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Homefinders

NewsletterPublisher: Michele Perry Issue Number: 31 Date: Winter 2014

Hi everyone, my name is Michele Perry, and this is my fi rst issue as editor of the newsletter. I’ve been involved with Homefi nders for nearly 7 years, since we homed Bodell Blue in January 2008. Blue and I were regular Wednesday Walkers until last year,

when running my own business meant I couldn’t keep up the commitment. We have two rescue dogs now, Blue is nearly 13 and is our toothless wonder, and Jack is our 5 year old mischevious whippet!

I grew up with a gentle giant of a greyhound called Tony. We rescued him when I was 4, and he was with us until I was 16. My whole childhood! I didn’t even consider any other breed when it came to getting a dog of my own (and my husband didn’t stand a chance in picking another breed!). Blue came to work with me every day for the fi rst 2 years, a greyhound is the perfect offi ce dog, though teaching him to climb the stairs to the fi rst fl oor offi ce took some doing! I’ve been working from home the past 5 years, both dogs keep me company as I’m on my own all day.

I’ve been typesetting the newsletter with previous editors all this time, so when the position became vacant it seemed a natural step to take. I’m a graphic and web designer, so this is what I do for a living!

I’m looking forward to receiving all your news articles, photos and updates on your hounds.Please send me your stories for the Spring newsletter: michele_storer@hotmail.com I’ll try to include as many as I can.

Editor: michele_storer@hotmail.com 25 Vanguard Chase, Costessey, Norwich NR5 0UG

www.yarmouth-greyhound-homefi nders.co.uk Telephone: 0845 458 3797

Yarmouth Greyhound Homefi nders, a branch of the Retired Greyhound Trust Registered Charity No: 269668

Kennels situated at 51 Cromer Road, Hainford, NR10 3AU (on A140)and are Open from 10am until 2pm every day.

Notes from the New Editor House of Commons Reception Celebrating the work of the Retired Greyhound Trust

Tuesday 21st October 2014

Member of Parliament Andrew Rosindell, trustee of the British Greyhound Racing Fund, hosted an evening reception at the House of Commons to celebrate the work of the Retired Greyhound Trust (RGT).

Homefi nder’s Committee Chairman Stephen Franklin and his wife Pamela were invited to attend the reception. In these days of necessary heightened security, after queuing outside for 20 minutes, they entered the ‘airport type’ security check area, after clearing that, they were free to walk through the

public areas of the impressive building. On reaching the Churchill Rooms, where the reception was held, Pamela Franklin was happy to receive a much needed glass of warming red wine!

When all the guests had fi nally made it through security, the Retired Greyhound Trust’s Chairman Andrew Higgins introduced Andrew Rosindell MP who welcomed everyone and said how pleased he was to be able to host this reception, to mark the support those present give, to help ensure

Michele Continued on page 2...

One of Stephen Franklin’s photographs from the visit

Jack and Blue enjoying a frosty walk

How do you know when you’ve got too many greyhounds?

• When you have more grass in your driveway than in your back garden

• When your neighbours find ANY dog running loose and automatically bring it to you.

• When you want to watch TV and you have to sit on the floor because all of the furniture is “occupied”.

• When it takes longer to wash your dogs’ dishes than your own.

• When you have to run an obstacle course to get to the phone.

• When you NEVER go anywhere for a holiday because it costs more to kennel your greyhounds than to go to Spain.

• When you can’t remember all your dogs’ names and just call them Baby and Pup-Pup.

• When you take your greyhounds for a walk in the park and people think it’s a dog show.

greyhounds go on to enjoy family life, after their racing careers are over.

Andrew Rosindell then invited Peter Laurie, RGT Chief Executive, to address the reception.

