The Shiplake community and their four legged friends were out in force on Saturday for our first social event of the academic year - FieldFest.
Now in its sixth year, the College’s annual Dog Show, Beer Festival and Touch Rugby Tournament is a firm favourite in the school calendar and after taking a year off because of the pandemic, there was a real appetite to finally get together.
First up was the dog show and we received a record sixty entries across the five categories:
Most Handsome Chap was won by 18-month-old Sonic the Italian Greyhound owned by the Spearing family. Second was the Dransfield's five-year-old Giant Schnauzer Loki and third was the Coe family's Nora Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Monty.
Six-month-old Poppy the Cavapoo Bichon Frise, owned by the Christie family, was crowned Loveliest Lady. Second was the Slowikowski's Golden Retriever Shelby and third was Nahla, the two-year-old German Shepherd called Nahla.
The Connerty family's Cockapoo, Jervis, was chosen as the judges favourite Golden Oldie. Second was Mabel, the seven-year-old Mini Schnauzer, owned by the Brazils and third was Tess the Cocker Spaniel owned by Revd Briggs.
Molly the Miki won Top Trick with a well-worked routine with owner Beth Griffin. Second was Teddy the Goldendoodle giving Joe Morgan two high fives and a hug and third was Bert the Cavapoo giving Anya Rose high fives.
The highest number of entries was for the Sausage Catching Challenge, a knock-out competition. 18-month-old Rufus the Cocker Spaniel, owned by the Walmsley family, fought off tough competition, including the Headmaster's dog Simba, to take the title. Casper the Black Labrador owned by the Perkins family came second and Monty Coe got his second rosette of the day by coming third. This helped the gorgeous four year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever also earn him Best in Show!
There was a special surprise rosette for the naughtiest dog which the judge awarded to Grace the Hungarian Vizsla who amused and entertained with her lack of compliance in the show ring!
Deputy Head Pastoral Nick Brown was the Dog Show compere and got into the spirit of the event by donning a dog costume. A huge thank you to our guest judge, Karole Robertson from Naughty Mutt Nice Dog Grooming Spa & Boutique in Henley, and to everyone who took part.
Next up was the touch rugby tournament and several teams entered from across the Shiplake Community: Old Vikings, current families, pupils and staff all submitted teams and despite only being ‘a bit of fun’ all players had their sights set on winning a medal.
After some nail biting matches there could only be two teams in the final. The class of 2020 leavers, led by Charlie Ambrose McCormack (20S) met with ‘Pic n Mix’, another group of Old Vikings comprising mainly of 2014 leavers led by Cameron Grossman (14W). It was a closely fought match but the Class of 2020 Leavers were the eventual winners and were presented with their medals by the Headmaster.
Thank you to In2Touch for providing the referees for the tournament. Thank you to the Old Viking Society for sponsoring the Beer and Prosecco Tent and to members of the Parents' Association for helping with the Dog Show.
Alumni and Events Officer, Catherine Brazil, who organised the event said “It was an absolute joy to finally be able to welcome visitors back on site for a social event at the College after the year we have had. Thank you to everyone who came along and joined us and to all the dogs for being so well behaved. It really was a fantastic way to kickstart the academic year.”
