Does anyone know if we are benched in the cattle sheds as usual?  Or if not, where???

Here's the map.

http://www.fossedata.co.uk/downloads/pdf/East%20show%20plan.pdf

From what I can see we're benched in the tents with the rings, because I can't see anywhere else on there that would be benching areas. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong though as if they're not in the tents, I'd also like to know where!

In-out tents to the left of the entrance, I believe.

Well that's what I thought, but I can't see how there could be room???  Perhaps someone who has been today will come on later and tell us!

Perhaps someone who has been today will come on later and tell us!

You have me worried I don't think it starts till tomorrow!!!

Sorry!!! Suffering from a stupid head today!!!!!!  Lost my phone and then Found it in the bookcase!!!! 

I do prefer in/out rings. Certainly gives us more flexibility!

If you go to the East of England web site and then to site map it looks like we will be in the main building.

Any idea where ring 22 is?

Marina Scott (dogworld) posted on facebook last night that there are in/out rings and also in the building, I'm assuming building is for the smaller breeds as in size and numbers

Any ideas where ring 26 is please

Our judges wife has just posted on FB to say that she has had a message from him to say they are dismantling benching to make a better ring as it's a mess there and delaying judging ( today) until 10. I do hope it improves, dog showing this "summer" has been a wash out :(

> as it's a mess there

a Muddy mess or poorly laid out mess?

Muddy apparently. Fingers crossed that the rain stops :(

Awww man, not another one :(

not looking forward to this again with long coated dogs it is a nightmare when it is wet like this

Obviously I'm only passing on what some in my bred are texting me, so it might not be as bad as all that! When they have shown I'll ask what the conditions are like then and post an update.

Safe journey to all making the effort to attend.

Fosse put on facebook its raining heavily :( booohooo

And there's me packing the cool coats in the car! Good thing I left their winter coats in from border union lol

Judging has been delayed until 10 am so that the benches can be moved to make water free rings.(From a friend who is stewarding)

On face book via Fosse data

Fosse Data Systems Ltd.

East of England Exhibitors: Please note all Judging tomorrow will take place inside in the Antrium and Arena.

Just returned from E of E !!!!!  Mud up to my knees and wet down to my underwear!!!!!!  We were in the tents and it was awful, toilets disgusting!  But did get a RBoB so all not too bad!!!

and apparently no benching.  So be prepared and get there early to find a space!

I wonder if they'll honour invoices for the crates people have to buy to compensate for the lack of benching? I'd be livid!

We drew the long straw!
We got moved from the in/out ring ankle deep in water to the BIS ring indoors, complete with green carpet and white picket fence :-)

It was a bit of a squash for many breeds but they got us all inside.

Who'd be a committee member this summer?...they did a grand job.

There would be little point in being annoyed about the situation because they had a finite amount of indoor/dry space and numbers of people and dogs.
They had no choice to remove anything to get enough space to get everyone in from the monsoon.

I thought it was an inspired idea from a quick thinking committee. Every dog got judged and we all got to be dry and comfortable.

Think it is always difficult for a dog show that is within an agricultural show not sure how much say they have in the position and amount of space allocated to them, had the tenting been in the usual place there would have been far less problem as they stood on hard standing and there was far more space available, today the rings were not big enough to miss the water coming off the roofs and running back under the marquee.

The ring I was stewarding in was two rings turned round to give enough space of dry grass to start judging and with the good will of the exhibitors we did finish the judging but towards the end there was a river running through the centre of the ring meaning the classes were standing at opposite ends of the ring and the judge was paddling from one end to the other but we got here with only one person slipping and ending up sat in a puddle.

I take my hat off to the committee at the start of the day it seemed we would never finish the judging if, that is, we ever got started but from what looked chaos slowly appeared order and by mid morning things were well under way and the first group was in the ring by 4.30 some achievement.

My word it was wet!

We were moved inside, to a dry ring ( though no benching), which was great as the rain was torrential.

Soaked through, muddy dogs, very crowded, but needs must in this weather!

Just got back from E of E as got stuck on m25 for 2 hrs!

The majority of the rings were moved indoors as outdoor rings were waterlogged. All of the benching indoors was removed to make way for the extra rings and whilst this delayed judging until 10am it was the sensible option in my opinion. A ring was even set up in the secretaries/officials area so as to accomodate as many as possible

The car park is in the same place as always and on gravel so no problems there. However the area around the trade stands is very squelchy and wellies are a must if you want to go shopping.

