DEARLY DEPARTED
It was with a great deal of sadness that the Cavalier community heard on 22nd March of the unexpected passing of Michael Brook (Lillico) and he will be remembered fondly by his friends in the breed. He had many qualities that made him popular....cheery, generous, clear thinking, candid and sincere. . He made up 2 champions in the late 80s and early 90s....Ch Lillico Like Basie and Ch Lillico Rusty Dusty Blues and although he disappeared from the show scene for a spell I know he never lost interest. In recent years he became active once again as a committee member of the Northern Cavalier Society and was a great asset. Such a pity that he was unable to fulfil his judging appointment at UK Toydog Championship show on 26th March, an opportunity I am sure he was so looking forward to. A real gentleman from Ripon in Yorkshire. I was proud to call him a friend and will miss our banters as will so many. Our condolences to Patricia and the family. Our lives are poorer for Michael not being around.
The funeral will take place on Wednesday 6th April at 11.00am at St Wilfred's Catholic Church
Coltsgate Hill. Ripon. HG4 2AB and afterwards at The Old Deanery. Minster Road.Ripon.HG4 1QS
VICTORIA, DASH AND
OSBORNE HOUSE
Dogs will be welcomed back on the Osborne estate on the Isle of Wight for the first time in more than 100 years. From end of March 2016, dog lovers will be able to enjoy substantial parts of the grounds of the former royal residence, accompanied by their canine companions. General manager at Osborne, Rob Flower, said: "Over recent years, the number of requests from visitors to bring their dogs with them when they visit Osborne has been increasing. "We have looked carefully at how we can welcome dogs, while continuing to care for and present the house and gardens to the highest possible standard.Dogs will be very welcome on leads across the majority of the estate, although not in the house, formal areas of the gardens or on the beach, which is a site of special scientific interest." A map, clearly showing dog walking areas, will be provided at the admission point and the scheme will be for a trial period of one year. It will become permanent if successful.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s love of dogs is well documented. Her first was a Cavalier called Dashand when they married, Albert’s greyhound, Eos, came with him from Germany. A statue of Eos can still be seen on the upper terrace at Osborne. Collies were a particular favourite of the Queen — she had 88 over her lifetime, including Noble, which features in sculpture and paintings on display today at Osborne. Other breeds kept by the Royal family included Dachshunds; Deckel and Waldman, a Pekingese called Looty, and Bout, a Tibetan mastiff, as well as Pomeranians and Pugs.
NEW ZEALAND NEWS
Over the weekend of 19/20th March, Jan Eatock of Darilance Cavaliersin the North Island of New Zealand
had a very exciting time with Chipper, her 17 month old dog. She attended 3 shows. The first, a Toy Show, saw Chipper get the Dog CC and Best Junior In Show. At the second, an All Breeds Show, Chipper was awarded his 8th Dog CC, the final one needed to crown him a Champion. He was also awarded Best of Breed, and topped the day off nicely with a thrilling win of Best Of Group and Best Junior Of Group. The following day Chipper was again the Dog CC and Best Of Breed winner at the All Breeds show, and again won Best Junior Of Group. He can now be called New Zealand Champion Darilance Chipotle(NZ Ch Merseyport Carter Of Darilance (Imp Aust) x Darilance Taradiddle) and was bred, owned and shown by Jan.
HOW "ART" THOU?
Artist Mather Brown's"Lady with a Dog" in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York.
CALLING MERTHYR
TYDFIL..ITES
Next month owners of Cavaliers are being invited to meet up at Cyfarthfa Park in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales to take their dogs for a communal walk and socialise. The outing is being arranged for Sunday, April 24, at 11am and spaniel owners have been busy posting pictures on Facebook to confirm their attendance. Organiser Rebecca Jane said“I thought it would be a nice idea for us Cavalier lovers to get together, and for our dogs to socialise with others. Hopefully, if we get a nice group going, we could make a monthly thing of it!
