My daughter Debbie had booked the Friday afternoon off work and as I do not work Friday afternoons we had planned to leave for Barnwell before the start of the rush hour. By the time we had loaded the caravan and seen to the horses for the afternoon it was 5pm!! It was a very warm afternoon and the thing that kept us going on the journey was the thought of a visit to the pub which is situated behind the village hall in Barnwell. When we arrived at the camp site which was the field adjacent to the hall a number of members had already arrived and were well advanced with the setting up of their caravans and tents. Our awning had a mind of it’s own so it was 9pm before we could take the long walk of 100yds!!! (not into metres) for a drink and meal, only to find that everyone else had had the same idea!!. Jude and Sue came across to tell us that because of the forecast of a very hot weekend, it had been decided to hold the show in the hall on Saturday. On returning to the caravan about 11pm it had cooled down and I was almost chilly while walking the dogs for their late evening stroll.

I awoke about 7.30am on the Saturday and even without getting out of bed one knew it was hot! I walked the dogs while Debbie tidied the caravan and made tea. There was a breeze which made it feel pleasant and the first arrivals for the show were sorry that it was indoors, but as the morning wore on it was soon realised that it was a very sensible decision. From early on there was a fantastic smell of cooking coming from the kitchen in the hall where the Chezsam catering team of Cheryl, Paul, Marie and Cylie were providing a cooked breakfast and then went on to provide lunch. The hall had been nicely decorated with the displays that we use for the Discover Dogs stand these consist of bunting in the form small Norwegian Flags, a large Norwegian flag and laminated photos of Buhunds hanging on ribbon in the club colours. There was the sales table manned as usual by Shirley and Alf. They were very sorry that the new sweatshirts that had been ordered in time had not arrived. Several tables were necessary for the breed history which was very interesting, it consisted of books of all Buhunds who have won a CC with a copy of their pedigree and a book of all judges who have awarded a CC with their winners and B.O.B. There were also articles from newspapers on Buhunds, one provided by Alf was from an Indian newspaper many years ago, then right up to date with a paper giving details of a trip that Sue Sercombe was taking to Finland with her bitch Trelowen Fortynya for a hopeful mating. Debbie and I set up a table for the Raffle which had many fantastic prizes kindly donated by members. We also had a Guess the number of dog biscuits in the jar competition, the correct guess winning the biscuits. In aid of Buhund Rescue we ran a competition called the Doggy Adventure where the names of 33 breeds of dog had to be added to make sense of the story, a certain amount of poetic licence had to be allowed!! We ran this until noon on Sunday so that it could be done in spare minutes should there be any!!!

The Open Show started at 10am with Alf Dobson talking about the Rev Alec Watson who had sadly died earlier in the month. He had been connected with the breed for many years and judged them only last year at S.K.C. There was then a minutes silence for him before the show started. The judge for the show was Mr Kevin Young. He found his best in show in Cheryl’s D’Zimba, Reserve Best in Show and Best Opposite Sex was Jude’s Sky, R.B.D was June and Georges’ Bulabs Humes R.B.B Elizabeth’s Freia and Best Puppy was Platt & Taylor –Smith’s Rossfort Anna Purna. It was good to see Sarah Stonton back in the ring with Annie who won the not bred by exhibitor class. The show over, lunch was the order of the day, then a short break before the Special A.G.M which had been called in advance. There was discussion on the problems C list judges are having to become B list judges. Otherwise everything went through as the K.C had laid down. After the meeting we had just enough time to walk the dogs and have a wash and brush up in time to go back to the hall to prepare for the evening. The evening caterers were busy setting the round tables for the 47 guests. Cheryl, Marie and I organised a tombola for the evening with the many generously donated prizes. It was then time for the guests to arrive. They were given a "welcome drink" and at 7.30pm the meal was served. The 3 course meal finished Cheryl introduced her mystery speaker, Chris Chapman, who had been with us all day. Chris has owned Buhunds, was one time chairman of the club, and gives CC’s in the breed. She did not however talk about Buhunds but gave an amusing speech about her experiences judging in this country, Eire and Russia. Chris talked for some 35 minutes, then it was Jacquie Cobb’s turn assisted by Michael to stand on the stage, she gave out the Annual Awards for 1999. These are usually given out at the A.G.M but were held over this year for presentation at the dinner. This was good, as most recipients were there to receive them. Being in charge of the trophies is an onerous task having to collect all the results from the shows to work out the points. Jacquie had also made laminated cards for every trophy for the winning dogs name as well as the name of the trophy, these attractive cards can be kept long after the trophy has been returned. Chris Chapman also had kindly donated embroidered towels for the Best Dog, Best Bitch and Top Puppy for 1999. On receipt of a trophy for Trelowen Poykyl (Jack) Sue Sercombe said that he would not be seen in the ring again as he has been accepted as a Hearing Dog. We all wish him well and hope that he goes on to enrich someone’s life. I have not listed all the trophy winners as they are given separately. The awards finished, the talking and the dancing began and it was past midnight before the hall was finally dark everyone having turned in for the night, it was very warm and a fantastic full moon lit the 50yds or so walk to our caravan.

