2008 marks two very special anniversaries: it will be 30 years since Peter Meanwell lit up the main ring at Crufts with a team competition similar to show jumping that he’d dreamed up with John Varley. Five years later, this club, the Agility Club came into being, to help bring some order to the many different rules that agility shows were running under, and to enable people throughout the country to get information on shows being held, via the Agility Voice.

We wanted to do something extra special to celebrate these two anniversaries, and so we are proud to announce the Agility Club Anniversary Awards and Gala Celebration, which was held at Stoneleigh Park Exhibition and Conference Centre, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire on Saturday 16th February 2008.

We would like to thank our sponsors: principal sponsor Pedigree, main sponsors Genesis and Eukanuba, and all our category sponsors: Premier Show Jumps, Norton Rosettes, iShowServices and Doggie Solutions.

The Gala Celebration was a black tie dinner for over 200 people, followed by award presentations. There were ten categories, with voting either by members of the agility public by telephone or text for 6 categories, with the other 4 by Judges Panel, consisting of the Kennel Club Agility Liaison Council. There was also an Agility Club Special Award for Lifetime Contribution to Agility.

Committee member and one of the event organisers, Jill Spurr said “We wanted to mark next year in a very special way. Having a “BAFTA” style awards ceremony will give everyone the chance to celebrate all that is good about agility, have a night to remember and hopefully raise a substantial sum of money for charity too”. The Gala Awards is non-profit making and all profits will be donated to charity on the Gala evening. On the night a cheque for £1000 to the Kennel Club Charitable Trust was presented to Mr Ronnie Irving, Chairman of the Kennel Club.

 

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