Recent and Forthcoming Events

Recent Events

Forthcoming Events (return to this list frequently please)

other dates will be added once they are confirmed

Minor Breeds 16th June 2024

Today saw NEFRA members representing our breed at the annual Minor Breeds Test

Our host was Lesley Morgan at Roan Lodge near Buxton.

Judges were Jane Fairclough, Sarah Middleton and Susan Rodgers.

Our winning team was made up of Garry Ellison, Helen Fox, Anne Haley and Sonya Jenkinson.

Individual winner was Garry Ellison with Ollersett Shimmering Nymph and Judge’s Choice was Anthony Ciraolo.

Event sponsors were YuMove, A K Gundog Accessories and Leads & Lanyards

Autumn Test 2024

RoanLodge Gundog Training Centre, Quarnford by kind permission of Ms Lesley Morgan. Our judges for the day were Mr Phil Smithies 2367, Mr Casper Jonsen & Mrs Theresa Jonsen. We would like to thank Lesley for hosting us at her fabulous ground and thankyou to our judes for giving up their day and their knowledge and experience for all our competors. Thank you to all that came to help, dummy throwers, stewards, cooks and everyone that helped make the day run so smooth.

Awards were as follows;
Special Puppy
1st Gary Ellison’s Ollersett Duchess
2nd Caroline Hewison’s Benvellyn Marakele into Casblaidd JW
3rd Julie Matthew’s Ollersett Nymph
4th Rochelle Richard’s Kimberfield in Love Again

Novice
1st Vivienne Gatter’s Larksease Black Bryony
COM 13 David Foster’s Kenynten Styx
COM 15 Helen Fox’s Satinbaze Cracksman for Blacktoft (ai) JW SGWC

Congratualtions to all in the awards and we hope you all had a great day.

Schedule can be found here.

Paper Entry form can be found here.

Training Day &WRA assessment

13th July

July Training and WRA Day

NEFRA hosted a Working Retriever Assessment (WRA) and training day yesterday at David Foster’s ground in Burton Salmon near Leeds.

Training for both beginner and novice dogs took place in the morning with the WRA taking place in the afternoon.

Two dogs successfully passed the assessment; Rochelle Richards with Hopevalley Morning River Through Kimberfield and Anne Haley with SkyBrook If By Chance. This was Rochelle’s third successful assessment which means she has completed the Novice level and has been awarded her novice working retriever certificate.

Huge thanks to Garry Ellison, trainer and assessor for the day and David Foster for the use of his amazing land.

Online form found here.

Paper Entry and schedule found here.

NEFRA Shared Venue Open and Championship Dog Shows – York

In a first for NEFRA we hosted two shows in one day at one venue.

Held at: The Exhibition Hall, York Auction Centre, York on 5th May 2024

Championship Show Judge Mrs Helen Fox ( Blacktoft)
Fully Marked-Up Catalogue.
Judge’s Critique

Open Show Judge Miss Abby Bellamy (Moontorn)
Fully Marked-Up Catalogue
Judge’s Critique

Our Championship Show major award winners were as follows:

