Letter from the Judge of our fun Christmas Dog Show Dear Graham, DCGR Committee & Volunteers, Just wanted to thank you all for making me so welcome at your 2007 Greyhound Show & Christmas Fayre. It was a very real pleasure for me to meet so many beautiful hounds and their proud owners. Without exception all of the dogs were in such fabulous condition. It was almost impossible at times to decide which of the hounds deserved to be placed. There were so many sad stories but thankfully so many more happy endings. I especially loved meeting your elderly foster dogs and all the "oldies" in the Veterans class. Thank you so much for the lovely picture frame, it will be a constant reminder of a very special day. I hope Darcy and all your homeless hounds soon find their "forever" home. May 2008 be a very successful year for DCGR and may you continue to grow ever bigger and better. Kind regards  Denise McGranaghan

Dalbeatttie Christmas Fayre - Saturday 8th December The weather ensured that the Christmas Fayre in Dalbeattie Town Hall was not as well attended as it could have been nevertheless Margaret Hill and Liz Iken braved the sleeet and strong winds to attend the event. Over £30 was raised for DCGR funds but our name is again being promoted in places we have not really visited before. This is the last event of the year so from our Events Co-ordinator have a Very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.              Graham

Moffat Christmas Fayre – Sunday 25th November A tremendous second last event of 2007 was realized at Moffat on Sunday 25th at their annual Christmas Fayre. Margaret Hill, Norma Pearce and Arthur and Agnes Robinson “manned” the stall and raised an amazing £380 as a result of sales and charity tin. Robert, Lewis and Daisy along with “Toby” the honorary greyhound from Moffat. Thanks also to Frank, a visiting greyhound owner, who added to the “attraction”.                                                                                   Graham

Cat's Protection Christmas Fayre - 24th November Margaret and Graham Hill took a DCGR stall to the Cat's Protection Christmas Fayre at the Loreburn Hall in Dumfries on Saturday 24th, but were dissapointed in the attendance by the public. £40 was taken at the stall during the 5 hours they were there and they understand some stalls didn't even cover their costs.  Graham's philosophy is though that although we didn't raise much cash, our name is continually in the public domain and to re-inforce that, a man put £10 in our charity tin as he wandered past as he wanted to give "something" to the greyhounds.

22nd November 2007 "DCGR thanks Laura Milligan and her dog Jerry from Stranraer who carried out their own sponsored walk in aid of DCGR - called "Laura's Sponsored Walk" and raised over £40 for our charity.  Laura and Jerry drafted their own forms and walked 3 miles on the 6th of October.  DCGR thanks Laura and Jerry for their generosity"                                                    Graham

For You Tube footage of the Greyhound 'meet and greet' at the Dumfriesshire Summer show - taken by Alex one of our members go to   http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=--DaScCHPC8

Talking for the Greyhounds 14th & 15th November Graham and Margaret Hill have had a couple of busy days this week giving presentations on Greyhound Rescue to the Stewartry Retiral Group in Castle Douglas on Wed.14th November and a Mothers Union in Dumfries on Thursday 15th. Not good timing due to the "big show" coming up on the 18th but a welcome break from printing and laminating and phoning to get things ready for the big day. Both groups thoroughly enjoyed the presentations and their faces lit up when Margaret brought in Magic, Darth, Timmy and Star who as usual, were on their best behavior. It was surprising that on a show of hands at both talks, the majority of those in attendance had never seen a greyhound “face to face” and were pleasantly surprised with their temperament and how placid they were. Both organisations were very generous with their donations and not to miss a trick, Graham took along a charity tin as well!

Dog training day at Rockcliffe Village Hall - Saturday 3rd September A good day was had by all - training started at 10.00am and went on until 4.30pm with breaks for coffee and lunch. All who attended agreed that the day had been worthwhile and went away resolved to put all they had learnt into practice with their dogs. The good news was that all the dogs passed their Kennel Club Good Citizens Bronze Award and all intend to try for the Silver Award at the next training session.

