Page 49 - K9News_Issue12_July2020

The
The HoundHound AssociationAssociation
Founded in 1962 by a band of enthusiasts who
were, in the main, very interested in the functional
abilities of the Hound breeds. At that time many
breeds had adherents outside the ‘show’ scene.
As well as Greyhound racing we had the more
informal Whippet racing and lure chasing. There
were many hunt packs made up of the traditional
breeds such as Beagles, Foxhound, Harriers, Otter
and Bloodhounds and Bassets, etc. The French
‘Basset’ breeds had yet to catch on here.
In more recent years the Houndshow became
established at the Stafford County Showground
in Midsummer. The rings were outside and
contained within the pavilion paddock area and
the greater Main arena. On a sunny summer day
the showground was hard to beat. Tradition was
kept up by a magnificent parade of the hunt packs
with the mounted whippers in and the sound of
the hunting horn echoing around the upper part
of the grounds. With the ban on hunting this
parade became harder to organize and much
less financially viable to stage and was therefore,
reluctantly, dropped.
The committee which is made up of hound
exhibitor/judges are grass roots people who run the
show for the benefit of Hound exhibitors. With the
passing of some traditions, some innovation has
been taking place. Ever conscious of the passing of
time, new and younger committee members were
actively sought to carry on the voluntary committee
work.
The 2016 show gave all exhibitors a chance to
have their dogs assessed by overseas (in the main)
judges. This show certainly had an International
flavor. It proved very successful, in terms of entries,
and was considered a huge success for various
different reasons. Since then we have had a
change of date to mid-July, due to the pressures on
Stafford, which hasn’t been without its difficulties.
The plans for 2020 were all in place to utilize more
of the outer showgrounds where the lawns were
Photos: Alan V Walker & 2019 by Petalam
K9 NEWS DIGITAL / JULY 2020
more favourable for showing rather than the main
arena which is proving difficult to maintain.
No doubt we will take these new ring plans forward
to 2021 incorporating the recently finished Margaret
Everton building and associated paddock. For next
year we will also have a small raft of overseas
judges, (the K.C. having put a limit on numbers of
overseas judges) together with a well thought out
panel of UK judges using, where appropriate the
judges from the cancelled 2020 show. As an aside
All 2020 approved judges have been offered a
future appointment, either for ’21 or ’23. Most have
accepted.
Due to the cancellation of many 2020 Club shows,
the K.C. have advised breed clubs that their 2020
CC allocation can be run forward and added to
their 2021 allocation. The Hound Association
would be happy to host any breed shows who
want to take advantage of this situation. It is also
possible that the showground is available on
the 18th July, the day after our normal Saturday
show day, should any breed clubs want to
make a weekend event for their exhibitors. One
enterprising breed has already arranged a potential
weekend where 4 sets of CC’s will be available
for their breed. Should any other breed club be
interested please contact the writer on 01206
514952 or by email paul.singleton2@outlook.com .
There are plenty of dog friendly hotels within a
small radius of Stafford and of course we also have
the use of the Caravan site and facilities.
It is obvious that we are disappointed that our 2020
show has been cancelled, this has caused quite
a lot of work re arranging judges to future years.
The committee would appreciate all exhibitor and
judges support for the 2021 show. We want to
make it as special as possible. There will be a new
show layout, overeas judges, hosted back to back
breed shows and the potential for so much more
which is in the planning stages at the moment.
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