On Friday the 29th of January and Saturday the 30th of January we'll be at the Tesco Extra on Hornchurch Road raising funds for Greyhoundhomer RGT. The address is: 300 Hornchurch Road, Hornchurch, Essex, RM11 1PY, for a Google Map click here. If you would like to join us please contact Pat by email so we can ensure we don't overwhelm the store with Greyhounds.

Pat Philpot

Greyhoundhomer RGT

106 Parsonage Road

Rainham

Essex

RM13 9LF

Please take a minute to tear the stamps off all your letters and Christmas cards, then pop them in an envelope and send them to RGT Head Office:

Retired Greyhound Trust 2nd Floor Park House 1-4 Park Terrace Worcester Park Surrey KT4 7JZ

Every kilogram of used stamps collected can then be sold in aid of the RGT.

So don't bin them, please send them to us! Tell all your friends to save their stamps too.

The Greyhoundhomer RGT Winter 2010 Newsletter has now been issued, some of you may have already had it by email, for those who have not you can download a copy by clicking here. We hope you enjoy the newsletter and I'd personally like to thank all those who contributed to it. If you have any feedback please click here to get in touch via our Contact details page.

The newsletter is presented in Adobe PDF format, if you don't have a PDF viewer installed on your computer to can click here, and download \ install one for free.

Lisa Cornish one of Greyhoundhomer RGTs volunteer dog walkers will be taking part in this years Great North Run to raise funds for us. The Great North Run is a half marathon which will take place on the 19th of September 2010. The run is the worlds largest half marathon and is broadcast by BBC Television as well as being on BBC Radio 5 Live. If you would like to sponsor Lisa you can do so by either catching up with her at the Kennels, she's usually in on Sundays, or you can make a donation through the Charity Choice website. Running 13 miles is a considerable undertaking for anyone and we would like to thank Lisa for supporting Greyhoundhomer RGT in this way. It's very much appreciated.

As some will already be aware on Sunday the 31st of January, Pat Philpot was presented with an award at the Hilton Hotel on behalf of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain for RGT Services to Greyhounds. A nice Birthday present for Pat indeed! Well done Pat and all Greyhoundhomer staff & supporters. Read the Retired Greyhound Trust Press Release here.

To see larger pictures of the event click here. Pat award also made the Romford Recorder, a copy of the article can be viewed here.

Some of you may have noticed on the left bar on the front page a link to YouTube. We took the decision to purchase a small digital video camcorder to enable us to make videos of some our events and of some of the dogs that need a home to support our work. If you'd like to visit or subscribe to our YouTube channel please click here.

On Friday the 29th of January we raised the fine sum of £248.76 at the Tescos Extra in Hornchurch, we'd like to thank Tesco for supporting Greyhoundhomer RGTs work. We were unable to do Saturday the 30th as well because we had been double booked. A big thank you to all who turned out to help on what was a very cold day.

On the 27th of March Pat and the team stood outside Pets at Home store at Southend on Sea in Essex between 10am and 2pm and raised £140.47. Well done to all who helped out. Hope the houndies weren't too knackered when you got them home.

On the 24th & 25th of March Pat and the team stood outside the Tesco Extra store at Rainham in Essex between 10am and 2pm each day and raised £114.31 on the first day and £120.23 on the second day. Well done to all who helped out.

Some of you may remember that last year Richard and Sue hosted a London Canal cruise on their narrow boat Indigo Dream. Well, with summer fast approaching they have said that they are happy to host more charity cruises for anyone who wishes to join them for a day trip or two.

In April, May and June, Richard and Sue anticipate moving their boat a weekend at a time up the Grand Union Canal to Northampton and then through the fens towards Cambridge. Groups of 5 up to a maximum of 8 people, and up to 5 greyhounds, are welcome to join them, though sadly they can't offer overnight accommodation on the boat. Dates are flexible, get your party together and suggest a weekend! It should be possible to meet the boat at a number of different locations during this time. The price per person for each day trip will be £20.00, and those attending will need to make their own way to the agreed meeting point, and there may or may not be a charge for parking your car.

They estimate that Indigo Dream will be back in London around mid-July; they will set some dates in July and August for which individuals can apply for trips round various parts of the London Ring including Little Venice to Camden, various trips out from Limehouse and probably a trip from Teddington west up the Thames. Then they'll be heading towards Bishops Stortford for early autumn.

If you're interested in taking a trip on Indigo Dream, please email Richard on richard@nosek.co.uk with your preferred date for taking your trip and, based on the above information about the boat's location, where you'd like to pick it up. Richard will then sort out precise times and pickup points with you. Once you have confirmed dates, timings and a collection point with Richard, you can make your payment directly to Pat, cheques made payable to 'Greyhoundhomer RGT' and they should be sent to:

Pat Philpot
Greyhoundhomer - Indigo Dream Cruise
106 Parsonage Road
Rainham
Essex
RM13 9LF

I'm sure those who went on the London voyage will tell you how much they enjoyed themselves. So why not give it a go! All money raised goes to Greyhoundhomer RGT.

You can now support Greyhoundhomer RGT by simply shopping online! We have joined buy.at who work with a large number of online retailers who will donate money to us when you purchase goods by following the links to those retailers from our 'shop' on their website. Retailers supporting the scheme include the likes of Amazon, HMV, Play.com, Littlewoods, Marks & Spencer, Euro Office, and many more. So if you're shopping for something why not do so via this link: http://www.buy.at/greyhoundhomer which you may like to add to your favourites for future use. Donations are only made if you visit the web shop via our buy.at shop, and only if you buy something.