Peter Laurie said “with the numbers present, this event is obviously gaining in popularity. Whilst Europe divides opinion within this building, at the RGT Europe is seen as a hugely exciting greyhound re-homing opportunity. The pet owning culture is growing in Europe and so far this year 50 of our greyhounds have found loving homes through our partner organisations in France, the Czech Republic and Belgium. The RGT supply advice, equipment, promotional material, some funding and most importantly healthy greyhounds. This year the RGT had found 3,700 homes for greyhounds that have entered our care, with the focus on quality of homes we find.”

Peter Laurie went on to thank the RGT’s financial donors, the off-course Bookmakers, the British Greyhound Racing Fund, The Greyhound Board, BAGS, Petplan, Racing Post Greyhound TV, SIS and the Sky Sports team. In terms of raising both funds and the profile of the RGT, the Fall For Hounds sky dive, organised by Julie Collier, was wonderful. The event raised over £100,000 for the RGT. Those of you who read the Autumn edition of this newsletter will be aware that Yarmouth Greyhound Trainer Mel Shields made the jump, raising £1,700, which all came to Homefinders.

Peter Laurie ended his address with a reminder that next year is the 40th Anniversary of the RGT, and looked forward to some special celebrations.

At the podium Peter Laurie addressing the guests, on the left Andrew Rosindell MP, in the middle the Retired Greyhound Trust’s Chairman Andrew Higgins

Peter Laurie to leave the Retired Greyhound Trust

Just a week after his address to the House of Commons reception, the news broke that after five years with the Greyhound Board and three and a half years at the RGT, Peter Laurie had been ‘head hunted’ and was to become Director of Operations for Battersea Dogs Home. Laurie will leave the RGT on 22nd January 2015. He said “it was a difficult decision but I didn’t want to be seen as purely a ‘greyhound man’, much as I will always love the breed”.

An appointments committee will meet in December, to interview candidates, to replace Laurie.

Continued from page 1

CO-ORDINATOR’S BITIt’s hard to believe Christmas is just round the corner and 2014 is drawing to a close. Is it age which makes the time fly by so quickly? This year has been a fantastic success with, to date, 129 greyhounds finding their forever homes. Already this is a record number for us of those finding homes and six weeks to go before the end of the year.

Christmas will soon be upon us, time to hope Santa remembers to visit our lovely hounds who’ve all been very good! Donations of treats, toys etc. will be most welcome.

Throughout the year we have been out and about with the Homefinders stall from vet’s open days, fetes, carnivals, dog shows and even a Beer Festival! To everyone who’s supported us ‘Thank You’ especially for Simon Pimble for driving the van to venues and Lisa for giving up nearly every weekend to pack up the van ready for the next event. If anyone knows of events in their locality in 2015 that would allow us to come please let me know with contact details. As you see from our homing figures for this year it is very worthwhile to raise our profile.

One of the highlights of the year was the first visit of Peter Laurie, Chief Executive of the RGT. He was most impressed with all we do. Was it something we said, Peter? We have just heard he is leaving at the end of January to take up a position with Battersea Dogs’ home. We wish him good luck in his new role.

Our Christmas Fayre is on December 13th at Taverham Village Hall from 1pm-4pm. Dogs are welcome but please try to keep them on the rubber mats that Broadland Dog Training Club have kindly lent to us. All donations for raffle, tombola, cakes etc. are very welcome.

Unfortunately our Quiz night had to be cancelled due to lack of support. In hindsight it wasn’t a very good night due to the excessive number of firework displays around that time. We are rebooking it for late February so watch for the date and start swatting up with your teams!

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a happy 2015, thank you for all your support throughout the year.