Must admit I stayed indoors for most of the day as the rain was relentless.

I was sad to hear several people moaning about the benching being removed as they had paid for it in their words.

I think this is a very selfish attitude as would they rather people be miserable and soaked outdoors. How would the moaners feel if the boot were on the other foot?

Also all the breeds scheduled to be indoors were toy breeds and at least 90% of benching is never used.We should all support one another in these circumstances.

Such a shame about the weather as there is loads to see and do and I really feel for the organisers when they are at the mercy of the British weather.

All I can say to people going to the show over the next two days is rest assured that the comittee will do all they can to accomodate you  so that the show goes on!

>I was sad to hear several people moaning about the benching being removed as they had paid for it in their words.

If you don't have a crate and usually chain your dog to the bench, what on earth did people do with their dogs to keep them secure?

I can understand your frustration but what is the alternative as space is limited due to the agricultural show.

The committee made the best of a bad situation due to adverse weather and I,m sure the majority would rather be dry indoors than cold ,wet and miserable outdoors ,alebeit with benching.

Unfortunately it does mean that if exhibitors don't have a crate then they will have to stay with their dogs,so take a comfy mat for them to lie on.

Each person will have to decide if this is feasable but at least now you have the heads up so to speak.

All in all the show ran very smoothly and even though it was crowded indoors the majority of people were understanding.

>Each person will have to decide if this is feasable but at least now you have the heads up so to speak.

I'm glad I'm not going anyway ... but I'm sorry for the poor people who haven't heard this on the grapevine and who'll have to take their dog and all their belongings into the loo with them because there's no secure 'base' for them! Not everyone has crates!

So as it stands if it all remains inside there is no benching to be had? This needs for DW and the link to put it on their FB pages if possible!! I've just posted it on a fb group to advise!!

Luckily not doing this one cause there's no classes for Giants, but good luck to my friends who are showing their Minis tomorrow and everybody else attending. It sounds like you're going to get wet...
Lets hope we have better weather for Malvern next week!

We unfortunately go caught up in the Silverstone traffic and the diversions had us going through the Car parks adding 2 hours to our 3+ hour drive from Bristol.  Neither hubby or I are into motor sports and had heard of Silverstone (but had no idea it was on our route, or that it was this week).

We were told best to go home via Birmingham direction, but when we started getting held up in traffic, then heard reports of it being bad on M6, M1, M50 closed, creating traffic on M5, we reset satnav to avoid motorways and it took us 4 1/2 hours to get home, with virtually no hold ups.

We opted to be judged outdoors, with lake in ring, horrendous mud between benches and ring, so that my dogs had mud to their bellies, as I also had to get to main building for stakes classes, one of which I missed.

Of course moving the dogs was interesting.  My younger one shook herself all the way through especially when going through the rain curtain between inside and outside bit of ring.  She didn't show well at all, either tail was down and head up, or head was down and tail up :(  She i8sn't teh msot enthusiastic showgirl at the best of times, hates the heat, and wet equally LOL

Both skirted around the puddles when doing movement patterns so no straight lines, and also goose steeped their way though the water ;)  Ringside cheerful, a new champion bitch made up, a first RCC for my friends imported young man, RCC for my Jozi's Ir Ch granddaughter, and a third for Inka in Open bitch, not bad at all.

I really felt sorry for the trade stands, as they had little or no customers, and I do hope they get some refunds as without them shows wouldn't be the same.  With Internet shopping they have to pare their mark-ups these days to minimum.

Must say that yesterday there seemed little problem there were people with 3 or 4 dogs in hand but even round the terrier rings there seemed to be no problem with the lack of benches or the crowded conditions and the actual judging seemed to progress more smoothly that at many a undisrupted show and it was not as crowded as Crufts not even approaching.

Yes every space was utilised even the official secretary, judges and stewards area was turned into a ring. Guess it is a case of trying to manage or having the whole thing cancelled, at least if it is running you can choose if you attend or not.

> If you don't have a crate and usually chain your dog to the bench, what on earth did people do with their dogs to keep them secure?

This is the main reason we asked to be judged ino9ur alloted rign outside, as with no crates (or even room to errect them if we ahd them) it woudl ahve been worse trying to get dogs from bench to ring, espceially changing dogs between classes. 

