Page 30 - SpringSummerNL23

News from Cheshire and the North West

Happy Springtime everyone,

We are looking forward to the next few months and hopefully the better weather after
a quiet time over the winter.

We did not manage to organize as many get togethers
and social dog walks as we had hoped, although we
have been able to meet up with some of our friends,
volunteers and their dogs at other social events,
including Christmas and birthdays.
Trish
It has been a very strange and quiet time for Phil and I,
as for the first time in over 30 years we have not had at
least one dog to love and care for. We have had up to
five greyhounds at any one time. We lost our beloved
nd
Trish on 2 December 2022. She had battled on for
th
several months after her 13 birthday in August, but
she finally passed away with a tumour after a wonderful
long life. Rest in Peace our special girl with all those who
have gone before you to Rainbow Bridge.

We went ahead with the street collection in Cleveleys a
week after we lost Trish, but it was not the same and we
felt bereft without a dog. We noticed a real difference in passers by stopping to
chat when we had no dogs to attract attention, even though we were very grateful to
everyone who did come to support us with their dogs.

The weather was also cold and miserable so donations
were well down compared to previous years. We will
organize another Cleveleys fundraiser for later in the
year when we may have taken the plunge and adopted
another dog so watch this
space!

Although we miss having a dog
very much, the house seems
so empty without a dog to
greet us when we come home,
we have decided to take
Jen, Roy, Fred, Trish & advantage by booking several
holidays during the summer
Sue on holiday in Cornwall and autumn months.

We are planning on returning to Cornwall in May and enjoying a
different kind of holiday without a dog, including travelling
around on the buses with our bus passes now that Phil has
officially retired!

In order to “keep our hand in” we have been able to help out by Lisa and Fred
looking after other people's dogs whilst they have been away on
holiday, including two greyhounds for Phil's brother and Fred the greyhound and Lisa the
galga for our friends Jen, Roy and Deb. We really enjoyed having dogs back in the
house again. Jen and Roy had looked after Trish whilst we were away in September and
October last year, so we were glad to be able to reciprocate by looking after Fred for
them in March.
30