BHRC NEWSLETTER DECEMBER2016

Calendar

Monday, December 12thChristmas Party

Sunday, December 18thTinsel Gathering for mulled wine and mince pies at

Shipway Gate Farm, TheSheepway at 11am

2017

January No Meeting

Monday, February 13thTalk by Sandy Tebbutt on Great Houses of the Gordano Valley Part 2

Monday, March 13thAGM

A NOTE FROM KAREN

What a fantastic meeting we had on the 14th of November, Guide Dogs for the Blind, the three dogs that came along were all very well behaved and were definitely the stars of the show. Thank you Annette for arranging this talk (and at very short notice).
The next meeting is our Christmas party, we will be singing, eating homemade sausage rolls and mince pies by Jan and enjoying a drink on the club. We would love to see you all there. (This is a members only evening).
At our meeting on 13th February we have Sandy Tebbutt booked for Part 2 of Great Houses of the Gordano Valley. This follows on from the talk we had in October, we look forward to seeing you there.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you all.
Karen x /
/ We are going to start with our usual carol singing, let’s make the local dogs howl! We shall have a raffle, mince pies and sausage rolls, a Christmas themed quiz and as usual the Secret Santa – buy and wrap a present of around £5 in value and swap. (No, you can’t have one if you don’t put one in the sack!) Also you can win a jar of horse treats if you guess how many is in there. There is of course a prize for the winning quiz team. As you all come in you’re also entitled to a free drink on the club. We also have chocolates to pass round. Last year I forgot the mince pies and they set alight in my oven, I had to make a rushed visit to Budgens – did anybody notice? This year if it happens again it will be M&S ones as Budgenshas gone. Now that will be posh!

Come and join us for mulled wine and mince pies at 11am at Sheepway Gate Farm.

Fancy dress (on foot)

There will also be hot and cold drinks available.

LAST MEETING: Monday, 14th November GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND

At very short notice volunteers from Clevedon Guide Dogs for the Blind came in with three dogs, one was a puppy in training, one a dog nearly ready to go and one a retired dog. They all slept very well until a volunteer blew a whistle which is how their owners bring them back, then even the old one pricked up his ears. They usually use Labrador cross Retrievers but sometimes other breeds such as German Shepherds and even Hungarian Vizlas are sometimes trained.

The volunteers explained how the dogs were trained and that it takes a year. Many organisations who use animals for disabled people work with the Guide Dogs Charity and dogs are bred at the National Breeding Centre near to Leamington Spa which you can visit. (Only open Monday to Wednesday afternoon and Saturday mornings in the summer though). The Club collected £43.18 for the charity.

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THE FUTURE OF THE CLUB

Not a very seasonal topic I’m afraid but as you all know we stopped our ridden events last summer due to dwindling numbers of entries and the increasing cost of insurance and hire of arenas. At the time we had booked speakers for most of the meetings so decided to carry on as a social club. Some did not renew their membership once there were no more ridden events but our monthly meetings have had an attendance of between 6 and 16 members with an average of 12.

Now is the time we have to decide whether we want the club to continue. What do YOU want in the future? If we do not hear from you we will assume that you do not want it to continue. Please let any member of the committee know your views – contact details below – or you can come and talk to any of us at the Christmas Party on 12th or the Tinsel Gathering on 18th. The final decision will be made at the AGM in March next year.

If we do decide to carry on though it is worth mentioning that all the present committee will resign in March so the club will need at least 4 members to step forward to replace them and organise talks and visits in the future. Obviously if members would like the club to continue but no one comes forward to be on the Committee it won’t be possible.

COMMITTEE
Chair / Karen Jarvis /
Vice Chair / Jan Whitfield /
Treasurer / Annette Colston /
Membership Secretary / Penny Owen /
Committee Members / Joan Adlam /
Angela Symes /
Tina Hamilton / Tina.Hamilton@thornburycommunity services.co.uk
Patsy Meech /

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