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History of the Club
The Home Counties Cocker Club was first registered on 20th January 1948. Its 25 founder members each paid £2.00 toward the registration of the title. The subscriptions of 10/6p single membership (52p in today's money) or 15/- (75p today) joint were paid annually.
The original 'founder members' were namely:-
Mr Shaw (Winchmore)
Mr Woodcock (Churchum)
Mr Guy Standish-King (Appletime)
Mr H S Lloyd (of Ware)
Mr P Neale (Secretary)
Mr A H Gold (Chairman)
With the Committee in the place the members then took on the arduous task of organising the clubs dog shows. From 1953 to about 1988 the shows were held in the Hertfordshire area. The cups and trophies were all donated by the 'founder members' these consisted of: -
The Founder Members cup
The Oxley Trophy (for RBIS)
Appletime Cup
Stoneycloud Cup for Best Opposite Sex
Radwin Cup for Best Puppy
The Ware Cup for Best Any Colour Novice
Alderstone Cup for Best Any Other Colour
The Donnette Silver Trophy for Best Red/Golden
The Hahn Cup for Best Black bred by Exhibitor
The Swedish Plaque
Best in Show
Presented by Mrs Oxley
Presented by Mrs Standish-King
Presented by R Wilshire Esq
Presented by Mr H S Lloyd
Presented by A Rankin-Smith Esq
Presented by Mrs J Ewart-Fraser
Presented by Miss D Hanh
Presented by the Cocker Club of Sweden
Unfortunately due to spiralling costs of insuring the cups and trophies the committee were forced to withdraw them in 1991, they were replaced with diplomas.
In 1948 membership to Home Counties Cocker meant that you received a unique pin badge:-
This badge belongs to Gwen Barber (Mayay)
Home Counties Cocker flourished as a society, with the shows growing in popularity, the AGM of 1957 recognised that the increased member numbers and entries into the shows meant that a larger venue was sought and it would appear that the committee of 1957 had the same problems of finding venues as we do today.
The Home Counties Cocker club in the 50's had a very vibrant social side, with many dinners and functions to attend. The Home Counties 'news correspondent' of the time Mrs Violet Goodwin (Gravenhurst) did a splendid job of transmitting all the news and tips to the ardent cocker enthusiast of the time.
As entries at shows continued to grow, Home Counties Cocker was able to achieve the clubs championship status. The championship status was finally granted in 1988. The first Championship show was held at the Watford Leisure Centre on 6th February 1988 the officiating judges were Mr John Mace (Dogs) and Mr K Eriksen (Norway) Bitches.
I think you will all agree that we owe a lot to the many past committee members for making Home Counties Club what it is today, and we hope that we are carrying on the good work they have done.
The Home Counties Cocker club today is still as strong as it was 60 years ago and as exhibitors we take a lot for granted, forgetting the stress put onto the shoulders of any secretary, sometimes failing to see the dedication behind the scenes and the work the committee does.
We have been very fortunate with the History of some of the Home Counties Cocker Club as Mrs Gwen Barber has provided a great deal of information from her archives, which dates back 50 years, quite an achievement in itself to have so much archived information. Thank you very much Gwen for your hard work, which we hope is of interested to old and newcomers to our fabulous breed.
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