NEWS FROM MEMBERS & Commitee

 Upcoming Dates in our 2026 Club Calendar to be aware of

Obedience Open show 2026 - Friday 15th May setting up, Saturday 16th May actual show - 17th May - St Edwards back to back show with packing up of container early evening

Fun Dog Show - Saturday or a Sunday in September 2026 - not not chosen yet

Quiz and fish & chip supper - Monday 14th December

 26th March 2026 - AGM for year ending 2025

Your new charity for the Year on a close vote on the night is :  Pro Dogs Direct  www.prodogsdirect.org.uk Registered charity 1115647

A good turn out on the evening of the AGM - Here was the agenda (minutes from 2025 AGM and financial report are available at Trenham Drive kept on counter in Kitchen or in main cupboard please ask your trainer if you wish to see a copy)

Hon Chairman Mrs T McNally, Hon Treasurer Ms A Burrows, Hon Secretary Mrs V Sultana, Com Mem Mandy Knowles

AGM Agenda 26th March 2026 7.00pm for 7.30pm start @ Trenham Drive Warlingham

1. Apologies

2. Previous Minutes

3. Matters Arising

4. Chairmans Report

5. Treasurers Report

6. Appointment of Auditors

7. Nomination of Charity

8. Election of Committee

9. Presentation of Awards

10. Proposals from members

There are no proposals

11. AOB

Only matters of an urgent and unforeseen nature and with permission of the Chairman may be raised at the meeting under this item.

Awards : are as follows : Congratulations every one

Club Awards :

Don Chapman - best dog : patsie goulding and freddie

Pip - Best Rescue: Clare Hutchingson and saby

Goldie Cup – Tristian award : Laurel holt with hollie and shasha

Don Chapman – overall club award chosen by the Committee for best achievement in club went to Patsie Goulding and Freddie massive congratulations from all of the club.  As a club member 1st in Introductory and 1st in Pre Beginner winning both the Kings car dealership Trophies at the Open show in 2025 and gaining a 1st in our 7 way match winning double points against our club joker on the day, amongst other rosettes during a very productive year

Best rescue   - Pip nomination – our trainers nominate their best rescue and the committee choose the winner

Vanessa Nomination: Claire Hutchingson and Saby – Chosen overall by Committee - We hope you all agree a well deserved award

Saby is from Denia is Spain. All we know is that she was chained up from when she was a very young pup outside. An English guy who was living in Spain used to walk past her every day. He noticed a sore around her neck, as her owners hadn’t made the chain around her neck bigger, and as she was growing, it started to dig into her flesh. So, he got a pair of cutters and cut her neck chain and stole her in the middle of the night and took her to a rescue centre called APAD. We have a friend who volunteers there. So that’s how we met her. I think she was about 6 months when she was rescued, and we got her when she was about a year old. She was very hungry and underweight when we got her. And very scared. It took us 2 hours to get her inside the house, because she’d never been inside a building before. And she was very scared when you went to stroke her because she thought she was going to be hit. She didn’t really know how to play at first, and I remember the first day when she realised, she could run, and what her long legs could do… because she hadn’t been able to run on a chain. But whilst she still has some issues, she’s come a long way. We don’t know what her original name was, but we called her Saby, after Sabado, which means Saturday. We’ve done her DNA she’s mostly Collie Mastiff, Shepherd mix, but has 2% Great Dane, and 9% Chihuahua as well as a Blue Inca Orchid, which is a weird naked Peruvian dog. Training at WDTC has helped her in three major ways: The most important is that it has made her feel more confident in herself. She was very nervous, and knowing what we need her to do makes her feel more secure It’s helped build our trust and bond It’s made her happy. There are little windows of joy that come out of her. She really enjoys training and every Monday at around 3.45, she’ll come and nudge my elbow to tell me it’s time for training. So, I think she really enjoys it which is great. She is two years old now and It’s definitely starting to help her with her out on walks training, but there’s still a lot more work to do there!

Goldie Cup – Tristian award

Vanessa, Mandy and Liz all Nominate: Laurel Holt with Holly and Sasha – Chosen overall by committee

Consistently comes week in week out – a perfect student and well-behaved dog

Mandy has taken Vanessa's classes on occasion; she would like to nominate Laurel Holt with Holly. Laurel is very committed with her training and Holly passed her Bronze GC with flying colours. She will be put forward for the silver test in the summer.

Sasha really wasn’t an easy dog to train, kept disappearing into the kitchen and cupboard when she joined my class. Sasha loves to play to the crowd and enjoyed being a pickle. However, Laurel persevered and Sasha thoroughly enjoys her training and (if Laurel wanted to) ready to compete at an obedience show up to beginner level. More recently Laurel has brought her young dog, she has attended three classes and already the dog has a retrieve and her heelwork is coming along nicely. This is all down to Laurel she is a very competent trainer and trains her very enthusiastic Goldies to a very high standard. She thoroughly deserves this award  

2025 Good Citizen Gold 5 gold glass goblets awarded to:

 As a special recognition of the hard work and dedication involved in attaining a Gold pass, we will be awarding club-engraved goblets to those 5 members.

