Latest GRWE news

Yealmpton Show

Canny Hart, 30/07/2010

On Wednesday 28th July we attended Yealmpton Show. We hadn’t attended in previous years but had heard from other traders about how good it was and so thought that we would take a risk and give it a try.

Well we couldn’t have been more delighted. For once everything was perfect except for the time that our alarm clocks went off that morning which was 4am!

The drive to the show went without a hitch, it was quite a long way away taking an hour and a half but on arrival the venue was lovely, the weather was perfect, not too hot or too cold, the loos were close by as was the water tap to refill the dogs bowls and those of you who do lots of shows will understand how helpful it is to have these things close to your stand!

The pitch we had was great and we enjoyed a nice view across the showground of the horse rings. The volunteers as always were brilliant, and their trusty dogs the perfect ambassadors.

The show was really busy and we had the pleasure of meeting some lovely people who showed plenty of interested in the work that we do and who gave generously to the collecting tins.

In total we raised £389.77 and had a couple of what seemed to be very serious homing enquiries so we will wait to see how they develop.

Massive thanks to everyone involved for getting some time off work to attend & help with this mid week event. It was a great success and a thoroughly enjoyable day. We will look forward to returning next year.

Hitchin Collection 24/07/10

Claire Gambrell, 27/07/2010

It was the Rhythms of The World Festival on Saturday in Hitchin and the sun was shining, so the perfect day for GRWE volunteers to be out and about with hounds, collecting money and raising awareness.
There seemed to be a lot of homing interest, with leaflets given out and people coming over to make a fuss of the dogs.
It was a very successful day with a total of £377.24 collected in the tins and two new volunteers recruited. The best part of the day though, was that one couple and their two children came over to see the dogs a total of three times during the day! – Their home check is already booked, so fingers crossed there will be another hound in a new home very soon.

Dorchester Street Collection

Liz Baker, 15/07/2010

10th July 2010 - I was a bit worried about this collection as just ten days before our collection ‘Greyhounds in Need’ carried out a very successful collection in the town centre. It seems that Dorchester shoppers were happy, yet again, to empty their pockets for the greyhounds.

It was a warm sunny Saturday but thankfully not everyone had headed for the beach and the town was quite busy. We chatted with loads of lovely people and spoke to some who expressed interest in sharing their homes with a hound, leaflets were given out and, as ever, we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Ann with Looby-Loo, Tasha with Charlie, Kevin & Cath with Hope, Toni with Lily, Pete with Harry & Otto (+ me and Mojo) all worked hard to raise an excellent £326.

Musbury & Whitford WI Talk

Canny Hart, 15/07/2010

Musbury and Whitford Women’s Institute, Devon.

On Tuesday 13th July GRWE was kindly invited to talk about the industry and greyhounds as pets following their racing career. The event was to have taken place in a lovely garden with apple trees, but the Devon weather put paid to that. Squalls of heavy rain and low cloud sent us all indoors to the village hall, a perfect venue given the conditions outside.

The ladies listened to the history of the breed with its strengths and delicacies. There was an outline of how the racing industry developed and the way some dogs are discarded from an early age through to natural retirement. Maddy outlined very clearly GRWE’s part in the rehoming process and invited lots of questions, and Vicki told us about how she fostered George and couldn’t bear to part with him once his personality developed. All five dogs present behaved impeccably and made many new friends and won hearts all round.

To close there was a wonderful strawberry and cream tea and the most generous donation of £85. Many thanks to the WI of East Devon for their hospitality and gift.

Goosnargh and Longridge Show, Lancashire

Claire Mason, 14/07/2010

Saturday 10th July

After morning drizzle cleared, more people arrived and the show had a nice family feel to it.

Classes to be judged included shire horses and foals, rare breed sheep and poultry with a display of unusual hens' eggs - including green ones!
All breeds of dog from chihuahuas and chinese crested to afghans and mastiffs in the Kennel Club licensed dog show.
Birds of prey, alpacas and even a large monitor (lizard variety!) which stopped right outside our gazebo to sun itself didn't phase our kennel dogs who behaved wonderfully throughout a very long and tiring day.

People who had recently adopted a dog from us came to see us as well as some who were waiting to home a dog once their holidays were over.

Merchandise sales and collect tin donations brought in the superb total of £430.05


Giving us a grand total of 1266.74 for the weekend!

Tesco Extra Burnley, Lancashire

Claire Mason, 13/07/2010

Fund Raising Weekend

Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th July

Saturday and Sunday saw us at Tesco Extra in Burnley. This is a HUGE store; one of the busiest in the country that fact was certainly reflected in the collecting tins.
People were really interested in the dogs; many couldn't believe how settled they were. People's kindness really touched us - one lady became very tearful when she heard of the horrific conditions the kennel dogs present were found in. A young boy used his pocket money to buy some treats for the kennels dogs and was delighted by our gratitude. Several people came back on Sunday to see us with different dogs - these greyhounds have some pulling power!

With some homing interest and a grand total of £836.69 we had a fantastic weekend at the store.

Walton in Gordano Village Fete Saturday 10th July

Josh & Sarah Harris, 13/07/2010

We were invited to attend Walton in Gordano village fete this year by the owners of the lovely Kyle and Daisy. It is a lovely village between Clevedon and Portishead (near Bristol).

We ran a tombola which proved to be very popular and I baked some dog treats to sell.

