NEFRA held a KC Working Gundog Certificate on game at Rainford, nr Wigan.
A huge thank you to Ian Clarke, the keeper; Lisa-Jane Mappin, for organising for us to visit and Philip Smithies and Chris Hewison for judging on the day. Thank you to the team of guns for enabling a steady supply of game for the dogs, to the beaters, and to the picker up and all other helpers on the day.

Two certficates were awarded to

Patty Goriainoff and her flatcoated retriever Sweet Licorice Secret’s Surprice (Imp SWE)
Lisa-Jane Mappin and her cocker spaniel Casblaidd Abyssinian

Thank you to everyone for taking part and supporting the day.

Fantastic show as usual and made a change not being on the committee so Val and I were able to enjoy the show . We would like to thank everyone who bought tickets for the walking stick I’m pleased to say we raised £310 which will be donated to Maggie’s cancer charity . A heart felt thank you Val Den xxx

Thank you everybody for supporting them, and congratulations to the winner, Charlotte Jarvis, pictured with Apollo and her new stick. Well done everybody.

We were delighted that exhibitors entered so many dogs at our Championship Show today for our judges Mr & Mrs Goodman. Our new venue in Biddulph allowed us to use their sports hall to celebrate our 25th anniversary – there was cake for everyone and such a friendly spirit in the air.

Many thanks for your entries – we were delighted to see you all after such a long break imposed by the pandemic. Congratulations to all our winners.

Full Results – complete with absentees

Dog Judge’s Critique
Bitch Judge’s Critique

NEFRA held a working test at Castle Howard today by very kind permission of the Howard family and Clive Harrison the gamekeeper.

Once again we are indebted to the wonderful staff of the Castle Howard Estate near York. They once again offered to host our test in their stunning setting in the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported the event, some travelling a very long way to attend, we very much appreciate your commitment!

A few eleventh hour changes on Friday night with the loss of two judges, a few competitors and several helpers nearly meant it didn’t go ahead at all.

We thank Philip Smithies for stepping in at the last minute to ensure we had a panel judge for the day and so the open test could go ahead. Garry Ellison did a sterling job as always having set all the tests a couple of weeks ago, and also stepped in at the last minute to be the fourth judge, who, along with Casper Jonsen and Theresa Jonsen ensured all the dogs had a fair chance at the tests.

A huge thank you to everyone who helped on the day whether that be dummy throwing, stewarding, placing blinds and catering. We really cannot manage without your help. Lastly thank you to Chris who also does so much behind the scenes and helps make the day a bit easier to manage.

Well done to everyone in the awards, lovely to see so many newcomers, and I hope everyone enjoyed their day!

Results:

PUPPY (3 entries)
1st Sue Rodgers with Signy Never Touching Ground TAF
2nd Fred Newton with Jarvo Supermoon

NOVICE DOG/NOVICE HANDLER (6 entries)
1st Anne Haley with Castlerock Return to Sender at Skybrook
2nd Rochelle Richards with Hopevalley Morning River through Kimberfield – also winning the Yonsaff Cup for Best Newcomer
3rd Sonya Jenkinson with Skybrook Rock Me
COM David Foster with Kenyten Styx
COM Janet Botterill with Frankie Be Good for Gracie

NOVICE (18 entries, 2abs)
1st Not Awarded
2nd Andy Sweeney with Wolfthistle Mr Miracle
3rd Caroline Hewison with Casblaidd Island in the Sky
Judge’s Choice Janet Botterill with Chanangel My Swallow

OPEN (8 entries, 2 abs)
1st Caroline Hewison with Donascimento Danilo from Casblaidd
2nd Andy Sweeney with Norfolk Flyers Rosie’s Thorn of Wolfthistle
Judge’s Choice Amber Nicholls with Featheringay Raven Prince

Well done everyone, hope you all had a safe journey home.

NEFRA held another Working Retriever Assessment today at Roby Mill by very kind permission of Sarah Marflow.

Thank you to our judges Lisa Mappin and Chris Hewison for novice, and Gill Griffin for the intermediate. We were blessed with lots of willing volunteers to help, so thank you to you all too!

