The Beckaby kennel originates from 1993…
…when we bred Golden Retrievers who went on to success in the show ring but we now solely breed Cockers.
We bought our foundation bitch, a light blue roan. Springstein Stars Delight at Beckaby (Daisy) from our now dear friend Chris Cook of the Springstein kennel near Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire in 2005.
Chris encouraged us to show Daisy as she thought she had potential. She was proved right after she gained several Best Puppy in Breed awards at Open shows. We moved on to Championship shows where she gained her Stud Book number at 14 months old and she has continued to be placed at most of the shows she attended. As she got older she had continued success in the show ring especially in the veteran classes where her looks and condition belied her age. She won many best veteran in shows and the pinnacle of her show career resulted in winning best veteran bitch at Crufts 2017 at nearly 12 years old. We then retired her as she had showed most of her life to her best ability.
We later added our stud dog Courtmaster Totem at Beckaby (Lewis) from Doug & Sue Telford from the internationally known Courtmaster Kennel. He became the father of Daisy’s first litter in 2008 where we kept two puppies, Henry and Isabella, two beautiful dogs with wonderful temperaments. Isabella was shown lightly until our daughter took her home to live with her and Henry showed with some nice wins including a reserve best in show at a general open show with over 500 entries. He retired aged 8 and went to live with a family member who adore him. He is now thoroughly spoilt which he truly deserves as he is a gentleman in every respect and so lovable.
Daisy later had another litter where we kept a boy – Freddy – that was shown with some nice wins, then later took part in agility with a family friend Georgia, who trained him and took him to competitions.
He has also sired many healthy puppies from visiting bitches.
Lewis our first stud dog and father and grandfather to our Beckaby line is a dark blue roan with a beautiful head for a boy and wonderful confirmation. He put his stamp on all of the puppies he produced. He has a very kind temperament and loves nothing better than laying in our arms watching TV.
After breeding two litters from Daisy and Lewis, we bought another bitch from the Courtmaster kennel called Courtmaster Songbird at Beckaby (Eva). We have done well with Eva, winning several best puppy in breed and she also won Best Puppy and Best in Show aged 10 months at the Home Counties Cocker Spaniel Club which we felt was a great achievement up against the adults.
Eva had a litter in December 2015 by our Freddy of six puppies and we kept a bitch called Martha (Beckaby Blueberry Muffin). She has done well in the show ring but suffers with losing her coat after seasons which has meant she has missed a lot of recent showing until her coat grows back.
Going back to talking about Lewis, one of Lewis’s progeny was Annilann Mister Ral bred by Miss Sam Whiting. She had countless wins with his son ‘Gary’ including many Best Puppy in Breed and later Best of Breed awards. He joins some very nice dogs already in her kennel that she shows successfully. He won his first CC at Gundog Society of Wales in Oct 09 and later became a Champion which requires at least 3 CC’s at championship shows. We were very proud of his achievements and have remained friends with Sam ever since.
She now has a top winning blue bitch with over 40 CC’s called Annilann Miss Sing and she won Best of Breed at Crufts 2016. She is a beautiful bitch with fantastic confirmation and movement and a fun personality as well. She recently had a litter which we are lucky enough to have been allowed to have a boy and a girl ‘George and Crystal’ to be our next show puppies which we are very excited about – Watch this space in the future for hopefully some luck in the show ring. Lewis is their great great great grandfather and their KC registered names are Annilann Mister Spangles at Beckaby and Annilann Magicstar at Beckaby.
We have also bred a boy from Eva and Freddys litter called Murphy that went to the charity, Hearing Dogs for the deaf. He qualified in his training to become an official hearing dog along with three others that were sired by Henry beforehand, that also passed their training. These dogs are all now living with deaf people, helping them to live a normal life as their companions and working dogs.
In 2012 three of our dogs, Lewis, Henry and Isabella did a photoshoot for Waitrose to go on their own dog food brand labelling and they can still be seen on their tins and packets today.
I have also been privileged to judge the breed at open and breed show level which I find most enjoyable and trust one day I will have the pleasure of judging your dog.