DUMFRIES SHOW - SATURDAY 4TH AUGUST For a change, the weather was excellent although the Foot and Mouth scare put a dampener on proceedings. Graham booked a larger pitch than usual and boy did we need it.  There was never a quiet moment at the stall and the number of dogs on show certainly attracted members of the public. Over £350 was raised on the day with many people taking flyers home with them.  The stall next door was so impressed with our dogs that he gave us 2 brand new dog beds as a donation.   GATEHOUSE OF FLEET GALA - SATURDAY 4TH AUGUST The Gatehouse Gala was held on the same day as the Dumfries Show and our Galloway members including the intrepid Maggie Curtis from Brampton travelled to Gatehouse for what is very much a family occasion. One of our members from that neck of the woods, Jackie Lawrie, donated loads of unwanted gifts and bric a brac she had collected over the previous months and people were actually queuing at the stall to snap up some bargains and to admire the many greyhounds on display. Over £150 was raised towards our work    D&CGR thanks all the members for their time and their hard work in making these events so successful

MONIAIVE HORSE SHOW D&CGR journeyed along to Moniaive on Sunday 29 July for their annual horse show and surprised the visitors with the number of greyhounds on show. The picture shows Jane and Margaret with Alfie, Fleck, Darth, Magic, Star and Timmy. Later in the day they were joined by Sandra and her pack along with Betty Roy and her daughter Fiona with Tinker.  Nearly £200 was raised on the day with the majority coming via Betty and her collecting bucket.  For once the weather was kind but a litle windy and the dogs thoroughly enjoyed their day out in the country.                          Graham

Casino Night and Auction raises over a £1,000! On Saturday 14th July 2007 our second Casino Night and Auction was held at the Crown Inn at High Newton is South Cumbria. The evening was a great success with more than thirty items donated for the auction enabling us to raise £1,005.16. Many people attended including the F8 Glamour Club who are an amateur photography club from the London area and who have kindly made donations to us in the past. Yazmin, Rukhsana and Monica three models appearing in the Long Legged Beauties greyhound calendars also kindly gave their time as croupiers and auctioneer assistants making it an evening with a difference!   The photography weekend and Casino Night was such a success another is planned for next year and we thank Geoff and Teresa Hardie of the Crown Inn who rehomed Thunder, for allowing us to use the venue and for all their help – Jenny and Stuart Stott . And my thanks go to Jenny and Stuart Stott for all the hard work they put into organising such a succesful fund raiser - Judy Todd, Chair

CUMBERLAND SHOW - SATURDAY 21 JULY It was dry, then it wasn't, then it was dry again, then it wasn't. Apparantly it was torrential at Haltwhistle only a few miles away so we are thankfull that it was dry some of the time. Over £300 was made on the day which is really good as a lot of stallholders and members of the public stayed away because of the weather. Graham was invited to do a live interview on BBC Radio Cumbria and after it was finished, there was a marked increase in the attendance at our stall. All the members in attendance thought that we would get at least 2 homes from this event so here's hoping.

The President’s Party The Party took place on the one fine day of the summer, 15 July, at Arthur and Agnes’s home at Waterbeck, Dumfriesshire.   It is the only purely social event of the year and is held so that members, who attend fund raising and awareness events almost every weekend throughout the summer months, with their dogs, can relax in secure surroundings and talk about their common interest, greyhounds.   60 members attended from throughout Dumfries and Galloway and Cumbria, and beyond, with 47 mainly greyhounds. There are rumours that a collie may have sneaked in but with so many nobody noticed!   All the dogs were allowed to run free and had a great time. Leslie Murdoch, our photographer, made stalwart efforts to get a photo of the 47 dogs by themselves but with mixed results. However the group photo of members and dogs was more successful as you can see. PHOTO COMING SOON   Agnes and an army of helpers produced side salads and other epicurean delights from the kitchen, while Graham and Dick ensured the success of the occasion with a very popular barbeque.   It is reliably reported that the bonfire was a spectacular conflagration in the half hour it lasted. Next time we will have to supply four times the amount of fuel or curb the enthusiasm of our firemen, Alex and Howard!   Everyone agreed that the day was a great success and the President is already thinking of ways to make next year’s event even better.    Available for a small donation - a disc of photo's taken on the day. Please contact Al or Judy Todd for to order yours.

MOFFAT MEET A GREYHOUND DAY - 14 JULY At last a dry day and although Moffat was busy with their Gala Day, we were also busy but not overly so.  As usual, plenty of greyhounds on show and everyone who visited our table were amazed at how placid and well behaved thay were. Over £75 was raised and hopefully, some interest in re-homing will result.  A special thanks to Jim Wear who is in his 80's and big Pinto for making a guest appearance.    Graham

FUN DOG SHOW - WETHERALL Well it rained again!!  When is it goung to stop?  For the 3rd event in a row, we had to endure heavy downpours and try to keep the greyhounds dry (as well as the sales table). The rain certainly kept the crowds away but there were more than sufficient spectators and participants to keep us busy.  An excellent turnout of members meant there were plenty of greyounds on view and as usual, were on their best behaviour.  Financially, we raised over £130 and it may be that one of our homeless dogs has found her forever home.  Let's hope Moffat next week is dry and warm.