I would not want to show if I had to bring crates to champ shows, and is one reason I do few Opens.  I'm always astounded by the stuff people haul into shows, tiny dog and huge trollies.  How on earth do they fit it into an average car!  Even I take too much to shows in my show bag, as it stays in there show.  I don't need 4 or 5 benchign chains per shwo, not to mention about 10 leads and collars.

It makes much more sense to me to have oen show bag and walk as many dogs as I choose to enter into the show.  The dogs get to warm up and stretch their muscles, which is vital to avoid strains etc.  How are dogs that are crated, and kept in crates until they go in the ring, to move properly in the ring?

We have entries reducing all the time due to the recession, so discouraging people from entering more than one dog at shows, due to benching placement or if they went altogether forcing peopel to brign crates, is hardly a wise move. Also if shows can't manage to get benching close to rings (soem never do like Windsor, WKC and Richmond, shows I think I will not bother with in future, unless I really want to show under that judge).

Anyone going to E of E today, the sun is shining and it's a beautiful morning!!!  At the moment!!!!

Would say all but a few breeds chose to stay inside today, sun in the morning but rain around lunch time, it seemed crowded around some rings but we seemed to have loads of space so I have to say it was a much better experience today and I am home nice and dry.

Lol my waterproof boots are still wet, from the water coming in over the top.

I have now discoverd my youngster does not like to show in high humidity/heat, or wet LOL.

I wore wellies all day yesterday but I had forgotten to bring socks, my right foot is very sore and blistered so I insisted that I stay inside today no way was I going to wear my boots again.

I can't say I enjoyed it much. Certainly around the Goldie rings there was no space to move and trying to get anywhere was awful. I gave up trying to find the Sussex ring as there were just trolleys, tables, crates and chairs everywhere. I was looking forward to our first benched show and really wish I hadn't bothered.

it was rather crowded today in the hall,glad i took cages but you could not move you got near your ring and stopped there it was not good i understand because of the weather but there where no gangways trolleys and dogs and cages and people everywhere it was a nightmare, the ground has started to dry out as the weather was hot and nice outside so hopefully there will be no rain tonight and we can show outside tomorrow

Unfortunately the ground was so damaged on the first day I doubt more than a few rings will be suitable to be used for a long while yet and there is more rain on the way tomorrow.

Lets hope they are able to move away from the Agricultural show again and back to the area we are used to.

It was packed today wasn't it! We left at 5am from Norwich and got there just before 7am, no traffic at all for us, sunshine too. Got into the halls and waited for our ring to be changed, then we set up ringside as benching was underwater. Didn't know you could physically fit that many dogs and people in one place but fair does to the organisers, it was very nicely set up inside with clean carpets for all but a few rings and white fencing too. A lot of people that arrived later in the day were a wee bit inconsiderate of where we were set up and we had to prevent being blocked in several times but it was understandable, there was very little room by the time judging began and even less room to move about. Felt glad I could pick up my girl and carry her as a lot of people struggled with their larger breeds moving them around. Felt very sorry for them as some hadn't brought crates so can't have been easy.

Lovely weather by the time we left at about 12pm, hadn't rained at all in the morning time, sun was shining and everything. We got a good parking space on hard standing and gravel so didn't need wellies after all. Really well organised parking by the people who were shuffling us out again. Worth the 4am start too because we qualified today, too. :)

The thing that bugs me most is the amount of people that just shove their way through or drag trolleys over other dogs tails,, It still shocks me how some of the so called dog lovers behave :-(

Trollies are a pain in the wherever. They were never needed in 'the old days' so why are they needed now?

I love using a trolley.  With someone with back problems, travel a distance so bring our own food etc. they are a godsend. Never gone over a dogs tail in the  15 or so years of using one. 

>With someone with back problems, travel a distance so bring our own food etc. they are a godsend.

As someone with arthritic hands, so a poor grip, I try not to take anything I can't carry over my shoulders.

If I pay out 3 dogs@ £25 per class and around £90 in fuel I have no intention of walking small, white, long coated and low to the ground dogs through a wet muddy car park....knowing that I wouldnt win. Id have to be absolutely mad to do that.

Now ....If I had long legged, smooth coated dogs which I could wipe over with a towel I would ...of course.

I may be a dog show exhibitor but Im not entirely mad :-)

Tell me about it !! Got wiped out yet again with woman trolley at E of E today, do these poor dogs have no legs ?????? X