Top Dog Weekend

Members of the College community were once again out in force on Saturday to support dogs and their owners for an afternoon of fun at our annual Dog Show.

Thank you to Mr Howorth who took to the microphone to compere the event, introducing the dogs and chatting with the handlers as well as drawing reference to the appropriate backing tracks, including Puppy Love and Isn't She Lovely. Judged expertly (and more importantly impartially!) by Helen Tuthill from Holybrooks, over 30 dogs entered the five categories: Mr Curtis’s gorgeous Staffordshire bull terrier Pepsi won ‘Loveliest Lady’, Monty, the Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever, owned by the Coe family won ‘Most Handsome Chap’ and Rosie the golden labrador won ‘Dog Most Like it’s Owner’ with nine year old Evie.

The Wallace family pets took home two rosettes with tiny 12 week old Rosie the chihuahua winning ‘I Love My Mini Human’ accompanied by Freddie, and nine year old labrador Beau came 1st place in the ‘Golden Oldie’ group. The event finished in style (appropriately to Madonna's Vogue) with a new category introduced this year – the Dog Fancy Dress Competition, which saw ballerina Ronnie, the wire haired vizsla, take the prize, assisted by his fantastic cheer-leading handler Serenna.

Following the dog show, the annual touch rugby tournament got under way, with eight teams battling it out for victory. Described by some members of staff as one of their favourite days of the year, the 'lightly competitive' tournament was played with great spirit and sportsmanship.

Teams of staff, Old Vikings, parents and an entry from Burr House students, played a round robin within two groups. The end of this stage saw two staff teams reach the semi-finals, however both lost to teams of younger Old Vikings (with perhaps some 1st XV players also making appearances). Old Viking Ian Brown, who is also the rugby club's strength and conditioning coach, and his team of 'Ringas and Rangas', claimed the win in the final - preventing Greg Cooke's team of 2016 leavers from gaining the triple crown.

Throughout the day there was a barbecue provided by Thomas Franks and a beer and prosecco tent. Our younger guests were able to take part in a hoopla game to win treats for their four legged friends and raise money for our Parents' Association at the same time, and a choice of inflatables and face painting were on offer too.

Thank you to all those who participated or helped out, to Mr Ebun-Cole for timing and score-keeping, to the referees from Reading's In2Touch and to Mrs Brazil for organising the event.