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WELCOME TO THE WEST OF ENGLAND COLLIE SOCIETY.
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HISTORY It seems impossible to believe that over 60 years have passed since I saw a notice in the dog papers of an inaugural meeting of the proposed "Bristol Collie Club". I was surprised when I entered the little back room of the Railway Hotel to find some fifteen or sixteen people assembled there. Some of them had traveled long distances to get there, others unable to make it in those days of difficult travel, had written letters of support. It was agreed there and then to try and form a Club to be named the Bristol Collie Club and seek sponsorship from the only two* collie clubs in existence. the British and Collie Association. The other requirement of the KC was that 25 founder members should put down £2.00 each to be banked for the future of the club. This proved more difficult. The average weekly industrial wage was £3.00 a week. The agricultural wage about £2.00 a week. Women earned considerably less [as they still do]. My wage in the women's land army was just over £1.00 per week for 48 hours. My future husband earned just 50p per week, for being shot at nightly in a Lancaster bomber flying over Germany, still this went up if you were lucky enough to reach the age of 21, which many did not. But now the war was over and a new spirit of optimism and hope for the future pervaded in that dingy room. Somehow the money was found and a few months later the British Collie Club agreed to sponsor us, provided we changed the name which had the same initials as theirs. All this took time and it was two years later in 1949 that the KC finally recognised "The West of England Collie Society", [Now often referred to as WECS]. Mr Finlay from Paignton, who had put the original notice in the dog paper was elected Secretary, Mr Armitage of Downend, Bristol was made Chairman and Mr Fred Dawes who owned an egg packing factory in Fishponds was made President. By the time we ran our first show I had taken over the secretaryship and none of us having had any experience in running show, approached our first Open show with some trepidation. We knew that any venue had to be within walking distance of a Railway Station and the Bristol Cattle Market, adjacent to Temple Meads was chosen as our first show. We had chosen a prestigious judge in Ada Bishop and she had drawn an entry of 66 which was both Roughs and Smooth's [One and the same breed in those days], as Chows still are today. We have really lost a link with history when we recently lost this daughter of the legendary W.W.Stansfield and his World influential Launds. I remember little about the actual show, except sitting up the night before polishing cups and putting the prize money into little envelopes to be pinned on the back of the prize cards. I know it was considered a great success, partly due to the efforts of the ladies providing refreshments. How they provided these when food was still rationed and only 2 ozs of tea and 4 ozs of sugar were allowed per person per week, was a mystery but provide them they did, and WECS hospitality has remained a tradition of the Club to this day. For several years we held shows at the YMCA Hall before moving to Yate, still in Bristol, the home of the Club, and the reason the Clifton Suspension Bridge showing a collie looking westward is still part of our logo. By this time Marie Hope had taken over as Secretary but it all ended in disaster and it was Terry Taylor who resurrected the club with May Young as Chairman and myself as President. Eventually we got the secretary we wanted, in Peter Chave who, under May's guidance and with his matchless efficiency led us into the happy and prosperous position in which we find ourselves today. When Peter was promoted to Chairman, Jane & Bob Gay took over the onerous positions of Secretary and Treasurer and after many years of sterling work have now handed the torch to Anita Stanley and Jim Torbet. Now that our annual CC's have been restored to us the future looks bright. If we can find a suitable date we are investigating the possibility to hold the Championship show in the Summer to avoid the gales of the equinoxial that usually accompany our Autumn Ch Show. In 2009 we will be holding our Diamond Jubilee Year which we plan to make a very special occasion. We look forward to seeing you all there. *The London & Provincial Club, although formed many years before we applied had become defuncked and was not restarted until we had applied. Written by Hazel Hunt, founder member and current President of WECS. *************************************************************************************** Having been connected with the WECS since 1973 I have been fortunate in being involved in helping to promote and popularise the Club to the friendly society we have today. This would never have been achieved without the firm but constructive guidance from our President - Hazel Hunt and out late Chairman My Young who together made sure we got our values right, putting on popular events and giving something back to our Members. In turn we have always had good support from our exhibitors. Have always felt that the that the success of a show should start in Committee and their reaction to exhibitors as soon as they arrive at the show. My favourite job was to be on the door to give out catalogues just so I could make sure I could genuinely welcome friends old and new often with a slice of humour which would then continue throughout the day. I have seen many changes over the years but each new Committee Member elected has been able to offer something to improve the Society and I was always sorry to see them retire. I too retired in 2004 and when honoured to be made Vice President I am still carrying on the tradition of attending meetings with the President to keep the "young uns" on the straight and narrow - I hope with firm but constructive guidance. We must be doing something right as since the KC bought out the letter of congratulations after a Field Officers visit, this means the letter is only sent if you stage a virtually flawless show, we have had 5 visits = 5 letters over three different Secretaries. Considering this visit consists of interviews with not only the Secretary but usually the Chairman and Show Manager at least on the day. We are not told what the outcome will be but in every case the Field Officer has commented on the happy atmosphere at our shows. The last letter was for our July Open Show run by the "new girl" Anita Stanley. We are lucky to have tremendous support from our less numerical cousins the Smooth Collie. For many years we have given them a good classification, became a sub-group club and were finally rewarded with CC's for the breed on alternate years. The Smooth's definitely hold their own by often taking the top awards at our shows. In 1975 I started our Magazine "Round Up" just for the Devon & Cornwall members but by 1979 it was decided to send it to all Members and once again our stalwart Hazel Hunt took over as editor. 2006 saw the biggest issue yet with 93 pages with computer wizard Gill Unstead compiling a super issue from material submitted by Hazel. We did have a problem with the printer who somehow managed to mess up a few pages in some copies which had to be returned to be put right. We also had a shock with the cost to send each copy by post with the new criteria and charges involved. As the cost will be £1.20 inclusive to send those that are not yet claims they are being taken around the shows.We will have to review this postage problem before the next issue, For
full details of membership please contact the Secretary: YOU CAN BE SURE OF A WEST COUNTRY WELCOME I consider myself very lucky to have spent a large part of my life committed to the Society and it is with pride that I have been part of its history. Peter Chave - Committee Member 1973 - 1983 - Secretary 1983 - 1999 -- Chairman 1999 - 2004..Vice President 2004 - Redundancy |