There was lots to see, line dancing, tug o war, dog show, penalty shoot out for the kids so a fun day was had by all.

We raised £49 on the tombola and collected £44.71 and all in just over three hours!

Thank you to everyone who helped us on the day and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

ps we have been invited back for next year and may help out with the dog show!

Upham Show

Corinne Harris, 13/07/2010

Saturday 10 July

Whilst out out collecting a couple of months ago we were asked if we would like to attend a small village dog show / fete and parade our hounds to promote GRWE.

So last Saturday we did! I took 6 of mine helped by Heidi, Sarah with Leah and Steve and Jane with Beth and Louie.

We had a lovely afternoon in the most beautiful setting and seeing as it was a relatively small show we had some really good interest.

A great day was had by all and our hounds made us very proud once again by not only winning three classes plus a second and a fourth but by so many people saying how absolutely beautiful and well behaved all nine dogs were.

Big thank you to Penny for inviting us along and see you next year!

Dorchester Street Collection 10 July 2010

Liz Baker, 12/07/2010

Yet another warm and sunny day in Dorset's County Town. Happily not everyone had headed for the beach and the town was quite busy. Shoppers were generous and happy to talk to us and our hounds. We spoke to people who expressed interest in sharing their homes with a hound, leaflets were given out and, as ever, we'll keep our fingers crossed.
Ann with Looby-Loo, Tasha with Charlie, Kevin & Cath with Hope, Toni with Lily, Pete with Harry & Otto (+ me and Mojo) all worked hard to raise an excellent £326

Bath Street Collection

Rob & Fliss Voisey, 06/07/2010

Saturday 3rd July 2010

An early start to make sure that we weren’t late meant that Rob and I arrived half an hour early so we started the day sat in the sun outside a lovely café in the Abbey Churchyard.

Jan and Jackie (who brought the boards and table) soon arrived and set up outside the pump rooms. We had been worried that we wouldn’t have enough people but once again the troops turned out and there seemed to be hounds all over Bath town centre!

We had several kennel dogs including the wonderful Billy who was such a well behaved boy and showed the people of Bath what fabulous dogs greyhounds are! What a wonderful pet he will make for some lucky person.

The weather was wonderful and so warm that poor Rocky had to have a couple of soakings to cool off. We had quite a bit of homing interest which is always great and several possible sponsors too. And if that wasn’t enough we raised the fantastic sum of £836.77

Thank you everyone who turned out to help.

Enford Fete & Dog Show

Michele Way, 05/07/2010

Well what an impromptu affair on Sunday, 26th June! Having intended to go to the show to see if it was viable for next year’s calendar, a phone call late Friday night changed all plans for a sedate Saturday afternoon! Following a quick call to Michelle Haley and emails to volunteers, baking started in earnest for the following day.

The show was pretty well attended despite the beach weather and there was also a dog show – I was asked to judge Beautiful Belle, great fun and practice for the 18th July!
My inaugural outing resulted in £20.45 taken for dog treats and donations with £13 in prize draw tickets as well. Not a huge amount, but there were some very good homing enquiries which hopefully will bear fruit.

One lovely older couple had been told by another charity, (non-greyhound), they couldn’t ever have a greyhound because they can’t live with cats! I was very happy to disabuse them of this and they happily trundled off armed with GRWE contact details. I also met my first Sloughi – a dainty little girl called Honey.

My grateful thanks go to Jan and Blaze for helping during the hottest afternoon we’ve had in a long time. Also to Michelle H who very kindly dropped off the missing equipment I needed at very short notice! Here’s looking forward to the next one.
Pictures: The stand; Beautiful Blaze; Jan, Blaze, Solo and Honey, a visiting Sloughi.

Newhall Greyhound Playgroup

Canny Hart, 05/07/2010

On Sunday 4th July we held another one of our popular Greyhound Playgroups at Newhall Equestrian Centre, near Exeter. 29 dogs and their owners joined us for the event each enjoying two ten minute play sessions with a break in between for a raffle and refreshments.

Plenty of merchandise was purchased and owners enjoyed time for a catch up and some greyhound gossip. These social playgroups are as much for the benefit of greyhound owners as the dogs and provide a good opportunity for people to discuss any problems that they may be having with their dogs and to share their experiences with others.

It was lovely to see old friends and new and an absolute credit to the owners of the dogs to see them all looking in such great health. Not too fat or too thin and all with beautifully shining coats. We also had the pleasure of the company of Alfie a greyhound puppy who had been rehomed by another dog charity. Obviously he was still too young to play with the grown ups, but enjoyed getting social contact with other sighthounds and had some playtime with his family on his own, until such a time comes when he is old enough to enjoy the rough and tumble with the big boys!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun evening, to the volunteers for giving up their Sunday evening to help and of course to Newhall Equestrian Centre for allowing us to hold our playgroup on their premises.

The event raised a total of £206.29.

Street Collection - Seaton

Canny Hart, 05/07/2010

On Saturday we held a street collection in aid of GRWE in Seaton town centre. Unbeknown to me at the time of getting the licence to collect it was also Seaton Cycling Festival weekend, a celebration of all things bicycle, which meant there were lots of other events going on in the town that day including displays from the local Morris men, a magician, the majorettes and some very odd shaped bikes as you can see in the picture!

The fact that there were other events going on in the town meant that the town was busier than usual and so in just a couple of hours we managed to collect £111.79. We also had several enquiries about homing dogs and lots of people came over to give the dogs a cuddle.