Sarah Smith with Nellie and Sara Cole with Bella and Mandy Knowles with Spud and Allison Moller with Freddie and Angela Walker with Carlos

Trainers Individual overall class award and Progress awards

Sandy: Class Trophy   Zena Saunders and Aruba    

Progress awards:    

Sarah and Danielle Prior and T.J, Janet Whiteley and Dobby, Sharon Fennell and Paddy, Jane and Flame

Vanessa: Class Trophy: Allison and Poppy

Progress awards:

David Jones & Eavie, Joan and Glynne Hughes & Freida, Pamelia Flouch & Benny , Shani McGarry & Remus

Liz Evans: Class Trophy Sarah Smith and Nellie.

Nellie is a springer spaniel in every way and has her own ideas about how to do things. However, Sarah has persevered with her training not only gaining gold good citizen award but the training her to compete in obedience. It has not always been easy but Nellie is embracing the training and is very stylish and happy when working, she very nearly has a complete retrieve with only the present to get. This has taken true commitment from Sarah and for this alone she deserves the trophy.

Progress awards:

Sally Beavan and Meredith. Sally has worked very hard to motivate Meredith and is very committed to getting everything right. This has paid off and she has had some success in the obedience ring.

Lisa Boyd and Rory, Lisa joined the class last summer having trained elsewhere. Lisa has worked hard to embrace new ideas and a slightly different way of training. This then has to be translated through to the dog without confusing him not always easy to do but Lisa has managed to do this successfully. 

Mandy: Class Trophy Annie with Jasper the border collie.

Jasper hasn’t been easy to work with due to his anxiety. Annie has been very patient and consistent to get Jasper ready to take his Gold GC in the summer. Annie does competition obedience classes in addition to pet obedience and Jasper has made huge progress in the short time he has attended these classes. He is now ready to compete in Intro and Pre-beginner where I’m sure it won’t be long before he’s placed.

Progress awards:

The Randall family with their cavaliers Scott and Oscar. Geoff and Sarah along with their two teenage daughters attend class every week. They have all worked hard to get their Bronze GC and will be put forward for the next silver test in the summer. Scott and Oscar are siblings and the family have worked hard to ensure that the dogs did not have issues associated with having two dogs from the same litter.

Michelle with Max a SBT cross. Max has not been the easiest dog to train and was difficult when it came to examining her feet and mouth. Michelle has worked very hard to combat these issues and Max is now much more accepting to being examined by both Michelle and Mandy.
Adrienne: Class Trophy: Justine Sweet and Maleia       

Justine and Maleia gained their Junior Warrant winning Limit class at Crufts this year - no mean feat and well deserved    

Progress awards:

 Fiona Rodwel & Bradley, Angela Walker & Mario, Sarah Young & Tenchi, Jane Berenji & Chelsea, Annabel Collier – Todd & Lexi

Pat: Class Trophy: Louise Scanlon and Janet

Louise is a very quiet little dog and now does well in a class situation also enjoys her training more        

Progress awards:

 Wed class Angela Harrington and Roland, Thurs Hannah musk and Monty, Api and Ralphie

They have been chosen because they work hard with their dogs and it shows.

Fiona: Class Trophy:      Kirsty Archer with Duke who has taken to agility so well.

Progress awards: 3

 Diane Byles and Mabel who are a great partnership. Jacqui Garrett and Lola for such positive fun attitude. Mandy Knowles and Spud for growth in confidence and skills.

 Indira – Class Trophy   Theo O’Donnell and Luna

Their progress has been amazing in the time that they have been with me

Jacky: Class Trophy:  Mark Cross & Bertie   

Progress awards: Sara Cole & Bella, Fran Hornegold & Ted, Maria O’Malley & Molly, Charlie/Becca Mogridge & Ruby, Charles Davies & Ranger

**Good Citizen Awards Review**

 Mandy, our dedicated Good Citizen Coordinator, has been busy again this year, conducting tests on both Saturdays and Sundays, and we are pleased to announce the outstanding results for 2025

 - **Bronze Awards: ** 22 members successfully passed their Bronze tests.

- **Silver Awards: ** 11 members achieved the Silver award

- **Gold Awards: ** 5 members earned their Gold passes this year

 To celebrate these accomplishments, the club awards our own branded rosettes for the Puppy Foundation, as well as for bronze, silver, and gold awards. Additionally, Kennel Club certificates are presented to members upon achieving their respective passes.

