The decade that saw us go to the top.
He was top Rough Collie in 1985 winning 5 CCs including Best in Show at the British Collie Club
Ch Lowerpark Moonlighter at Corydon
Winner of 11 CCs
Winner of 4 CCs. Dam of at least 8 Champions World Wide
He won 3 CCs and 9 Res CCs in this country. When he was 4 years old he went to Australia where he became the biggest winner of all time. A wonderful mover.
1980 A wonderful year with CH CORYDON HANDSOME HERO winning
6 Challenge Certificates and CORYDON BONNIE BRENDA
winning 1 Challenge Certificate.
Then add a Best in Show for CORYDON HANDSOME HUGO who
also won 2 Best Puppy in Show awards.
Then we introduced a dog who was to hit the high spot, NU CH
CORYDON AUGUSTUS CAESAR.
CORYDON HANDSOME HUGO was full brother from an earlier
litter to the famous CH CORYDON HANDSOME HOTSPUR. He
won his only Challenge Certificate under Margaret Osborne at The
National Show in 1981. It was the last time that she awarded CCs
in the Breed. I remember it well, because she had a very big entry
of dogs (she only judged the dogs, Kath Jefferies judged the
bitches) and it rained all day. I think that Hugo won because he
was used to the mud and was happy to move easily in it. Miss
Osborne always judge outside no matter what the weather was like.
1981This was a very good year for the CORYDON’S. The dogs won 5
Challenge Certificates and 3 Reserve Challenge Certificates.
The winners were CORYDON POLLY HERA with 2 CCs and 1 Res CC. Her
first CC was at Bath Ch Show under Miss L Turner. It was a good show
because CH CORYDON HANDSOME HERO won the Reserve Dog CC.
under the same judge. This was quickly followed by CORYDON
HANDSOME HUGO winning the Dog CC at Birmingham National under
Miss M Osborne. It was the last time that this famous Collie lady judged
the breed. Then on to South Wales Kennel Society Championship Show
where Hero won the dog CC. Just one week later we had one of the
biggest wins the Kennel has ever had. CORYDON AUGUSTUS CAESER
went to National Working Breeds Championship Show under Shirley
Elliston who awarded him the Dog CC and Best of Breed, he then went
on to win Reserve Best in Show under the famous Bobby James. Great
things were expected of him but unfortunately he broke a toe the next
week and was made permanently lame. He went to Norway with Lene and
became a Norwegian Champion. He even won a CACIB under Betty Eglin
over there. He did become a very successful sire. Including the most
successful Collie of all time in Norway NOR CH BREEZDON DIAMONDS
ARE FOREVER. He also sired one of our great dams CORYDON GLORY
BEE and her litter sister the World Winner DK CH CORYDON SYMBOL
OF GLORY.
Hero went to Birmingham City Ch Show under Mr K Kat from Holland who awarded him the CC and Best of Breed.
The dogs also won 5 Best in Show awards. Hera won Best in Show at
Collie Association Open Show under Miss F Hamilton (Now Mrs F
Summerfield) Hugo won Best in Show under Mrs F Cook at East Anglian
Collie Association Open Show. CORYDON HANDSOME HOTSPUR won
Best in Show under Mr A Hay at London & Provincial Open Show, and Hera won Best in Show under Mrs S Hutchinson at East Anglian Collie
Association Spring Limited Show, and finally COPPI GOLD DIGGER AT
CORYDON (by Ch Corydon Handsome Hero ex Chaiquinta Calendar Girl of Coppi) won Best in Show under Mr A T Green at the British Collie Club
Open Show.
Altogether the dogs won a further 6 Best of Breed awards and 49 first
prizes.
1982 After the success of the previous year, 1982 was a bit of a let down. But we did make up another Champion. This was CHAMPION CORYDON POLLY HERA, who won her third and qualifying CC at the last show of the year, LKA, under Mrs N Kirk. Hera was Best of Breed and was short listed in the Group. She also won a Res. CC at Bath under Peter Turner.
However the youngsters did well, with CORYDON HANDSOME HOTSPUR winning Best in Show at the London Collie Club Open Show under Mrs G Barnes, and CORYDON HANDSOME HUGO won Best in Show at the London and Provincial Collie Club under Ros Cartwright.
CORYDON HANNASTAR won Best Puppy in Show at the same show. Asta, as we called her, was in August 1982 mated to CH GEOFFDON LAWMAKER. From this mating we got CH CORYDON GOLDSTAR.
Later in the year we brought out CORYDON GLORY HALLELUJAH and she won 4 best Puppy in Breed Awards, and a Best Puppy in Show at the East Anglian Collie Association Open Show under John Parrott.
During 1982 our dogs 60 first prizes.
1983 This was a good year for the Corydon Kennel. We made up 2 New CHAMPIONS – CORYDON POLLY HERA and CORYDON GLORY HALLELUJAH.
