The Past, gone but not forgotten!
This is a photograph taken in 1975 of my first Cocker Spaniel Cindy (sitting on my mums knee). Cindy was bought purely as a pet and never shown or bred from. She was from the Blennox Kennels situated in Heighington, quite local to us and i remember my mum telling me that she cost Twenty-one guineas, quite alot of money in 1975! I was only nine years old when we got Cindy but still remember the day quite clearly when we picked her up from the breeder. I was so excited and couldn,t wait to get her home. The moment i saw her began my love for the Cocker Spaniel. Cindy spent eleven happy years with us before saddly developing pyrometra and she was given sleep to prevent further suffering.
'Tina', 'Magical Princess'
Sire; Daydawn Sea King of Classicway
Dam; Serendel fly by night
I bought ‘Tina’ in 1985 a few months after losing ‘Cindy’. Again bought as a pet, but she had nice breeding and was very pretty. When I took ‘Tina’ to have her first haircut, the lady at the grooming parlour commented on how nice she was and that I should consider showing her. She gave me the telephone number of a local man ‘Mick Friel’, who showed English Springer’s and Cockers. Mick gave me details of a local ring craft class and taught me some of the basics in grooming for show. The grooming came quite naturally! As I was training to be a hairdresser at the time! Showing was slow as ‘Tina’ didn’t really enjoy it but I loved it and meeting lots of other beautiful Cockers and their owners was fantastic. When ‘Tina’ was old enough I decided to mate her in the hope that we could have a daughter who might be just as pretty, but that would enjoy showing too!
'Annie' Jeunesse Aphrodite
Sire; Carmelfair Fiasco Dam; Magical Princess
Annie was kept from our first litter. She was a lovely dark blue with a very sweet and out going personality and she liked showing! We only attended Open shows in those days and Annie enjoyed moderate success at most shows attended.
'Cindy' Blue Celeste at Baroana
Sire; Bitcon after Dark Dam; Bitcon Blue Cascade
We bought Cindy from Moray Armstrong 'Bitcon' in 1986. A lovely light blue with a personality to match, she was very successful at Open show level, winning numerous firsts and best of breeds. We never bred from Cindy as we decided to start a family of our own and i couldn,t put my all into both, so decided to take a break for a few years. We started again in 1993 with a new Affix, 'Dreamist' my last choice of six!