Best In Show77 – Windyhollows English Holly at Llantrussa, (Mrs Ca & Mrs L Price & Nicholls)
Reserve Best In Show44 – Sh Ch Braemist Witches Fire, (Miss L S Jones)
Best Opposite Sex107 – Lizzlog Shotgun Harry JW (Mrs L Walker)
Best Puppy in Show101 – Levliann Big Bang, (Mrs L Varty-Lindsay)
Best Veteran in Show22 – Hoedun Alexandra of Denmark, (Mr P Dunnett)
Best Liver in Show103 – Levliann Waited for You, (Mrs L Varty-Lindsay)
Best Special Working in Show63 – Ronevorg Dark Angel at Lussac JW Kcwgc, (Mrs S May)
Dog Challenge Certificate107 – Lizzlog Shotgun Harry JW (Mrs L Walker)
Reserve Dog Challenge Certificate33 – Ronevorg I Believe in Santa at Montechor (Mrs M Hessing)
Bitch Challenge Certificate77 – Windyhollows English Holly at Llantrussa (Mrs Ca & Mrs L Price & Nicholls)
Reserve Bitch Challenge Certificate44 – Sh Ch Braemist Witches Fire (Miss L S Jones)
Best Puppy Dog101 – Levliann Big Bang (Mrs L Varty-Lindsay)
Best Veteran Dog48 – Stranfaer Get over It JW (Mr D & Mrs K Joyce)
Best Liver Dog103 – Levliann Waited for You (Mrs L Varty-Lindsay)
Best Special Working Dog63 – Ronevorg Dark Angel at Lussac JW Kcwgc (Mrs S May)
Best Puppy Bitch106 – Lizzlog Naughty Nun at Night (Mrs L Walker)
Best Veteran Bitch22 – Hoedun Alexandra of Denmark (Mr P Dunnett)
Best Liver Bitch54 – Gemswin Goody Two Shoes (Mrs S, Mrs G & Mr M Knight & Jacobs)
Best Special Working Bitch62 – Lussac Winter Witch JW Sgwc (Mrs S May)

Our Open Show major award winners were as follows:

Best In Show66 – Hopevalley Morning Wicked, (Mrs M E Romeo-Dieste)
Reserve Best In Show83 – Lizzlog Tittle Tattle, (Miss H S Walker)
Best Opposite Sex in Show90 – Bitcon Alliance with Bluewaters (ai) JW, (Mrs J Wild)
Best Puppy in Show72 – Steelriver Isle View Pippet, (Miss S Stevenson)
Best Veteran in Show71 – Sh Ch Plainfire’s The Captain of My Heart Is Steelriver (Imp Che) ShCEx, (Miss S Stevenson)
Best Liver in Show82 – Levliann Waited for You, (Mrs L Varty-Lindsay)
Best Working in Show40 – Ch Moonstruck Macadamia Sgwc, (Mrs S, Mrs G & Mr M Knight & Jacobs)
Best Dog90 – Bitcon Alliance with Bluewaters (ai) JW (Mrs J Wild)
Best Bitch66 – Hopevalley Morning Wicked (Mrs M E Romeo-Dieste)
Reserve Best Dog41 – Kulawand Callisto (Mr & Mrs R S & Mrs P Lane & Lane-Ridyard)
Reserve Best Bitch83 – Lizzlog Tittle Tattle (Miss H S Walker)
Best Puppy72 – Steelriver Isle View Pippet (Miss S Stevenson)
Best Puppy Dog80 – Levliann Big Bang (Mrs L Varty-Lindsay)
Best Puppy Bitch72 – Steelriver Isle View Pippet (Miss S Stevenson)

WRA and Training

On 11th May NEFRA held a training morning followed by Working Retriever Assessment in the afternoon. It was held near Retford, Nottinghamshire

Passes were Sonya Jenkinson, Helen Fox, Jenny Jones, Anne Kitching and Rochelle Richards. Special thanks go to Andy Sweeney and Garry Ellison for their excellent training, advice and invaluable feedback, to Helen Fox for her excellent hospitality including cakes, sausage rolls, Prosecco and sloe gin, to the landowner for use of their excellent grounds and to Malcolm and Robert for dummy throwing – we couldn’t run these days without all these wonderful people. Thank you so much.

Everyone had a very enjoyable day. We are holding a very similar day in July so keep an eye on the FB page and website – those people who attended yesterday are already looking forward to the next one.

Joyce Ryder

NEFRA was sorry to hear of the death yesterday of Joyce Ryder. She was a member of our committee for a number of years and also held the office of show secretary for the Association.

Joyce is pictured here at our first championship show in 2008

It was Joyce who introduced the NEFRA Pup of the Year competitions and she organised these on our behalf for many years.

The committee and membership send our thoughts and condolences to her husband Arnold.

Good Citizen Testing Day

NEFRA held a KC Good Citizen Testing Day on Saturday 23rd March at a venue in Fritchley, Derbyshire

Fueled by coffee and cake, participants, both members, and non-members alike, engaged in bronze and silver assessments on the grounds provided by Paula Goulette. It’s worth noting that the cake and coffee served surpassed even NEFRA’s high standards, adding an extra touch of enjoyment to the proceedings.