Thank you to all of the shoppers of Seaton for their generous donations and their genuine interest in the work that we do. Thank you to Trotters Café for providing us with complimentary cups of tea that were very much appreciated, and to Tony, Ben, Ellie and the dogs for giving up their Saturday morning to help.

Portishead Street Collection

Josh & Sarah Harris, 03/07/2010

We had a lovely day collecting in Portishead High Street. The sun was shining but we found a lovely shady spot under a tree and were kept supplied with buckets of water and umbrellas for the dogs by a kind lady from a nearby shop.

We raised £106.56 and received a serious rehoming offer.

Thank you to everyone who helped on the day.

Axe Vale Festival

Canny Hart, 02/07/2010

Axe Vale Festival – 26th & 27th June.

Last weekend we took the GRWE stand for the first time to the Axe Vale Festival. The festival is a beautiful two day show with a predominantly horticultural theme, but basically a celebration of all things countryside. This was the shows 16th year of running and it has become so popular that trade stand numbers have to be limited and many traders had to be turned away this year. We were very fortunate to have our entry accepted for the show and thus enjoyed a very hot two days chatting to some lovely people and enjoying the wonderful atmosphere. It got so hot that at one point on Saturday afternoon we even had to resort to putting wet towels onto the dogs to help try to keep them cool.

Due to the excitement and the building anticipation of the forthcoming England match on Sunday afternoon we once again went with the England theme and changed our usual red, white and blue bunting for the St George’s Cross to show our support. At 2.30pm as predicted, the show went very quiet with many people dashing home to put their TV’s on and those that couldn’t like the stall holders tuned into Radio 5 Live.

It was a fun atmosphere, but needless to say we packed up on Sunday evening once again feeling disappointed with England’s performance. Thankfully Devon’s trusty team of volunteers and their faithful hounds as always reliably performed impeccably raising a total of £465.03 and doing us all justly proud!

Street Collection in Wadebridge

Anthea Dove, 02/07/2010

Street Collection in Wadebridge, Saturday, 26th June.

This Saturday the Co-Op in Wadebridge kindly allowed us to collect outside their store. We set up "camp" in the only bit of shade available and shoppers soon put their money in the collection tins.

Many people stopped to stroke the dogs and Lucy revelled in the attention she received - the boys staying home due to the hot weather!

We had some serious enquiries - one lady is relocating back from Teneriffe after, 20 years away, and wants a greyhound once her property is sold.

We packed up after 3 hours as it was getting too hot for us and the dogs.
Many thanks to the no.1 team - Sue Fowler, Sue Hicks and Lucy and my Maisie and Beth.

We raised £43.63

Fairfield House Residential Home

Liz Baker, 02/07/2010

Fairfield House Residential Home, Lyme Regis, Dorset – 25th June.

GRWE was contacted by Fairfield House as they were keen for us to give a talk and bring our hounds along to meet some of the residents. This needed to be done on a weekday as their weekends are busy with residents’ visitors. Dorset volunteers seemed to be largely unavailable so Devon came to my rescue; Maddy, Carol and Chris brought their wonderful hounds on a very hot afternoon. (Thanks to Canny for putting me in touch with the Devon Team).

It is disconcerting giving a talk when a good percentage of your audience are fast asleep! In my defence, they were sound-o before I started talking. After the talk our four greyhounds circulated and said hello very politely to residents and staff. Some residents were armed with treats for the dogs and the chef brought out some sausage – a very popular gentleman.

We came away with £26.00 in donations and having promoted our sponsor dogs, we left some forms in anticipation.

Portsmouth Street Collection

Corinne Harris, 30/06/2010

Wow it was mega hot in the sun, however with the help of a slight breeze and the shade of the trees we managed to keep cool.

It was a black, white and blue hound day! and we were joined by a new "recruit" in the shape of Karla, with 2 of her hounds Vinnie and Shylo (GRWE girl, was Jessica).

There was quite a lot going in the City Centre so dogs had to contend with a fair amount, including the most enormous bunch of balloons which Rafferty thought was just THE most scary thing - bless his heart.

The radio station which was there kept giving us great shout-outs, thank you!, and we took home £413.09

Greyhound Gathering, Blackburn, Lancashire

Lucille Cavadino, 27/06/2010

Well what can I say? Just about one of our most successful gatherings ever! The sun shone and there was a light breeze (just as I think Claire ordered) and the dogs kept their cool by relaxing in the shade of some huge trees at the end of the walk whilst slurping down water and munching on schmakos and sausages.

We had some fantastic homing interest both from our own volunteers, from new homes waiting and ready to go after holidays and also from complete strangers that we encountered on the walk who were captivated by our dogs. I must say we have some absolutely magnificent dogs with us at the moment – you would be hard pressed to choose between them. We also had new volunteers join us to see what we were all about (and apparently, they liked us :-) plus the offer of new volunteer help from people that met us for the first time today. And, as if that wasn’t enough, we also saved an unwanted greyhound from being advertised for free and potentially falling into the wrong hands – phew – I told you it was a great gathering, didn’t I? Oh and I nearly forgot, there was also the nice sum of £108 in our bucket. See us talking greyhounds!

