Beautiful Greenwich Park MEET UP, by Melanie Thomas
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Every time I go to Greenwich Park in South East London I am surprised by its beauty, how nice the people are and the way it brings people together. This year there was a half marathon finish line for 20 thousand runners very near to our meeting point! So, once again the park was busy. I managed to park OK, but it wasn’t so easy for some of the others. Aside from the parking, there is plenty of space in the park it doesn’t feel crammed even with so many people. The weather was good too, dry with some sun, but not too much.
I arrived a little early of course being the host and was on my own for a while (surrounded by fit runners). I was glad when I begun to see small white happy looking dogs trotting towards me accompanied by their families. We met by the cafe where there is loads of bench seating, some shade and this year lots of leaves to get stuck in the dogs coats. Nice to see families amongst our group, with the children growing each year. The dogs are older too, but healthy and happy. My Lily is almost 15 years old, but when I got out of the car she seemed so happy, tail up and striding ahead to meet the other Bolognese (as if she remembered the place).
My co host Paul and his family Neelu and Khush soon arrived with their 2 dogs Mini & Gianna. It was nice to meet Donna & Andrew Bevis, who attended 2 years ago when I wasn’t there (double booked myself). Donna & Andrew’s girl Rosie looked great and seemed to enjoy being part of the gang. Mat & Tessa came again this year with their children Milly & toddler Robin (who was a baby last year) with their Bolognese Zetti. Susanne had made the journey on public transport (much appreciated) with Bengi who had never been on the bus before. Bengi met up with his litter sister Bella owned by the Twaite family – John, Karen and their daughter Katrina. After a while Rory came charging over with owners Laura & Michael who live locally and managed to get back from visiting friends in time to join in. Rory is my Lily’s son and I love to meet up with him each year, he really has a lovely home with Laura & Michael.
There are always lots of dogs in the park and this day was no exception. I asked a lady nearby who was with a group of people with dogs to judge our fun classes and she was enthusiastic (most people are when they are asked). Best Girl was Rosie, Best Boy was Benji and Best Hair Do was Rory all winners received a prize. We also had a FREE raffle with one main prize and smaller prizes for all other attendees. There was lots ‘doggy chat’ meaning I usually go away from these events losing my voice. It’s great to hear about the dogs little ways, but not so good about their health issues. One dog had suffered from a nasty hot spot and another from quite bad anal gland issues and my Harry with some kind of painful infection in his paw. All health issues are resolved now thank goodness.
We managed to get a nice group picture (calling on John as he does a good job) and then headed off for a stroll in the park. There are many paths to take in Greenwich Park and luckily we took the turns that led to the viewing area. I’m so glad we went that way as the views were spectacular across London. There was some more chatting and pictures taken, then I headed back to the car as my parking was running out (good job I did as the warden was only a few cars away).
It was another lovely MEET UP in London, Harry & Lily where very tired when they got home and so was I. It was a fun and memorable time meeting up with everybody and their Bolognese dogs in such a lovely environment.
