Dashin Dogs Easter Show Cancellation - 21st March 2008
I am now back at home (though I did spend last night at home as we had to bring the dogs back, but did go back up to the venue this morning for a couple of hours to finish off) and I can only say that we made absolutely the right decision to cancel the show as not only was it dangerous and awful weather throughout Thursday night and Friday, it was still extremely windy at the venue today and bitterly cold. The wind itself was bad enough, still coming in extremely strong gusts but there was also some snow fall and no-one in their right mind would have stood outside in it to judge etc.
Firstly I would like to thank all those people that got out of their beds and caravans to help us at 2.30am on Friday morning when the storage marquee had literally been lifted off the ground (including storm straps) and blown straight through the secretary's marquee, ending up in someone's camping pitch (very luckily they were in a caravan and it was minimum damage), to help us move and store away all of the items that could have also blown away and caused even more damage. Also to Chris Adams for allowing us to use his wagon as a storage area. By the time I had had the idea to get in the buggy and drive around beeping the horn in a desperate attempt for people to come and help Nigel and I in what was an absolutely awful, frightening and dangerous situation, and then got back there were about 30 people already there with all hands to the pump (so to speak). Apologies to those who thought joy riders were hairing around the venue beeping their horn but it was the only way I could think of getting the help we so urgently needed.
Nigel and I were also both very lucky as Nigel was in the store tent as it took off over his head and I had left the secretary's tent only a few minutes beforehand. So were others around the venue who were losing their fencing and awnings.
It was a very hard decision to make yesterday morning and Nigel, I and others who help with the bulk of running the show discussed the possibilities lengthily before making the decision to cancel the whole show. I can only apologize to those who we did not contact in time to prevent them coming to the show, some of whom I am aware traveled long distances at great expense, but we did our best in the circumstances based on the time at which we had to make the decision (it couldn't have been made at 3.00 in the morning as the weather may have changed by daylight) and the time it then took to contact everyone (which, apart from a few I still have to contact today due to come tomorrow or Monday, I finished at 8.30 last night after starting at around 8.30 yesterday morning).
Unfortunately we will not be postponing or re-scheduling the show due to various reasons, though we did consider it.
Therefore I will be contacting all those competitors whose email address I have by email and otherwise by post within the next few days to inform them of the fact and what we will be doing about refunds.
I would also like to thank all those who were understanding and supportive of our decision at the show, when we contacted them and on the agility forum as I can only say it is appreciated more than can be imagined in such and awful situation.
As I say I will be in contact with all competitors as soon as possible and will be aiming to sort things as soon as humanly possible and if anyone has any issues with any decision we make or is not sure what is going on (though I will try and keep people informed as often as I can) I would ask that you contact us directly.
For further information/comments from those who were at the showground from Thursday, please read the various posts relating to the cancellation of the show on the Agility Forum.
Thank you again.
Emma and Nigel