Corinne

Dogs homed since last Newsletter

Mount joy Hawk (Hawk), Tina hue Harvey (Harvey), Melgin Kate (Kate), Winword Pudsy (Pudsy), Droopys Aura (Aura), Bold Butch (Butch), Dave’s Choice (Dave), Tagalong Xavi (Xavi), Salem’s Sabrina (Beanie), Kiln Venga (Pip), Bridge Bandit (Bandit), Reference Point (Jessie), Dommies Blue (Bluebell), Araglen Rob (Button), Ardera Nelson (Nelson), Pookies Madame (Peppa), Blonde Sid (Sidney), Artistic Talent (Danny), Benkaat Blue (Falcon), Ard Boiled Egg (Missy), Turbo Baritone (Monty), Ollie Blue (Ollie), Perfect Dancer(Zak), Maine Andoe (Charlie), Minor Fifteen (Suzy), Montis Rambo (Rambo), Droopys Rachel (Rachel), Riverside Pluto (Pluto), Strike Action(Doug), Vigorous Adele (Adele), Take Jo (Joe), Protaras (Charlie), Saffrons Dream (Saffy), Ille More (Moira), Rodun Rose(Rose).

Sadly gone to the Rainbow Bridge

Tylers Lass (Lucia), Constant Sorrow (Connie), Pillar Rock (Rocky), Bourne Masons (Mason), Inmokilly Sue (Sue), Biltan Copper (Copper).

Sponsor our kennel - an ideal Christmas gift!Would you like to sponsor our kennel block as a Christmas gift? We have now set up a standing order form for anyone who wishes to donate a monthly amount (from only £1) to Homefinders. This is another way of helping our lovely greyhounds and will be of great help to us. Simply complete the form and send it to: Lisa Pimble, 77 St Benets Road, Stalham, Norwich, Norfolk, NR12 9DW.

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If you are sponsoring as a gift for someone else also provide their details.

Open Kennel and Auction Sunday 12th October Open kennel Sundays at the Hainford kennels are always popular, none more so than the October ‘Auction Sunday’. Co-ordinator Corinne Douglas roped in her predecessor David Jones to wield the gavel, whilst she displayed the lots.

Undoubted ‘Star Lot’ of the auction was the quilt featuring material greyhound images, all hand made by Maureen Jones. Bidding was very keen, David Jones eventually bringing the ‘hammer down’ at £160.

An interesting variety of stalls proved as popular as ever, again on her stall, Maureen Jones’ handmade cushions, featuring appliquéd greyhound cut outs, sold quickly.

The all important Tea, coffee and cake stall, provided everyone with a welcome respite.

When a tired but happy Corinne Douglas got home and counted the takings and donations, as well as proving a fun day, over £2000 was raised for Homefinders.

Photographs by Stephen Franklin

1. The car park fills up

2. A Popular David French Picture

3. The Auction is Underway

4. Auctioneer David Jones draws in the bidders

5. The Stalls are always popular

6 Maureen Jones’ Hand Made Dolls, Dogs and Cushions

7 The Star Lot

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Greyhound Updates

Camberwell Jack (Trigger)

On the 19th December this gorgeous hound will have been with us for 5 years. He is as nutty as they come, has got cheekier and more confident with each year. The size of a Shetland pony, Trigger is such a lovable, gentle giant.

After he chose us on a visit to Hainford, we eagerly

got ready for his arrival, even putting up the Christmas tree and decorations before we went to collect him, so he wouldn’t be upset by his new environment being changed again within a week of his moving in.

He paced the floor, laid down in the hall by the front door a lot, cried like a baby if he was the ‘wrong’ side of any closed doors and could not be left alone for weeks after he arrived. He soon worked out that getting in the car meant staying with us and would happily curl up in the boot while ‘her indoors’ did supermarket shopping at lightning speed – just as well it was winter.

The weeks flew by and became months, with Trigger slowly learning that we would come back and would pile his duvet into a nest somewhere in the house snoozing quite happily at last. Even now, we have some separation issues when he is left with other members of the family, he is such a baby and needs to know where ‘his’ human is all the time (well when he’s awake that is!)

So here he is, five years on much greyer than he was and with his 11th birthday creeping ever closer. Despite arthritis in his lower spine he still moves really well and wants to play, we just can’t expect to be able to do long car journeys, long walks or lots of standing around anymore.

