Barking dogs celebrated 100 years of the St Bathans Collie Club. Photo / ODT video still
Barking dogs celebrated 100 years of the St Bathans Collie Club. Photo / ODT video still
Barking dogs, people of all ages and great food made for an epic birthday party in St Bathans on Saturday.
The St Bathans Collie Club invited its community, sponsors, competitors and everyone involved in the dog trials to join them at the trial grounds to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
Clubsecretary-treasurer Janet Smith said the club depended on sponsors and the community getting behind the event every year and they wanted to thank them for their support.
The club’s oldest life member, 95-year-old Jim Morgan, now of Omakau, cut the cake.
Two new life members, Don Malcolm from Mt St Bathans Station, and Grant Calder from Lauder Station, were awarded badges in recognition of their years of involvement in the club.
As a 23-year-old he won a New Zealand title in Kaikohe with Danny, a dog his wife Robyn had broken in, Calder said.
“She gave him to me with tears in her eyes and said I had better win a title with him.”
Calder and Danny won both the South Island and New Zealand competitions.
Malcolm and Calder supplied the sheep for the dog trials.
The St Bathans Collie Club’s oldest life member, Jim Morgan, of Omakau, cuts the birthday cake at the club’s community centennial celebration alongside fellow life member Murray Heckler. Photo / Julie Asher
Family tradition ran deep in the collie club.
Calder said for the third time there were three generations of Calders at Saturday’s event. In earlier years he had been there with his father and grandfather then with his father and son. Now he was the senior member of the trio.
Centennial committee member and cook shop team member Becs Calder said when her daughter was young there had been four generations of Calder women in the cook shop.
Food was an important part of dog trials, which presented unique challenges, she said.
How many people would be there was always unknown until the day. This year the trials had been moved from March to January, meaning soup was not on the menu.
The community was generous and donated lots of food, she said.
After the formalities, a bark-up rounded off the afternoon.
Climbing on the table to perform was the biggest challenge for some, with one dog giving an impressive display of agility going around, over and under the table but declining to bark.
The bark-up winners were Archie Calder and Gavin.
Second equal were Amy Lee Matthews, of Becks, with Smoke, and Zara Glenie, also of Becks, with Stella.
