We hereby give notice that the National Lurcher and Racing Club Annual General Meeting will be held at the Social Club High Road South Wingfield, Near Alfreton Derbyshire DE55 7LX at 12 noon. Anyone intending to attend the AGM please return your show form by 1^st March to enable us to calculate the numbers for catering. If you wish to have something tabled on the agenda it needs to be  sent in writing by 6^th March 2010 Anyone wanting a copy of the minutes or accounts from the AGM send a Large SAE to Linda. Do not forget that they will be the minutes of the last AGM as minutes cannot be accepted and ratified until the following AGM

Survey

The response to the survey was very poor but did provide us with some interesting points of interest

Magazine

The survey showed resounding support for the club magazine to be re-instated. Please send in your articles etc for the magazine by 31^st July. You can send it in any format, either written or on a tape recording. Do not worry about spelling or grammar, we will take care of that, the important thing is that we have something from you. Make sure you give us your name so that it can be credited to you.

Hunting Bill

We have been lead to believe that should the Conservatives be elected at the next election they will give a free vote on hunting with dogs . The returns from the survey gave a pretty equal view as to if we should do something or not. As a club we can only do a limited amount, we can give our support to the Countryside Alliance and The Association of Lurcher clubs but the main thing that we can do, we need to do as individuals. Petitions are not worth the paper they are written on as without doubt Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse are sure to appear somewhere in their pages, our advice is for all our members to write to their prospective Parliamentary candidates as individuals including their name and address. You need only say something as simple as :- Dear ??? , Please vote for a return for hunting with dogs. Yours etc. Only by submitting more than the antis will we be taken seriously and have a chance to sway opinion in a free vote .

Calendar

It has been suggested that we try to produce a comical dog calendar for 2011 so if anyone has any ideas or pictures please send them in asap.

Discount

Just a reminder that Kendal Camping Centre will give 10% discount on sales with the exception of Calor Gas to all NL&RC members. .

Winter Simulated Coursing

Unfortunately we have not been able to do the simulated coursing this time but it is hoped that we will be back again at the end of the year. We intend getting the dates out by the end of August for the 2010/2011 season.

Obedience

The obedience failed miserably again last year with the average number of entries at shows being 2,  the exception being Chatsworth. Nigel and Mark have tried to revamp it but to little or no avail so therefore we need input from members as to what they want for the obedience. Anyone with any ideas contact Nigel or Mark.

Chatsworth

The Chatsworth Championship Judge for 2010 is Brian Pether from Devon.
All applications for qualifiers to be in to Linda Vaughan by 28th February

 Loss of Demo Dogs

We are sad to report the loss of three of our demonstration dogs over the winter. The Varney family sadly lost Tikka, a familiar part of Nigels team and well known throughout the South West and Ian and Sonia Braithwaite have lost Holly and Regal. Regal was the dog who had spent his life giving blood when needed and had saved many other dogs lives.

Show dates

There have been some changes since the show list was sent out. We will not be going to Ireland this year as the show has been taken over and is no longer run by BASC Northern Ireland.

We have a new show at Haxley Quays near Gainsborough on 18^th July so please let Linda know if you can help out.

The show at Heighington has been moved to 1^st August and the show at Ragley Hall on 30th August has been cancelled for this year due to complications with the CLA. Please note that the Shropshire Game Fair is still being held on the former Ragley weekend of Sunday 22^nd August .

The Wingfield Finale show will now be held on Sunday 3^rd October due to a double booking at the Social Club

The Lurcher Schedule will be changed to 26 classes, with the over 26 inch being increased from 2 to 4 classes due to the increase in entries of the larger dogs.

Quarterly Draw

The September quarterly draw was won by Mr and Mrs Lawless from East Lincs The January 2010 draw was won by Mr Nisbit from Scotland..

Show ticket Draw

We have 2 tickets to give away for some shows this summer in a members prize draw.

If you want to be included please send your name and address and membership number on a postcard size piece of paper to Linda not later than two weeks before the selected show. The shows are:-

             Shows and  Show dates

Caton Park 17^th – 18^th April      Raptor Fair 3^rd May      Scotland 8^th – 9^th May

Wales 6^th June   CLA 23^rd – 24^th – 25^th July   Shropshire 22^nd August

Chatsworth 3^rd – 4^th September

Well that’s about all for now, hope to see you at the AGM

Linda