Ottawa Valley Hunt Club | newsletter1202.html

Ottawa Valley Hunt Newsletter

March 2003

Hello Everyone

We ended our very successful 02 season with our traditional Tortiere dinner and Children s party; the remarkable Joan Howe did it again - individually selected gifts for about 40 children. It s really a great way to get into Christmas. Thanks to Joan and Santa and to the great entertainment led by Sylvia, Grits and young stars, Lindsay, Hilary and Gillian.

The calendar says winter is coming to an end, but it s hard to convince anyone that has access to a window. The OVH has been up to its usual busy winter schedule as I report here.

Robbie Burns night warmed up the club house under the orchestration of Team Coghill. Although nobody seems to know for sure, we believe this was number 25 and have declared it such, any protestations from those with better memories notwithstanding. Irene and Jack, Mary and Frank, Joan and Gary (the latter having just produced a great CD of his renditions) and Kirstie and Dan once again put on a superb evening in the best of Robbie Burns traditions.

Our Annual General Meeting was well attended with no serious donnybrooks. There were no nominations for office other than the slate presented by the nominating committee which looks suspiciously like last years gang. That would be Nadine Smithe, President; Grits McMullen, Vice-President; Betty Sulpher, Treasurer; Joan Gauer, Secretary; and Board Members: Bob Sulpher, Joyce Kinson and Mark Nelson. At a subsequent meeting of the new board , the latter demonstrated no more imagination in appointing Joint Masters Kay Leach and Ted Thomas. Treasurer Betty reported some drop in revenue and increase in expenditures, the expenditure increases in large part being due to necessary kennel and club house repairs including a new roof on the club house.

The new Corporate Membership was voted into the constitution with no real opposition. This last year was a trial run for this membership based on the Horse People group (Bev and Wolf Schinke and corporate participants from their establishment). So far it s been a very popular move and can be labelled a big success.

Our big social event, the Hunt Ball and Silent Auction landed in the middle of our biggest snow storm of the year, but it had surprisingly little effect on attendance. I m delighted to report a beyond-expectations-by-a-bunch night! We set new records in paid Hunt Ball attendees (251) and unbelievably a record Silent Auction total.

It s truly impossible to thank all those who made this night happen - the partiers, the contributors to the auction, the very generous bidders, the cleaner-uppers, etc. Skip and Bill Walker once again did a super job of decorations - always striking and fresh; Betty and cohorts deserve a huge thanks for all the bookings and related details.

Always one of the highlights of the Ball is the awarding of colours. This year was an all ladies event; we were very pleased to present colours to Sheila Trusdale, Danielle Popeil and Shawn Hayes - Congratulations!

The Silent Auction went way beyond anyone s expectations. It takes a lot of people to make this a success and they came through as never before. Any of you who have been involved have a notion of the amount of work involved in corralling 150 items, organizing, cataloguing and displaying them. To the Super Team who brought this off, Captain Sue (Davies), with Jill (Levy) and Janet (Strome), the OVH owes a super major THANKS and congratulations! I want to add our thanks to the really generous bidders who supported the auction so enthusiastically. A very special vote of thanks goes to Rod and Sandy Bryden for donating the first star item, a sky box for 24 for the first Senators playoff game. This is a wonderful gift and the successful bidder this year was Bob Sulpher s group. Thanks again to Rod and Sandy.

The Board of Directors would like to ensure that members have the opportunity to determine a number of issues concerning their club. This includes such things as priorities for spending your money, future direction of the Hunt, plans to move to new territory, etc. To that end, we want to have an open evening at the club on Friday, March 28 at 7:00pm. The feature event will be the Great Kitchen Debate, so be sure to be there.

A note on a change of Master of Foxhounds Association: The Canada District representative for the past 6 year has been Walter Pady, TNYH. This is a gruelling term and most of us aren't even aware of all the great work the MFA does for us, although much of it is discussed in Covertside. We have enjoyed our sport for many many years without outside obstruction, unlike many other jurisdictions. The future is not likely to be so comfortable, and it is only with strong support for our MFA and its continued work that future generations will be so fortunate as us. I d like to thank Walter and Jane Pady for all the work they've done on our behalf. Wolf Von Teichman, MFH TNYH has take over as our representative for the Canadian district on the MFA and be assured that we are very fortunate to have him. Please be prepared to support Wolf in his efforts on our behalf.

Note: Please get your spring green box dates to Joan Gauer asap.

Upcoming Events:
Friday, March 28th 2003 Pub Night and Meeting 7:00pm

Until next time, happy hunting and think spring!

Ted Thomas MFH

Huntsman Corner Hi everyone. I hope you all wintered well. Hounds and horses are doing great. It won t be long before we start hunting again, can t wait. I have been looking for a new bloodline for our kennel. Tony Wright, Huntsman to the Exmoor Foxhounds has very kindly given us Exmoor Lynmouth OO. His note to me is a follows:

"You might remember Paris 83. She was a good blue mottled bitch. There are lots of Captain Wallace's favourite lines in Lynmouth s pedigree. All of ours with that Pagan line are good ones with very good voices. Lynmouth is a very good dog with heaps of drive and he just loves to hunt. He is a white/tri-coloured dog with lots of presence and has never been lame yet. I think the world of him, so I hope he won t go to waste out there. Paris was fantastic. She would hunt four days a week for nine months of the year."

Hound exercise starts mid-April at 10:00am. If you would like to attend you are more than welcome, please call before 8 the night before.

Antony Gaylard, Huntsman