As well as being involved with rescuing retired racing greyhounds we are also involved with Samoyed rescue. (Samoyeds are white dogs originally from Siberia) so we were pleased to note that there is a new website for them at www.samoyedrescuesociety.org.uk.

Yesterday we (Dad, Mum, Son and the two dogs) had a great day out at the Fun Dog Show at Hall Green Dog Stadium in Birmingham. It was organized by the Hall Green Retired Greyhound Trust (take a look at their website). The dogs currently needing homes took part in a parade around the ring. Hopefully they will soon find caring new homes.

There must have been about 150 dogs there, mainly rescued ex-racing greyounds, with a sprinkling of other breeds. Sophie, the older of our two rehomed greyhounds, came second in the class for ‘Glossiest Coat’ and now boasts a large blue rosette.

Sophie did most of her racing at the Hall Green Stadium, very sucessfully too, whereas Jo our other greyhound did most of her racing at the Perry Barr Stadium on the other side of the city.

We at ‘It Can Be Fixed‘ are attempting to lessen the impact of Waste Electronic Equipment on the Environment by helping you to give your computers, televisions etc a new lease of life rather than just discarding them.

Monakmore Design has developed a new website for us at www.itcanbefixed.co.uk where you can find out what we do.

Sophie our ex-racer has a new friend. We took the plunge and adopted Jo from the Perry Barr Retired Greyhound Trust.

For anyone looking for a pet we can recommend an ex-racing greyhound. Contrary to popular belief they do NOT need a lot of exercise. A couple of twenty minute walks a day is plenty.

Jubilatte is the coffee shop associated with the New Life Baptist Church in Kings Heath. It offers home made food and speciality coffee every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Jubilatte has a new website which makes use of the Content Management System developed by Monakmore Design.

‘The New Life Baptist Church, High Street, King’’s Heath has launched a website to coincide with the start of their extensive ”God at Work” rebuilding program.

Keep up to date with the progress of the building work here

Monakmore Design have completed a new website for Rose Kudlacek, a prolific painter who uses watercolours, acrylics, oils and pastels for her portraits, landscapes and figurative work.
Rose’’s paintings can now be viewed at www.kudlacek.co.uk‘,

Local potters John and Ann Lockett have a new website and online shop designed by Monakmore Design at www.lockettpots.co.uk

Watercolour and acrylic artist, David Wilcox, now has a website where you can view his work, read about the artist, discover how to buy his paintings and contact him for commissions.

The website can be found at www.davidwilcox-paintings.co.uk

When we started running pottery classes for the Adult Education Service, Adult Education was almost synonymous with Leisure Activities with many classes for painting, jewellery making, keep fit, languages etc in addition to the more academic subjects. In our own field of pottery we ran five classes a week, all heavily oversubscribed, with students drawn from many walks of life.

Among others there were those who enjoyed the creative experience, those in stressful jobs who found working with clay very therapeutic, those with special educational needs who found, in pottery, a means of expressing themselves and those who just needed to get out of the house and do something in a relaxed social atmosphere. There were very few who intended to earn their living through pottery or get the qualifications to enable them to do so.

In short it was FUN.

Then one awful day the Adult Education Service fell under the auspices of the dreaded OFSTED. For those of you who don”t already know, OFSTED is the official body for inspecting schools and having already successfully removed all enjoyment from teaching and learning in Nursery Schools, Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Colleges and Universities with their insatiable appetite for a strict syllabus, detailed schemes of work and lesson plans, evidence of progress and rigorous evaluation of results, they now looked to Adult Education to extend their web further afield.\r\n\r\nOfsted has rapidly transformed Adult Education from the thriving, enjoyable voluntary acquisition of learning that it was, to a sterile, qualification-orientated grind. Unless a course leads to a recognized examination qualification it is actively discouraged or not offered at all.

In short it is NOT FUN and talented and creative students are staying away in droves.

And so are we!.