We would like to say a huge thank you to his trainer Mr Harry Richmond, as we know that he was reluctant to let Trigger go. We are so pleased that he did and we came along at just the right time to see those big soft eyes and a bendy nose following us along the line of kennels as we looked at the available dogs that day. So Harry your “great lazy lump” is happy and adored. We promise to take good care of him for the rest of his days.

Chris and Lynne Lilley

A Tale of Two Greys.

In May, 2012, we homed Ayamzababe, known as Babe, renamed Polly as I refused to stand in Catton yelling “Baaaaaaabe”.

She blossomed, lost her nervousness of other dogs thanks to the dog training classes that we attended week after week and showed a genuine affection for music. She would lie as close to the piano as was possible when I was working with singers, only occasionally showing criticism by stalking out if she felt that not enough effort was being made.

Her calm nature, her gentle quietness made fans wherever she went, most of all when she passed the assessment to become a Pets as Therapy dog, visiting stroke and brain acquired injury patients at Caroline House, part of Colman Hospital. Polly came everywhere with us, holidays, posh hotels (where she charmed the production team of the new Brad Pitt film, Fury, gathered for pre-production meetings in the Windsor hotel that we were staying at) nothing fazed her!

So how cruel a blow could it be, after only two and a half years of loving this wonderful girl, that she so quickly succumbed to a dreadful kidney infection which, despite her brave fight, claimed her life. I truly thought that we would never recover from the pain, we still cry when we talk about her and look at her photos. The agony was, and still can be, overwhelming.

And yet...a month after our awful loss, we had Peppa in our life! Jane Slocombe hit the nail firmly on the head when she said that Peppa would be Polly’s naughty little ‘sister’. They might look alike (although no relation) but that’s where any similiarity ends. She is mad as a box of frogs, loves thieving anything that’s not tied down, has the waggiest tail in the world and is the kissiest dog ever born.

As Clive says, she clearly ignored the hand over notes that Polly would surely have left and is making her own way of charming us and winning our hearts. Yes, we thought our hearts would never mend but you know what? Peppa seems to have the magic touch to heal. Our darling girls; our darling, darling girls. Thank you both.

Ros Swetman

Peppa Polly

IN MEMORIUMDear Michele

Just to let you know having spent over 8 yrs going for walks and spending time with my trusted friend and companion Pillar Rock (Rocky) it is with great sadness that, at the age of 12, I inform you he has taken his last walk over rainbow bridge. Rocky I would like to thank you for all the times we shared together, the love and affection you gave me was second to none, coming to greet me with a wagging tail on my arrival from work.

I remember when we first brought you to your new home how you cried at night keeping everyone awake, how I slept with you down stairs until you settled in and got used to your new surroundings, the fun we had out walking. So I write this with a broken heart, you,were my Rock my Pillar Rock, I have fond memories of our time together you will be sadly missed, but never forgotten. Thank you for bringing joy and happiness into our lives.

God Bless R.I.P. Dennis, Vicky and Jason XXX

Letters to the editorHello Michele

Thought you may like to see a recent photo of our beloved Katie (Bandicoot Kiki).

She had just been tucked up

for the night by her lovely “Uncle Chris” who had spent a good half an hour on the floor with her. She didn’t think much of the fact that he had the cheek to leave her so she was questioning why he was leaving her!

She is a gem and so easy to live with. She enjoys her retirement and so do we!

Kindest, Sally and Harry Hawkins

Dear all Homefinders followers

THANK YOU

I would like to say a public thank you to a lovely lady called Marjory Arnold. In 2010 Marjory took on a 10 year old dog called Don (Oklahoma Don) who desperately needed a home. At that time Marjory was 89 years young. When Don passed away at 12 years of age Marjory asked for another dog and did us a huge favour by taking on Copper (Biltan Coppertop)

who was 11 years old. Copper has just passed away aged 14 years and a month having had fantastic last years with Marjory who is now 94 years and still going well. Marjory said to me “I have just lost my best friend”. Don, Copper and the Homefinders team owe Marjory much gratitude and we wish her well for the future.

