Hilary Gavin

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How old dogs can teach us all new tricks in this crazy world

By HILARY GAVIN

OKAY, I admit it. I weep over sentimental dog movies. Marley & Me, A Dog’s Purpose, Snow Dogs, they’ve all seen me dissolve into tears over time.

So it’s no surprise that I blubbed uncontrollably whilst watching the 2024 Mark Wahlberg film Arthur, the King on Netflix one evening last week.

You often hear that dogs offer their owners unconditional love, but my experience sharing my life with my late Border Collie Harry taught me otherwise.

That’s it, you see. In truth Harry was my teacher and I was his pupil. He grounded me in real life during turbulent times, when my career and ambitions were flailing, by teaching me that caring for others is life’s central lesson.

At times, in life, true love doesn’t appear to be love at all, and I admit that I’d curse Harry when he stopped me in my tracks to lead me in the opposite direction to the one that I’d mapped out for myself.

But,in hindsight, I realise that I relied on Harry much more when he was alive than he relied on me.

Of course, I don’t want this WordPress post to become oversentimental, so I’d recommend you watch Arthur, the King which was, by all acounts, inspired by real events.

I’d also like to mention the larger-than-life Shakespearean actor Brian Blessed whom I once had the pleasure of interviewing at his farmstead (if that’s the right term) and animal sanctuary at Windlesham, near Camberley, Surrey.

At the time in the Nineties, my news editor sent me out as a local reporter to door-knock the celebrity Brian Blessed by following up on a national story claiming Mr Blessed and others had survived a plane crash in Venezuela.

Needless-to-say, my news editor wouldn’t have made my working life worth living if I’d returned empty-handed from visiting the ex-RAF National Serviceman Mr Blessed so I’m glad the actor welcomed me into his garden for afternoon tea.

If you watch this BBC YouTube clip of Brian Blessed talking to the TV physicist Brian Cox, you’ll understand why my interview with the actor was so memorable for me that day back in the Nineties. He had me in stitches laughing so hard.

Unsurprisingly, my write-up of Mr Blessed’s story of being led to safety by a bow-legged Jack Russell after his plane crashed into a lake in the Venezuelan jungle following the filming of the Quest for the Lost World made my paper’s front page.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.

Hilary Gavin

Copyright Saturday, June 6th, 2026

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A freelance journalist who wants to see a return to public accountability in the local press

A public row is averted at Sidlesham Parish Council meeting over Bremere Rife culvert ‘flooding’ surveys and ‘scope of repairs’

By HILARY GAVIN A PUBLIC ROW was averted at yesterday’s Sidlesham Parish Council meeting after two attendees voiced opposing stances on the cause of last winter’s flooding in the village. Local resident Mr Norman Robson, of Bremere Lane Management Company, told parish councillors that a survey had discovered “a jagged edge” in the Bremere Rife…

by Hilary Gavin

Hilary Gavin

Freelance Journalist & Writer

6 Southover Way

Hunston

CHICHESTER

West Sussex

PO20 1NY

Tel: 07940 444664

Email: grumpywoman@hilarygavin.blog

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