GET UP, BOY...

Despite the many good causes that benefit from it, I`ve always found the whole business of sponsorship a bit embarrassing. It`s tricky to go around with a sponsorship form almost begging people to sponsor you for some bizarre event - and it tends to be family and friends who get asked; and they`re embarrassed to turn you down.

Just recently, the Golden Retriever Society decided to organise a sponsored `down stay,` so we were given a sponsor form to try and persuade peole to sponsor Barney. The down stay is simply what it says on the tin - Barney and his mates were seriously expected to lay down and stay perfectly still for a maximum of ten minutes. I guess for people like me, if it was me being sponsored to lay down and stay still for any length of time then there would have been no problem and we quite expected Barney, who is still only 15 months old and very lively, to become fidgety very quickly and get up after a couple of minutes.

As the sponsoring was so much for each minute he `stayed down,` I was sure his effort would tuen out to be a cheap option. Not so. He`s obviously been well trained by Mrs. Snopper as he settles in to the gold award routine, so he managed the full ten minutes. Now, the sponsor form didn`t have too many names on it and those who did appear were all included by ourselves - a mixture of family members and mythical friends - so that when we came to hand it in it didn`t look too pathetic. The upshot is that, thanks to Barney`s uncharacteristic behaviour, I`ve now got to write a check for £40. I`ll know better next time.