David Jones

Hi Michele,

I am writing to ask you to spread the word around, through facebook and the newsletter about the things I am bringing to the open day on 12th December for people to buy.

As before I have made a Christmas cake, which my neighbour will ice for me. She was a professional cake decorator. For the cake I soak the fruit in half a litre

of brandy for about a week, before making the cake so it is definitely not dry ! There will also be other things to buy, such as boxes of crackers, tins of biscuits and shortbread. Tubs of chocolates, Christmas stockings from Clintons. I have also made some cranberry jewelled mincemeat, which also has fruits soaked in brandy as well as apricots and cranberries. I have not forgotten the hounds, with Christmas soft toys and dog treats.

So hopefully it will encourage people to come along and treat themselves.

I will bring the things along the week before as usual.

Best wishes from Gill and Jubbly xx

They cost £8.00 and are available from the Kennels and the Stadium. If you can’t get to either venue, phone Corinne on the Homefi nders number (0845 458 3797)she will post a copy out, for an additional £2.00 to cover P&P.

The calendars are full of beautiful photos of some of the dogs rehomed this year, all taken by the very talented Molly Paul. All proceeds go to the Homefi nders funds.

Order your copy today!

January

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayNew Year’s Day

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Monday Tuesday Wednesday ThursdayNew Year’s Day

Yarmouth Greyhound Homefinders

Calendar 2015

with Special Events Dates for the Year

www.yarmouthgreyhoundhomefinders.co.uk

Tel: 0845 458 3797 Registered Charity No: 269668

Photographs by Molly Paul

www.yarmouth-greyhound-homefinders.co.uk

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www.yarmouth-greyhound-homefinders.co.uk

Easter Monday

Good Friday

Easter Sunday

Spring Walk Wolterton Park

Christmas Fayre

December 13th, Taverham Village Hall from 1pm - 4pm

Dogs are welcome but please try to keep them on the rubber mats that Broadland Dog Training Club have kindly lentto us.

All donations for raffl e, tombola, cakes etc. arevery welcome.

Spotted! - Greyhounds in architectureAt Huntingfi eld Church in Suffolk, the architecture incorporates an extraordinary number of greyhounds.

Greyhounds are part of the arms of the Vanneck family, formerly of Heveningham Hall (c1780) nearby, which explains their presence in the church.

On the wall, a painted hatchment of the Vanneck family shows two stylised rampant greyhounds. In the chancel, there some handsome and rather aloof carved greyhound pew ends. Externally, some lovely friendly-looking stone greyhounds act as guardians and gargoyles on the Vanneck mausoleum. More greyhounds appear on the Huntingfi eld Arms pub sign.

Coincidentally, because the village is Huntingfi eld, there are some generic hound faces carved into stone window surrounds by the entrance to the church, which predate all the greyhounds.

It’s enough to make you believe in dog! - Juliet Blaxland

Have you got your Homefi nders 2015 Calendar yet?

Also Spotted!

Spotted by our editor on a recent visit to London. This hound adorns a monument just inside Green Park, on the way to Buckingham Palace!

If you spot any greyhounds on your travels, take a photo and send it to:michele_storer@hotmail.com

Designed and Typeset by Michele of www.px2co.net Design for print and webPrinted by www.blackwellprint.co.uk

Homefi nders Autumn WalkThe Autumn walk, on Sunday 28th September, was along the Winterton Dunes, a national nature reserve of 109 hectares, returning via the beach. A really open area and ideal for the walk, with all the coastal erosion over the previous winter, you have to wonder how long this unique area will remain, if national funding isn’t forthcomingfor protective sea defences. Let’s hope we can enjoy another walk along the dunes, in future years.

Photographs by Stephen Franklin

A well earned drink.. Entering Winterton Valley

Setting Off!

The expanse of Winterton Dunes Latecomers catching up We met up at the beach car park