Thank you so so much to everyone who was involved in making today such a success – from the organising, to the walking, transport, help and support of all kinds plus donations of goodies for the kennel hounds – you were all brilliant – we are a great team here in Lancashire :-)

However, I think you will forgive me if I say that the undoubted star of the show today must go to the original honorary greyhound – my Maisie – for those of you who were there you will know exactly what I mean – for those of you who weren’t – well, what can I say? The hips might have gone, but hey, where there’s a will there’s a way !!

Great British Greyhound Walk - Newquay

Anthea Dove, 25/06/2010

Sunday, 20th June, Newquay. Great British Greyhound Walk. 10am

Our GBGwalk, in Newquay, was a great success. Greyhounds kept appearing with their owners and at the photo shoot they numbered 29.

Jo and Ed Head took the lead and we all followed around the zoo and down into the park, walking over or through the stream, accross the road and around the boating lake, the dogs stopping to play or drink in the water!

More greyhounds joined us in the park and the final number was 35.
This included a couple and their greyhound from Birmingham, who came down to Newquay for their holiday. They read about the walk on the GBGW website and decided to join us. Greyhounds came from all over Cornwall, despite other walks at Plymouth and Redruth.

On the way back we stopped at the cafe for drinks or ice-creams; Lucy had her usual vanilla ice-cream!

It was great to hear other people's stories and experiences with their greyhounds.

A big thank you to Jo Head for organising this event.

Southampton Street Collection

Corinne Harris, 24/06/2010

Saturday 19 June

Although the sun shone it was a tad chilly first thing and late afternoon.

Massive thank you to all you wonderful people and your gorgeous hounds for helping.

And also many thanks to the Management at West Quay Shopping Centre for allowing to collect at their entrance.

I believe we have already had one home offer from being there, so that is just brilliant.

We all kept saying we didn't think it was as busy as last year and we were taken completely aback once the donations had been counted as we took home a totally fantastic £1,110.89!!

Collection & Awareness Day, Tesco Haslingden, Lanc

Claire Mason, 22/06/2010

Saturday 19/06/10

This week saw us drumming up support in Haslingden. To make the most of the collection we went with an England football theme - which was very popular with shoppers - although having seen the teams performance some volunteers were worried that they might get pelted with rotten fruit! Very tolerant hounds wore the England flag with pride. It always amazes me how laid back these dogs are; they really do seem to take everything in their stride.

It was our first visit to this store and we were made extremely welcome by the Community Campion - Collette. We hoped the response would be good and it certainly was. We raised an amazing total of £425.31 - doing Lancashire proud again.

Sherborne Castle Country Fair 31/05/10

Liz Baker, 20/06/2010

Our first year at Sherborne having had to jump through a few hoops to prove to the Fair’s Committee that we were worthy of being there!
A lovely warm, sunny bank holiday brought lots of visitors to this popular venue. We were kept busy chatting to people, with a few promising conversations; fingers crossed for some follow-up enquiries.
The Sherborne Castle Team comprised: Cath & Kevin with ‘Hope’; Trudy with ‘Star’; Ellie with ‘Roshie’; Michelle with ‘Solo’; Danielle with ‘ Topaz’ and my ‘Mojo’. It was pretty hot and hounds and volunteers did great stuff in the heat.
We took £100 on the tombola, £109 in collection pots and £87 on merchandise.

Ledbury Street Collection

Ginny McCoy, 20/06/2010

Saturday 12 June 2010.

We held our annual collection in Ledbury today, and raised the very respectable sum of £273.42. We did wonder how busy the town would actually be today, due to the World Cup, but fortunately there were some coach trips in, which always swells the coffers, and today we were in luck.

Many thanks to Valerie and Stuart Webb and their friend Roni, who came along with their 3 lovely black hounds, and to Vicky Meek with Gertie, Mabel and whippet Willow. Rio came with me for the day, and we are really pleased because Dilly came along for his first ever street collection with Les for a couple of hours this afternoon, and coped really well – it’s four years to the weekend since we collected him from the kennels, a little shivering wreck, and how lovely to see how far he’s come today, bless him.

So, a good day all round, and two very tired greyhounds who are fast asleep, no doubt until bedtime. Peace at last .....

Kingston Maurward College

Liz Baker, 20/06/2010

Our first year at this event, so it was another ‘unknown’ for the Dorset Team.

The weather was bright and warm, the crowds flocked in and we had a busy day. We hope that some positive conversations will be followed up by would-be hound adopters.

Money did not seem to be flowing into collecting tins as much as we would have liked but Sheron who ‘manned’ the tombola for the best part of the day was kept busy.
Tombola - £102, collection tins - £51.85, merchandise £12.00.

I forgot to take my camera and volunteer Danielle realised she had her camera at end of show, taking-down time. So our photo is of a part-dismantled stand and Toni bagging the easy job holding Topaz, Lily and Mojo.

Truro Street Collection

Anthea Dove, 20/06/2010

Our street collection in Truro, this week, was totally opposite to one last October - the sun shone ALL day!

We were kept busy with enquiries and people were very generous with their donations.

We were visited by Gillian, Tony and their greyhound Maddie, and Janet with Hoolie and Meg, who helped Maisie and Beth promote the charity.

Hoolie was the star of the day - he greeted everyone with a story, smile and a very waggy tail!

Thank you to Sue Fowler and all who helped and contributed to this successful day. We collected £86.30.

Bournemouth Street Collection

Corinne Harris, 15/06/2010

5 June 2010

We were blessed with a lovely day and fortunately managed to keep in the shade.

