9th April

I have to start these notes on a sad note as I heard that Maud Mather has died. It is just nearly 2 years ago to the day that her husband Alan died. Neither had good health in their later years and had taken up residence in a home.
As recorded in his obituary, Maud and Alan were a very well know couple in the North East having a small but influential kennel of collies, shown and bred under their Rubec affix.

Maud was a well respected judge in her own right and officiated on many occasions, at Working & Pastoral Breeds of Wales, Blackpool and at her “local club” Northumberland & Durham. Her last appointment was at SKC in 2008 where Anne Hassock did the “double” with a title for Ch Camanna Caruso and a second CC for Camanna Carmen Miranda.  Although some say she was the lady behind the man, no one who actually knew or met Maud would agree as she had her own very independent views. Maud and Alan were a formidable couple and sadly another well known name in Collies has left us. To her family and friends I am sure we send our thoughts and condolences.

Again this weekend would have seen some shows held and one which could have been held would have been both Collie Club of Wales, unfortunately this was their year for rotation and like many other clubs had to cancel along with the West of England Collie Society whose Open show was another casualty of our current times.

However, many congratulations are in order as some of us have been able to attend Dogs Shows, albeit an on line version and the two I will mention are the Our Dogs On Line show and the Social Media Dog Show. Judging for both of these competitions is currently under way with some great results for our Breed. Firstly Dora Richter entered her International, Dutch, Luxembourg, Belgian and Belgian Ch Scottlyme I’M Your Man into the Ch class and has been notified as a winner, well done Dora. He is sired by multi titled Ch Scottlyme You Got It (who was also a World Junior Winner in 2000 when the late Audrey Chatfield judged out of Scottlyme French Kiss. Dora also has other entries in other categories and like Dora and many others, including me, we all waiting for the results

A winner in the Social Media Show was Rachel Thorne and her sable boy Triforce Dragon Heart ShCM. More congratulations as I understand you had to submit a photo and a video of the dog moving. The judges are all respected and established people in our world of dogs too.

If memory serves me well, all fees for the competitions are being passed over to the NHS and a big thank you to all who are organising them. Having spent many hours, along with Jo White and Maxine Mellish organising an on line show, we can tell you it is not easy but well worth it, so if any of you out there would like to organise one purely for our Breed, I am sure it would be much appreciated, so get you thinking caps on and you could win!

Carole Smedley
(Antoc)