors, we are really grateful to everyone who travelled and gave up a few hours of their time to assist the development and assessment of our breed’s future judges – you have all earnt the right to ‘mumble’ about judges in the future!
Basically the day splits roughly into a morning of an educational presentation on the breed complimented by some hands on experience of live dogs. This is then followed by a multiple choice examination for most candidates and in the afternoon various levels of assessment and tests to pass for some or live mentoring for others.
Our big problem was that the on site electric supply had failed the previous evening and been off overnight and although it was restored in the morning it kept tripping out, disrupting the morning presentation and the catering. Eventually a temporary solution was found for the power to the projector and things proceeded more smoothly. After a cold night and a very frosty start, the day was gloriously sunny which seemed unlikely, to say the least, to those of us who had been on site all week, mostly freezing our proverbials preparing the venue.
As the breed’s BEC, (Breed Education CoOrdinator), Emily Green had the unenviable task of pulling all these people and dogs together so they were all in the right place at the right time. Most of the candidates were non breed specialists who have attended several of these events in other breeds and pleasingly, despite the problems, there seemed to be a general consensus that this was amongst the best they had been to and we received lots of complimentary feedback, so the day reflected well on the club and the breed.
So, well done Emily and everyone who helped out – especially those we had to rope in from other breeds who gave their time to handle dogs – you all did yourselves and the Bernese world proud.
Saturday Evening – Party Time
By Saturday evening the electricity board had attended and fixed the supply problem and the normal Pre-Garden Party Party was able to go ahead, albeit with the food unavoidably delayed by the earlier lack of oven electrical power until the problem was fixed. No one complained (thank you) and the food was eventually well received and Fiona Hallam’s entertainment passed the evening away under the marquee until well into darkness.
Sunday – Garden Party Day
In stark contrast to the day before Sunday dawned very damp and gloomy and then spent most of the day alternating either side of the line between light drizzle and just ‘damp in the air’. Our first poor weather Garden Party day for years and years did not seem to reduce the enjoyment of the day or the attendance which surprised us all after a slow start. The catering and club shops were very busy and, although not at their highest levels the main ring classes and the Puppy, Rescue and Veterans Parades were all well supported considering the gloomy setting of the day. Main ring compere Mark Avery was doing his best to keep things entertaining despite being hampered by not only the weather, but also microphone mobility problems, (possibly caused by the power issues the previous day), and being restricted to no more than a few yards from the PA system.
A massive amount of work takes place to get this event prepared and delivered and your committee would be absolutely stumped without the assistance of a number of partners, friends and other volunteers. Without this additional help this event would simply not take place in anything like its current successful form. No one is obliged to help, not even committee, so the fact so many people work so hard and for so long to help this event has to be recognised.
We would like to record a massive thank you to the following non committee volunteers, many of whom put in several long and intense days, and we really couldn’t have done it without them. There are a lot of exhausted people at the end of this event.
Owen Copeland
Andy Hallam
David Robertson
Jeanette Green
Ollie Jones
Katie Jones
Ashley Jones
Chelsea Hickling
Racquel Walker
Simon Brown
Travis Peter
Simon and Beverley Gould
Abbie Manix
Helen Thompson
Alison Cliff
Julie Wright
Cliff Mills
We are really grateful to all the above helpers and if you might like to help us in the future talk to Lianne when you book for the next one.
A extra special thanks to Owen Copeland and Simon Brown for their help with the power issues we encountered, we were really worried about the event for a while.
We also have to thank our main judges and officials on Sunday
- Jackie Yarker (Main ring judge)
- Sam Avery (Main ring steward)
- Jude Brendan and Dave (Character Assessment)
- Gill Culliford & helper (Good Citizens Dog Scheme)
- Chris Handley (Working Carts)
- Di Crawshaw (Working Carts)
- Sue Small & husband (Obedience judge & steward)
- Pauline Bullock (Decorated Carting judge)
- Alison Smith & partner (Agility judge & steward)
As an aside, further big congratulations to Di Crawshaw who has been recognised at work and invited to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. (Just can’t be as good as our Garden Party can it?!)
We also thank our sponsor Happy Dog who provided food bags for our main ring winners.
It wouldn’t be right to complete this section without a special mention for Lianne Marsden who pulls this huge event together every time and puts her heart and soul into it for well over a week. A few people have mentioned how smoothly it all goes but a few others are astute enough to realise that at times we are like the swan, perhaps serene and graceful on the surface but paddling like mad under the surface. Lianne keeps us all paddling in the right direction.