Many thanks to everyone and their hounds for helping as it was quite a hard day as there were two other charities collecting in the Town Centre, one of which had a huge presence, so I think we did pretty well by taking home £523.03 and even better I believe we have already had at least one homecheck from this which is great news.

Bicton College Open Day

Canny Hart, 14/06/2010

On Saturday 12th June we took the stand with a handful of volunteers and their trusty hounds to Bicton College's Open Day.

Thankfully we were blessed with another lovely sunny day, and despite a bit of trouble finding a suitable pitch first thing in the morning, we eventually got set up on a lovely grassy patch in the shade of huge old tree which was just perfect for the us and the dogs!

We enjoyed the day, taking a total of £139.44 on merchandise, in collecting tins and the tombola and had three serious home enquiries.

As always a big thank you to our volunteers who gave up some of their Saturday to help, those being Christine, Ben, Dave, Lin, Jackie & Freya and of course not forgetting the hounds, Minnie, Flick, Annie, Roger and the very gorgeous Mr Darcy sporting his England attire!

Collection and Awareness Day - Southport, Lancs.

Claire Mason, 08/06/2010

This weekend saw us at Pets at Home in Southport - our first collection in this area for 2010. We will be back in September for a couple of street collections on Lords St. The collection was really well attended by volunteers so thanks to everyone for giving up a sunny Saturday. The collection was a busy one with us all being engaged in discussion about greyhounds by members of the public. The dogs in attendance did us proud as usual and generated some great homing interest for their cousins in kennels. To top this off we raised a superb amount £232.52 and sold £20 worth of the Talking Greyhounds magazine giving us a grand total of £252.52 - great job and thanks everyone.

Pets at Home, Exeter

Canny Hart, 06/06/2010

On Saturday 5th June we held a collection & awareness day at Pets at Home in Exeter.

Despite the day being on the quieter side (perhaps everyone went to the beach!) we still managed to collect a total of £103.01 which all things considered is not bad and we all know that every penny helps!

A big thank you to volunteers and their hounds for coming along to help with the collection, also to the store's customers for giving generously, and thank you to Pete Waterey (Store Manager) for his continued support of GRWE.

Greyhound Gathering, Boggart Hall Clough, Manc.

Claire Mason, 01/06/2010

This months gathering saw us take in the wonderful scenery and history of Boggart Hall Clough, Manchester. As usual the atmosphere amongst the group was warm and friendly although the infamous Boggart was around today creating his usual mischief and mayhem. As a result, the walk started late but made good progress round this city park. A short stop was made to point out to some of the children the Boggart’s bath; a mud filled hollow. The middle of the walk was marked with a brief mention of Mrs Emily Pankhurst and her involvement in the fight for free speech in Manchester parks in 1896. After a long climb up to the Angel Monument, the walk culminated at the café by the boating lake for the traditional raffle prize draw. We raised £78 in the bucket making this a very successful weekend for the Lancashire team.

Collection and Awareness Day Todmorden, Lancs.

Claire Mason, 01/06/2010

Lancashire’s most easterly collection this weekend so it was important that we made the most of it. Of course we only achieved this with great support from our steadfast volunteers. The day got off to a great start as we were busy from the outset and continued in much the same way for the rest of the day. The people of Todmorden showed great interest in the lovely greyhounds who came to lend a hand; we gave out many homing leaflets. Sadly Alfie has not found his forever home so he was out again today looking for his new owners. We had some great homing interest at this collection so hopefully the re homing hotline will be a ringing! We also raised the superb total of £410.71 well done team and thank you very much for your support everyone.

Off Lead & Picnic, Hamble

Corinne Harris, 01/06/2010

What a difference in the weather compared to yesterday!

We had a good turnout, including lots of new people and their beautiful hounds which was great. Including one lovely couple having seen us at a collection recently, two weeks later homed a hound – brilliant!

All the dogs had a blast and isn’t always just fantastic to see them charging about and having fun knowing that they are in a totally safe environment. I bet quite a few households had a quiet evening!!

Thanks so much to everyone for coming and also big thanks to Val, Ian, Steve and Jane for helping me and Col to set up and pack away gazebo, merchandise, dog treats and tombola.

Total taken was £436.65 of which £277.50 was merchandise sales.

Ryde, Isle of Wight Street Collection

Corinne Harris, 01/06/2010

Unfortunately the weather forecasters got it right for a change and it really was horrible and made a huge difference to the amount we collected compared to last year. Nevertheless we had 2 or 3 very serious home offers so yay!

Myself and Val with JJ, Squiffy, Wiggle, Cash and Rooba braved the wind and rain on the ferry trip across the Solent and took up residence underneath a cafe canopy on Ryde High Street.

After about 2 hours or so the wind changed direction and was blowing rain sideways at us and it was either do something about it or go all the way home. So we did something about it and bought a beach shelter from the shop opposite and "camped" on the High Street instead

At first the big dogs said I'm not getting in there but the whippies said we are and firmly made themselves at home in the warm and dry. Cash and Rooba decided to stick their heads out so we had to fashion hats for them from the whippies extra rain macs.

We were the talk of the town as people were coming out of shops to give us money as word got round that there were dogs in a tent!!

