On Thursday 28th August, Caldbeck and H-N-M Sheepdog trials committee were pleased to hold their Annual One Man and His Dog.  The weather was very kind to us, we could not have asked for better especially the way the summer has been, we all arrived in water proofs just in case but thankfully we didn’t need them and we had a lovely day with people even sitting out on the benches along the beck edge watching some of our top handlers putting their dogs through their paces.  With the brilliant weather this brought out a good crowd of spectators, who spent the day with us arriving early in the morning and staying until the prize giving.  We were very lucky to have 52 dog runners, we welcomed competitors for the open trial from as far and wide some travelling from as far away as New Zealand ~ yes New Zealand.  Mr Jim Wilson had come over to run at the International in Wales so wanting to keep his dogs on top form has been trialling and competing in all the trials up and down the country.  This year’s open Novice class brought a few more entries, this was a class for dogs which had never won a prize before and proved popular amongst our handlers using young dogs which have never competed before or run on a trial field, one of these being Andrew Bell from The Wath, who did very well with his dog Judy.  Unfortunately he couldn’t pen but got the youngest competitors prize. Our judge this year was Mr Malcolm Threlkeld from Welton and his time keeper Kelly Armstrong.  They had a very difficult job as we had some very good runs, and we saw some excellent dog handling.  Our thanks go to him and his time keeper as this is a long and tiring day.  This year our president was Mrs Annie Benn, Annie has always been a keen supporter of our sheepdog trials, always there on trials day, lending a hand wherever she could, for all her hard work continued support and very kind speech the committee are extremely grateful.  Annie’s final task as president was to judge along with Mrs Elsie Bell the dog show.  We had a lot of dogs and strong competition which proved a difficult task, but the champion sheepdog went to Mr N Ireland from Holme Rook, with Maggie.  Our grateful thanks must go to Hopes Auction Company Wigton who very kindly agreed to help us out this year by providing sponsorship, for all the prize money.  Without their financial help we would struggle and probably not be able to continue with this Annual Event, we are indebted to them for their support, again we decided to hold a drawing on the field to help boost our funds, our thanks must go to all our ticket sellers, too many to mention but they all did a fantastic job throughout the day and raised a fantastic amount for our funds so thank you to everyone who bought tickets.  To the Bell family, we must say a very big thank you , nothing is ever too much bother to them, they again loaned us the field and supplied the sheep which may I add behaved very well (most of the time) and we were able to watch some excellent dog running.  When we set up our trials all of the committee will agree we just take over The Wath using tractors, trailers, storing all our equipment there, with no questions asked, but we are always made to feel very welcome.  Thank You to Mrs Tickle for HNM for once again providing us with a beautiful Crystal Vase for The Best Local lady unfortunately the vase wasn’t won this year as non of the ladies manage to complete the course so come on girls get practicing for next year.  We had a craft tent full of local people showing off their talents, there were some beautiful cushions, delicious jams and chutneys which we could try before you buy, a fantastic display of homemade pies and cakes, samples of beautiful wooden items and The Northern Fells had a stall with a variety of items from photos, plants, cards and a selection of home grown produce all for sale and proving very popular with the customers. Mrs Margaret Asbridge kept all of the children entertained by letting them get hands on experience of Proddy Rug making and they had a lovely time and produced some lovely pieces.  Our thanks must go to Denton House, Margaret, Susan, Alan who again did us proud providing us with delicious salad lunches and more mouth watering home made teas which proved very popular with everyone on the field. Our thanks go to them for all their hard work and support, to everyone who came to support the trials whether it was as a spectator or as a competitor we would like to say a big thank you to you all, also to those people who couldn’t attend but very kindly gave a  donation we are very grateful.  With your help we can now look forward and start to plan our 2009 trials and once again keep Caldbeck and H-N-M sheepdog trials and Annual Event.