Finally a big thank you to everyone who made the effort to come and support our day, we were astonished at the turn out in the damp, murky weather and really grateful for the support and kind comments. We know these are becoming difficult times for everyone but to perhaps keep things in perspective we had a mother and daughter present who are refugees from Ukraine, who have lost everything but currently safely living with club members. To them the craziness of the Main ring must have seemed very surreal and even more detached from their world than it does to the rest of us.
PHOTOGRAPHS
A small number of photos can be found on this page, and a few more will appear, but as always all the photos from the day will be found on the club’s Smugmug photo gallery via this link. So for most events covered by a photograph there will be more photos in the gallery. This too will grow for a while so please keep returning to see more photos. Once opened you can look as presented by scrolling through with the arrows and clicking on any photo to see a larger version or set yourself a slide show running, just look for the play button (usually towards to top right on the opening screen). If you click on the larger photo next to the thumbnails you will then get a more full screen version and you can use the arrows to scroll through, there are options as to how to view things. Similarly, once playing a slideshow you can use the arrows to move things on a bit quicker if you want or just enjoy them passing by at their own pace.
We are especially grateful for additional photos included in this gallery from award winning photographer and Bernese owner Sue Blythe
More to come
Reports, photos and more comment will appear here as they become available so please keep returning as this page takes shape and do let us know about any gaps in the information as sections are completed. Some photos will appear here but there will also be the usual album of the week-end’s events available from here so if you have any photos of the week-end you’d like to share with everyone, especially of subjects or activities not already shown, please feel free to send them to web@bernese.co.uk
Overall Top Working Dog
Alongside all the fun and frolics there were several working activities taking place, namely Working Carts, Agility and Obedience. At the end of the day overall performance in all of these is looked at to produce an overall Working (BMD) Dog of the Day. This takes the best performance from each discipline giving 5 points for a 1st place, (4 for second etc), and adding them together to give a score. Things are usually very close and we have sometimes had to go to several levels of tie break decider practice. Today was no exception with just 2 points separating the top 3 dogs. After that today’s very worthy winner was, with a 1st, a 2nd and a 3rd place adding up to 12 points was Sandra Hallam with Fizz. A close second on 11 points was Keith Brown and Phina with a 1st, 2nd and a 4th making 11 points. In third place with two first places giving her 10 points each was Lesley Messih with Annie.
Overall Top Working Dog of the Day
Well done to everyone who took part in any of the Working activities proving yet again that our breed is trainable and capable of working. You just need to put some time in and get advice if you need it and it could be you in this photograph next time.
Decorated Carts
In the Main Ring our three Decorated Carting Classes were judged by Pauline Bullock.
For some these are a real highlight of the day especially the themed class where imaginations can really run wild as the owners interpret the given theme. This year’s ’70s Music’ did not disappoint with the usual fantastic visual treat for us all to enjoy and we thank the entrants for the time and effort put in to amaze us and brighten up our day..
This is Pauline’s Judging report with some photos added in.
Swiss theme
Decorated cart, fancy dress, theme 70s music
Best carting turnout
Character Assessment and KC Good Citizens Scheme
A regular component of these days is the temperament and behaviour assessing of these two ‘tests’ which anyone is able to book places for. We have independent assessors from outside the breed and as the club’s Code of Ethics recommends Character Assessment for all breeding dogs we make this available at these two club events every year. Our regular character assessor is Jude Brendon and we are really grateful for the time given up by Jude to come to our Garden Parties.
Delighted to report that all the dogs tested today were graded as Excellent as below
Character Assessments EXCELLENTCherly Sokel with Cleo ( Kernow Blue Mist)Abbie Manix with Forbes (Waldershelf Fame N’ Fortune)Abbie Manix with Nero (Faithful Nero My Buddy at Northshore)Lucia & Alan Atkinson with Lottie (Amanda z Labskeho zatisi at Waldershelf (Imp Cze))Peter Romanov with Enya (Vellbern You Crazy Diamond with Waldershelf)Emily Green with Betty (Entlebucher Mountain Dog – Top Notch z Zamkowego Grade (Imp Pol))
Good Citizens BRONZEAbbie Manix with NeroAbbie Manix with ForbesCarol Davis with TillyGeoffrey Stelmach with BertGeoffrey Stelmach with DenzilDebbie Buck with LyraDebbie Buck with BranLouise Wood with NelliJulie Le Marguand with Bramble
MAIN RING
A big thank you for asking me to judge the novelty classes, it was a lovely day, despite the drizzly rain, all the dogs were adorable, and I have to say judging was not an easy task!