 Nomination of Charity - a very close result this year 1 vote in it

 Pet as Therapy was our charity for 2025: we raised a total of £983.10

 Nominations for this year’s charity are:

 Maria O’Mally: Southern Golden Retriever Rescue www.sgrr.org.uk Registered charity 1098769

Mandy Knowles: Pet Blood Bank:  www.petbloodbankuk.org Registered Charity SC037745

Terri McNally and Sue Whitehorn:  Pro Dogs Direct  www.prodogsdirect.org.uk Registered charity 1115647

Vanessa Sultana: Thin blue paw: https://www.thinbluepaw.org.uk/ registered charity 1190959

Southern Golden Retriever votes: 5

Pet blood Bank votes: 12

Pro Dogs direct votes: 13 – 2026 Chosen charity

This Blue Paw votes: 5

This year’s charity is Pro Dogs Direct

**2025 Class Overview**

 In 2025, our trainers helped members realise their potential as responsible pet owners gaining good citizen puppy foundation, bronze, silver and gold awards, with some handlers going on to competitive obedience training, running classes in ringcraft going on to Crufts, competing in breed shows and running tricks and agility classes throughout the year.

Our classes were well-attended, operating at full capacity, resulting in waiting lists. Last year, we catered to a total of 336 members at any given time, including family memberships, which encompass more than just handlers in classes.

 **Weekly Class Breakdown: **

- **Obedience: ** 13 classes with 66 dogs

- **Competition Obedience: ** 4 classes with 16 dogs

- **Puppy Obedience: ** 3 classes with 15 dogs

- **Ringcraft: ** 3 classes with 30 dogs

- **Agility: ** 3 classes with 20 dogs

- **Tricks: ** 5 classes with 25 dogs

This brought our grand total to 31 classes accommodating 172 dogs, all supervised by 9 trainers who collectively dedicated nearly 24 hours a week across our three locations in Warlingham, Westerham, and Coulsdon.

Competition obedience has seen 1 handler winning out of A, and 2 handlers and their dogs winning out of novice, 1 winning out of Pre-Beginners, and 2 winning out of Introductory. – Great results everyone

Ringcraft: Crufts 2025 a massive 21 entries, 14 of which earned rosettes (1st through to 4th place) including a best puppy in Breed, remarkable achievements! Regular participants in Ringcraft also competed in UK and international breed shows during the year, securing 1st place in their groups, along with CCs, RCCs, Junior Warrants, and stud book numbers, including later on in March – Best Veteran of the year by their Breed club, for one of our bearded collies. – Amazing results

Our schedule remained as packed as ever, and demand for classes in puppy, tricks, ringcraft, and agility remains high. Thanks to everyone who gives word of mouth recommendations about the club.

Helping with Events and Administration

As I have already mentioned, a small group of people organise the club, the Open Show and other events We always appreciate help – whether for one off events, or on a more regular basis.

 If you are interested in helping, please contact Terri, Sheila or Mandy on wdtcas@gmail.com at any time. 

The meeting concluded with the Terri once again expressing gratitude to the trainers, the members, and everyone associated with the club, including the committee, without any of these we would not have a club, and especially all the volunteers who give their time freely be it with events or helping to run the club.

 2025 - Quiz night with Fish & chip Supper Monday evening 1st December

Winners this year were from Ringcraft upholding their last year win - Congratulations to them !! - Winning table got a bottle of wine each, and the losers table got a tub of sweets

All prizes donated, Profits to this years chosen charity : Pets as Therapy : click here for more information £422.60 an amazing amount Raised at this event.

This year we held the quiz inside our hall at Trenham drive, we had over 40 raffle prizes. What a fun time we had just under 30 quizzers coming on the night, special thanks to Mandy Knowles our quiz master, creator of quiz questions and volunteer organiser. With Vanessa Sultana our scorer for the night, and Allison Burrows for arranging change for raffle tickets and quiz tickets. Terri McNally for the emails and chasing of raffle prizes, organising bank transfers and helping with Volunteers

Thanks to all our generous (club and social) members, who donated prizes for the raffle. Mandy, Terri and our volunteers Gilda, Karen, Maria, Sarah, Sue, Jacky and Paivi who came on Sunday to help sort and wrap the raffle prizes, our volunteers Mandy, Terri, Sue, Louise and Kirsty who came in on the Monday afternoon to help get tables, chairs and raffle pries out before the evening event. Not forgetting our trainers who sold the event and raffle tickets. Sarah Collins for selling tickets and ferrying to GPO some lovely raffle prizes from our Ringcraft members. Justine Sweet making a very generous donation of 3 lovely ready made hampers for the raffle towards her nominated charity Pets as Therapy.

Thank you to all the quizzers who stayed late to help put chairs and tables away.

