From the President’s Desk

Recently, I was fortunate enough to spend two months in and around Devon and the Cotswolds in England. The visit to the small seaside towns was wonderful and the history that surrounds this area is amazing.

One of the things that struck me, however, was the obvious attitude that British people have to their dogs. It was a bit off putting to walk along these beach fronts and find dogs everywhere. However the owners were very quick to clean up the solid mess, but not so with the liquid variety.

It was disturbing to find dogs lying on the tables outside restaurants, in restaurant windows and once whilst having dinner in a hotel, being joined at the next table by a dog having its dinner also.

They obviously take great care of pets, shown in the number of pushchairs, front packs and back packs developed for dogs.

In one village, a shop owner told me that she supplied more ice cream of many flavours to dogs than she did for humans; it was their own doggy recipe.

Having said that it is a wonderful area to tour in and is highly recommended.

Locally, we held successful meet the candidates meetings which I understand were well received by both parties.

Grey Power has an interest in establishing an Abbeyfield House in Blenheim and we are currently discussing the procurement of a piece of the vacant land next to Wairau Hospital.

On another important topic, if you are proposing to pay a very large account online, we suggest you take the following action to help ensure that it goes to the correct person.

When you enter the details of the person you are paying in the first instance, send a very small amount, even $5, and then ring them to check that they have received that payment.

You can then, by using the same data, be happy that the full amount will be received by the correct person.