About the Centenary
The Welsh Springer Spaniel Club was founded and registered with the Kennel Club in 1923 by a group of Welsh Springer Spaniel enthusiasts with the intention to promote and protect our ancient breed.
This year marks the Club centenary and several events and activities are planned to celebrate this occasion with the aim of further promoting both the Club and the Breed to future potential owners.
Below are some of the events planned for the year, we hope that many of you can join us at one or some of the dates.
Crufts photo call
On the 9th March the Club held a celebration in conjunction with breed judging at the Crufts dog show. Our Club stand had lots of new merchandise for Welsh Springer exhibitors and visitors to look through and purchase. There was the debut of our Centenary mascot “Derek” who posed for selfie’s all day long. The main event came in the lunch interval when we had a photo call for as many Welsh Springers and their owners to come together in the breed ring to help promote our lovely breed. This get together had press coverage and we are grateful to all those that took part. Oh course there was also birthday cake!
Kennel Club Breed Lunch
On Monday 15th May the Club hosted a celebration Breed Lunch at the Royal Kennel Club (RKC) in Mayfair, London. The event was attended by over 40 enthusiasts from across England, Scotland and Wales, joined by Members from the Republic of Ireland, France and the Netherlands.
The group was treated to tours of the RKC Gallery and Library. The gallery tour included paintings and prints of the Breed by Maud Earl and Rose Dempster Bonner, a large photograph of ‘Corrin’ the first Welsh Springer Spaniel Champion to be entered into the Stud Book. A vast collection of other canine art was on display for our visitors to look at and experience.
Our tour of the library included some rare 16th century books which mentioned land spaniels in red and white and orange and white, thought to be early Welsh Springer Spaniels. There were many other books on display opened at pages relevant to our Breed.
Following a drinks reception we were treated to a lovely three course meal in the Members restaurant. A celebration cake marking the centenary of the Club was also cut and enjoyed by those present.
In the afternoon our guests were at liberty to explore the gallery and library once more and the staff were extremely helpful in assisting any queries.
Feedback on the event was positive from those in attendance with many stating they would love to visit again in the future. If there is sufficient interest the Club will look into this further.
Fun Weekend
The 2023 Fun Weekend will be held on the 22nd and 23rd July 2023 at a new venue to the Club – Forest Oak Farm in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.
The weekend will be a great opportunity to meet up with fellow Welsh Springer Spaniel owners to relax and enjoy time with our canine companions. The venue has camping and caravan facilities available, together with a limited number of holiday cottages, all of which are available on a first come first serve basis with a discount if you mention the WSSC event when booking with the venue. See our website for more information on this.
There will be lots of things to do and participate in over the weekend, taking full advantage of the four acre rally field that will be available exclusively for the Club members over the weekend. We are always looking for new ideas of activities to put on at these events, in the past we have had scurries, agility, fun dog shows, grooming demonstrations, working training, and have a go rally. If there is any activity you wish to try with your dogs please email funweekend@wssc.org.uk with your suggestions.
The venue is surrounded by picturesque Forest of Dean countryside so plenty of opportunity for some scenic walks with plenty of shade from the trees with the [hopefully] warm, sunny weather.
Welsh Game Fair
After the success of their inaugural event in 2022 the organisers of the GWCT Welsh Game Fair invite the Club back to their bigger event this year. We decided this would be a great edition to the Club centenary calendar and organised for attendees to gain free entry to the event on Saturday 9th September.
Over 20 Welsh Springers were in attendance on the day at The Vaynol Estate in Bangor, North Wales and took part in a gundog display in the main arena to celebrate Vulnerable Native Breeds.
Thank you to Dave Pierce for sending in lots of lovely images covering the day. These have been added to a slide show for easy viewing.