So despite a pretty wet and quiet day we took home £283.09

Bank Holiday Collection at Wyevale Chipperfield

Ann & Paul Shelock, 31/05/2010

It was a typical Bank Holiday Monday with typical cloudy Bank Holiday Monday weather but the shoppers were not put off at all!
In the morning the crowds were greeted by three stunning greyhounds and two lovely lurchers whilst the afternoon crowds got to meet two charming lurchers. Coats were needed in the morning as the sky threatened to rain but it cheered up somewhat later on and slightly warmer weather was enjoyed by all!

The shoppers were all delighted to have a hug from the hounds that greeted them and there was much interest in homing as well as the sponsoring scheme. In total £120 was donated by the kind shoppers of Chipperfield Wyevale Garden Centre. All the hounds are having a well deserved rest after a long day of hugs and cuddles!

Many thanks to those that came to help today - it was great to see some new faces (both hound and human!) and hope to see you all again soon.

Devon County Show 20-22 May

Canny Hart, 27/05/2010

Well we all prayed for good weather prior to this huge three day show and someone was obviously listening because we were blessed with three days of wonderful weather. Actually if I am totally honest it was almost too hot, but I am definitely not complaining as we have attended too many shows in the past where we have either been wading knee deep in mud or have almost been washed away by the rain!

Bumper numbers visited this year’s Devon County and enjoyed a traditional Show with large numbers of livestock, great food and drink, wonderful flowers and gardens, entertainment in six rings and the best weather in years. Highlights included Chariots of Fire, a team of ponies who leapt through fiery hoops, the grand parade of livestock in the main ring, falconry on horseback, traditional crafts and country pursuits, and of course the GRWE stand!

We enjoyed welcoming lots of visitors to the stand who came to enquire about a whole manner of things including greyhound welfare and what greyhounds were like as pets, with children etc. Hundreds of people enjoyed a cuddle with some of our very patient if not a little hot hounds and we had a great deal of interest from people who were considering a greyhound as their next pet.

Plenty of greyhound goodies were sold, donations collected and Christine’s tombola proved to be extremely popular particularly on the Saturday when children were able to get in free of charge if accompanied by an adult.

Volunteers worked hard in the heat and their hounds were as always beautifully behaved. Some having to have sun cream rubbed onto some of their tummies (kindly provided by the skin cancer care people who had the pitch next door) as they lay legs akimbo in true greyhound style in the sunshine, which caused passers by much amusement! That is the dogs that I am talking about and not the volunteers of course although I think that a few of us did feel like joining them at times!

One little white hound called Lexi who insisted on lying in the sun and not in the shade which was provided, had to be covered in damp cloths at one point later in the day on Friday in an effort to keep her cool at temperatures soared.

Throughout the three days we raised the grand total of £950.65 which is a splendid effort and thanks must go to all of the volunteers and dogs who gave up their time to help man the stand. It costs quite a lot of money to have a stand at some of these big shows so it is a big risk when you are never sure what the weather is going to do and what the response of the public will be, but everything was on our side and the show was a great success. Thanks also to Ollie Allen (show secretary) for giving us an excellent pitch; we will look forward to attending again in 2011.

Littlehampton Street Collection

Corinne Harris, 26/05/2010

We had never collected in Littlehampton before so didn’t know the layout of the town centre but we were really fortunate and had a lovely cool spot in the shade which was just as well as the sun certainly beat down all day.

I took Moo, Yum Yum and Twizzle and was joined by Val with Nick and Topaz, Cindy with Jilly and Ailsa - thanks everyone

Our collecting started just as I got my 3 out of the car with a lady commenting on how beautiful they were and promptly gave me £2.00!

We had some good interest and I am pleased to report that Janet (South East Region) has already carried out two homechecks as a direct result of the collection – which is fantastic news!

So we took home £373.37 which was a good amount considering that most people would have been down on the beach!

Luton, Beds QUIZ NIGHT

Gulie Butcher, 25/05/2010

GRWE joined forces with Greyhound Compassion for a Quiz Night in Luton on Saturday, May 22. There were over a hundred people in sixteen teams all kept in check by Mark, the Quiz Night Supremo, challenging every brain cell on a very hot evening and keeping everyone well entertained. Both charities had display boards and leaflets for the uninitiated. The mixed audience provided the opportunity for education. One team member was inspired to Sponsor a dog for her Dad on Fathers’ day as she said, ‘I’m fed up with buying him things which are just stuck in the drawer and this will give him something interesting in his post.’

Much cake was consumed, all home baked by Louise, her fans diving for their favourite before it was sold out.

Thanks to Linda for her skill in acquiring raffle prizes, to Katie, Kelli and Graham for their contributions and to Katie and Ruth for their hard sell tactics.

Tension was raised at the end with three teams having to answer the tie break question and over this final hurdle came team ‘Lucky Streak’ who received a winners’ medal, personal fruit cake and either a GC mug or a GRWE tea towel.

More cake was sold to departing participants and all that was left was to count the money. Stan Ames generously donated £15 to take the grand total over the thousand pounds to £1001.32 giving each charity £500.66.

Collection at Tesco, Dorchester on 15 May 2010

Liz Baker, 24/05/2010

Dorset volunteers raised £378 at this busy store. We had a busy day chatting to shoppers and the hounds were busy too, greeting some very nice people. We hope that some of our conversations will lead to home offers.
The hard-working Tesco Team were: Ann, Toni, Kevin, Cath, Sheron, Bryan, Mandy, Pete and Nicola - with their wonderful hounds.

