News 2008

NOVEMBER 08

ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL WELFARE DONATES £5,000
TO QUEENS VETERINARY SCHOOL HOSPITAL, CAMBRIDGE!

We are thrilled to announce that this sum has been received by the Kennel Club Charitable Trust for its ring-fenced fund for the ongoing project to discover a cause for chronic canine hepatitis in English Springer Spaniels which can affect all springers, both show and working, seen most often in young to middle-aged female dogs. It is also recognised in males and older animals, but never to date in a dog over 10 years. Project team leader, Penny Watson MRCVS, has written: "I have just received a copy of your letter to the KCCT notifying me of the amazing and generous donation of £5,000 from ESSW. I am emailing you with heartfelt thanks. This is a truly amazing amount of money for a breed to donate and underlines the importance you (and we) all put on finding the cause of this distressing disease as soon as possible."

This is the first year of a three year project to find a cause for this disease and Penny continues: "Nick Bexfield is well underway looking for a potential viral cause of the condition. At the same time, we are investigating the potential for some genetic work and it may well be this money will be crucial in kick-starting that part of the project. We shall put it to very good use - and only for the investigation of ESS hepatitis - but I shall certainly keep you informed when I know more about what exactly it will be used for, which should be in the near future.
Once again, many thanks indeed and please pass on our thanks to all who were instrumental in raising and donating this money."

We will let you know when we hear more from Penny on the progress of the project.

SEPTEMBER 08

September saw two events for ESSW, the first was a sponsored walk held at Minions on Bodmin Moor and organised by our Cornwall co-ordinator Robert Knowles. The event raised in the region of £300 which will help our fostering, kennelling, veterinary and transport costs. A big thank you to everyone who walked or sponsored, and especially to Robert for organising the event. I'm pleased to say the sun was shining and we all had a great day out with many of us ending up in the local tea room for ice cream and cream teas afterwards.

The second event was taking our ever popular games area to the Just4Dogs Fun Day at Feniton in Devon. Again we were lucky with the sun shining and a great many volunteer helpers, and even more ESSW supporters turning up on the day. I think you can see from the photo above that we all had a lot of fun whilst hosting the games area. Didn't we Barn?  CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

AUGUST 08

The last time that the fund raising team was out and about it was to the August event organized by our chairman Celia Woodbridge in conjunction with the East Kent Hunt. It was a good day, if a little windy, and we managed to meet many of our members, spread the word to possible new members and raise a little money.

JULY 08

We were lucky enough to be invited to host a games area and have an information stand at the first ever Cold Wet Nose Show in Guildford, Surrey.

  Perfect recall rosette Lead me astray game I was led astray rosette

We had an amazing 18 voluntary helpers turn up on the day who hosted the information stand and the three games areas. Lead Me Astray - lots of tempting toys and treats were spread out to see if the dogs could do a perfect recall, Waggiest Tail which I'm pleased to announce Daniel the Springer Spaniel won, with no game fixing to be had, I promise, and Splash n Grab where the dogs had to pick a toy out of the paddling pool and, depending on what colour toy was picked, they won a prize. We also had a Springer meet and greet area. We all had an amazing amount of fun and the dogs all seemed to enjoy themselves too, we raised a lot of money for ESSW but more importantly gained a lot of publicity which is so important for us to continue the work that we do. We've also been invited back next year so please come and see us and join in the fun.

JUNE 08

June found us at Anna Ford’s show at Hadiscoe in Suffolk. A really good day out, in fact it was a whole weekend away for both of us and two friends. Our friends, who do not have a dog (their sheltie having died some years ago) willingly come along when we are in their area and help out.

MAY 08

Once again Jos and our stalwart friends Paul and Mo with the added bonus of Sally to stand in for Nigel who had to be in the USA, the stand was at Barry Goddard’s show at Cottingham near Cambridge. A successful day once more.