Ireland
Report
Clonmel & District
Canine Club Shows August 21, 2005
We arrived in Dublin,
Ireland on Friday after an overnight flight from
Toronto. Our trip would include a week in each of
the countries of Ireland, Finland and Denmark and
an opportunity to judge some beautiful dogs and
experience the places, people and sights of three
countries we had not visited before. Ireland is
the newest addition to the FCI system and the shows
we would judge would include one of Ireland's first
International shows with the awarding of the CACIB
and grading of dogs. At the Irish shows we would
not be required to provide written critiques and
would also award the 'Green Stars' which are required
for dogs to earn the title of Irish Champion. In
Finland and Denmark we would be judging at Toy breed
specialty shows which had received large entries
of dogs and would be judged under the traditional
FCI system with gradings and written critiques.
Fellow Canadian judge
Don Fitzsimmons traveled over with us on the same
flight. We were met at the airport by a club official
who was charged with greeting all the judges arriving
on the day and arranging transportation for them.
This was no easy feat as the panel for the first
days included almost 30 different judges, many from
across Europe and overseas. Don would be judging
the next day at some Hound and Terrier specialties
and we would travel on to the town of Clonmel where
we would be judging on Sunday at the first All Breed
show of an exciting circuit of four shows in different
towns in the southern portion of this beautiful
island country known as the Munster Circuit. Our
adventure began with our bus trip to the town of
Clonmel about 3 hours south of Dublin. We were provided
with bus tickets for the trip and told someone would
meet us at the other end and deliver us to our hotel.
The final destination for the bus was Cork on the
southern coast. Once on the bus we settled in and
were enjoying the beauty of the lush green countryside
as we made our way south through the landscape of
small towns and farms. We were amazed by the miles
of dry stone fences lining the roadways and farm
borders which kept the sheep and cattle from wandering.
These fences which were built over centuries stretched
as far as the eye could see and painted an interesting
patchwork across the landscape.
Our first challenge
was when we asked the bus driver at one of the first
stops about Clonmel stop. He quickly informed us
that this bus did not go through Clonmel and the
closest stop was in Cashel about 40 kilometers from
Clonmel. We assessed our options and decided to
continue our journey with the hope that the plan
was for someone to meet us in Cork, although it
was quite a bit further south than we needed to
go. Much to our embarrassment we became 'The Lost
Canadians' when the club member dispatched to collect
us in Cashel watched the bus stop in Cashel and
no one got off. We arrived in Cork several hours
later and realized we were indeed 'Lost' as no one
was there to greet us. We immediately adopted plan
'B' and caught the bus back north that did go through
Clonmel. Our misadventure did have a silver lining
as we did get to see another part of the country
which we did not have on our itinerary in the coming
days although the last leg of the bus trip was on
narrow country roads winding amongst the rolling
hills of Cork county.
We arrived at the spectacular
Hotel Minella and checked into a spacious luxury
room with a large poster bed and bathroom which
included our own private steam room. The hotel also
featured rooms with whirlpool baths and a relaxing
pool and spa area. Wendy enjoyed a delicious meal
of 'rack of lamb' and I had a mouthwatering steak
smothered in mushrooms and onions before retiring
for the night. We awoke the next day after a great
nights sleep and decided to travel to the nearby
town of Waterford to visit the world famous Waterford
Crystal factory and visitors center as well as this
picturesque town as our first day of sightseeing.
The factory tour was quite interesting and brought
new meaning to the beautiful pieces of Waterford
Crystal that we had won at dog shows over the years
and cherish so much. We returned to the hotel in
time to freshen up and attend the evenings judges
dinner.
We delighted in meeting
our fellow judges, especially Bruce Owen from Canada
and Britta Roos-Borjes from
Sweden who we had judged with last month in Alfta.
We were eventually joined by a busload of judges
including Don Fitzsimmons who had judged at the
specialties that day quite a distance north of Clonmel.
This tired and weary group had reveled in judging
on a very warm and sunny day, endured the bus trip
south and were pleased to see the luxury accommodation
afforded us and looked forward to a great dinner.
I had the rack of lamb that Wendy enjoyed so much
the night before and Wendy a tender chicken in wine
sauce. We enjoyed the company of Peter Banks, Richard
Byrd, Col & Muriel Purkhiser of the USA as well
as the many local and European judges. Margaret
O'Gorman, the chairperson of the Clonmel shows was
our host and the Clonmel shows are lucky to have
her to organize every detail of our stay and the
efficient running of the show. We eventually retired
to our room and sleep came quickly after a pleasant
day of sightseeing, shopping and camaraderie.
We awoke early and
enjoyed a traditional Irish Breakfast including
eggs, bacon, sausage and toast and boarded the bus
with the other judges for the short trip over to
the show grounds. The show was held at a beautiful
Ferryhouse Sports Complex which featured well manicured
lawns and spacious rings. As previously stated this
would be an International show and the first the
Clonmel Club had held. The show itself ran especially
well with few challenges and all due to the hard
work of the organizing committee. I had a large
entry of 170 dogs to judge and then 60 junior handlers
and Wendy had a lighter load of various breeds and
stakes to adjudicate. There is a lot of paperwork
and signatures required from judges books to Cacib
and Green Star cards and I will definitely will
have a small signature stamp made to facilitate
the task the next time I judge overseas. The weather
did not cooperate and we judged in the wind and
pouring rain for most of the morning. Luckily it
improved for the afternoon judging of groups and
Best In Show. The eventual winners were a lovely
Poodle bitch, Kertellas Its A Secret and reserve
BIS went to a pretty Pomeranian bitch, Belliver
Latest Creation, judged by Irish judge Wendy Jackson.
We also had the pleasure
of reacquainting ourselves with fellow Shih Tzu
breeder Yvonne Cannon from Ireland. We had the pleasure
of meeting Yvonne when she attended the Canadian
National Shih Tzu Specialty several years earlier
in Toronto. Yvonne won Best of Breed with her female
Shih Tzu Champion Cloughlea High Jinks.
Our final evening in
Clonmel was another Irish dinner for all judges
and committee. Our host Margaret O'Gorman thanked
all the judges and her committee for a job well
done and received a reciprocal well deserved thanks
and award for her years of service to the Clonmel
club. We retired to our room early after an entertaining
night to pack for the next day's move to Killarney.
