FORTY YEARS ON...

Although during the Second World War Dog Showing had been restricted by the Kennel Club to a 25 mile radius, it was obvious from the entry at the Golden Retriever Club's first post-war Championship Show at Slough that the popularity of Goldens had in fact increased.

It was not surprising therefore that David Barwise who acted as Show Secretary for the Golden Retriever Club's next Championship Show at Workington (Mrs. W.M.Charlesworth was the judge), was approached by a number of Golden fanciers, who felt that there was a place for a second Breed Club. From the Meeting which he called at Leeds in 1946 the Northern Golden Retriever Association came into being.

David Barwise (or Davie, as we all knew him) was appointed Secretary at that Meeting and thanks to his hard work and keen endeavours from then until he felt obliged to resign in 1964 because of the pressure of his public work, the N.G.R.A. expanded in membership and in its activities for the good of the Breed.

I was appointed Treasurer at that inaugural Meeting - which means that I have held the purse strings of the N.G.R.A. fro 40 years! I took on additionally the duties of Secretary in 1964, and agreed to undetake the clerical work for the Field Trials in 1969 when Mrs. Marjorie Waters resigned as Field Trial Secretary after 16 years in that office.

At the first Annual General Meeting those elected to the Executive Committee were: Mr.J.Beaumont (Beaudale), Mr. M.L.Feather, Mrs.D.Dobb (my mother), Mrs. R.Harrison (Boltby), Mr. R.Panther (Oakwin), Mr. C.W.Parry (a Gamekeeper), Mr. R.S.Neville (Gordonville) , Mrs. M.Walker (Hazelfax), Mr. Fred Parsons (Torrdale), who was also President until 1950, Mr. J.O.Blair who is proudly listed nowadays as a Patron, Mr. R.S.Burnett who has continued to serve as a Committee member until the present day, and Mr. Graham Holmes who succeeded the first Chairman, Mr. R.W.Rogers (Deanwater), in 1950, and has held that office ever since.

That initial team worked hard to lay the foundations of the N.G.R.A., bearing in mind that the working qualities of the Breed should be developed and at the same time realising that Shows had a definite function in directing attention to type and quality. No time was lost in translating enthusiasm into action.

The first Open Show was held on 14th June 1947 at Newcastle-on-Tyne with Mrs. Enid Minter as Judge. There was a pleasing entry but a second Open Show planned for the 22nd August in the same year in Blackpool had to be abonded through lack of entries. The financial loss thus incurred, coupled with other problems over which we had no control, delayed the next Show until 11th November 1950 when Mrs. E.A.Saunders (Morinda) was the judge at Gateshead-on-Tyne. We were not granted Championship status for Shows until 1952 - in which year on 25th October at Darlington Mrs. I.M.Parsons (Torrdale) awarded C.C.'s to Mrs. R.Harrison's Boltby Moonraker and to Miss. J.M.Murray's Fiona of Maidafield; both having a parent from David Barwise's Beauchasse kennel.

The pattern was established. The Championship Show was to be held in October each year until the present day, and for some 20 years Obedience Classes have also been scheduled. The aim originally was to vary the venue and indeed this was achieved at first; different halls being used subsequently at Newcastle-on-Tyne, Leeds, Carlisle and Doncaster. However the Woodlands Hall at Doncaster proved for the time being at any rate to be the most suitable venue both from the point of view of accessibility for exhibitors and value for money. It was to remain the 'home' of the N.G.R.A. Ch. Show for 21 consecutive years. But by 1979 the entry had become too large for the Doncaster venue and the move was made to the Newark Agricultural Society's Showground, where space is unlimited. Who of those Founder Members would have guessed that the number of dogs entered would increase from 80 at the first Ch. Show in 1952 to 370 at the 34th in 1985?

The usefulness of the Shows (Open and Championship) cannot be gainsaid, for there the Breed Standard is paramount. But in order to foster the production of the dual-purpose Golden attention was paid from the very beginning to the working side of the Breed. In the very first year two Trials were run - one at Appleby in Cumbria and the other at Taunton! More Trials followed resulting in recognition by the International Gundog League in 1950, greatly enhancing the N.G.R.A.'s prestige for its All-Aged Stake now carried qualification for the Retriever Championship.

