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the standard of the facilities available at the 2020 will long be remembered as the year
venue. The 1978 show attracted an entry of
12,277 made by 9,087 dogs. 1995 saw the
celebration of the Society’s one-hundredth
anniversary which was marked by a Gala
Dinner and Dance on the evening prior to
the first day of the show. A commemorative
Spode plate was commissioned, and a host
of special prizes provided by the Society and
its generous sponsors were provided.
Many exhibitors will doubtless remember
the 1997 show, the second day of which
coincided with the funeral of Princess Diana
and was a day of national mourning. It was
decided to run the first day of the show on
Friday as normal but to then dismantle and
remove the benches to provide additional
ring space so that the second, and third
day’s competitions could run concurrently
on the Sunday. This required ingenuity and
team work on the part of the com-mittee and
their helpers. And it was only through their
determined efforts that abandonment of the
second day’s competition was avoided.
Ascot racecourse was closed In 2004 to
undergo redevelopment, at a cost of 220
million pounds, with re-opening of the facility
scheduled for June 2006. It was hoped that
the neces-sary move to an alternative venue
would be temporary and that the show would
return to As-cot following completion of the
redevelopment work. However, subsequent
events proved otherwise, and the show
has remained at Loseley Park located near
Guildford since 2004.
The 7 group winners of 2013 show in the BIS ring
K9 NEWS DIGITAL / OCTOBER 2020
of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact
on the holding of dogs shows with no
clear indication of when it will be possible
to resume shows and to what extent they
may need to be re-invented to comply with
acceptable standards of health and safety.
The Trustees, Officers and Committee
were hopeful that the early measures taken
to control exposure to Covid-19 would be
effective and transient and that the 2020
show would take place as planned. Sadly,
this was not the case, but we remain optimis-
tic that the situation will improve in the
coming months.
We are planning our 2021 show and will be
happy to hear from breed clubs who may
be con-sidering holding back-to-back shows
in conjunction with a general championship
show. Fur-ther information and contact details
are provided on the Society’s website at
https://richmonddogshow.org.uk. We also
have a dedicated Facebook page located at
https://www.facebook.com/richmonddss.
The Officers and Committee extend grateful
thanks to all our members, supporters and
commercial partners, and we wish you all
well and look forward to welcoming you at
our next show on
Friday 10th (Hound, Pastoral & Working)
Saturday 11th (Toy & Utility) and
Sunday 12th (Terrier & Gundog)
September 2021.
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