Sunday dawned even hotter as the breeze from the day before had dropped. A number of members had ordered breakfast from Chezam catering so again Cheryl and her team were on duty early, in spite of a late night. It was soon just before 10am and time to find Gail who was handing out instructions for the treasure hunt that she had arranged. There were clues to help us find the route, pictures to identify and a bag to collect items once we had sorted out the cryptic clues. Gail had visited the village some months ago to write the treasure hunt and checked it on Saturday afternoon with the help of my Okie, her own dogs having gone home with Ian to go to Newmarket Show the next day. I thought Okie might give me some signs of where Gail stopped to check !!! He and our other dogs were however much too keen on keeping cool by swimming in the stream which runs through the delightful village of Barnwell to be of any help!! It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning but to say it was hot is an understatement, by 11.30am most people were making there way back to the hall, some having been more successful than others. The one thing we all had in common was we were all very hot!! Cold drinks from Chezam helped (Some of the dogs had been brought back earlier by team members if they became too hot). When everyone was back it was time for the Heelwork to Music demonstration given by Janice Philpot and Trelowen Kesregna at Fullani better known as Fynn. When Janice offered to do the demonstration last year the one thing neither of us had anticipated was that it would be so hot, but as she had been practicing outside she decided that they could cope for a few minutes in the heat (Fynn had been resting in the cool, Janice having taken her Schipperkes on the treasure hunt). We all gathered round to watch a near faultless performance for some 5 minutes to the tune "In The Mood "made famous by Glenn Miller. Janice said she was no Mary Ray but the audience was very appreciative of her and Fynn's efforts. They have been competing in obedience for some years and Janice was able to receive the club Novice obedience trophy the evening before. This was the 2^nd year that she had won it. Fynn is full sister to Celia’s Jaudyn who has been in an obedience team at Crufts, so it must run in the family. The display over we all went back into the relative cool of the hall and the treasure hunt results. 1^st was Gay and Neil Angel, Chris Chapman and Elizabeth Coleopy, 2^nd Nancy Ashwell, Shirley and Alf Dobson, Jude Hearson and Sue Marsden equal with Maureen Beaton and the Ward Family, 4^th came Jacquie and Michael Cobb. A competition was also run by Jacquie where one had to list where over the country various breeds of sheep, pigs and horses came from, this occupied many over lunch the eventual winner was Hayley and 2^nd was Marie. Debbie also announced the winner of the Doggy Adventure, sharing 1^st place with 27 of the 33 breeds required were Chris Chapman and Cheryl, I do not think they shared notes as they had different breeds wrong!!! Debbie read the story as it should be allowing for poetic licence! I had wondered whether with the heat anyone would want to play games, but soon I was being asked where they would be and certainly the dogs all having a rest over lunch in the cool were all bright eyed and bushy tailed. I made the decision that the hall was the answer which because of the heat had been everyone’s base, with all the doors and windows open and the curtains drawn it was relatively cool considering the heat outside. To avoid the dogs slipping every game would be in walk (there were mats for the show but these were not suitable for the games). To start we had a down stay, I thought this would soon be over but I was wrong after 5 minutes with 6 dogs still in including to our surprise Debbie's Papillon expertly handled be Chris Chapman! I changed the game to the dog that went down last, being out, this soon provided a winner in Sendal showing his obedience training. Next we had the potato and spoon, we had so many willing participants that we had several heats for each game. One heat of the potato and spoon had to rewalk as there was some running!! Then musical sits, after which we had a break for a super demonstration given by Jacquie and Michael Cobb on training the Hearing Dogs ably assisted by Ch Knytshall Edith and Squirreldene Moondaisy. They showed how the dogs are first taught to react to a bell, by going to the handler, this can be the longest learning process, then with the door bell and the alarm clock they go to the sound. The only time they do not leave the handler is when it is the smoke alarm. I am sure most of you know that there are several Buhunds as hearing dogs and how involved Jacquie and Michael are with them. The demonstration over it was on with the races, the 11 legged, the eventual winners after several heats were Gay and Chris with Cider Apple and our Papillon, Gilbey. Then the fastest biscuit eater who without any doubt was Freia although we did nobble Cheryl’s Rottie by swopping the markies for an enormous bonio !!! In the last race, the sausage retrieve, I was amazed at how many sausages crossed the line whole!! The dogs were all winners in this one as they all got to keep the sausage. The winners in all the other races received a food prize courtesy of Pedigree Chum and the runners up won a smaller prize, everybody who attended the Millennium Weekend was awarded with a commemorative rosette. We finished as promised at 3pm giving those with a long journey time to get home that day. We had to pack up quickly as Debbie had a table for dinner booked for Father’s Day, David having stayed at home to look after his dog!! He will never know what a good weekend he missed, thank you all for coming and joining in and creating a super atmosphere all weekend. I hope you and your dogs had as good a time as we all did.