Burnley Street Collection - Lancashire

Claire Mason, 22/05/2010

A street collection this weekend in a very busy town centre – Burnley. The greyhounds created quite a stir amongst shoppers and of course the dogs lapped up all the attention. People were very interested to hear about the breed and the charities efforts to home as many dogs as possible. Although few in number our enthusiasm was great and this was reflected in the generous ‘takings’ and homing interest generated.

Together we raised the grand total of £ 162.48 - Excellent work.

The glorious weather made this collection a very pleasant one and the first one this year that dogs didn’t need to wear a coat for! Hooray the sun finally reached Lancashire.

Thank you very much to my assistants today who roped in friends and family to swell our numbers – much appreciated.

Walk at Sandford Orcas, nr Sherborne, Dorset

Liz Baker, 19/05/2010

This event was organised by Jan Carey and proceeds were shared between GRWE and Worldwide Volunteering.
24 dogs registered for the walk, this included some of the dogs from the nearby kennels. Sandford Orcas is a lovely village tucked away in the hills on the Dorset/Wiltshire border with some super walking country all around. The dogs were treated to doggy bags and their owners enjoyed tea and home made cakes. A lovely watercolour of Jan's (sadly departed) greyhound 'Quickly' was raffled and won by a delighted 9yr old Georgia. Jan hopes to arrange another event next year and is planning how to attact yet more dogs. £136.50 was donated to GRWE.

Meet & Greet, Jolleys, Stevenage

eastern region, 17/05/2010

M&G Jollyes, Stevenage, Saturday May 15 : Alison Harper

This was another of our try out new locations for 2010. We had a lovely sunny day for the collection, which made a nice change. Sadly it was quite a quiet day, perhaps everyone stayed at home to watch the football but we were able to inform several shoppers of the joys of owning a hound. Leaflets were taken so who knows what seeds were planted.

A massive thank you to everyone, people and hounds, who came along to show your support. In the morning I was joined by Themba and Quincy with Louise and Dylan and Amber with Linda and Sarah. In the afternoon Freddie and Lacey with Karen and Hamlet with foster mum Paula kept me company. It’s very special when Freddie Sponsor Dog makes a public appearance.

To start off with I really thought we were going to end up with about £5 in the tins but much to my surprise it was £76.42!

Pets at Home Portishead

Josh & Sarah Harris, 16/05/2010

We were lucky with the weather again for this collection. Stormy now gets so excited when we start putting the boards in the van that he is exhausted by the time we get there!

We had a steady flow of visitors wanting to stop and say hello to the dogs.

We also had a lovely surprise visit from Shadow and her new owner. Shadow used to be called Anya and was the pregnant bitch that was rescued just after Christmas and gave birth to nine puppies!

We raised £72.07. Thank you to everyone who helped out on the day.

Stapeley Water Gardens

Jill Stanley, 14/05/2010

Awareness and Collection Day at Stapeley Water Gardens. 9th May 2010.

It was a lovely day considering how the weather has been and the sun shone most of the day thank goodness.

We raised £356 altogether, we had a good turn out of volunteers and their dogs which makes it all happen when you are fundraising. The public love to see the greyhounds and of course this generates more money as we all know.

The day soon went………….. funny how that happens when you are enjoying yourself………….we met some new owners with greyhounds who quite happily chatted to everyone about their greyhounds. Everyone joins in when they visit which just seems to come natural when you take on a greyhound, after all they are your pride and joy and it’s so lovely to talk about them to the public.

We had some lovely donations for the Gift Table so thank you to people who came along especially to donate them.

There seemed to be a lot of interest in the greyhounds, people were taking information and cards so let us hope it generates a home offer or two. One lady chatted for absolutely ages with all the volunteers and then when she saw sponsor dog Heather Whiteway….. well that made her mind up once and for all, she was horrified to think how poor Heather had suffered having her ears cut off.

Lastly I would like to say a very big thank you to all volunteers who helped on the day, setting up and taking down of the Gazebo and tables, brought their own greyhounds to show the public and helped on tombola and gift table, your help is invaluable and very much appreciated.

GRWE Companion Dog Show

Anthea Dove, 14/05/2010

Saturday 8th May

GRWE Companion Dog Show at Goonhavern Village Hall.

Our dog show was held indoors again this year, and contestants travelled from all parts of Cornwall to support us. Some of our supporters travelled a very long way - Tony and Janet with Connie from Dorset, and Gail and her Mum with Jack from Somerset.

Entry numbers were down but everyone had a good day.
Best Rescued/rehomed dog was greyhound J.J. and Melissa Ead; they went on to win Best Family Dog in Show. Sue Hicks' greyhound Lucy, won Best Veteran. We raised £422.48.

Our loyal volunteers worked hard all day, a big thank you to our judge - Morwenna Marshall and her steward Fran; Sue and Sue taking entries; Mary and her team making the refreshments; Faith and Taff selling raffle tickets; Sue, Reg and John outside, in the cold, with the merchandise and bric a brac and me taking the photos.

Brambridge Garden Centre

Corinne Harris, 13/05/2010

8 & 9 May

Ooh it was soooo chilly. The staff at the Garden Centre were absolutely fantastic and cleared lots of furniture away so we could be under cover.

Myself and Val took different hounds on each day and as always they were just fab and made sure that the visitors to the centre gave them lots of fuss!

Over the two days we took £328.33, had some great rehoming enquiries plus a lovely couple keen to volunteer (and hopefully in the future rehome a hound or two!) and also invited to have a stall at a local dog show. So all in all a good weekend!

