Irish Game & Country Fair

[AlbertJ 569]

Further to our re-organisation of the Terrier & Lurcher events at Birr Castle - partially due to feedback on this forum - I thought I should give an update :

 

1. The Show will take place on Sunday 28th August starting at 1.00PM and be run by the Glenbank Working Dog Club - contact Matt Lee

 

Classifications

ROI TERRIER, WHIPPET & LURCHER CHAMPIONSHIPS

SHOW SCHEDULE

 

Terrier Championship Show

1. Terrier Pups under 1 year……………………………………………………….

2. Working Terrier Class………………………………………………………….

3. Terrier under 12”………………………………………………………………..

4. Best Pair of Terriers…………………………………………………………….

5. Jack Russell Type Dog or Bitch over 1 year old………………………………….

6. Lakeland Type Dog or Bitch over 1 year old……………………………………..

7. Fell or Patterdale Dog or Bitch over 1 year old…………………………………

8. Border Dog or Bitch over 1 year old

9 Cross Bred Dog or Bitch over 1 year old…………………………….

 

Championship 1st placed terriers in classes 2,3,5,6,7,8,9

 

Family Dog Show

Any Variety shown by a child under 12 years of age……………………………..

Any Variety shown by a Lady…………………………………………………….

Any Variety shown by a Gent…………………………………………………….

Champion Handling Class from the above classes

 

Lurcher Championships

1.Whippet/Lurcher Dog or Bitch over 1 year old ………………………………..

( NO PURE BRED WHIPPETS)

2.Any Variety Lurcher Pup under 1 year old…………………………………….

3.Best Pair of Lurchers……………………………………………………………

4.Any Variety Lamping Lurcher………………………………………………..

5.Smooth Lurcher over 23” over 1 year old…………………………………….

6.Rough Lurcher over 23” over 1 year old…………………………………….

7.Rough or Smooth Lurcher under 23” over 1 year old…………………………….

8.AV Hare Lurcher ………………………………………………………………..

9.Collie Lurcher over 1 year old

10.Terrier Bred Lurcher over 1 year old…………………………………..

11. Any Fox Lurcher…………………………………………………………………

12. Veteran Lurcher – Any Lurcher over 8 years of age ………………………….

Championship 1st placed Lurchers in classes 1,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, 12

 

 

Whippet Championship

1.Whippet Puppy Dog under 1 year old

2. Whippet Puppy Bitch under 1 year old

3. Whippet Dog over 1year old

4.Whippet Bitch over 1 year old

5.Working Whippet Dog

6.Working Whippet Bitch

Championship 1st from classes 3,4,5,6

 

Entry per class €3 please have correct change. Similar Trophies to Shanes Castle & Ballywalter Fairs for each class.

The Lurcher Champion will qualify for the FINAL of the FIVE NATIONS LURCHER CHAMPIONSHIP to be staged in the main arena. The Five Nations Lurcher Championship will be judged under a three judge system.

PLEASE NOTE THERE WILL BE NO DOGS FOR SALE AT THIS SHOW.

 

 

2. Racing will be run on Saturday 27th August starting 1.00pm. This will be organised by the Rosscrea Club Contact : Shane Lee

 

We are still in discussions over classification of whippets - this and full details of prizes etc will be posted on the www.irishgameandcountryfair.com website next week.

 

The lurcher racing will be the first qualifying race for the 2nd MASTER MC GRATH CHALLENGE - Final at Shanes Castle 2012.

 

As you are aware we consider the GREAT GAME FAIRS OF IRELAND to be not only be Ireland's premier game or country Fairs in terms of content, competitions and prize fuds but starting last year we tried to give extra value by offering everyone who attended Ballywalter a FREE ticket for Shanes Castle. Thus giving two fairs for the price of one.

 

For BIRR because the terriers and lurchers are running over two days we are making the following big value offers available to terrier & lurcher owners for advanced payment.

1.For €30 a family ticket and a years subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life magazine.

 

2. A two day family ticket for €35.

 

3. Adult two day ticket for €15.

 

Normal Prices are : Family €35 Adult €15 Child bewtween 5 -15 €5. This includes free parking and free programme and of course Lord & Lady Rosse have very kindly opened their Museum and world famous gardens ( Normally costing €25 family;€9 adult and €5 child) to the public over the time of the Fair and these additional attractions are included within the cost of the Fair admission tickets.

 

Full details are available by mailing me at irishgamefair@btinternet.com

 

Albertj

[Irish Lurcher 1,013]

sounds like you have taken into account the feed back and acted upon same, credit due. Two day price is most welcome, again credit due, look forward to the Fair. Can I ask who shall be judging the lurchers?

