NEW Seaside Venue for Somerset MEET UP
Sunday 4th September was the day of the Somerset MEET UP of The Bolognese Dog Club UK. Torrential rain and thunderstorms had been forecast so was unsure whether to cancel or not. We had to find a new venue this year as the previous location had changed hands and the new owners although still dog friendly has a no booking policy, first come, first served. Although we are supposed to be a nation of dog lovers it is sometimes hard to find a location that serves food and is dog friendly to a large group of people and dogs. However, I was lucky enough to find a new venue not too far from the old one. I located a fish and chip shop at Sand Bay just outside of Weston super Mare, that has lots of outdoor space with a large wooden gazebo in case of rain and sun umbrellas if the weather is good. The venue assured me that we would be welcome with lots of people and dogs. The location of this venue is in a very quiet seaside village about 30 seconds from the beach which allows for dogs all year round.
Waking up on Sunday morning it was drizzle and very overcast but decided to go for it and hope. I arrived at the venue early just to check everything out and they had reserved us 5 large tables. By this time, it had stopped raining but was still overcast. We had a good attendance which included some of our regulars that have been coming since we started these meet ups, these include (not necessarily in order of amount of times) Tracy and Nick with their 2 Bolognese Archie and Marco from Worcester, Jude and Matt with their Bolognese Rupert and a rescue Bichon, Daisy from Burnham on Sea, Caroline and Andrew with their two Bolognese Dante and Tino and a Bichon called Skye, Beth with her two Bolognese Lola and Izzy from Solihull, Caroline Cockwell with her Bolognese Lucca, first time for Amy with her Bolognese Obi and a mixed breed called Chewie. Vikki and Sean with 1 Keeshond from Wiltshire, Vera and Joan with a Dandy called Locky and a Parson Jack Russel called JJ also from Burnham on Sea and we were also joined this year by Jan and Ken Scott, from Wiltshire with their two Coton De Tulear Yogi and Storm. So quite a collection of breeds and humans who all got on brilliantly.
We enjoyed Fish and Chips or whatever was your choice and then we had our usual raffle where everyone wins a prize. We held four small competitions and unfortunately, this year we could not find a stand in Judge, so Brian did the honours. We had a Best Puppy which was won by Amy with Obi. Prettiest Bitch won by Beth and Izzy. Most Handsome Dog was Jan with Yogi and Best veteran of which there were quite a few was won by Caroline Moore with Skye.
After this we went for a walk, well more of an amble along the beach, it was quite warm but still overcast and a little hazy. When we arrived back to the venue most of us followed up with a well-deserved ice cream. Well, it would have been rude not to!
I spoke to the owner of the venue as we were leaving and we were told we would be welcome back again next year. Hoping maybe that next year we will have some sunshine.