MEET A GREYHOUND DAY - DUMFRIES - 30th JUNE For the second event in a row the weather was atrocious. We set up just after 10am and although damp with slight drizzle, many people came over to see the greyhounds on display. as the morning progressed however, it was time for raincoats for the dogs and waterproofs for their owners.  By 1pm it was absolutely torrential and Graham made an executive decision to call it a day. By and large though, it was still a successful event with over £280 being raised and a few people really interested including a resident of the Isle of Man.  Let's hope Saturday at Wetherall will have better weather.

Apologies from Graham for not getting everyone into the picture! Graham, with Magic and Timmy, receiving the "Highly Commended" Certificate from Roland Proudlock. Saturday 16th June - The Guid Nychburris Day Parade takes place in Dumfries in June of every year because of anticipated good weather. Not this year!!! On the afternoon/early evening of Saturday 16th June a great many of our members "dressed up" in fancy dress to take part in this annual parade. This was a first for D&CGR and Graham had arranged for a 45' trailer to hold all the members and their greyhounds. The trailer was "dressed" with bunting and posters and with a Roman, Egyptian, Ancient Scot, Pirate, 60's etc etc. After a delay when the judging took place, the parade moved off at 6.15pm and the heavens opened. Torrential rain for the next hour. Despite this, the streets of Dumfries were lined with people and we got loads of cheers and applause. Although it wasn't a fundraiser, we did ourselves no harm publicity wise and maybe we will get some calls in the future. A big, big thanks from Graham to all the members who took part despite being drenched. The dogs were ok - they all had their coats on - it was the humans who were soaked to the skin!!! We managed to get a Highly Commended for our efforts!

Al & Graham at the end of the walk Hadrian's Wall sponsored walk At the beginning of June Al & Graham successfully walked the whole length of Hadrian's wall in five days, at least one of their dogs walked with them every step of the way, the dogs were rested and only taken on short stages, while poor Graham had to walk all the way with Al! The latest news is that Al and Graham have now broken the £2,500 barrier in sponsorship, so I think we can all agree their effort was certainly not in vain!

Gretna Gateway Village - Meet a Greyhound Weekend - 19th/20th May What a weekend of contrasts.  On the Saturday it was so windy, it took us about half an hour to set up the information table because leaflets and laminates kept blowing away.  We even had to station a member at each end of the table to stop it "taking off". On the Sunday, the weather was so nice and warm and sunny, that Graham had to get the sun cream on!!!  Anyway, a really good weekend in financial terms with over £640 raised but more importantly, the public got a chance to see over 20 greyhounds each day and see how well behaved they all were. We even did 2 mini parades through the complex so the greyhounds could "strutt their stuff".

Saturday 16th June - The Kirkcudbright Jazz Festival was another success for D&CGR. Although very quiet at the beginning (and thankfully dry for most of the time), Margaret Hill, Jane Elliott, Linda Thompson, John Christie, Ted and Barbara Percy with Holly, Alfie, Eva, Chalky and Jasper drew the crowds with their excellent selection of quality bric a brac and made over £125 in the process (including the charity tin). This has proved to be a very successful event in terms of fundraising and advertising with many people commenting on the extremely well behaved dogs.

Calendar Donation Our thanks go to Jenny and Stuart Stott who presented DCGR with a cheque for over £660 at our AGM on Friday 18th May - this is the second year running that they have presented DCGR with a cheque for money raised entirely from the profits of the sale of their Greyhound Rescue Calendars. Keep watching our website for their new 2008 calendar which they are working on now!

Puppies Galore!! DGR's first fostered puppies went to their new homes on Saturday 12th May, the two boys - Bunny and Woody are now settling into their forever home in Balloch near Loch Lomond and the little girl - Rosie is capturing the hearts of her new owners up in Gairloch. All three came to DGR at just 7 weeks old and stayed with us for almost 3 weeks until they were ready to be re-homed - fostering puppies is a lot of hard work but very rewarding, the only problem is having to part with them!!

