Bonnie Brae





	Bonnie Brae Scottish Games - 1997 by Joanne Williamson


	The GSBCC hosted its second breed information booth of the year at the Bonnie Brae Scottish Games in Millington, NJ on Saturday, June 7. The Games are held on the grounds of the Bonnie Brae School for Boys, a private charitable institution that serves as both a home and school for boys from troubled or abused bacjgrounds. Some of the proceeds from the Games are donated to the school.

The Bonnie Brae Games are typical of Scottish Games which are held all over the US. They are usually 1-2 day affairs which celebrate Scottish heritage and culture. There are dancing, piping, and atheletics competitions along with fun games for small children. A number of Scottish folk singers and harp players give recitals during the day. Clan societies have booths to encourage people of Scottish extraction to get in touch with their "roots". And, finally, there are Scottish vendors selling everything from ethnic foods (Scots have never heard of low cholesterol!) to custom made kilts, clan badges, walking sticks, and dirks (a kind of knife that a properly dressed Scottish gentleman wears strapped to his leg).

One of the unusual features (at least in my experience with Scottish Games) of the Bonnie Brae Games is the dog exhibit. Scotland is the country of origin of an amazing number of breeds of dogs--Skye, Border, and West Highland White Terriers, Scottish deerhounds, Border Collies, Smooth and Rough Collies, Shetland Sheepdogs, Gordon Setters, Golden Retrievers, and, of course, Beardies. The people organizing the Bonnie Brae Games make an effort to have as many breeds of Scottish dogs represented as possible. This year there were booths for Golden Retrievers, Shelties, Collies, Westies, and Beardies, all providing information and guidence on their respective breeds.


	In 1997, the GSBCC was represented by Dolores Benzing and Beau, Edie Circelli and Allie, Karen and Jeff D'Elia, Judy Panzini with Rowan and Gwen, and Joanne Williamson with Rob and Sean.

Gwen, Rob, Allie, and Sean (along with their humans) participated in an all-breed obedience and agility demonstration. All the dog "clans" were also represented in the parade during the Opening Ceremonies. All the Beardies attending seemed to like the bagpipes! The weather cooperated in that it was overcast and not too hot.

One of the most exciting moments of the day occurred when the Border Collie doing a herding demonstration in a field without fences lost control of his sheep and sent them into our booth. The Beardies had to be forcibly restrained from correcting this situation themselves.


	All in all it was a fun day and more good PR for dogs with the general public.

In 1998, the GSBCC was represented by

Joanne Williamson

Terry & Debbie Barner

Edie Circelli

Karen and Jeff D'Elia

Sheri & Tom Omnus


		Bonnie Brae Scottish Games - 1999 by Debbie Barner

	It was a beautiful day for our Garden State Bearded Collie Clan to show our Beardies at the Bonnie Brae Scottish Games on Saturday, June 5, 1999. Our new location under the trees made it even more enjoyable.

Those attending were:

Judy Panzini with Gwen and Rowan

Edie and Melissa Circelli with Allie

Robert Lamm and Lesley Woodcock with Joy

Debbie and Terry Barner with Daisy

Tina Miller set up a professional photo display which was designed by Pam Blackstone and Terry Barner. Our club's Beardies were ``Beardie Buddies", ``Beardies Busy Today", ``Beardies At Work", ``Beardies To Stay", ``Beardie Babes" and ``Beardies At Play". There was a variety of AKC, BCCA Rescue and general Beardie information available to those visiting our booth.

We had many people visit our Scottish Beardies , view our photo display and ask us questions about the breed. Several stopped by more than once. Hopefully we have educated some people that ``this is not an Old English Sheepdog".

This site last updated on Sunday, March 30, 2008