[AlbertJ 569]

sounds like you have taken into account the feed back and acted upon same, credit due. Two day price is most welcome, again credit due, look forward to the Fair. Can I ask who shall be judging the lurchers?

 

IL,

 

We have been taking account of feedback from the forum for some time on prizes,competitions, judges and had been working on some price combinations to try to give extra value as we did with the 'two shows for the price of one' ticket offer for our NI shows. But costs are up virtually all round for show organisers and revenue from stands and sponsors is down so there is only certain amount of flexibility on the gate if shows are to continue to grow or even survive.

 

Final meeting on judges next week. For lurchers we will have four judges - three for the Five Nations Championship ( who will not be announced) and one for the Birr Championship. We hope to have a mix of UK and Irish judges. I do not subscribe to the argument that you can only have fair judging by UK judges although it is nice to see new faces. I judge dogs myself occasionally and people who come under me get my fair opinion and I feel it is an insult to Irish judges to have all UK judges.

 

Albertj

[jigsaw 11,899]

i suppose the traveling community will be there in force again this year,I hope all goes well for everyone .Had enough crap from that bunch last year and have no intention of rubing shoulders this year again with them.I see the entrance fee is spot on,well done Albert,good move.

[AlbertJ 569]

i suppose the traveling community will be there in force again this year,I hope all goes well for everyone .Had enough crap from that bunch last year and have no intention of rubing shoulders this year again with them.I see the entrance fee is spot on,well done Albert,good move.

 

Jigsaw,

 

As I said at the time although there was no actual problems last year except for one puppy being reported stolen and post fair reports of some people feeling hassled by people asking them to sell their dogs, we would take action and we have.

 

We will not allow dogs to be sold on site and this will be signed at the gate.

 

We will have a security presence in the area and it is up to anyone who feels in any way hassled to report it to them , to fair HQ or myself. But please DO THIS AT THE FAIR and NOT AFTERWARDS.

 

There will be a special car parking area for competitors.

 

We organise happy family events and our ZERO tolerance policy of any trouble makers meant that last year's event was completely trouble free other than some post fair reports of some hassle at the terrier & lurcher area.

 

Forwarned about this it will be dealt with this year.

 

I do hope you make it this year and do come and meet me if you do.

 

Albert

[jigsaw 11,899]

Albert,there was a very large problem last year with the travellers accosting people,me and my son being one of those groups.They were going arond in herds together.They may have only taken one dog but they pissed off a lot of people.I dont think I'll attend this year,last year left a bitter taste with me and my young lad was put off big time,not a good experience for a youth starting out,be it my son or anyone elses,but if I do change my mind I'll try and find you and say hello.Best of luck on the day.

[AlbertJ 569]

Albert,there was a very large problem last year with the travellers accosting people,me and my son being one of those groups.They were going arond in herds together.They may have only taken one dog but they pissed off a lot of people.I dont think I'll attend this year,last year left a bitter taste with me and my young lad was put off big time,not a good experience for a youth starting out,be it my son or anyone elses,but if I do change my mind I'll try and find you and say hello.Best of luck on the day.

 

 

Jigsaw,

 

I don't want to diminish the annoyance caused to you in any way by anyone hassling you but I would not like people to get the idea that the fair was overun by people hassling others about selling their dogs. There was absolutely no trouble at all on the main site and the problems that were reported after the event appeared to centre on a group of c 12 guys trying to buy dogs and appeared localised to the terrier & lurcher area. Only one report was made to anyone at the time ( was the stolen puppy) and that includes our stewards, securoity staff, Garda, our terrier and lurcher organisers and me. I spent some time at the area and did not see any problems but obviously I wasn't there all day. The Garda report actually says happy friendly event, no trouble no arrests. Obviously had the matter been reported to us we would have dealt with it there and then.

 

However having had it reported, as I say, we have put in place measures to deal with any re-occurence this year. There will be no such hassle of any kind this year.

 

Albertj

[Irish Lurcher 1,013]

We just might venture down and have a look.

[AlbertJ 569]

We just might venture down and have a look.

Be good to see you at Birr - as you can see we have put together some discounted packages for admission but like everyone else our margins have been squeezed for the last two years through working out packages with exhibitors on one hand and greatly increased costs on the other. Traders are hurting a lot BUT we have asked all traders to have at least one bargain offer on their stand and as we have a good range of traders booked in there should be plenty of bargains to be had.

 

Unlike Ballinough we have the support of the NARGC ( with a huge stand) and FISSTA as well as CAI, IFA Countryside etc and we have been able to attract a wider range of exhibitors and sponsors by offering them packages for our three fairs and magazine. AND of course because we offered the public two NI fairs for the price of one our crowds at both Ballywalter and Shanes Castle were up and traders did well giving them the confidence to book forward for Birr.

