Author:Charlotte Smith

Novice Training Day & WRA Assessment

12th April 2025
The Lake House, Roby Mill, WN8 0QT

Training and WRA Day

NEFRA hosted a Working Retriever Assessment (WRA) and training day on the 12th of April at Roby Mill.

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; Jenny Jones with Roxwoodbay River of Yonsaff and Anne Haley with SkyBrook If By Chance.

Huge thanks to Garry Ellison and Gill Awty for being trainers and assessors for the day and Sarah Marfolw for the use of this amazing land.

Schedule found here

On Saturday, 22nd February, we held a training day at Hesketh Bank. The trainers for the day were Gary Ellison, Steve Burns, and Paul Egginton. Gary took the puppies/beginners, Paul took the early novice group, and Steve took the novice/intermediate group.

The puppies/beginners worked on obedience and then practiced retrieving, focusing on how to get the best from your dog and understanding each element of a simple retrieve.
The early novice group used some of the cover and wooded areas for their retrieves, which made breaking down their retrieves and learning how to succeed with their dog particularly important.
The more advanced novice group tackled longer retrieves and included water in their exercises, which proved challenging for the water-loving breed.

Everyone enjoyed the day, and we thank Sam Slinger for the use of the ground, as well as the judges and helpers who gave up their time to ensure the event ran smoothly and was enjoyable.

Schedule found here.

Kennel Club Working Test – Burton Salmon, Pontefract, LS25 5JX
Held by Kind Permission of Mr. David Foster

Judges:

• Mr. Paul Stogden (B3661)
• Ms. Yvonne Storr
• Mr. Alan Richardson

We hosted a Kennel Club Working Test at the beautiful grounds of Burton Salmon, Pontefract. The day was divided into two sessions: the Puppy and NDNH test in the morning and the novice dog tests in the afternoon.

Morning Session:

• Puppy Test: The puppies were assessed on their retrieves, steadiness, and overall obedience.
• Novice Dog/Novice Handler (NDNH): This group was also tested during the morning session.
• Puppy Test Winner: Ms Helen Fox with Westoncruive Ace of Spades by Blacktoft.
• NDNH – Unfortunatly there were no awards for this class.

Afternoon Session:

• Novice Test: This session included a walk-up and tested the dogs’ skills in both sloping grounds and wooded areas.
• Novice Test Winners:
  1. 1st Place: Mr. Garry Ellison with Ollersett Duchess
  2. 2nd Place: Ms. Helen Fox with Satinbaze Cracksman for Blacktoft JW SGWC
  3. 3rd Place: Ms. Jenny Jones with Roxwoodbay River of Yonsaff
  4. 4th Place: Mr. David Foster with Kenynten Styx

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the following individuals and organizations:

• The Judges: Mr. Paul Stogden, Ms. Yvonne Storr, and Mr. Alan Richardson for their time, expertise, and commitment to the event.
• The Helpers and Stewards: Your invaluable assistance ensured the event ran smoothly, and we are deeply appreciative of your support.
• Skinners: We are grateful for your generous sponsorship.
• Mr. David Foster: Our heartfelt thanks to Mr. Foster for granting us the use of his exceptional grounds for this event.

Schedule found here.

Enter Online here.

Paper Entry form found here.

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

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 thank you to our judges for giving up their day and their knowledge and experience for all our competitors. 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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.