Our assessor for the day was Helen Chambers.

Dogs that passed the bronze assessment were Amanda with ‘Lincoln’, Amanda with ‘Delorian’, Paula with ‘Merlin’, Margaret with ‘Sam’ and Lindsay with ‘Cosmo’

Dogs that passed the silver assessment were Claire with ‘Tilly’, Frances with ‘Skye’, Hilary with ‘Bryn’, Caroline with ‘Linnhe’ and Michelle with ‘Walter’

Many thanks to all who helped make this day a success. Congratulations on all the handlers and their dogs for their richly deserved successes.

Hesketh Bank Training Day

On the 10th of August we held a training day at Hesketh bank nr Preston. Our trainers for the day were Steve Burns taking the Novice group. Paul Egginton taking an early Novice group and Gary Ellison taking the beginner/ puppy group. Thankyou to the trainers for giving up their day to train our lovely Flatcoats.

Each group had fantastic exercises to work through and progressed well throughout the day.

The ground is lovely for hosting our training sessions so Thankyou to Sam for having us on such a lovely summer day.

The trainers each had a trainers choice award today which they all agreed was a tough decision each as everyone within their groups progressed so well throughout the day.

Gary awarded his to Catrina and her dog Betty.

Paul awarded his to Charlotte Simons’s Wispa,

And Steve awarded his to Peter Griffin and his dog Robin.

Thankyou to everyone who helped throughout the day especially our dummy throwers and everyone that donated raffle prizes for our Autumn test on September the 8th.

We hope to see you all again soon.

Spring Working Test

Sunday 28th April 2024
Cow Hill, Cowhill Lane, Grimsargh, PR2 5SE
by kind permission of Mr Geoff Saint

Judges: Mrs Gill Awty & Dr Malcolm Awty
Puppy, Novice Dog/Novice Handler, Novice, Intermediate.

Awards: Trophies to winning dogs. Cards and rosettes to 4th place in each class

We would like to thank all the helpers who made this event run so well. Many thanks to all of you.

The winner of the Novice Dog / Novice Handler class was Dawn Woodiwiss with Woodidream Myrtle Moonbeam.

Puppy winner was Garry Ellison with Ollersett Duchess, 2nd was Julie Matthews with Ollersett Nymph.

Our judges did not award a first in the Novice Class, 2nd was Stephanie Hurstfield with Thurwhitt Chiquitita, 3rd was Julie Matthews with Ollersett Black Knight.

There were no awards in the Intermediate class.

Annual General Meeting 2024

NEFRA held their 29th Annual General Meeting of the Northern England Flatcoated Retriever Association held on Sunday 17th March 2024 at The Fenton Manor Sports Complex, City Road, Fenton, Stoke -on -Trent, ST4 2RR.

At the AGM the following awards were announced:

Winning the President’s Cup

Clandrift Bring Me Sunshine JW. Winner of the 2023 NEFRA President’s Cup.
  1. Mrs V Bowen Clandrift Bring Me Sunshine JW
  2. Mrs K & Mr D Joyce Stranfaer One Fell Swoop
  3. Mrs V Davis & Mrs J Egginton Go With The Flow Dynamic Faithful (IMP NLD)

Winning the Ceilidh Cup

Mr Andy Sweeney – Maddistream Black Powder of Wolfthistle

Winning the Nellspeace Plate

Mrs Helen Fox being awarded the Nellspeace Plate by Charlotte Simons and Anne Haley

Treasurer (3 years)
Mr D Taylor continues as Treasurer for a further three year term.

Hon. Working Secretary (3 years)
Following her co-option to the post last year Mrs. C. Simons continues as Working Secretary for two more years to complete her three year term.

Committee Vacancies (5 posts)
Mrs. H Buckley, Mr C. Hewison, Mr G Richards, Mrs V. Burroughs continue for a further 3 year term and Mrs A Hayley continues for a two year term.


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