Thankyou to Stacey for inviting me along to judge this level 7,also a big Thankyou to my scribe Wendy,you did a great job.
A white dog was used prior to all of the searches commencing.
Exterior
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This was set up in the main front car park,using the walled area at the front of the building,this included the entrance foyer,large concrete plant pots,approx 25 meters of wall,which incorporated drain pipes,doors,air vents,a vehicle was also included.
2 hides were laid out here,an early 1,(gun),tucked into the brickwork at the top of the concrete plant pot,2nd hide also gun,was concealed on the passenger side of the vehicle,in the in the sill between front and rear doors.The vehicle was parked half way along the search area.
A decoy scent was hidden in the brickwork towards the end of the walled area,approx 20 cm from the ground.
I allocated 3.5 minutes.
A fairly nice gentle start to the day,I thought,it was not to be.
Only 3 of the teams finding both scents,with 2 of those calling the decoy.4 teams finding 1 scent,all missing the vehicle hide.
Excellent search by Chris and Jubbly,also good display shown by Sue and Tiva and Pete and Dolly.
No clears were called,all teams using the full allocated time.
Interior one
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Interior one was set up in the large kitchen area and adjoining room.
6 scents were laid out here,2 cloves,2 gun and 2 truffle.5 minutes was allocated.
Start line was via the exterior kitchen door,I placed an early hide in a cupboard drawer immediately to the left on entry,no 2 to the left bottom,in a corner of a cupboard door,no 3 on the far facing wall,at the bottom of a fridge,4 was hidden on a table leg in the centre of the kitchen.
Moving into the adjoining room,no 5 was hidden under a window ledge,approx 60cm high,to the far right of the room,no 6 was concealed in some floor matting to the right,someone 30cm from ground level.
A decoy scent was hidden behind and half way up a cold radiator.
An excellent display here by Alison and Lola,finding all 6,calling clear with a minute to spare,closely followed home by Sue and Tiva who also found all 6 but not calling clear.
Some good searching all round,with 5 of the remaining teams finding 5 of the hides,all varied,no particular hide seemed to be troublesome.
3 of the teams wrong alerting on the radiator.
Interior 2
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Moving into main hall,I used the bar area and part of the hall adjoining the kitchen.
3 large commercial trolleys were placed out the perimeter of the search area,these contained folded up,tables and chairs.
4 scents were hidden,2 truffle and 2 cloves.4 minutes was allocated.
I placed all 4 scents along the left hand side of the rectangle shaped search area.
A decoy scent was concealed at the bottom right of the of the facing fire exit doors.
No 1 was an early hide,hidden under one of the tables,25cm up from the floor,no 2 was concealed by a wheel at the other end of the trolley,some 2 metres further on.No 3 was hidden in the bar area,on the bottom of a bar stool leg,some 3 metres further along the wall.Finally,no 4 was
tucked into the brickwork in the corner,at the end of the wall,to the left of the fire exit,40cm high.
Nice searching here by,Alison and Lola,Sue and Tiva and Pete and Dolly,finding all 4 and all calling clear.
Good display by Ruth and Dot,finding all 4 bang on time.
Overall,some lovely searching and handling all round,my privilege and pleasure to watch.
The only thing that some of you may take away from the day,is perhaps a little more practice with decoy scents.
My congratulations go to the eventual rosette winners on the day.
1…Sue and Tiva…2…Alison and Lola…(1st and 2nd place separated by 1 wrong alert).
3…Pete and Dolly…4…Ruth and Dot….( 3rd and 4th place separated by time).
I wish you all the best in your future trials and hope to see some,if not all of you, at sometime in the future..