Ballywalter Game Fair

I would wish to thank everyone who participated in the terrier & lurcher events at Ballywalter and especially Matt Lee Snr & Jnr and the rest of the Lee Clan for running the event when the rest of the Mid Antrim team including Chairman , Seamus Erwin were ill or unavailable.

I would also like to thank the various people who telephoned and emailed to offer Matt and the show their support in getting over a few last minute hiccups. A big thank you to our judges Billy Copeland and Walter White for a good job going over great entries.

As you can see from my photos of the T&L carpark at 11.30 there was a huge crowd and a huge happy crowd. The event was one of the most successful Terrier & Lurcher events I have ever seen. At Ballywalter we have a superb location for the event with a good flat racing track which had been close mown.

And as the racing ran on long after the official Fair closing time my family and I were able to watch most of the racing and our host Lord Dunleath was also able to watch for some time. He passes on his compliments for a well run event and the great sportmanship displayed.

As you can see from the crowds lining the finish even at 8.00pm there was still a good crowd.

A big thank you to Deidre McCoy for staying to the end to take photos - it turned out to be a chilly evening but perfect for running dogs.

The fair was a hugely successful event overall - now on to the largest Game Fair in ireland and the biggest terrier & lurcher event - Shanes Castle on the 25th & 26th June.

Albertj

Fair enough Albert, Matt and the family done their very best and were under great presure with so many dogs to show and race I think you are looking at the whole day with rose colored classes saying it was a great sucess Prehaps a few of the folk I spoke with will come on and back me up the days Down falls

1pm start why not 10am ?I have been to shows on the mainland where the racing started at 9am racing judging completed by 4pm

Why not showing Sarurday racing Sunday starting at 10am finishing around 1pm giving folk a chance to get around the fayre.

There was a class of whippet dog or bitch with 23 in it with one trophie and two rassetts,A few folk got at Matt and he split the class

Why only one judge ?It is bad praticeto put a judge in the sitution were he has to judge pups he bred and placing them where the second judge could have judged that heat and half of the other heats prehaps the showing would have been over alot earlier.

Twenty plus pups and no puppy race

We leaft the field with disapointment of not being able to wait any longer this was at 6.20 and there still was not a start to the racing ther was quite a few cars leaft in front of us Would have liked to have come on here and said what a great day But I am am telling you how it is from my point of view I think it is time for some changes

what a long day -_- got there about 11:30 race my dog at 6:30

whatshappin said:

Fair enough Albert, Matt and the family done their very best and were under great presure with so many dogs to show and race I think you are looking at the whole day with rose colored classes saying it was a great sucess Prehaps a few of the folk I spoke with will come on and back me up the days Down falls1pm start why not 10am ?I have been to shows on the mainland where the racing started at 9am racing judging completed by 4pm

Why not showing Sarurday racing Sunday starting at 10am finishing around 1pm giving folk a chance to get around the fayre.

There was a class of whippet dog or bitch with 23 in it with one trophie and two rassetts,A few folk got at Matt and he split the class

Why only one judge ?It is bad praticeto put a judge in the sitution were he has to judge pups he bred and placing them where the second judge could have judged that heat and half of the other heats prehaps the showing would have been over alot earlier.

Twenty plus pups and no puppy race

We leaft the field with disapointment of not being able to wait any longer this was at 6.20 and there still was not a start to the racing ther was quite a few cars leaft in front of us Would have liked to have come on here and said what a great day But I am am telling you how it is from my point of view I think it is time for some changes

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Whatshappin,

As you are aware this is only the second show we have run at Ballywalter since 2001. And last year was a one day show.

When we run over two days we get complaints that it doubles the costs to people who want to run and show.

The 1.00pm start was always dictated by the club chairman Seamus Erwin of the organising club although I personally could never see the advantages in running on after the Fair had finished. This year although he was too unwell to be involved the time had been set. In future if we run the terriers and lurcher racing and showing over one day it will start earlier. Like to have views on one day or two days at Ballywalter?

The number of whippets being shown caught us by surprise and we will allow for this at Shanes Castle and Birr by putting on more prizes and classes but in our defence although we expected far fewer whippets than terriers or lurchers we treated them the same when it came to top prize!

On the puppy racing - some people are totally against puppy racing - again views welcome?

I personally acquired the trophies - as I preferred them to the previous one's acquired by the club - like to have your comments on these?

I had identified most of the problems you raised and anyone who knows me knows that I don't look at anything through 'rose tinted spectacles' but rather try to deal with problems and/or improve things for all competitors.

I was delighted that the Lee's were able to put the show together when most of the committee of the Mid Antrim Terrier & Lurcher Club were unavailable or ill and I was delighted by the offers of support that were forthcoming from all sections of the country sports community. I was also delighted by the number of people who turned out and the happy sportsmanlike atmosphere that prevailed.

Overall I was very pleased with the overall result bearing in mind that the problems ( with illness and unavailablity) within the Mid Antrim Club left the whole organising of the event at very short notice to Matt Lee.

I will be talking to the Mid Antrim Club this week to see what the future holds for them -because if they are not a big enough club to cope with some illnesses and unavailability then they willhave to open up the membership of the club to a wider membership to give appropriate cover.

Your points are well made and well taken.

Albertj