Palmerston Collie Club former secretary Wendy MacLeod said when the Pont family moved from Waikouaiti to farm in Western Southland it was the beginning of the end for the club, which was now in recess.
The key positions of president and secretary-treasurer were held respectively by husband and wife Chris and Kate Pont.
"They’ve shifted and the club’s gone. They were so enthusiastic and young and had the contacts of young people in the area and the rest of us have got older," Mrs MacLeod said.
Age was catching up with many of the remaining club members, she said.
The Pont family had supplied half the sheep for the dog trial and their neighbour Andy McWilliams supplied the rest.
Sourcing suitable sheep for an event and people to take on volunteer positions, such as liberators, was becoming harder.
Fewer farmers were running working dogs now, preferring to use machinery such as motorbikes and drones.
The first trial was held on the Philip family’s farm at Puketapu in 1920 and it continued to be held at the same venue, overlooked by Sir John McKenzie’s prominent memorial.
The late Keith Philip was born on dog trial day in 1923, and died on dog trial day in 2012, aged 88. He and his late wife Margaret were stalwarts of the club.
The club celebrated its centennial event in 2021, a year late, as Covid-19 disrupted the previous year.
Only World War 2 and the Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted the club’s annual trial.
Another challenge was the farm was now leased and the farmer was planting a crop on a trial course.
"It’s a combination of everything and we can’t carry on."
"That’s how we cooked the potatoes and heated the water for the dishes."
Community groups had used the kitchen to make food and sell to triallists to raise funds.
She and her husband Warren moved to the district in 1997 and bought a 24ha sheep and beef lifestyle block Dunshiftin two years later and continued to live there.
They had been club members since 1997 and Mrs MacLeod was secretary from 2004 to 2013.
The club’s trophies were in her care and a decision was pending on what to do with them.
"We might give them to the last people who won them — I don’t know."
An idea had been floated of amalgamating with the Macraes Flat Collie Club and Waihemo Collie Club. The latter has grounds in Dunback, but the idea had yet to gain any traction.
Her husband was intending to join Waihemo so he could continue to compete.
Mrs MacLeod ended an 18-year stint as the secretary of the North Otago Centre of the New Zealand Sheep Dog Trial Association this year.
"I’ll miss it."
Club stalwart Steve Vickers (79) , who now divides his time between farms in East Otago and South Otago, said he and his wife Margaret had been involved with the club since 1982.
Apathy had taken the place of enthusiasm for dog trialling as the years went by and had spelled the end of the club.
"I’m sorry to say it is due to a lack of interest."