MERYL AND MARY KATE IN
THE MIDWEST
Cavaliers of the Midwest held a show in Dallas at the end of February 2016 where Leila Tarabad (Khatibi) judged. Best in Showwent to Meryl Peek's Blenheim boy Ch Jadestone Legend Has It JWwhilst Best Oppositewent to Mary Kate Moulton and Chris Wornall'sCh Carmas Penne Pasta at Crizwood
BEST IN SHOW
CLOSE ENCOUNTER....
BEST OPPOSITE
NAILEDIT!
CRUFTS 2016
Lorraine Hughes (Loranka) and Michael Forte (Leonfort) judged the bitches and dogs at Crufts this year. Best of Breedwent to a German bred Blenheim who lives in the USA.....AM CH YOU'RE MY SUNSHINE VOM KANINCHEN GARTENis by Int Ch Aranel Aramis out of Int Ch Tequila Sunrise Vom Kaninchengarten and lives in Iowa with Conny Hansen but was bred in Germany by Anika and Stephan Stahl.
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BEST OF BREED
...and some other happy people enjoying the day
Elaine Berwick, Sandra Moger, Paula Ayers
Jeanie Montford and Rob Sansom
Eva Holmberg and Lena Svalling Ekdahl
Jeanie Montford, Norma and Gordon Inglis
Aum
something caught their attention....!
Norma and John Bloice
ring side
Aum, Rob Sansom and Christian Bjorklund
Diane Searle
Michael Levy, Paula Ayers (and an anxious Liz Latteck in background)
John Tranter and Sue Smith
Hollis Land and eyes left...
Sean Martin
Terje Erdmann
Ninka
Di Wyness
Karen Lister and Marisa Colavecchia
Elaine Williams and Michael Forte
Lesley Wyatt
Corrine Maddy and Norma
Audrey Rogers, Renee Bruns, Danna M Robinson Saathoff
Joyce Boardman, Rosemary Eustace, Aum and Christian Bjorklund celebrating a new Swedish Champion Pascavale Blaze
TIE BREAK
GET WELL SOON
I understand that Joan Twigg (Culloden Cavaliers) from MarylandUSA has had a nasty fall and broken both her legs. We wish her a speedy recovery back to good health.
THE HOUSE OF BOURBON
The House of Bourbon was an extremely powerful aristocratic family of French origin whose members founded royal dynasties in several European countries, exhibiting incredible influence. Small spaniels were a favourite of the families.
INFANTA MARIA LUISA DE BORBÓN
MARIE-ANNE DE BOURBON, daughter of KING LOUIS XIV
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH
MY DOG?"
The Blue Lady bySheila White
The Isle of Wight has its fair share of haunted houses and ghostly visitors, but none stranger than the story of The Blue Lady who haunts the old house known as The Priory at St Helens.
The Priory belonged to a branch of my grandmother’s family, from the Grose-Smith’s (on my father’s side) in the early 1700s until the last member of the family to live there (my father’s cousin Laura Spencer-Edwards) died in the 1920s. The Priory then, alas, passed out of our hands forever.
I have never lived at The Priory but used to visit, with my parents, as a small girl and loved every stick and stone of the place. It had everything an old house ought, tales of secret rooms, secret passages, buried treasure, smugglers and, of course, the ghost! She, indeed, was the main attraction at The Priory for me: her portrait, full length and almost life-size, hung in the dining room. It depicted a girl of about fourteen or fifteen years old with a little pointed, heart shaped face, seated in a garden, a small canary fastened to one finger by a narrow satin ribbon and a small Spaniel playing at her feet.
Whether or not my cousin knew her real name, I never found out. I never pressed the matter, sensing somehow that that was how she herself preferred it and being perfectly happy myself always to think of her as The Blue Lady.
As for being afraid of her, that was quite impossible for I adored her and would stand transfixed before her portrait gazing up at the little smiling face feeling a strange affinity with her, longing to know more about her and hoping against hope that one day I might see her.
Cousin Laura said she was usually seen tripping down the main staircase or crossing the hall; at other times she was seen flitting about the gardens and quite often on especially frosty starlit nights, gliding soundlessly along the road and across the fields in the direction of the house where I now live, which was once part of The Priory Estate.
