Beach Bolognese MEET UP – Report
Last years MEET UP at Sand Bay, near Weston Super Mare was a success so we decided to go for it again. I booked the venue about 3 months ago and the proprietor was pleased to welcome us back. Tracy and I had spoken on the phone previously about prizes for raffles etc.,
The weather in the preceding couple of weeks was nothing to shout about, in fact, we had had rain most days whilst up country they had had glorious weather. Anyhow the day of 3rd September dawned, and we were greeted by glorious weather, in fact getting into the car to leave for the venue it was reading 30 degrees.
We arrived early at the venue to find it absolutely heaving with people. The Fish and Chip Shop also have a coffee shop that also sells ice cream etc., so people were out for their Sunday stroll along the beach and partaking of refreshments. We were also greeted by about 20 Dachshunds of varying sizes. I spoke to one gentleman, and they were also having a meet up, but they were only convening at the venue and moving on to somewhere else.
Once the Fish and chip shop opened, we found the owner and she then marked out our reserved tables, so we were then able to convene as a group. We each ordered our food and tucked in.
Those attending this year were Brian and myself with Odin and Kali, Tracy and Nick with Archie and Marco having travelled from Worcester, Jude and Matt who have now attended 8 meet ups with Rupert the Bolognese and Daisy her rescue Bichon. Vera came with a very sweet 5-month-old Jack Russel and her Dandi Dinmont, Caroline Cockwell with Tulli, Amy Lovell with Obi and her lovely cross breed Chewie she also brought Mum, Angela along with her this year with her Russian Toy, Frodo, and Ken and Jan Scott who had such a great time last year came all the way from Wiltshire again with Yogi and Storm their Coton de Tulear’s.
Following lunch, I went in search of the Proprietor to ask if she would be kind enough to judge a few fun classes. She was more than happy to oblige and her son Arthur, I am not sure how old he is, but I thought probably about 10/11 said he would assist. Bless him, he decided that all decisions would be his! We had a Best Dog, which was won by Jan and Yogi (for the second year running), Best Female was Caroline with Tulli, Best Veteran was won by Amy and Chewie and Best hairdo was won by Jude with Daisy. Arthur then thanked us for letting him pick the winners.
We also had a raffle in which everyone won a prize also some ‘Bollie Treat Jars’ which Vikki had prepared for me, and I filled with treats so had a Guess the Weight of the biscuits and the jar and also guess the number of biscuits in the jar. These were won by Caroline and Jude respectively.
After all these frivolities some of us decided to go for a walk along the beach. Some decided it was too hot so stayed behind under the cover and chatted away. Those going for a walk were Tracy and Nick, Caroline, Amy, Jan, and myself. We went down on the sand which was very dry and most of us let our dogs off and they had fun chasing each other and surprisingly they all came back after being called a couple of times.
We then joined the others and most of us had ice creams or cold drinks all round, the chatting continued until mid afternoon when some because of long journeys decided to head for home.
I thanked the lady (I really should have asked her name) and she said she would welcome us back next year.
I think the Somerset meet up is the last one for the year but if you would like to have a meet up in your area and you think you have a good venue you can use, please enquire as we can help with the organisation.