Securing ground for a Trial is far different from booking a venue for a Show. For forty years we have been most fortunate. Admittedly the Chairman's enthusiasm (together with the availability of his ground) and the support of his personal contacts have accounted for more than 50 days of Trials in the Appleby area. When there was a threat from Foot and Mouth Disease around our Trial ground, Peter Fraser, the President at that time, came to the rescue and after is untimely death his wife provided good testing days at Westhide for several years. The Field Trial Hosts are regrettably too numerous to list here, but their hospitality - and particularly that of south Lincolnshire Farmers over the last consecutive seventeen years - has undoubtedly put the seal of success on our Trials. Thus it has been possible to run annually four Stakes : two for Any Variety Retriever and two confined to Goldens.

The Field Trials have catered for the end product, so to speak, but the Novice has never intentionally been forgotten. In the very early days our Chairman made his ground (and expertise) available for any group of six or more who wished to take advantage of a rough shoot for working and training their dogs. Then a group of people who had been getting together informally to train their dogs requested recognition as part of the N.G.R.A. - and so the Pennine Training Area came into being in 1960, with the aim of providing facilities for training Gundogs of all Breeds. Training classes have continued fortnightly until the present day, with Puppy, Novice and Open Working Tests also being organised. The Group in addition participates in annual Inter-Club Working Tests against the Clwyd Retriever Club, the Golden Retriever Club of Scotland and the Burns and Becks Gundog Group. The latter (and the Wye Valley Training Group) were part of the N.G.R.A. for some time after their formation in the late 1960s, until they decided to 'go it alone'.

In fact the N.G.R.A. was not by chance at its inaugural meeting given the titiel of Association (as distinct from Club or Society). The vision was that there would be various groups of Golden enthusiasts scattered over the wide area of membership : each Group 'doing its own thing', i.e. running training classes or just meeting socially. There have been over the years such Groups - several of them go-ahead and successful, until either the driving force has moved from the district or it was felt a separate Club should be formed.

Inevitably over 40 years there have been changes, though the annual subscription has only been effectively increased twice in that time : starting at 10/6 in 1946 (rounded to 60p with decimalisation), rising to £1.25 in 1977 and currently standing at £2.00. The policy has never been to amass a large Bank balance, but that all events should pay their way. It has, however, always been accepted that the most expensive item is the publication of the Year Book supplied free to Members.

One change however, brought about by external rather than internal influences, concerns the importance or relevance of the Association's list of approved Judges. Thirty odd years ago the Committee dealt regularly with requests for guarantees of the Golden classification at Championship (as well as Open) Shows. Perhaps it is now hard to believe that such Championship Shows as Leicester, Birmingham City, Blackpool, Manchester, Richmond, Paignton, Bath, Leeds, W.E.L.K.S. - to mention some still in existence - needed to ask for financial backing from the N.G.R.A. to safeguard against a loss on the Golden entry. On occasions the N.G.R.A. did suffer considerable financial loss, but that was of little consequence. The aim was to procure a good classification and competent judges for the Breed, and of course the offer of a guarantee carried with it the proviso that a judge be appointed from the Association's List of Approved Judges. The Breed Club could be said to have had a far greater influence on General Canine Societie's Shows in those days than at present when there is a surfeit of Shows of all kinds and no shortage of Goldens to fill the classes.

The popularity of the Breed has brought about an increase in the number of Members (now about 800) and a further 10 Clubs have been formed in more recent years. But the aim and object of the Association is still the same as it was 40 years ago : "to encourage the breeding of Golden Retrievers of a dual-purpose type, i.e.suitable for work and of a type conforming as nearly as possible to the Standard laid down".

Mrs. Charlesworth, one of the great pioneers of the Breed and (as mentioned earlier) the judge at the Show where the idea of forming the N.G.R.A. was born, was very concerned at that time that the Breed was splitting into two factions:- show and work. Is that the situation today? Or - forty years on - do we adhere to the Objects of the Association, as laid down by the Founder Members?

MARIAN DAWSON