It’s been a sad year for the families of a number of Corgi enthusiasts and even more so this week.
So very sorry to learn of the death, peacefully at home, after several weeks’ ill health of our senior Pembroke person Sue Harrison, and all our thoughts are with John and the family.
Sue had been part of the Corgi community since the 1940s when her father Fred Hooke bred and showed under the Roseleigh affix. The best known dog he was connected with was a CC winner called BelleFavourite who can be found in the female line behind some of the most famous Pembrokes.
Young Sue went to work at the famous Wey kennel of Nan and Ken Butler, an ideal apprenticeship in all aspects of breeding and showing at this busy and beautifully managed establishment.
In the late ‘50s Sylvia Watts-Russell, whose Banhaw kennel had its first champion pre-war, was seeking to extend her Pembroke activities. The two families had known each other for many years and Sue went to live at magnificent Biggin Hall near Oundle to manage the kennel and handle the dogs. Chs Banhaw Dawn and Chaffinch were made up, and Renard and Golden Prince became champions for other exhibitors. Two of these were sired by Banhaw Bendigo of Corgay, bred by Sue’s sister Mo. There were many more winners until Mrs Watts-Russell died in the late ‘60s and the kennel was dispersed, Sue taking on Ch Chaffinch.
In due course Sue married John and they ran a farm in Leicestershire. She bred Bearded Collies for a while and her current Pembroke line began with Fitzdown Frolic from Jessie Fitzwilliams.
Sue’s best known dog was the smart rich red sable Ch Haresfoot Isaac and there were many other winners down the generations, plus champions overseas. In latter years Sue was one of the breeders who was keen to retain the bobtail in the breed and bred with this in mind. She was always concerned to keep the Pembroke workmanlike and fit for function.
I’m sure that the successes this year of new exhibitor Anjie Cutts with Haresfoot Fates Align will have given her great pleasure.
Sue had been a popular judge for many years, officiating at Crufts and other leading shows. She knew her own mind and one could always rely on a fair and totally unbiased opinion.
She served the League loyally, including as chairman and president, and in recent years she and John had run the merchandise stand, no mean feat especially at Crufts where lugging all the material into the show on dark, cold mornings was quite a task.
The Pembroke world, and the League in particular, has lost one of its best friends.
The funeral will be private.
