WIMGO NEWS

 

From the chair:

 

 

Here we go again.  The World Cup is over so forget Come on England. It’s time for all owners to start chanting Come on Wimbledon and join WGOA, as never before we need your support to squash all the rumours and doom and gloom to keep greyhound racing at Wimbledon.

Your committee have, in the past striven hard on all fronts to produce extra prize money for all WGOA owners, with sweepstakes, £50 extra prize money races and £150 once a month on selected races on WGOA momento nights.

Through our members we do all we can to help the Wimbledon Retired Greyhound Trust who do such sterling work to find homes for our retired dogs.

Our relationship with stadium management remains on a true course and we have sub-committee meetings with management once a month, and you are all welcome to send any questions for us to raise and we will do our best to get an answer.

Please don’t let me use my favourite word any more ‘apathy’. Support our AGM 2006 at Wimbledon Stadium (27 Sept 2006) and get involved with your Owners Association.

We accept praise and criticism.

 

Best of luck with your dogs for 2006.

 

 

Jim Boothby (Chairman).

 

 

 

 

                                                           

 

 

2005 Awards

 

On Sunday 30^th April the annual Dinner and Dance awards ceremony was again held at the Reigate Manor Hotel, over 100 guests enjoyed a nice evening all the awards were very well received by owners and trainers. The Special Award for services to WGOA was presented to Brian White who has worked tirelessly for the greyhounds over many years and now takes our photographs on WGOA momento evenings.

Alan Clarke did exceptionally well selling raffle tickets for an array of prizes and a healthy profit was made on the evening. The food was excellent as usual and enjoyed by all. A big thank you goes to all our sponsors and all the people who offered help and donations on the night.

 

Annual Awards were as follows:

 

Dog of the year:             Druids Mickey Joe (S.Cahill) and Sizzlers Bossman (N.McEllistrim)

(Joint winners)

Bitch of the year:            Hollyoak Thin (T.Taylor)

Puppy of the year:     Droopys Becker (B.Doyle)

Special awards:             Come on Blackie (S.Cahill) and Limited Blue (B.Doyle)

(Joint winners)

Veteran of the year:            Elmstead Prince (T.Taylor) and Orior Hawk (R.Peacock)

(Joint winners)

Service to WGOA  Brian White.

 

The following Greyhounds received awards between Aug 2005 and July 2006.

 

Dog and Bitch of the month.

 

Aug 2005                      Business Honcho                                              Deep Ranger

                                    (P.Rees)                                                           (T.Taylor)

Sept 2005                     Gorgeous Lad                                                  Bullet Molly

                                    (S.Cahill)                                                          (S.Cahill)

Oct 2005                       Killeacle Hugh                                                  Be Bopa Cool

                                    (N.McEllistrim)                                                  (P.Rees)

Nov 2005                       Do Your Turn                                                      Hollyoak Thin

                                    (N.McEllistrim)                                                  (T.Taylor)

Dec 2005                      Killeacle Hugh                                                  Windgap Molly

                                    (N.McEllistrim)                                                  (P.Rees)

Jan 2006                       Ballygarron Rock                                               Me and Sally (1) Lindsey’s Girl (2)                                            (P.Rees)                                                           (N.McEllistrim)            (N.McEllistrim)

Feb 2006                       No winner                                                   No winner

 

Mar 2006                       Braemar Bee                                                    No winner

                                    (J.Foster)                                 

Apr 2006                       Cuil Nugget                                                  No winner

                                    (N.McEllsitrim)

May 2006                      No winner                                                   Doyouknowthat

                                                                                                            (P.Rees)

June 2006                     Pronto Pronto                                                   Cherry Pie

                                    (N.McEllistrim)                                                  (J.Walsh)

June 2006                     Droopys Chinook                                                Questhouse Grace

                                    (B.Doyle)                                                         (T.Taylor)

 

 

There were 30 trophies presented for 3 wins in a row in the same period.

 

Greyhounds that completed 100 races.

 

Forward Half, Elegant Cross, Do Your Turn, Cloheena Spiral, Loyal Lindsey, Grafton Lad, Robbie In Trouble, Gortnalour Tom & Haberdasher.

 

 

 

Events organised by W.G.O.A

 

 May Queen

 

On the W.G.O.A night of 11^th May ‘Kims Vieri’ was crowned Wimbledon Stadium May Queen.  At the request of the committee the racing manager put on a race consisting only of females and a special presentation jacket and trophy was presented to the proud owners, the jacket was displayed at Norah McEllistrims kennels, before being returned to the owners.

 

Ladies Night in conjunction with South West Trains

 

Friday 2nd July was ‘Ladies Night’ with the first two hundred ladies through the doors being presented with a flower and a special gift, kindly donated to W.G.O.A.  The night was also sponsored by South West Trains who made a donation of £1300 to Wimbledon Retired Greyhounds for the opportunity to be involved on the night and to name the thirteen races.

 

The committee with the help of the management and staff at Wimbledon try to organise special and fun events which benefit not only owners but also if possible, raise funds for the Wimbledon Retired Greyhounds.  South West Trains were so pleased with their night that they have tentatively committed themselves to sponsoring a night in 2007. If any members have any similar ideas for special events, or know of companies that might like to raise funds for the ‘retireds’, whilst obtaining a bit of publicity, then please pass on details to any committee member.

 

 

 

WANTED

 

In the last WIMGO news we reported on the over £4,000 which was raised by holding a ‘Silent Auction’.  We are hoping to do the same again later on this year.  This time we are looking for about six to eight star items as well as donations of smaller items or pledges (the pledge to walk Greyhounds on a given number of Sundays raised £200).  We will then name the individual races (e.g. The Signed Chelsea Shirt Stakes) display the item with the winning greyhound and then invite bids to be made on the item in the bidding room, to encourage people to bid on the large and small items.  Donations to Bob Boswell  (020 8660 1329 or robert@boswell29.wanadoo.co.uk)

 

 

 

MISCONCEPTIONS (Report from John Waldron Secretary of W.G.O.A. on the survey included in last WIMGO News)

A recent survey conducted across a wide spectrum of people associated with greyhound racing has shown a misconception of where prize money for owners actually comes from. The survey showed that a large percentage of those answering this question thought that the main contributor to prize money was the British Greyhound Racing Fund. Whilst B.G.R.F. does contribute graded prize money across the board to N.G.R.C. registered tracks, its contribution amounts to only £3m out of a total of some £13.2m estimated to be paid as prize money in 2006. This contribution of £3m is agreed with the British Greyhound Racing Board by the Federation who are represented on the Board.
In 2006 each track with a full year's qualification will receive 70% of the amount available divided equally. In addition, they will receive a proportional grant based upon the number of races held, together with a multiplication factor representing their own prize money levels. Thus the tracks paying the most self-generated prize money will receive proportionally more B.G.R.F. money, the intention of which is to reward greyhound owners of track managements who have an enlightened prize money structure.