IF you want something done, ask a busy person and they don’t come much busier than Dora Beacom, event co-ordinator for the Northern Region of Eventing Ireland and, of course, a judge and safety officer with Show Jumping Ireland.

Dora spent much of last week and all of Saturday preparing for that night’s regional awards ball in the Stormont Hotel, Belfast where she hardly sat for longer than 15 minutes at a time as she organised the awards presentation, the auction and the ballot.

She packed up things as she went along so she could leave for home as soon as the opportunity arose, having an early start on Sunday morning. She wasn’t judging anywhere but was locking herself away for the day with a photocopier, making copies of the very many dressage tests which will be used during next year’s Baileys Horse Feeds Flexi Eventing Series at The Meadows Equestrian Centre, Lurgan.

As this starts in mid-January, when Dora and husband Nixon will still be enjoying their winter sojourn in Spain, Catherine Abbott will be taking charge of the series for the first few weeks and she now has that vast amount of paperwork in her house. Dora will, of course, fly home between times for the Northern Region AGM.

Among those at her table who got to have the odd word with Dora on Saturday night was Jean Mitchell who was in excellent spirits following confirmation that Millstreet had been awarded the inaugural running of the FEI Eventing World Championships U25 which will take place at the Co Cork venue next July. Busy knitting over the past few months, Jean brought along lots of beanies and scarves which, left for partygoers to take from the presentation table, found their way onto the dance floor.