Club History

During 1979 the creation of a new Cairn Terrier Club had been considered and discussed by enthusiasts on a number of occasions, especially as the popularity and the large increase in new owners had been very obvious at all forms of shows and dog training classes. Early soundings by Linda and Alan Firth were very favourable and offers of help in various forms were promised by individuals, with this support it was decided to attempt to form a Cairn club in the East Midlands.

In March 1980 an application to register the title “Midland Cairn Terrier Club” was forwarded to the Kennel Club. This application was duly advertised in the April issue of Kennel Gazette, objections to the application were received by the Kennel Club and after due consideration by the appropriate committee the application was refused.

On the advice of the late Walter Bradshaw (Redletter), who was a fountain of knowledge and a staunch supporter during those early days, an appeal was forwarded to the Kennel Club, together with a petition of letters from individuals supporting the application to register a new Cairn club.

In September 1980 the Kennel Club intimated that after further deliberation it had been decided that the application to register the new Cairn club could proceed with the proviso that the Club’s activities would be confined to the counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire.

The Late Walter Bradshaw (Redletter)

An inaugural meeting of interested parties was held on 26 October 1980 at Annesley, Nottinghamshire, 48 people attended, the meeting was chaired by Mr Walter N Bradshaw, who proceeded to organise the election of officers and committee. The following were elected:-

Albert V Price (Wildmoor)   President

Linda Firth (Cairngold)         Secretary

Alan Firth (Cairngold)          Treasurer

Committee Members

Mrs L Arrowsmith (Thimswarra), Mrs L Evans (Lynarob), Mrs M Gradon (Demorada), Mr K Holmes (Brindleoak), Mrs M Jennings (Doonrae), Mrs G Jones (Cairngold), Mr B Mears (Glenmear), Mr J T P Roberts (Cannwood), Mrs L Z Spence (Harlight), Mrs B Swift (Robetsu), Mr F Sutton (Roseview)

and Mr J Watson (Fieldron).

A committee meeting followed and Mr J Watson was elected Chairman

The Late Albert V Price (Wildmoor)

The club’s structure was now a reality and a revised application was forwarded to the Kennel Club with a list of 87 potential founder members. On 22 January 1981 the Kennel Club’s official approval of the application was received by the Secretary and the Midland Cairn Terrier Club was born.

The Midland was the first new Cairn Terrier Club to be formed since 1925, it’s emergence was not greeted with enthusiasm in some quarters.

Help during the formative period came from many individuals of standing in our breed and we will always appreciate the encouragement and the guiding hand of the late Walter Bradshaw who was one of our first founder members and was elevated to be our first Honorary Life Vice President at our first Annual General Meeting in 1982. It would not be without some omissions if an attempt were made to include other names, so to all our supporters in those early days we would record our grateful thanks.

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