Former trainer John Coleman has led the tributes to the much revered greyhound homefinder Johanna Beumer MBE (76) who died on Sunday morning following a battle with illness complicated by contracting Covid.
The daughter of a Dutch father and Welsh mother, Johanna taught at the family owned Whittingham Private School in Muswell Hill, where her mother also taught. In fact, the family’s first retired greyhound lived in a luxury kennel on the school playground and was hugely popular with the pupils.
The family had dogs at Hendon but were also regular at Walthamstow where they had a permanent booking in the Paddock Grill at Walthamstow from the early 1960s. Johanna’s enthusiasm for re-h0ming was ahead of its time and she was one of the founder members of the Retired Greyhound Trust when it was formed in 1975.
It is estimated that she re-homed in the region of 6,000 ex-racers from the Whittingham Kennels which eventually became established at Claverhambury.
Following the closure of Walthamstow, Johanna’s homefinding continued at other tracks, including Henlow (see below). She was honoured with an MBE in 2007 and a CEVA National Volunteer of the Year award in 2014.
Coleman said: “Johanna was a remarkable lady with a deep love of animals. Apparently, when she received her MBE from The Queen, she took along some dog treats for the Corgis.
“Apart from the time and effort she put into re-homing, I would have loved the money that she contributed over the years. These days there is plenty of funding available for re-homing, though it wasn’t always like that. With the proceeds from the school alone, which was formed of two huge buildings in Muswell Hill, it would have run into many hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“Johanna continued to be active until recent months, despite suffering with health problems over many years, particularly in relation to her legs which meant she had to use a wheelchair.”
JOHANNA BEUMER at the Henlow Whittingham Kennels Homefinding stand on Grand Prix final night. Henlow 25 March 2010 Pic Steve Nash
