The 2009 Fun Day was another rip-roaring success with a very good turnout of proud pet owners with their Bassets. Our Judge was Mr Bob Cross of the famous Tarskavaig Skye Terriers who is hoping that his judging appointment at Crufts next year is slightly less hectic! Bob is also well known for Bearded Collies and Labradors.

I think that everyone had a great day out with family and dogs. A few old friends, now Bassetless, came along to watch and have some “non – fattening” afternoon tea, spend some money on our goodies and on the raffle. Our Youngsters” class with an entry of 8, was won by Hector pulling along Wilma Shanks at the other end of the lead. Our top Golden Oldie was Hannah, 12 years young, handled by Billy Johnman, from an entry of 6. In the Children’s Parade, from an entry of 13 the winner was Matt MacDonald from Peebles with Ruby and the Most Like Owner was Erica Hughes with Sherry, although the judge did comment that Erica’s nose was “the wrong colour” being painted black while Sherry’s nose was brown! Well, we do allow for these little anomalies. The Waggiest Tail was Captain Bert (yes, that’s the dog) handled by Graham Brennan. The Fancy Dress this year had the theme of “Homecoming Scotland” which is very topical for us in 2009 north of the border and this was won by Homer wearing a kilt, sporran and busby – all he needed was a set of bagpipes to complete the picture with a close second the Burns family’s Murdo also dressed in tartan with lovely tartan boots to match and his “See You Jimmy” bunnet, and he did have his bagpipes. Well done everyone in this class – what a lot of effort and imagination went into it. The Teribble Twins, that is, two dogs who look alike, Mabel and Ruby were handled by Calum and Matt. The final class was a Judge’s speciality, where the Judge chooses what type of class it should be and this was the “Most Cheerful”. You can tell that our Judge really did enter into the spirit of the day with this one!! A well deserved win by Archie handled by Greg Gailey and, yes, the bassets all had a big smile for the Judge. This event is not complete without our Sausage Catching Competition – entered by all dogs on the day. It was a close fought thing right to the end between Captain Bert (Graeme Brennan) and Henry (Julie Kay) but at the end it was Captain Bert who took the honours and made it look so easy. The ever popular photo caption competition was won by Erica Hughes with Sherry.

Well, that’s it over for another year and I must say, believe it or not, that it is easier to organise a show than the Fun Day.