After much searching for lakes to train on, talks with the staff at Hinchingbrooke Country Park were started, at this time we had no boat or equipment. After discussions it was agreed that we could have a three month trial period on the main lake at the country park. Before this could happen we had to produce a risk assessment and provide qualified first aiders as well as sourcing a boat, lifejackets and other sundries.
eBay was scoured for a boat and lifejackets and the classroom frequented to obtain first aid qualifications, things slowly fell into place until a year after the first idea when we had everything together. At long last we were in a position to let people know that we were starting a water group and a first training day was organised. April 30th 2006 was kind to us and on the day we had eight dogs: Topaz, Bruno, Morse, Ozzie, Tasmin, Sasha, Czar and Burma. From this start we have slowly built up and earned our place as one of the features of the Hinchingbrooke Country Park. In 2010 we received permission from the park to form a new swimming beach which has made life a lot easier as we are able to have about 10 cars parked by the lakeside. Hopefully we will be able to build on this and by assisting the park at various events we build on our relationship for the future.