At the AGM, Joan Cundill was elected as chairman, and Ken Hubbard was elected to the committee.  Sadly, David Livermore resigned as a committee member to concentrate on his post of chairman of Hampshire Roamability.   The accounts were for 18 months to 31 March, to bring them into line with the tax year.  After several items of Any Other Business the AGM was closed.

After a short break for refreshments, our guest speakers Jenny and Andy Clarke, gave a very interesting talk about Woofability, which trains assistance dogs for people with disabilities. They were accompanied by Furzil, a one year old Golden Retriever puppy in training, and another 12 week old puppy just starting his training.  Furzil stole the show and seemed to enjoy showing off her skills.

Jenny explained that once a dog knew the command ‘pull’, they could pull off socks, trousers, empty washing machines, pull cords and do many useful tasks.  They were also trained to speak or bark to command so that they could call for help if the owner was in difficulties.

Having an assistance dog gave many people the confidence to travel alone and become more independent, a priceless gift.

Andy explained that there are many people in Hampshire who could benefit from an assistance dog but there are only a very few in the county.  Woofability hopes to train 20 puppies a year for the next 10 years.  Training, food and vet bills cost £5,000 for each puppy, much less than the national organisations.  The retirement age for assistance dogs is 8 years old.

A few members gave Jenny their names, and offered to have a puppy at home for socialising training.  It was a very enjoyable meeting.