As some of you may know, my furiend Leo and I (with a little help from our humans) co-founded the UK Corgi Club back in January 2015, after struggling to find other UK based corgi owners.
In the years leading to 2014, believe it or not, both the Pembroke and Cardigan Welsh corgis were on the Kennel Club's Vulnerable Native Breed list (which means less than 300 puppies were registered every year in the country they originate from). Now whilst the Pembroke corgi is now out of this list (but still "at watch" with just over 393 registrations in 2016) the Cardigan corgi is still on it.
So inspired by the big corgi meets that happen regularly in the USA (think SoCal Corgi Beach Day especially) and thanks to Jasper Islington and his humans (who connected us via Tumblr) we created the Facebook group and website. Our aims are to promote responsible ownership and what wonderful pets corgis can be (with proper training and care - corgis may be cute but one needs to remember they are working dogs).
Ever since the group sees corgis and owners organise local meets (the group now has over 700 members) and once a year we organise a bigger event in a different location.
In November 2015 we gathered near Windsor castle, and our group photo served as the cover of our first calendar, as well as being voted one of the "Best of 2015" photos on the BBC in Pictures website!
Video by Leo's humans
April 2016 saw the very first UK Corgi Club Reunion (aka "Beach Day") on the gorgeous beach of Three Cliffs Bays (well, what was visible of it as it was a very foggy and wet day), in Wales, with an epic (slightly messy) race and about 37 corgis (difficult to count with the mist!).
Videos by Leo's and Bow's humans
For 2017 we set our eyes on Scotland and the beautiful city of Edinburgh, and so on June 3rd 2017 about 25 of us corgis (plus honorary corgis who are always welcome) and humans, some having taken the trip from... London or Wales just for the occasion, met at Holyrood Park. With Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Palace (one of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's residences) for backdrop we had an afternoon filled with fun, presided by a very special guest: Visit Scotland's own ambassadog, the handsome George!
After a good play (aka a "frap") we drew the raffle: thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and participants we collected £88 that have since been donated to The Cinnamon Trust (a charity named after a corgi and doing a wonderful job helping the elderly and terminally ill care for their dogs by sending volunteers to walk them so they are not separated.
Following this we all headed to the front of Holyrood Palace for a photo op, then took a quick walk around the city (and more photos in front of the gates of Edinburgh castle, which we literally tried to take down hihi) and had our usual post meet social at a local dog-friendly bar-restaurant (OX 184). We even had some T-shirts printed for the occasion, with an amazing design by Emese from Mythical Palette, one of her members and the owner of Voodoo the Worgi. What a day!
More on my fabulous long weekend in Edinburgh to follow on le blog... Now can anyone guess where the 2018 meet could be? ;)
On behalf of us all I would like to thank the sponsors of the event who donated many prizes (and made a lot of pups happy):
Dog Drying Coat (that also double as a cooling coat - see le review ) who donated a voucher for one coat.
for the yummy, healthy treats and goodie bags
natural and ethical dog grooming shampoos, colognes and wipes (because everyone knows corgis LOVE to roll in er... stuff)
for the toys, bubbles and chews (the babble ball is a fab of ours) Purplebone London
(designer dog clothes, accessories and beds - they even have a corgi and gorgeous tartan coat)