Hi all,
just to clear something up - we didn't know that there would be a 'no dogs' policy on the rally field until the weekend a few weeks ago, when the rally team went down for a site inspection. They only informed us on the Saturday, prior to our wander around the field the following day. It most certainly isn't true that we're 'anti-dog', I have my own pooch that I've now had to sort alternative arrangements for, as do two other people who are part of the rally team! I can fully understand the disappointment of the posters here, and it is just as disappointing for us, but I hope that you'll all now realise it certainly wasn't something that was deliberately chosen. Just to put the final nail in that coffin, we actually had a dog display team booked, that have obviously had to be cancelled

. Its obviously far too late in the day to look at alternatives, but you can be sure that lessons are always being learned and I've no doubt that for future reference this will be a question that is asked very early in the planning process!
I'm not going to get on a soapbox about the organising of the rally, but its safe to say that it certainly isn't a 'walk in the park' - no pun intended

. The setup team are on site several days before the event, putting up marquees, placing the loo blocks, laying out miles of tape and poles, etc etc. The team will be there on Wednesday morning, having given up several days work to set things up for everyone for the weekend, and just for clarification we don't get any payment or discount of rally fees etc. and that's to say nothing of the work that goes in beforehand.
Earlier in this thread someone suggested a 'dog creche' which I think is an absolutely fabulous idea. Obviously there would need to be some constraints about doggy behaviour and compatibility etc. but I'm sure there are dogs who would otherwise be coming who are good enough with other canines that it would be useful. I'm happy to set aside and mark out an area for this alongside the camping field, but in terms of manning it we simply don't have enough bodies. On that note, if there are people available to help us over the weekend then we'd love to hear from you!