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The Rally this year marks the 95 th Anniversary of the Samoyed Association and it was good to hold one last Rally at Mollcroft to celebrate this milestone and what a wonderful day we had. My husband, David, had been very ill just before the rally and I did wonder about it going ahead, as it seemed ill health and bad weather were against us this year. We have had no summer to speak of and 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.
On the weekend of the Rally some very special friends come to stay, they are Carmen and Leroy Jones, and Christine Harewood. They don't own Samoyeds, but are always happy to help me in any way they can, and I thank them very much. A friend from Canada , Shirley, also came over for the Rally, she used to have Samoyeds but both have sadly passed away now. Friday started quite dry and we managed to get nearly all the gazebos up with lots of help. As you can imagine it gets quite hectic at Mollcroft. Andy Fry our web page/computer specialist and his friend, Dave, came on the Saturday evening and pitched up tents for the night so that he could get the microphone system working for the Sunday. Thanks Andy and Dave, much appreciated. Needless to say I had all these people to feed, which in itself is a nightmare but we got there in the end.
I couldn't manage all that the Rally involves without the invaluable help from many people and they work so hard for 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!. 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.
We got up early on the Sunday morning to a splattering of rain, but that soon stopped and we got on with getting all the stalls up and running, especially the Café. My eldest son, Darren and grandchildren, Holly & Isabella, arrived early to help as well. 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, as it is their land. My grandchildren do enter them into the fun classes, which they enjoy greatly.
Our Judge, Angela Danvers-Smith, and her husband, Terry, arrived in plenty of time and we were all hoping that the weather would hold out for us, which it did for the most part.
We didn't have as many dogs and people as we normally do, but I think this was all down to the weather and people not knowing if it would stay dry or not. I do know that all the people that did make it and support Rescue had a great day and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their generosity. It is always great to see the dogs and their humans having a great laugh in the fun classes, especially the water race and musical statues.
The Rally this year managed to raise over £1,500 and this will go towards looking after some of our more unfortunate Samoyeds.
We had some great stalls this year including the Spinning demonstration done by Hilary Hedderick; a lot of people were very interested to see the fur from our Sam's being spun. Also, at the rally was Diane Wilkes doing Microchipping and I thank her for taking the time to come and do this. My thanks to Dr Brian Catchpole who gave up his time to answer questions on Diabetes. Melanie & Neal who run our local pub for doing the Barbecue for us, all profits go to Rescue. Thank you so much.
Other people I must thank, in no particular order: Margaret and Colin Brookes who did the grooming demonstration, Sally Smith doing the tombola, Lee and Anita manning the Association Stall, Marianne and family doing the Rescue Stall with the help of Diana. Leah Ivory, car parking duty and helping Carmen on the Café. Many thanks to Hazel and Bill Mylotte for the beautiful cake they had made for the rally. Terry and my granddaughter, Holly, for selling raffle tickets, super work! A big thanks to Adrian for collecting the tables and returning them. Keith and Angela Chambers, who helped put up some of the gazebos. Lastly, I would like to say a big thank you to our Judge, Angela, as it's never easy to judge Rescue dogs, especially when their stories can be quite heartbreaking, so well done Angela.
I want to thank all the people, Samoyeds and other breeds who came to our Rally and I hope they had as much fun and enjoyment as I did and have done over the many years it has been held here. I hope you all have good memories of Rallies that we have held at Mollcroft but, unfortunately, this was the last one. My husband's health and our ages have to come first now, so it is with a sadness that we will no longer do a Rescue Rally here at our home.
If you have any stories about this rally or any of the previous ones then please write it down and send it to Angela to put in our Newsletter. People love to read about our lovely dogs.
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.