 

Event organising has never been more difficult with margins squeezed and costs spiralling but if we are to have fairs in Ireland I recognise that organisers,sponsors, competitors, competition organisers, exhibitors and public must all pull together. Our two fairs in NI have worked well this year with traders and public getting a good deal from us and both have given us the support that has delivered successful events and a modest return on our investment. We are confident that granted decent weather, Birr with its excellent competition prize fund ( heavily pump primed by ourselves); good range of attractions; good exhibition stand base; great venue and good promotional and advertising platform in place, will once again deliver an attractive event for the country sports enthusiast. BUT we do need everyone's support to make sure that this fair regarded as the ROI's National Game Fair maintains its forward momentum.

We would love to be able to offer everyone half price admission but with our margins totally squeezed we have had to simply try to offer better value within a package.

 

We have already had a great response to our two day packages but some people have pointed out that there is no package for a single person wanting to go to the terriers and lurchers for one day only. So I have added to our advanced payment packages :

 

1.For €30 a family ticket and a years subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life magazine.

 

2. A two day family ticket for €35.

 

3. Adult two day ticket for €15.

 

4. Adult one day ticket €15 and gets a year’s subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life FREE.

 

Normal Prices are : Family €35 Adult €15 Child between 5 -15 €5. This includes free parking and free programme and of course Lord & Lady Rosse have very kindly opened their Museum and world famous gardens ( Normally costing €25 family;€9 adult and €5 child) to the public over the time of the Fair and these additional attractions are included within the cost of the Fair admission tickets.

 

These offers are ONLY available for purchases made BEFORE 14th August :Full details are available by mailing me at irishgamefair@btinternet.com

[lurcher330 2,301]

We just might venture down and have a look.

Be good to see you at Birr - as you can see we have put together some discounted packages for admission but like everyone else our margins have been squeezed for the last two years through working out packages with exhibitors on one hand and greatly increased costs on the other. Traders are hurting a lot BUT we have asked all traders to have at least one bargain offer on their stand and as we have a good range of traders booked in there should be plenty of bargains to be had.

 

Unlike Ballinough we have the support of the NARGC ( with a huge stand) and FISSTA as well as CAI, IFA Countryside etc and we have been able to attract a wider range of exhibitors and sponsors by offering them packages for our three fairs and magazine. AND of course because we offered the public two NI fairs for the price of one our crowds at both Ballywalter and Shanes Castle were up and traders did well giving them the confidence to book forward for Birr.

 

Event organising has never been more difficult with margins squeezed and costs spiralling but if we are to have fairs in Ireland I recognise that organisers,sponsors, competitors, competition organisers, exhibitors and public must all pull together. Our two fairs in NI have worked well this year with traders and public getting a good deal from us and both have given us the support that has delivered successful events and a modest return on our investment. We are confident that granted decent weather, Birr with its excellent competition prize fund ( heavily pump primed by ourselves); good range of attractions; good exhibition stand base; great venue and good promotional and advertising platform in place, will once again deliver an attractive event for the country sports enthusiast. BUT we do need everyone's support to make sure that this fair regarded as the ROI's National Game Fair maintains its forward momentum.

We would love to be able to offer everyone half price admission but with our margins totally squeezed we have had to simply try to offer better value within a package.

 

We have already had a great response to our two day packages but some people have pointed out that there is no package for a single person wanting to go to the terriers and lurchers for one day only. So I have added to our advanced payment packages :

 

1.For €30 a family ticket and a years subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life magazine.

 

2. A two day family ticket for €35.

 

3. Adult two day ticket for €15.

 

4. Adult one day ticket €15 and gets a year’s subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life FREE.

 

Normal Prices are : Family €35 Adult €10 Child between 5 -15 €5. This includes free parking and free programme and of course Lord & Lady Rosse have very kindly opened their Museum and world famous gardens ( Normally costing €25 family;€9 adult and €5 child) to the public over the time of the Fair and these additional attractions are included within the cost of the Fair admission tickets.

 

These offers are ONLY available for purchases made BEFORE 14th August :Full details are available by mailing me at irishgamefair@btinternet.com

 

Looking forward to it Albert,I always have a great weekend at Birr

[Irish Lurcher 1,013]

We just might venture down and have a look.

Be good to see you at Birr - as you can see we have put together some discounted packages for admission but like everyone else our margins have been squeezed for the last two years through working out packages with exhibitors on one hand and greatly increased costs on the other. Traders are hurting a lot BUT we have asked all traders to have at least one bargain offer on their stand and as we have a good range of traders booked in there should be plenty of bargains to be had.