On the 3rd and 4th of March Pat and Mary stood outside the Tesco Extra store at Lakeside in Essex between 10am and 2pm each day and raised £294.35. Well done to you both and anyone who came to assist.

This years EHPPS Scruffs Dog Show Supreme Champion was a Greyhound homed by Greyhoundhomer. The winner was our Sean who was entered firstly into the 'Best Hard Luck Story' by Alison Markwood (thanks Alison!) and then when he won first prize in that event he was able to enter the Supreme Champion at the show which he went onto win, entered again by Alison. It was a good show for Greyhounds who were against all types of other breeds, both big and small, with others winning various rosettes. All dogs at the event behaved very well. You can see some pictures taken at the show by Bob here.

If you're planning to pay a visit to the Robin Hood Country Show at Garon Park in Southend on the 3rd or 4th of July there's a special offer on for advance ticket booking. You can get 50% off the normal gate price by using promotional code ML50, so you'll get in for £5 rather than £10. The offer closes at midnight on Monday the 21st of June so be quick! To book your tickets online or find out more click here. Greyhoundhomer RGT will be at the show and along with our usual stall selling brac-a-brac and Greyhound goodies, we'll be putting on a dog show on each of the days, more details to follow.

The Robin Hood Country Show is run by Aztec Events, the offer applies to adult tickets only and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. It is valid from 15/06/2010 17:00 to midnight on 21/06/2010.

A big thank you to all those who turned out for this years Stifford Show. We were extremely pleased with the attendance considering we had to compete with an England World Cup Match in the evening. We raised a total of £3207.44. The dogs behaved very well and one of the dogs that was taken to the show by a walker went straight to a home from the event! We also had lots of good enquiries.

Thanks to all those who helped run the stall, and manage the event, and thanks to the walkers who brought along some of the houndies awaiting a home at the kennels.

For pictures, videos and comments about this event please see click here to visit the forum.

Greyhoundhomer RGT has just homed it's 100th dog of 2010, Tarsna Swift (Swift) has gone to a great home. Pat made a special presentation to his new owners, see picture below:

We've almost reached the homing of our 100th dog on 2010! And with a number of dogs reserved we'll soon be over that milestone. We're now heading into the 2010 show season, and this month we'll be at the Greyhound Extravaganza run by the RGT near Newmarket and we'll also see our own Retired Racing Greyhound Show on the 12th of June. Hopefully June will bring many successful homings.

May has been a challenging month for Pat because in addition to running Greyhoundhomer she's had to look after Dick who had to have a small operation.

Including Greyhoundhomer run dog show!

On Saturday the 3rd of July and Sunday the 4th of July Greyhoundhomer will be at the Robin Hood Country Show in Garon Park, Southend on Sea. As well as our usual stall selling Greyhound Goodies and Bric a Brac we will, with the help of some of our supporters, be putting on a Dog Show on both days which is open to all dog breeds and we'd love to see plenty of Greyhounds in there as well. The weather is looking to be warm, but we're not expecting the extreme heat of the past few days. For a map showing you where the event is being held, click here. For more about the event as a whole, click here.

Details of the dog show are as follows, entry for each dog will cost £1 per class, judging will start at 11am. All monies raised will go towards Greyhoundhomers Greyhound awareness and homing activities.

A big thank you in advance to all those who are helping out at the show, without your support it would not be possible to put on our own events within these larger shows. Thanks very much!

Greyhoundhomer RGT opens a Zazzle Store

We've created a new way to buy Greyhoundhomer RGT merchandise, including t-shirts, mugs, polo shirts, cooking aprons etc. we've opened a Zazzle Store! All products available in our Zazzle store are made by Zazzle to order and so cost a little more, however that perhaps makes them all the more special since it makes the designs very individual. In addition to Greyhoundhomer branded items there are other designs available and more will be added whenever a member of the Greyhoundhomer team gets an idea for a design.

We also have the capacity to integrate your own Greyhound(s) into our designs, and place them in the store for you to purchase. To do this you will need to email a high quality picture to Mark, with a web link to the Zazzle product you would like your Greyhounds image integrated into. You will be able to view the design and image Mark creates before committing to purchase.

For every product sold via the Greyhoundhomer Zazzle store we receive a percentage of the total sale price which goes towards the care of our dogs and rehoming activities. Please note should you purchase an item from our Zazzle store that it will be supplied to you by Zazzle, not Greyhoundhomer, therefore any delivery queries or faulty item claims must be addressed through Zazzles customer services department.

To visit our Zazzle store please click here. Some of the products can be viewed and accessed from the flash scroller below.

Summer is truly upon us with the arrival of some very hot weather at the end of June, and despite having to compete with numerous sporting events we've been very pleased with the turn out and support we've received at the locations we've been to. Last months Retired Greyhound Show proved to be very popular and raised over £3000. This month will see us running another dog show, this time at the Robin Hood Country Show in Southend. This will be open to dogs of all types and we love to see plenty of Greyhounds in there competing against other breeds. More on that show is in the news item above.

At time of writing we've homed 113 dogs and have a few reservations waiting to go home.

On Saturday the 21st of August Pat, Mary, Alison, Alan & Hazel Homer and a number of other volunteers stood outside Tescos at Hornchurch shaking tins and introducing shoppers to Greyhounds. The Meet & Greet was a great success and exactly £458.00 was raised.

There is another Tesco Meet & Greet at the Basildon store just off the A127 on the 1st and 2nd of September, if anyone is able to help out please contact Pat on 01708 551 689.