Obituaries

Deepest Sympathy

We remember with respect and sadness those Labrador friends that have passed away during the year.

Peter Hammond Jo Coulson Keith Elliott

Lorne Kentish

Peter Hammond Brian Parrott Dave Hodge

Lorna Blackie Gunilla Ek

Phil Wainwright Kevin Easey Sue Douglas Peter Dawes Ian White Ron Sills Sir Alan Traill Ivan Wadey Jan Hollingsbee Maureen Tickner Mrs J Coulson Anne Bourne Margaret Rooth

Peter Hammond 1937 - 2021

Peter Hammond, the second son of Albert and Mildred Hammond, was born in December 1937 in Rendlesham, Suffolk. Whilst at school he started working for Manns of Bawdsey helping to look after the sheep, cycling from Rendlesham to Wickham Market for school and then to Bawdsey to walk the sheep along to Shingle Street and back before returning home on his bike. In his spare time, he started racing pigeons, building his own loft and won several races with the Leiston Pigeon Club. During this time, he was also one of the founding members of the Rendlesham Motorcycle Club 1956/57. Apparently, the pigeons didn’t take too kindly to being transported on a motorcycle! He then worked as a shepherd for Captain Sheepshanks for 11 years. During this time, he built up a pedigree flock of Suffolk sheep with which he won a number of trophies and rosettes and was presented to the Queen Mother. He took up wildfowling and punt gunning, as well as training his own sheepdogs. The flock was sold in 1968 and Peter then moved to Iken to be a Gamekeeper for Major Henry Dumas. It was here that he started to train his own gundogs and developed his love for field trialling. He was a founding member of the Suffolk Gundog Club persuading Angie Musk to become their secretary and hosting many field trials at Iken. When the Iken estate was sold, Peter moved to Great Livermere on the Ampton Estate where he started Ampton Game Farm. Here he started his collection of waterfowl and his love for birds began when he was asked to find a Mynah bird for a child in the village and came home with an African Grey Parrot as well, and so his amazing collection of exotic birds began. At Ampton, he continued to train and excel with his gundogs and in 2003 he achieved the ultimate title of Field Trial Champion with his dog Stafley Jubilee of Stramers ‘Bruce’ and became an A panel judge. He travelled home and abroad to judge trials, ran his dogs in the English team and by invitation at Sandringham and Windsor. His last FT Champion was Upcountry Hawk of Strammers. He judged the IGL Retriever Championships at Windsor in 2007 and met Her Majesty, The Queen. Many shooters, judges and triallers will recall convivial evenings with him sitting at the head of the enormous table at Great Livermere Hall entertaining them with tales from his past, whilst they dined on the wonderful roasts cooked by Elsie, his second wife, and imbibing rather too much wine! He was a great raconteur but most of his anecdotes are too risky to recall here! Others will remember seeing the old Volvo bouncing across the stubble feeds at Ampton with Elsie at the wheel bringing sustenance for the judges and beaters, and if in favour, the

odd competitor; Elsie dealt with the catering, finance and bookings side of the business, Peter was the practical one of the partnership. Peter started training classes and walked up training days long before it was common practice and Phil Askew, Mike Tallamy, Stan Harvey, Peter and Mary Darton and Jennie Hankey were all fortunate to benefit from these. At Ampton, he had a great team of young lads who Peter and Elsie took in as underkeepers living in the house and who were trained to do things Peter’s way… those who didn’t make the cut, soon left… he could be a hard task master! Many of these underkeepers went on to hold senior positions on other famous estates. The best of these was his son, Alan who not only excelled but went on to become the head keeper at Ampton. In his later years, Peter developed Bowel Cancer and whilst they were operating, the doctors also found he had an aneurysm on his aorta but this didn’t stop or hold him back, he carried on working leaving the field to have his chemo and then return to finish the day. When he finally retired, he and Elsie moved to a redundant pig farm at Battisford which he was able to convert to hold his collection of birds and dogs. Sadly Elsie was taken ill very suddenly and died leaving him rootless for a while. His family rallied round and he continued to pick up at Ampton, Higham and Cavenham until his hip was no longer able to cope with the sugar beet. Unfortunately, his neighbours didn’t appreciate his collection of birds, and without Elsie to soothe the ruffled feathers, he was forced to leave and move to Thorington where he spent the rest of his life being cared for by his family. The trialling world owes Peter an enormous debt of gratitude. It can be argued he did more than any other to give triallers a level playing field and whilst estates were cutting back on their shoots, he opened up Ampton to clubs across the country to host their trials. We are very fortunate that the tradition is still maintained and improved on by his son, Alan. RIP Peter, dear friend to so many.