Golden Days Garden Centre, Standish, Lancs

Claire Mason, 10/05/2010

Golden Days Garden Centre, Standish, Lancashire

Saturday 8th May

A new venue for us and in a new area – we were unsure how busy today’s event would be. I am pleased to say that we saw a steady trickle of people all day. People were very interested to talk about the breed and have a good cuddle; with the hounds not us!

We were joined on this collection by several new volunteers – who did a great job and picked up the ropes quickly. It is great news for the region to have a growing number of volunteers. It goes to show how successful the collection and awareness days have been in recruiting new people. Volunteers are the key to our success and I am always overwhelmed by how generously all of you give up your time weekend after weekend - thank you all.

Alfie came along with Tracy, his foster mum, and did his very best to find a home for himself (fingers crossed). He looked great in the new seasons ‘I need a home’ coat – very fashion forward!

A very kind lady came to see us and gave us 15 bags of healthy and homemade dog treats made from recipes in the book A La Bark Baking (www.alabarkbaking.co.uk) it transpired that she is the authors Mother. The hounds that sampled the biscuits loved them; they soon sold out.

We raised £276.87 - a great total in a new venue. Happily we were invited back (so we must have been well behaved!)

Wirralie Anniversary Party, Nantwich

Lindsay Ford, 09/05/2010

The fantastic Wirralies Are One, 1st year anniversary party was held at Reaseheath College in Nantwich, Cheshire on Easter Monday. Many GRWE volunteers, several hundred families and their hounds, and Edward Timpson MP lit the candles on the celebratory cake, marking the first anniversary of GRWE’s biggest rescue mission to date, ie, the successful removal of 29 greyhounds from neglect and cruelty at premises on the Wirral. Many of the 29 ‘Wirralies’ were in attendance on the day to meet up with their siblings and friends one year on, and took part in a waggy-tailed ‘Happy Wirralie Parade’ to showcase their new lives as happy, healthy.

The party made full use of the magnificent surroundings of Reaseheath College, beginning with an Easter Trail around the lake with each marker telling the remarkable story of each of the 29 hounds. The afternoon session kicked off with a fantastic Search and Rescue Display by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, before moving on to what was for many the real highlight of the afternoon – the first Cheshire Playgroup! We had over 90 dogs go through the playgroup that afternoon, needless to say it was exhausting for Lisa and her stewards but greatly rewarding to see so many hounds have a good run and lots of fun! We also had lots of owners and hounds having a go on the Have-a-go-at-agility course and also taking part in the have-a-go-at-tracking sessions courtesy of the Merseyside Search and Rescue team which taught owners the basics of scent and tracking games.

There was a whole array of stalls and stands to browse through including a stand for the new GRWE merchandise range which went down very well! a dog toy stall, raffle, tombola, homemade crafts, face painting, henna tattoos and refreshments as well as a whole display wall detailing in depth information on the rescue and the work of GRWE.

The weather was bright all day and everybody had a most enjoyable day, we managed to raise a truly amazing amount of £3054.03. This officially makes the Wirral party our best EVER fund raiser for the Cheshire region so we are incredibly happy and our heartfelt thanks goes to our dedicated volunteers and helpers for making it such a memorable day!

Newhall Greyhound Playgroup

Canny Hart, 07/05/2010

Last Sunday evening we held our first greyhound playgroup of the year at Newhall Equestrian Centre near Exeter. We had around 35 dogs with their families come along to enjoy the fun. It was lovely to see both regular supporters of the playgroup and lots of new faces as well. Whilst dogs played owners enjoyed a cup of tea and enjoyed the company of other greyhound loving people.

We raised a total of £327.42. Many thanks to Christine, Lesley, Ben, Milly, Tony, Wendy, Lauren, Ellie and Maddy who all gave up their time to come along and help, and thanks to Newhall Equestrian Centre for allowing us the use of their lovely facilities.

Kingsbury Epicopi May Festival

Rob & Fliss Voisey, 05/05/2010

A lovely day out at this huge village fair which was incredibly well organised and very well attended. And the weather was kind to us too.

A very busy day spent chatting with loads of people about our wonderful hounds including many serious homing enquires. We also had a Tombola and the usual collection pots which together raised £247.41 plus mechandise sales of £51.50.

A big thankyou to all our helpers and their hounds

Hampshire Country Fair

Corinne Harris, 04/05/2010

WHAT a weekend!!

We set the new gazebo up and it looked fab all full of stock and dog treats. It was wet, windy and this certainly kept the crowds away. At about 1pm(ish)one gust of wind blew, one of the gazebo legs buckled and it was all hands to the deck to stop the whole thing from taking off! Stock and everything flew off everywhere, things were getting wet, it WAS a nightmare. So for around 2 hours we couldn't collect, couldn't sell, couldn't do anything but get things back to relative normality.

All the stock had to be loaded back into my car whilst gazebo was sorted and we were thinking we would have to go home but one of the shedding tents was free so were allowed to move in there.

All stock had to come back out of my car and be put back out again!

A HUGE thanks to all you fantastic volunteers for helping get everything back on track on Sunday and working the crowds like there was no tomorrow on the Monday. The teamwork was amazing and you are all superstars.

So despite the disastrous Day One we managed a weekend total of £901.96 - split £601.00 merchandise and the rest in donations.

Hope it's better weather next year!!

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