The Belinda McAvoy Memorial Award

At the 2019 Irish Retriever Rescue Annual Reunion, held on Saturday, 31st August at Burntwood Rugby Club, Burntwood, Staffs, a very special award was presented in memory of Belinda. It was sponsored by Lorraine Johnston and Kathryn Crofton on behalf of the entire IRR family.

Thinking of Belinda and her courageous and steadfast desire to carry on regardless with her Trustee and Treasurer duties until just weeks before her untimely death in April 2019, it was decided to create an annual Memorial Award which would celebrate Belinda’s life of and honour the indomitable spirit of a very special lady.

To that end, it was necessary to choose a very special dog who encapsulated Belinda’s determination and fighting spirit. There was really only one choice for the 2019 award and that was the very beautiful, young Labrador KIM SPARROW.

Kim’s Story as Told by Elaine

I’m sure most of the IRR Family will have shed tears of worry and joy about our special little Princess Kim.

She arrived in the UK in the Spring of 2018 and we all hoped for new beginnings for a previously unwanted little girl.

She soon settled into her foster home in Norfolk with Louise and the very famous Foster Brother Barnaby who reports on his new charges in Room For One More on Facebook. Kim was an adorable little Labrador who quickly made friends and had people falling in love with her from day one! She met June and Malcolm, who were always destined to be her econd adopters, during the very first week that she arrived in foster. June, in particular, fell head over heels in love with her but the timing to adopt a third dog into their canine family just wasn’t right so, for once, they let their heads rule their hearts and didn’t apply to adopt her. 
 
Little Kim quickly settled into being yet another very well looked after foster girl with the Wrights and waited patiently for her perfect forever home. 

When Kim’s special day arrived. She left Norfolk for Devon on a Saturday morning in May with a smile on her face and a wag of her tail. Her future looked secure and we at IRR celebrated another perfect match. 

Unfortunately, elation turned to horror when we got the phone call that all rescuers dread. Kim had gone missing…

She had, in fact, gone missing within an hour of arriving in her new home. Her adopters had been out to look for her but the dog they described was completely different from the happy little Kim that had left Norfolk just a few hours before. 

Apparently, her extendable lead had been dropped onto a tiled kitchen floor and the resulting crash terrified Kim so much that she ran from it. Of course, the lead followed her. Clattering and chasing her down the driveway and along the road then on to a footpath leading to the beach. Neighbours who heard her running thought they had heard a bolting horse such was the noise the lead made ‘chasing’ poor Kim as she ran terrified towards the beach.  Kim disappeared in an instant. There were no sightings of her. Not one glimpse of her from that moment. So, while some of us registered her as missing and shared her details across the Internet, Louise drove with Barnaby all the way from Norfolk down to Devon to help in the search for her. 

Kim’s IRR family searched and shared for 3 nights and 4 days. Everyone held their breaths and hoped against hoped that she would be found safely but, still, there were no sightings of Kim.

Her adopters made the decision that they did not want to keep her if she was found so, once again, all Kim had was her IRR family rooting, searching and sharing for her. 

Each day, Louise and Barnaby went to search for her and, as hope was fading, the coastguards were tasked to begin a search of the cliffs and inaccessible beach areas.  I think the whole of IRR had sleepless nights and shed tears at least once during her time away but, still, there was not one sight or sound of Kim. 

Then … on the fourth day … she managed to find her own way back to us!

Kim had followed scent trails which had been laid in the desperate hope to show her the way ‘home’.

At first, it seemed she couldn’t follow them so the vet felt she must have been trapped in something metal and had been unable to respond to calls or barks.

But, miraculously, she, eventually, got herself free … somehow, she must have wriggled and chewed and managed to escape her tangled bonds.

She came back! Back to the place she had only known for an hour!

Kim didn’t give up on us. So tenacious was her wish to find her family, she kept going. She was thinner and sadder than before but she still had the waggiest tail imaginable!  She happily snuggled up to her very special Foster Brother and felt safe again.

Although unwanted, by now, she was certainly loved to bits by the whole IRR family and so it was she began the long trip back to Norfolk with Louise and Barnaby. The relief and happiness we all felt knowing this brave little girl had found her own way back to safety was incredible.

On her return to Norfolk, the search began for a very special family for her but little did we know that yet again Kim had done all the work herself. It was when she first arrived and met June and Malc.
 
June had been smitten from day one and wasn’t going to let Kim get away again. It just needed Malc to be convinced that Cooper and Sadie should have a sister so June … being just as tenacious as the little girl she wanted to adopt put a plan into operation. She changed all the screen savers in her house to a photograph taken when Kim jumped into Louise’s car the minute she found her and, within hours, Malc realised resistance was futile because they were very soon going to have a trio of dogs!

So Kim finally got her happy ever after and some. Within two weeks she holidayed in a castle and found a new role for herself … she became ‘Princess Kim’ … IRR Royalty! 

With June’s guidance, she flew through Obedience training gaining Bronze, Silver and Gold awards. She also achieved her Scent Training Bronze award in just four sessions and now has Silver to add to that. She’s fabulous at agility and she will soon be taking her big brother Cooper’s place in their local Obedience display team! 

All this from an unwanted little girl who, just over a year ago, had been described by her first adopter as untrainable and uncontrollable!

Kim, like Belinda, didn’t ever give up and she continues learning and bringing joy to all her meet her in the same way that everyone who met Belinda, human and animal alike, immediately loved her. 

Well done Kim, and June, and Malc, it is a very fitting, happy ending to Princess Kim’s fairytale that she has been chosen to win the inaugural award in memory of an equally special, wonderful lady.