Saturday 12th May The first ever "Meet a Greyhound Day" in Lockerbie on Saturday 12th May had mixed success.  The weather forecast was dismal but stayed dry most of the time and thank goodness it did!! Over 25 greyhounds were on show with guest appearances by 3 greyhounds from Northants. Greyhound Rescue. On the positive side, there was a coffee morning on in the Town Hall near where we were situated and a great number of people stopped to talk to the dogs on the way in. After lunch however, the town became very quiet and we decided to "pack up" at 2pm instead of the usual 3pm.  Nearly £150 was raised on the day which isn't too bad at all but more importantly, a great number of Lockerbie people saw the dogs and who knows what may come of our advertising in the future.

Saturday 5th May - Penrith Yet another first for DGR! Our first Meet a Greyhound Day in Penrith Town Centre. The day went really well with over 20+ dogs and their owners on parade throughout the day. There was much interest in the dogs on the day and best of all, one lucky dog has already been homed as a result!

KIRROUGHTREE FOREST - 5/6/7 MAY Graham and Margaret set up the caravan at Kirroughtree Forest Visitors Centre for our now annual - Meet a Greyhound Weekend.  The forest was extremely busy with mountain bikers who, as last year, were "doing there own thing" but the beauty of our positioning was that they all had to pass the greyhounds on the way to and from the cafeteria and toilets. Although not many stopped, Greyhound Rescue was very prominent and you could see them smiling at the dogs on the way past.  Families visiting the Visitors Centre and Children's Play Area were entirely different though and almost everyone in this category stopped to talk and admire the many Greyhounds on show. To top it all, a local resident saw the advert in the newspaper and following a visit to speak to us and a home visit carried out by Ted Percy, adopted one of our "homeless" dogs.

GREYHOUNDS BRING BARROW TO A STANDSTILL - Saturday 28th April A large number of our members travelled to Barrow in Furness for our first ever "Meet a Greyhound" in the town.  Thanks to Ruth and Kevin Clark and Stuart and Jenny Stott, there was plenty of pre- advertising and boy did it pay off.  We were there from 10am till 3pm with Graham and Al bringing the "houndmobile" trailer to add to the professionalism of the event.  Graham tried to take some photographs but there were so many people in front of the stall talking to the 20 greyhounds there that he gave up trying to get the banner in the picture and took a shot of the crowds instead.  Nearly £500 was raised and probably more importantly, a great number of home visits are planned.  Graham took 250 flyers with him and with an hour to go, they had all been taken and we had to resort to DGR businress cards!!!  Another result of the event was that a lot of our members in that area had not been to a "Meet a Greyhound Day" before and they certainly got their eyes opened with the amount of interest and attention we received from the public of Barrow.   Graham

THE THINGS WE DO!! This is a first for DGR. Graham received a call from one of our members whose son is doing a Scottish Vocational Qualification module at school, asking if we could support him in his goup's work The group had decided to do a project entitled "helping a charity", part of which was a "public awareness" campaign. Well Graham, Margaret and Jane along with Magic, Darth, Timmy and Holly went into Dumfries town centre on a windy and chilly Wednesday morning with Damien and his "band of 5".  The boys helped set up the table with pictures and banners etc and handed out leaflets to interested people. Although it wasn't a "charity collection" as such, Graham took along a couple of tins which were kept on the table in case anyone wanted to make a donation.  Well, a goodly number of leaflets were distributed and the generous people of Dumfries put in over £80 into the "donations tins".  Not bad for only 2 hours work.                                                                             Graham

CAR BOOT SALES - 22nd April As Sunday 22nd of April was clear in the Calendar of Events, Al and Barry did a car boot sale in Carlisle and Graham and Margaret did a car boot in Dumfries. This was an attempt to sell some of the really nice items donated to us by wellwishers and supporters and of course, to make a few pounds at the same time.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't kind and attendances at both places was poor. The result?  Still plenty of good quality bric a brac and an increase of £86 in DGR funds.  Never mind - there is always a next time!!!

Wednesday 18th April Graham gave one of his now infamous talks, to the Dumfries Arthritis Care Club in the Cumberland Street Centre.  The ladies of the club really didn't know what to expect at the beginning but as the talk progressed, they really appreciated the work of DGR and it's successes. over the five years or so of it's existence. Many of the ladies had never heard of our charity but warmed to our aim of re-homing ex-racing greyhounds into a domestic environment especially when Magic, Darth, Timmy and Holly entered the room with Margaret and Jane at the presentations conclusion. This was Holly's first outing to a talk following the untimely death of Max, Jane's former greyhound and she certainly enjoyed the experience and all the attention. Two of the ladies were even kind enough to sponsor Graham for the Hadrians Wall Walk to the tune of £10 and overall, including our sales table and a donation for the talk, DGR raised over £70!! A big, big thanks from all at DGR.