Most Handsome Dog
Prettiest Bitch
Dog with the Most Appealing Eyes
Best Smile
Dog the Judge Would Like to Take Home
Waggiest Tail
Dog Most Like ‘its’ Owner
Junior Handling 6 – 11 years
Junior Handling 12 – 16 years
Best Bad Hair Day
Best Condition
Best Brace or Trio
Best Hello – Paw Shake or Cuddle
Parades
As mentioned above the numbers were a bit down in all three of the parades this year but all the dogs were given a warm reception as Mark urged people to warm their hands up!
Puppy Parade
Rescue Parade
Veterans Parade
Carting Demonstration
At lunch time in the Main ring there was a working cart demonstration presented by Di Crawshaw and Chris Handley assisted by a whole group of carters each representing a different stage of Training.
Like most other activities of the day, there are more photos of this in the Photo gallery for this event.
Working Cart Classes
These were judged by Di Crawshaw and Chris Handley alternating the duties.
Beginners
1st Carrick with Di Crawshaw
2nd Lexi with Simon Gould
3rd Helga with Pauline Bullock
Intermediate
1st Shadow with Debbie Morgan
2nd Fizz with Sandra Hallam
3rd Rosie with Elaine Spalding
4th Bramble with Andy Smith
Advanced
1st Torin with Di Crawshaw
Advanced Medals
1st Norman with Chris Handley
2nd Phina with Keith Brown
OBEDIENCE
We are very grateful to Sue Small, aided by her husband, who stood in at short notice to cover a sudden unavailability. We frequently struggle to find Obedience judges for this event apparently due to its timing in the Obedience calendar so, if you, or anyone you know, could be able, willing and available to help us out in the future please talk to Lianne or Karen.
Have A Go
1st Shadow with Danielle Clough
2nd Rosie with Elaine Balding
Triers
1st Annie with Lesley Messih
2nd Indie with Sherry Round
3rd Tilly with Carol Davis
4th Shadow with Danielle Clough
5th Trio with Keith Brown
Future Stars
1st Fizz with Sandra Hallam
2nd Tilly with Carol Davis
3rd Spirit with Yvonne Clough
4th Phina with Keith Brown
5th Indie with Sherry Round
Open
1st Delta with Sue Brown
2nd Indi with Sue Brown
Agility
The club provides an agility set up for members to experience this activity with their dogs. We don’t claim to be a serious agility breed but we are a mobile working breed and can still have fun having a go and with low level, perhaps not too serious, competitions. We are very grateful to the agility enthusiasts from outside our breed, who turn up to coach, instruct and judge our agility dogs. The general format is the course is open during the morning for supervised practice and advice and then the competition run after lunch.
This event saw the turn of Alison Smith and her partner to set up and manage the agility for the day and we hope they had a pleasant day with our breed and owners despite the conditions.
Beginners
1st Annie with Lesley Messih
2nd Mayba with Ina
3rd Trio with Keith Brown
Novice
1st Phina with Keith Brown
2nd Mayba with Tai
3rd Fizz with Sandra Hallam
All Breeds
1st Delta with Sue Brown
2nd Indypom with Sue Brown
Fun & Games
At an appropriate time in the busy Main Ring schedule we hold a few sporting games overseen by our compere Mark and assistant Sam and anyone else who wants to help.
Biscuit Catching
Always popular with owners and the dogs alike!
1st Loki with Sofia Gatland
2nd Myah with Cindy Stephenson
3rd Belle with Katie Jones
4th Lulu with Elaine Worral and Ellie Rose Gillot
(Lots of joint fifths!)
Musical Sitz
This is the basic heel work version of musical chairs, you walk your dog around the ring until the music stops and then sit your dog and the last dog to sit down is eliminated each time. Always very well supported.
1st Marti with Bob Broadfield
2nd Belle with Katie Jones
3rd Mako with Lisa Broadfield
4th Nala Elaine Worrall and Ellie Rose Gillot
5th Phoebe with Barbara Peter
Markie and Spoon Race
The modern dog take on the old classic egg and spoon race but a lot less messy!
1st Lulu with Elaine Worrall and Ellie Rose Gillot
2nd Bramble with Henry Lemarquand
3rd Denzil with Andrew Lemarquand
4th Mako with Bob Broadfield
5th Peggy Sue with Malcolm Peter