 Fun Dog Show : Saturday 6th September 2025

 £82.50 was collected via entries and refreshments, for our charity of the year which is Pets as Therapy click on like for more information : Pets As Therapy | Home

A good turn out on a perfect afternoon, not too hot, not too cold and not raining!! Over 19 dogs turned up : of which we had 34 entries with lots of handlers.

Special thanks to our volunteers:

Lavinia Moore our Judge Thankyou for the day and her donation of bags of prizes for each attendee, helping to make this a memorable day for our members.

Thanks for our volunteers and our Committee members for organising the event, Including members who stayed at the end of the day to help put chairs and tables back into the storage container.

Karen Cowell volunteering with the booking in, Gilda Wallace and Chris Knowles volunteering and helping with orders for hot drinks. Allison, Vanessa, Mandy and Terri committee members at the event, setting up the event including : chairs, tables and gazebos, giving out trophies, Rosettes, organising refreshments, and helping to ensure everything was running smoothly.

This year the club purchased new trophies to be kept by the winners of each group, with Best in show and reserve in show to return the club Trophies in 12 months time.

Results as follows:

Massive congratulations to one and all

Best in Show & Reserve Best in Show : dog name and handler then breed, shown below

1st : Holly and Laurel Holt - Best in show - Golden Retriever

2nd : Storm and Kitty - Reserve Best in show - Legotto

Name of dog first with handlers name second and breed of dog - shown below

Puppy (puppies over 4 months old and under a year)

1st : Mollie and Michala - Australian Shepherd

2nd : Holly and Laurel - Golden Retreiver

3rd : Storm and Kitty - Legotto

4th: Maisy and Lesley - Cocker Spaniel

5th: Brook and Cristine - Duck Toller

6th: Bailey and Julie - Cockerpoo

7th : Special Max and Michelle - Staffy x

Veteran (dog over 7 years old)

1st : Angus and Sue - Poodle

2nd : Cassie and Mandy - Bichon Frise

Junior Handler (handler under 16) Dog and Handler shown followed by Breed of dog

1st: Storm and Kitty - Regotto

2nd: Hudson and Ellie - Labradoodle

3rd: Ruby and Darcie - Australian Shepherd

4th: Ruby and Tom - X Breed

Sporting

1st: Holly and Laurel - Golden Retriever

2nd: Sasha and Laurel - Golden Retreiver

3rd: Brook and Cristine - Duck Toller

4th: Storm and Kitty - Ragotto

Non-Sporting

1st: Sam and Eric - Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

2nd: Sprout and Mandy - Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

3rd: Rhee and Marian - Working Sheep Dog

4th: Ruby and Darcie - Australian Shepherd

5th: Angus and Sue - Poodle

6th: Mollie and Michala - Australian Shepherd

Crossbreed

1st: Hudson and Bonnie - Labradoodle

2nd: Sasha and Tony - Labradoodle

3rd: Benson and Paivi - x Breed

4th Ruby and Barbie - x Breed

5th: Fizzy and Sue - x Breed

Rescue

1st: Rhee and Marian - Working Sheep Dog

2nd: Mack and Kevin - Staffy X

3rd: Fizzy and Sue - Poodle

4th: Cassie and Mandy - Bishon Frise

5th: Benson and Paivi - x Breed

Then the winners from the classes above went into a final ring to find out the winners of:

Best in Show & Reserve Best in Show : dog name and handler shown below

1st : Holly and Laurel Holt - Best in show - Golden Retriever

2nd : Storm and Kitty - Reserve Best in show - Legotto

 GPO - Hall repainting walls from scratches caused by chairs - Dec 2024

Many Thanks to Mandy Knowles and Terri McNally our committee members, getting out the paint brushes to tidy up the walls, and don’t they look great !!

 October : Shed Roof storm damage repaired with help from Mandy Knowles, Fiona Tinwell, Marian O’Neill and Terri McNally

 4th July : Fence screening installed thanks to Mandy Knowles and Terri McNally @ GPO venue

Special thanks to Debbie Parish donating the scaffolding screening and cable ties

Purchase of New Fencing and installation January 2023

January 2023 : New fencing installed : Special thanks to Eric Sepkes in helping to get lots of quotes and organising the contractor. Costs covered by our club funds. This area will be a great improvement for outside training.

Clearing of ground November 2022 at GPO

 November 2022, We saw our contractor clear brambles and rubbish at the GPO outside our club hall, in preparation for replacement fencing. Special thanks to Eric Sepkes for project managing this work.

Pictures show what a fabulous job they did. WDTC : used club funds to complete this task

GPO Club Hall Painting Summer and Autumn 2022 by Volunteers

2022 over several months’ a small group of volunteers including club and committee members have painted the ceiling, walls and doors to refurbish our hall at the GPO ground. Funds for paint has come from club funds Special thanks to Mandy Knowles for organising paint team and her amazing art work on the clubs logo all done by freehand