Passes at novice level were awarded to Garry Ellison running Ollersett Shimmering Nymph and Ollersett Black Diamond.
Two dogs passed their third stage and were awarded their novice certificates.
Well done to
Anne Haley with Castlerock Return to Sender at Skybrook
Mags Brayfield with Keamarola Private Dancer

Well done everyone and thank you all for coming!

NEFRA visited Roby Mill near Wigan today to run the working retriever assessments.

Many thanks to Sarah Marflow for her wonderful hospitality, she looked after us so well. Despite the rain we all had a lovely day.

Thank you to Chris Hewison and Lisa Mappin for judging the novice, with helpers Peter Griffin and Caroline Hewison.Thank you to Gill Griffin for judging the intermediate, with helpers Peter Griffin and David Foster.

Passes in the novice level were awarded to:
Anne Haley and Castlerock Return to Sender at Skybrook
Gill Griffin and Ravencrag Illusionist
Al Moore and Sachbash Prince Olly Moore
Garry Ellison and Ollersett Black Knight completed their third pass and were awarded their novice certificate.

In the intermediate level, two dogs were awarded passes:
Caroline Hewison and Casblaidd Island in the Sky
Sue Sinnott and Millola Handsome Man

Well done everyone and thank you all for coming on such a wet day! Details about the water training sessions at the same venue, for the pups and beginners who have booked on next week, will be sent out early next week.

NEFRA held the first Working Retriever Assessment of the year today. Grateful thanks to Simon Fitzherbert Brockholes for hosting at Garstang, a really good day!

Lisa Mappin and Caroline Hewison judged the novices this morning, and Gill Griffin judged the intermediate dogs this afternoon. Huge thank you to the helpers Simon, Alan and Peter for throwing dummies all day especially in the rain this morning!

Passes and rosettes in the novice levels were awarded to

Julie Matthews and Ollersett Black Diamond
Mags Brayfield and Contar Skeggles Water.

Two dogs passed their third stage and were awarded their novice certificates.
Well done to
Chris Hewison and Casblaidd Mirror Lake
Charlotte Smith and Castlerock First Glance at Whirleymere

In the intermediate level a pass and a rosette was awarded to
Chris Hewison and Casblaidd Mirror Lake.

Well done everyone! Hope you enjoyed the day!

The next assessment is at Roby Mill, Wigan on 7th August. Let me know if you would like to come.

NEFRA were delighted that renowned dog trainer Jane Ardern agreed to speak to our members in a Facebook Live event to allow us to celebrate our 25th anniversary in a Covid safe manner. The recording will remain available here.

Puppy and Novice Dog/Novice Handler and Novice classes.

Once again, current government restrictions across the country mean that we had to run a working test ‘virtually’.

Please note that this was an unofficial test and winning the class does not qualify out of that class.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered our working test. We have had so much fun watching these videos. We have seen some really lovely, very capable dogs, and equally some superb handlers!

Puppy (2 entries)

1st Lauren Broome with Benvellyn Amur Falcon of Evingbriar (UK)
2nd Aage Wilhelmsen with Jiggers Tarka Ann Bakue (Denmark)

Novice Dog/Novice Handler (9 entries)

1st Aimee Gardiner with Kulawand Kookaburra for Svenjak (UK)
2nd Suzi Tagg with Empire Glory Black Brianta at Oiyou (UK)
3rd Dena Swift with Skye (UK)
4th Aimee Gardiner with Bitcon Taylor Made for Svenjak (UK)

Novice (10 entries)

1st Vivienne Gatter with Pebbles (UK)
2nd and Judges Choice Kristof Jebsen with New-Era de la Source aux Elfes (Germany)
3rd Herma Ordelman with Maddistream Aduro Pink (Netherlands)
4th Anne Haley with Castlerock Return to Sender at Skybrook (UK)

The novice class was very strongly contested and the first two places in novice were separated by half a point, we were really splitting hairs! If anyone would like to know their scores, and if anyone would like feedback on why they were given a score, please do get in touch, we are only too happy to help! We do have rosettes for the award winners – please PM us your address and we can get them sent out

Judges: Chris and Caroline Hewison

We have very kindly been given permission to share Kristof Jebsen’s videos, who was running in the novice section of our on line test. I thought it might be useful for the novice dog/novice handlers to see the exercises and it was a pleasure to watch this team working together. Link to the videos

For class definitions and the exercises themselves, see the link below.