Jo Coulson

15th October 1936 – 27th December 2021

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Mrs Jo Coulson, one of the most respected members of merit of the Dutch Labrador Retriever Club. She passed away a few days after Christmas. The news was a big shock for those who had the privilege of knowing her. Jo was friendly, diplomatic in every fiber of her petite figure, interested, intelligent, well known for her integrity and reliability and above all: very modest. I met Jo and her husband Derek on my first visit to Crufts, over 30 years ago. They shared their love 22

for and sincere interest in Labrador Retrievers and for many years they gave information about our breed to the many visitors of this leading show, emphasizing the importance of well-being and health. That was ground-breaking in England at the time.

Jo knew what she was talking about. Under her own prefix she could boast of wonderful show results. In 1972 her yellow dog ‘Ch. Linershwood Sentinal (Sh. Ch. Tadfield Kirbyhall Sherpa x Linershwood Crystal of Keithray) became ‘Best of Breed Winner’ at Crufts. Apart from that she won Championships in England and the USA (Am.Ch. Linershwood Kalan) with some of her other self-bred dogs. As soon as it was possible, she had her dogs examined for genetic defects and published the results. Together with Janice Pritchard, NLV-honorary member Elza Gravestein and Anneke Bruin she helped Isabella Kraft with her ‘PRA-boekjes’. In those days the most reliable source of information as there were no DNA-tests available yet. From 1981 Jo was for 18 years a formidable secretary of the oldest Labrador Breed Club in the United Kingdom, the L.R.C. (formed in 1916) and in addition, she was treasurer of this club for over 20 years. Jo Coulson was appointed member of merit by the then NLV board for several reasons. She greatly appreciated the efforts of NLV members with ‘blind Labradors’, which helped Gus Aguirre/OptiGen make huge strides in developing the prcd-PRA DNA test and the pioneering role of the NLV in the field of ED screening. Convinced of its usefulness and necessity, Jo advocated such an approach in Great Britain as well and was thus a great ambassador for our club during the years when we maintained close ties with ‘the motherland of our breed’. Apart from this, Jo wrote or contributed to dozens of very readable articles/books about our breed. Such as: “A celebration of 75 years: The LRC 1916-1991”; the reissue of ‘Stud book and Record of Field Trials (1949)’; ‘Champions on Parade’ (1993) and ‘Living with a Labrador retriever’. At our request, she gave a fascinating lecture about the breed standard and the need to avoid exaggerations and one-sided selection on certain traits (show or work) and to continue striving for balance, as described in the breed standard. She illustrated the lecture with unique historical images of the founders of our breed. Mostly functionally built dogs, a requirement for intensive hunting. She was concerned about the commercialization of purebred dog breeding, which led to excesses in both show and field. Partly because of this, she gradually shifted her interest to organizations such as ‘Canine Partners’ ( assistance dogs) where her knowledge was much appreciated. She once described her motivation to write as follows:

‘We believe in order that the breed can continue to progress and flourish, modern Labrador breeders will gain benefit from looking back to the origins of the breed. The breeding plans and dedication of the early breeders will hopefully be a source of inspiration to those who have the responsibility of taking the Labrador into the 21st century’.

Though Jo and Derek (they met in 1955 whilst both serving in the Royal Air Force) judged worldwide at the highest level, they felt honoured every time they were invited to judge the NLV Championship show in Apeldoorn and later at the grounds of Hoekelum Castle, not in the least because of the wonderful atmosphere, the incredible number of entries in those years (700-800!) and the excellent organization by the NLV-Committee, the ‘CMC’. . The Coulsons were great company during the subsequent dinners. Then the stories came after Jo had finished her glass of wine - invariably diluted with water. CMC member Jane Fleur remembers Jo’s story about getting lost during a shoot at Sandringham: ‘Suddenly a small lady with a headscarf turned up with two gamekeepers: ‘Come with me’, she said ‘they won’t shoot me!’. It was Queen Elisabeth, Patron of the L.R.C. till this very day. The breed and ‘De Nederlandse Labrador Vereniging’ are deeply indebted to Jo and many cherish fond memories of this unique ‘keeper of our breed’ who was supported in everything by the love of her life, Derek. Roswitha Lubbers (also on behalf of Ireen Bunnik,

The picture is the presentation made to Jo Coulson on her Jane Fleur, Hans Haenen, retirement by the Duke of Wellington (President) and Mr Ton Koene, Ingrid Nijman, Death (Chairman). Amanda Velt).