Next Greyhound social walk: West End Common and the River Mole, Sunday November 16

The next greyhound social walk will take us to West End Common on Sunday 16 November.

We will meet at 11am at West End Lane Car Park, West End Common, Esher.

We will do a forty minute walk up to the ledges, along the top of the ledges, down to the river Mole and back to the car park.

West End lane car park is on the west side of West End Lane, not far from the junction with the Portsmouth Road (A307) - see the red circle on the map below. The Ordnance Ssurvey grid reference of the car park is TQ126 632

Bring your adopted greyhound, or give a homeless hound from Hersham a treat by taking it out for the morning: West End Common is only ten minutes drive from the kennels.

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Found Hound

Lily has been found, 10 days after going missing. It took the dog wardens one hour to catch her!

Lily is now safe in the loving hands of the WGW kennels staff in Hersham.

Staff and volunteers put in a huge amount of time and effort into finding Lily. Posters were put up in area where she was spotted, local dog walkers were approached and asked to look out for her. Many walked the streets and green spaces to look for her.

Staff manned the kennel phones round the clock in case that important call came through, hoping that someone could get close enough to timid Lily and read her Hersham Hounds dog tag.

Thank you to all who responded to the 'Lost Hounds' post on the Greyhound Gap forum.

Lost Hound

Lily, one of the homeless hounds has been lost in the Croydon area.

Lilly is a young and very timid greyhound. She was lost late on Monday 11th August whilst out for her last walk.

She is mainly white with black markings.

Lily has been sighted on Saturday16 August between 10.45am & 11am running through Selsdon High Street, and she was running towards Gravel Hill and New Addington.

Her lead is still attached. Please look out for her, she must be very hungry and tired now.

We are desperate to find her, especially as she was in an area unfamiliar to her, and a long way from the kennels in Hersham Surrey.

Please visit http://www.doglost.co.uk/Page.aspx?data=....xJvs60ETtbptclS
for a photo and description of Lily.

Please ring the Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare kennels at Hersham on this number if you see her: 01932 224918

New greyhound social group for London area

A new group has been set up to organise social walks for greyhound and lurcher owners in the South London/Kent area.

The group are called London and Borders Greyhounds. Their next two walks are in Sidcup (Aug 23) and Crayford (Aug 31). You can get more details of these walks and their other events from this calendar.

The group have exciting plans including a camping trip to the South Downs in June 2009.

Their first walk in July this year was attended by greyhounds re-homed from many of the the South East's re-homing kennels, including Hersham, Brighton & Hove, Clarks Farm and Romford. And the dogs even got liver treats at the end of the walk!

Photos from Nonsuch Park Greyhound Social Walk

We had a great turnout today. Lots of passers-by stopped to admire the dogs and ask whether it was a greyhound convention.I enjoyed people telling stories about their hounds: their racing exploits, and how they got their names. We met Vera, a small, quiet self effacing hound who won an amazing 29 races out of 118 under the name of Did She? We met a hound who raced under the name of 'Pour the Wine' but whom the Kennel hands called Tipsy (and she has been tipsy ever since). And the hound who raced as Bob's Memory (named by a widow after her late husband) now known simply as Bob. Tania enjoyed seeing hounds like Cleo and Ali, both of whom she remembers walking at Hersham, now happily homed with caring owners.
We couldn't have asked for better guides. John and Doreen are the Park keepers at Nonsuch. Three days ago they adopted a greyhound from Battersea's country kennels at Kent and they brought her out on the walk today. They guided us to the Mansion House Cafe in the middle of the Park, where we stopped for a cup of tea and a chat.

Then John and Doreen took us on a ramble back along a beautiful quiet walk, off the beaten track, through open fields and past a pond. We have been to Nonsuch Park many times but today we saw parts of it we hadn't known existed. Once back at the car park Doreen bought out a big bucket of water that the thirsty hounds took it in turns to empty.

Well done to the folks who gave homeless hounds from Hersham a day out from the kennels: This is Jet at the end of the walk, having a rest before his trip back to the kennels.
The next social walk will be in September: Please leave a comment at the bottom of the post if you have any preferences or suggestions on where we go.
James

Next retired greyhound social walk: Sunday June 29: Nonsuch park

Come and take your retired greyhound, or a homeless hound from Hersham, for a stroll through Nonsuch Park.

Meet at 11am, on Sunday 29 June.

Go to the car park located on the big bend on London Road, near Ewell. The car park is marked with a red circle on this map

We will walk along the mown paths through the meadows to the Mansion House which has a cafe, picnic area and WCs.


You will see this monument at the car park entrance:


Please contact the welfare kennels at Hersham if you are able to take a homeless hound out with us.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Photos from 3rd Retired Greyhound Social Walk (Chatley Heath Semaphore Tower)

It was pouring with rain when we left home just after ten this morning. We wondered whether any hounds would turn up for the walk.

We needn't have worried - greyhounds are made of sterner stuff. We had three homeless hounds from Hersham. Kennel mates Pip and Striker came with flatmates Andy and Helen; and Tom had the honour of being the first greyhound ever to travel in the boot of Gareth and Sandra's Ka.

And we had four adopted greyhounds: Bonnie brought Melanie; Cassie brought Max and Chloe and their grandparents Jan and Derek; Becks and Alexa brought yours truly and family.

As we had pre-arranged, the rain stopped at ten minutes to 11. We were all peeling coats and jumpers off as we walked across the Heath. We only got lost once, and arrvived at the Semaphore Tower well before its 12 noon opening time.

Pip, Striker and Bonnie having a well earned rest

The sun came out as we walked back. The Heath landscape looked surreal, with large areas cleared of trees allowing heather and other plants to flourish. Hard to imagine that most of Surrey looked like this 500 years ago. Andy told us the opening battle sequences of 'Gladiator' were filmed here. We were walking through a deserted world, a sensation heightened by the silence of the hounds.

The surrealism was complete when we got to Pond car park and saw a gaggle of people who looked like they had walked straight out of Middle Earth. Turns out they were on a Lord of the Rings adventure day. A Healing preistess posed with Becks and Alexa


The path between Pond Car Park and Bolermere car park was confusingly signposted. The only person we could ask was lying prone across the path, another refugee from Middle Earth, waiting for the adventurers to find him. Gareth's polite request for direction was met with a gruff 'I'm doing something'

We left him to it. And got back without mishap (the Orc's didn't get us) for a familiar cup of tea at Boldermere Car Park cafe.