This is my first newsletter for our new season and guess what, I have been elected to be Chairman again. This is now the start of my 3 ^rd year as chairman and I must say I'm still enjoying it. We recently had our A.G.M., which was extremely well attended. It was nice to see some different faces, without their hats on! There were many prize winners. Don't forget to start earning your new points now ready for next years prize giving. We donated, on the club's behalf, a cheque for £500 to the ILPH, this was what had been raised in various ways throughout the year. The committee will choose a new charity for this year at our first meeting, any ideas please contact a committee member or myself, but please can it be a horse related charity?

We actually had 4 new committee members come forward at this years meeting, they are Sally Rollings, Liz Wilson, Pat Griffin and Rita Young-Jones. So I am looking forward to working with them alongside the existing members. We also had 2 officers step down from their roles due to work commitments, so our thanks goes to Rachael Gordon and Denise Wainwright for all their hard work over the previous years. If anyone else wishes to join us please don't hesitate to contact me.

We still need volunteers for writing at the shows, we have had a couple of new faces come along so thanks to them, but the more we have the better for everyone. If you are unsure if what this involves ring me and we will have a chat. It is quite interesting watching from the other side.

The first show of our new season was a team and individual show at the beginning of October. This was a resounding success with a massive 77 entries which resulted in a very long day for Tracey and her helpers, but everything seemed to run very smoothly so our thanks goes to them for a brilliant day.

We have decided to run an elementary junior section; there were four entries at the first show. We have also introduced an overall point's trophy for the juniors, which will be presented at the end of the season. We have decided to continue the veteran section for the whole year so don't forget to mark it on your entry form if your horse is 15 years or over.

Our December show is a members only show so don't forget to get your membership renewed A.S.A.P. It has been decided to cap the entries at the winter shows to 65 so get your entries in promptly as it will be strictly first come first served, but please don't send them in before the opening date.

Anyone interested in training please contact me as I'm still very busy and offering it on a monthly basis. Although I'm sorry for September and October but the British based trainers seemed to be having a few difficulties. But we are all back on track now, see the training page for all the relevant information.

There are a few more of you coming forward with your good news so I would like to congratulate, on behalf of the club:

• Sarah Lindsey on Prince Oberon for her success at the Cherif Championships where she gained Amateur Points Champion, and she went on to come 7th in the Cherif final. They were also champion Arab at the 3 counties and have qualified for the Pet Plan Area Festival novice final.
• Rachael Gordon has also qualified for the Pet Plan Area Festival elementary final.
• Fiona Truman has already qualified for the winter semis at Advanced Medium.
• Leanne Ritchie has qualified for winter semis at Prelim.