School raises money for DGR My school has raised £80.97 for Dumfriesshire and Cumbria Greyhound Rescue. This money includes £25 from Whithorn Lions Club.Our school would like to make an official presentation to all the charities on the same day with the Gazette invited.  Joy, Emma and Frisbee.

Saturday 7th April - Carlisle Meet a Greyhound Day What a fantastic day we had in Carlisle town centre, the weather was great and being Easter weekend the town was full of people and I'm sure we spoke to most of them! At one point there were 20 dogs and their owners all busy talking to the public about the delights of owning a greyhound - or two or three! Many people including members were very impressed with our new purpose built dog transporter, ideal for carrying up to three dogs, to kennels, new homes and of course events! We may have a couple of home checks from the day and the icing on the cake was that the public donated a very generous £826.19p. Sadly the pictures taken of the trailer and dogs have vanished into a faulty camera card - so we hope to be able to bring you pictures of the trailer from the next event.

Tuesday 3rd April Graham, who is very much in demand now, gave another talk, this time to the Dumfries Probus Club, on Tuesday 3rd April. The members listened with interest to all the information on greyhounds, greyhound racing and DGR and there was a lively question and answer session at the end. Magic and Timmy were the main attraction (Darth was in the vet's having his tracheotomy tube replaced) and as usual, they said hello and went for a doze!! Nearly £50 was raised on the day by a £15 donation from the club and a retiring colection from members.

Saturday 24th March  Some 14 dogs and their respective owners attended our most recent dog training day in the Rockcliffe Village Hall, near Carlisle. Kevin from Baydog Training put owners and their dogs through their paces, both owners and dogs seemed to benefit and everyone was agreed that the day had been a big success. Al is planning on organising another training day for later in the year - watch our events page for details. Finally, our thanks to Graham Hill for slaving away in the kitchen to supply us with refreshments and some excellent home made soup for lunch.

Friday 16th March Graham and Margaret Hill with Magic, Darth andf Timmy and Jane Elliott with Max, journeyed along to the Annan United Reform Church Womens Guild to give a talk on Greyhound Rescue.  None of the ladies had met a greyhound "face to face" before so when the "magnificent 4" entered the hall, there were gasps of amazement.  True to form, after saying hello to everyone, the greyhounds found a comfy place and went to sleep. Once the scones came round however, they were wide awake!!  As usual, Graham took along a sales table and all in all, over £58 was raised by donation and sales and the ladies went home raving about the well behaved dogs.

14th March - Dog food donation DGR would like to thank Hugh McGarva from "Dunlops" in Dumfries for their kind donation of a number of bags of dog food which will be used to assist our homeless greyhounds either in foster care or in "emergency" kennels.  Mr McGarva and the Board of Dunlops were extremely impressed with our work in re-homing ex-racing greyhounds throughout the region and it may be that we will be donated more bags on a regular basis.                                             Graham

Thursday 8th March Graham went along to the Probus Club in Lockerbie to give a talk on Greyhound Rescue. After a welcoming cup of coffee, Graham spent the following 30 odd minutes informing the membership of the work of DGR and our successes over the 5 years or so we have been in existence. At the end of the presentation, Margaret, Graham's wife, came in to the room with Magic, Darth and Timmy, who true to form, had a good sniff around had a friendly pat then lay down and went to sleep!! Timmy then decided to go into the bar area to see if he could get a drink before opening time!! The membership thoroughly enjoyed the visit and the opportunity to hear about our charity and over £30 was raised in a "Retiring Collection".           Graham

28th February Mystery car revealed! The mystery car with DGR logo's on it belongs to Jenni and Robin Treasurer, Carlisle, who adopted little Minty just before Christmas, they thought it would be a good idea to give us some free advertising - for which we are very grateful!

19th February 2007 Cargenbridge WI visited Graham and Margaret's house in Dumfries on Monday 19th of February, to view Margaret's collection of 11 Doll's Houses - for a donation to DGR of course!!  The ladies were enthralled at the collection, especially the new "mansion"  Santa got Margaret for Christmas. After tea and coffee, the secretary gave a vote of thanks and said that there would be a report on the visit in the local paper and to expect some phone calls from other WI's looking for a visit. Jane Elliott came along to lend a hand and with Max, Magic, Darth and Timmy trotting round the house, the ladies were highly entertained.  As usual, Graham put out a small sales table which raised £29 and with a £20 donation from the visit, it was a really good start to the fundraising season.