 

Unlike Ballinough we have the support of the NARGC ( with a huge stand) and FISSTA as well as CAI, IFA Countryside etc and we have been able to attract a wider range of exhibitors and sponsors by offering them packages for our three fairs and magazine. AND of course because we offered the public two NI fairs for the price of one our crowds at both Ballywalter and Shanes Castle were up and traders did well giving them the confidence to book forward for Birr.

 

Event organising has never been more difficult with margins squeezed and costs spiralling but if we are to have fairs in Ireland I recognise that organisers,sponsors, competitors, competition organisers, exhibitors and public must all pull together. Our two fairs in NI have worked well this year with traders and public getting a good deal from us and both have given us the support that has delivered successful events and a modest return on our investment. We are confident that granted decent weather, Birr with its excellent competition prize fund ( heavily pump primed by ourselves); good range of attractions; good exhibition stand base; great venue and good promotional and advertising platform in place, will once again deliver an attractive event for the country sports enthusiast. BUT we do need everyone's support to make sure that this fair regarded as the ROI's National Game Fair maintains its forward momentum.

We would love to be able to offer everyone half price admission but with our margins totally squeezed we have had to simply try to offer better value within a package.

 

We have already had a great response to our two day packages but some people have pointed out that there is no package for a single person wanting to go to the terriers and lurchers for one day only. So I have added to our advanced payment packages :

 

1.For €30 a family ticket and a years subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life magazine.

 

2. A two day family ticket for €35.

 

3. Adult two day ticket for €15.

 

4. Adult one day ticket €15 and gets a year’s subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life FREE.

 

Normal Prices are : Family €35 Adult €10 Child between 5 -15 €5. This includes free parking and free programme and of course Lord & Lady Rosse have very kindly opened their Museum and world famous gardens ( Normally costing €25 family;€9 adult and €5 child) to the public over the time of the Fair and these additional attractions are included within the cost of the Fair admission tickets.

 

These offers are ONLY available for purchases made BEFORE 14th August :Full details are available by mailing me at irishgamefair@btinternet.com

 

Looking forward to it Albert,I always have a great weekend at Birr

 

GET UR TONGUE OUT GRAHAM,,LOL, FREE PASS FOR YOU. LOL

[lurcher330 2,301]

We just might venture down and have a look.

Be good to see you at Birr - as you can see we have put together some discounted packages for admission but like everyone else our margins have been squeezed for the last two years through working out packages with exhibitors on one hand and greatly increased costs on the other. Traders are hurting a lot BUT we have asked all traders to have at least one bargain offer on their stand and as we have a good range of traders booked in there should be plenty of bargains to be had.

 

Unlike Ballinough we have the support of the NARGC ( with a huge stand) and FISSTA as well as CAI, IFA Countryside etc and we have been able to attract a wider range of exhibitors and sponsors by offering them packages for our three fairs and magazine. AND of course because we offered the public two NI fairs for the price of one our crowds at both Ballywalter and Shanes Castle were up and traders did well giving them the confidence to book forward for Birr.

 

Event organising has never been more difficult with margins squeezed and costs spiralling but if we are to have fairs in Ireland I recognise that organisers,sponsors, competitors, competition organisers, exhibitors and public must all pull together. Our two fairs in NI have worked well this year with traders and public getting a good deal from us and both have given us the support that has delivered successful events and a modest return on our investment. We are confident that granted decent weather, Birr with its excellent competition prize fund ( heavily pump primed by ourselves); good range of attractions; good exhibition stand base; great venue and good promotional and advertising platform in place, will once again deliver an attractive event for the country sports enthusiast. BUT we do need everyone's support to make sure that this fair regarded as the ROI's National Game Fair maintains its forward momentum.

We would love to be able to offer everyone half price admission but with our margins totally squeezed we have had to simply try to offer better value within a package.

 

We have already had a great response to our two day packages but some people have pointed out that there is no package for a single person wanting to go to the terriers and lurchers for one day only. So I have added to our advanced payment packages :

 

1.For €30 a family ticket and a years subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life magazine.

 

2. A two day family ticket for €35.

 

3. Adult two day ticket for €15.

 

4. Adult one day ticket €15 and gets a year's subscription to Irish Countrysports and Country Life FREE.

 

Normal Prices are : Family €35 Adult €10 Child between 5 -15 €5. This includes free parking and free programme and of course Lord & Lady Rosse have very kindly opened their Museum and world famous gardens ( Normally costing €25 family;€9 adult and €5 child) to the public over the time of the Fair and these additional attractions are included within the cost of the Fair admission tickets.

 

These offers are ONLY available for purchases made BEFORE 14th August :Full details are available by mailing me at irishgamefair@btinternet.com

 

Looking forward to it Albert,I always have a great weekend at Birr

 

GET UR TONGUE OUT GRAHAM,,LOL, FREE PASS FOR YOU. LOL

SHUSSSSSS