It is now over half a century since I stayed at The Priory and in those days lamps and candles were the order of the day, or rather, the night. Every evening the maids placed rows of silver candlesticks with candle snuffers (chamber-sticks I believe is the right word and they are worth a small fortune today) on a chest in the hall right below a stuffed dog in a glass case by the main staircase!
When bedtime came, I would collect my candlestick and light the candle with trembling fingers, trying desperately not to look up and catch the baleful eye of the dog. But, as I went up the stairs, I always found my gaze directed to him and as the candlestick shaking in my hand caused the flame to flicker, it made the dog look as though he were moving. At this point I would race up the remaining stairs as fast as I could to the safety of my room!
We used to wonder sometimes if this dog could really be the original dog belonging to The Blue Lady: he certainly looked a bit worn in parts, but could he really have survived the centuries – certainly two, but possibly three – and still be in one piece? I have no doubts now.
Now comes the really strange part of the story and this, oddly enough, did not arise until after cousin Laura’s death and The Priory was no longer ours. After her death in 1927, The Priory was sold and a very wealthy and charming American lady whom I will simply call Mrs S bought it. One day, we received an invitation to take tea with her, so my grandmother, my mother and I set off to walk through the fields on a lovely summer day. The door was opened to us by a butler who led us into what had been the dining room – where the portrait of The Blue Lady had hung – but which Mrs S had now turned into her drawing room adding to it extensively and putting in some hideous new eight-sided windows that put my teeth on edge. But she herself was charming.
She welcomed us from her wheelchair, behind which stood her Secretary, and beside which stood her magnificent Great Dane, Shadow. It was during tea that she suddenly leant across the table and said, “Is this place haunted?”
I replied that it was. “Don’t tell me by what,” she said quickly, “hear my story first.”
She then proceeded to tell the following incredible tale: it appears that after settling into The Priory, her servants began to give notice. This was not very alarming in those days as there was still plenty of domestic help available. They were replaced as they left and nothing thought of it, except that they probably found life on the Island too dull after London.
It was when her butler, who had been with her for many years, handed in his notice that she realised that there must be something seriously wrong and instantly sent for him to find out his reasons for wishing to leave.
“Do you find it too quiet over here, too cut-off from your friends and family?” she asked. But it was not that.
“It is the noises, Madam,” he told her. “Every night, in the early hours of the morning we hear a child running through the passages crying and sobbing for her dog.” He went on to tell her that as they opened their bedroom doors and gone out into the passages, the footsteps had actually passed them and the sobbing had been heart-rending. “We clearly hear the words, my dog, my dog, what have you done with my dog,” he went on, “and it was more than flesh and blood could stand.” It was obvious that the place was haunted.
Now Mrs S was an intelligent, level-headed businesswoman and she made up her mind, there and then, to get to the bottom of this story. She made enquiries all around the village and found that it was common knowledge that The Priory was haunted. But most people only spoke of a Grey Lady and were very vague as to what she was supposed to do.
In the end, she suddenly switched her researching to the dog. Did anyone know anything about a dog connected with the place - any dog – anything to do with a dog, if so, please let her know? Many people remembered that cousin Laura had had an Airedale, but this was dismissed as having nothing to do with the haunting at all and she was nowhere near a solution to the problem until suddenly, Mr C who was head gardener at The Priory and had been gardener’s boy there at the age of thirteen, remembered that there had been a stuffed dog in a glass case hanging over the stairs!
This was what she had been waiting for. Instantly Mrs S went into action. The distant cousin who had inherited The Priory was contacted and asked if he had taken the dog.
He remembered it and thought it must have been sold at auction with all the other things not wanted by the family.
There followed an advertisement in the local papers, which ended in the dog being traced back to an antique shop in Newport. It was then bought back to The Priory and replaced in its old place over the stairs and from that moment all noises ceased.
“So,” said Mrs S, “tell me who – or what – haunts this place?” We then told her the story of The Blue Lady who had died when still a child and the stuffed dog, said to be hers, which certainly bore a resemblance to the dog in the portrait.
31st MARCH 2016