Hera won her third and qualifying CC at Birmingham City Championship Show under Mrs C Sutton.
Glory won her 3 CCs in just 2 months. Her first was under Mrs P Walsh at Lancashire & Cheshire Collie Club, her second under Mr J Broderick at Collie Club of Wales, where she was also Best in Show, and her
third CC at LKA under Mr N Plimmer. She also won a Res CC under Mrs A Bishop at Darlington.
This year we also introduced 2 dogs who were to have an influence both here in the UK and down under. These were CORYDON HOT ROD and CORYDON GOLD STAR.
Hotrod had a spectacular puppy career in the UK, winning 6 Best Puppy in Show awards. Including Best Puppy in Show at the British Collie Club Championship Show.
Denise Grace came to England, fell in love with him and took him back to her home in New Zealand. He did even better there as he quickly became a Champion. He won 22 CCs and sired at least 14 Champions.
He mated UK & AUS CHAMPION CORYDON GLORY HALLELUJAH, a mating which produced 5 Champions. Before he left us he sired one of the Corydon GREATS, this was CH & AUS CH CORYDON TUCK’S TIGER
Goldstar became a UK Champion and was then sent to Mrs Blatchford in Melbourne who had great fun with him as a stud dog. He again produced quite a lot of Champions. Before he left us he sired CORYDON CARUSO and SW CHCORYDON GOLD LARIOT who won 7 C.A.C.I.B.s in Sweden.
During 1983 our dogs won a total of 56 first prizes.
1984 This was a quiet year for us. We had success and tragedy.
The year started very well with CORYDON CAIUS MAGNUS winning Best in Show at London Collie Club Open Show under Mr D Field, and CORYDON GOLD STAR winning Best in Show at the Yorkshire Collie Club Limited Show under Mr J Pope.
We then started showing a very promising puppy called CORYDON BATTLE STAR. He won several Best Puppy awards and then won a Reserve CC at Southern Counties Championship Show under Bobby James while still a puppy. Unfortunately when he was just out of puppy I found him with a large lump on his neck. I took him to the vet even though he seemed to be fit and was running faster than any of the other dogs. The vet examined him and suspected that he had a tumour on his lung. He advised an operation, but had him put down on the operating table as he found that one lung was totally gone and the other had a very large tumour that was pressing on his aorta artery. This was the cause of the large lump on his neck. With only half a lung working I wander how he was able to run faster than any of the other dogs?
However CH CORYDON GLORY HALLELUJAH, won her 4th Challenge Certificate and Best of Breed under Rene Cozens at Midland counties Championship Show.
So the year ended with our dogs winning 2 Best in Show Awards, 1 Best
Puppy in Show (Battle Star) 1 CC, 1 res CC and 29 First Prizes.
1985 What a year. It started with a real BANG!!!! When CORYDON HANDSOME HOTSPUR won the Dog Challenge Certificate under LisaBurtenshaw and then Jim Broderick awarded him Best in Show at the
British Collie Club. So we went home with the most valuable and sought after bit of silver that a Collie can win. The British Collie Club Challenge Trophy. I well remember a friend from Germany, who was
staying with us and went to the show with us, carrying the trophy out ofthe hall on a tray. I think that he was prouder than us. Hotspur then went to London Collie Club Championship Show where he won his
Second CC and second Best in Show under Lynn Westby. He won Reserve CCs at the Scottish Kennel Club under Mr D Craven, Southern Counties under Ann Lister and Three Counties Agricultural Show under
Kath Jeffries. He then went to East of England Agricultural Show under Stella Clark who awarded him his 3rd and qualifying CC and Best of Breed. So we had a new and as it turned out a very important
Champion CH CORYDON HANDSOME HOTPSUR. He won another Res. CC under Vera Hickson at Leicester, and he then went to Birmingham City where Frank Mitchell awarded him another CC. So to East Anglian Collie Association Championship Show where Lew Caseley awarded him the CC and Best in Show. So Oscar (as he was known here) ended theyear with 5 CCs, 5 Res CCs, 3 Breed Club Championship Best in Showawards and was Top Collie for the year. Not bad for a dog who took 4years to grow a coat.
Yet more success!!!. CORYDON GOLD STAR went to Border Union andwon the Dog CC and Best of Breed under Mrs C Sutton and then he went onto win Group 2 under Terry Thorn. He then went to Paignton
where Elsie Westwood awarded him his second CC.
Even more success!!!! CORYDON CARUSO went to Blackpool Championship Show where he won the Puppy Stakes on the day and we went back to challenge the winners from the other days and he
WON!!!. So we had our first qualifier for the most important puppy competition, the Spillers/ Dog World Pup of the Year held in London in January the following year. The judge at Blackpool was Mrs C Sutton. I
think that she liked our Collies. We always seemed to win very well when she was judging. Caruso also won the Puppy dog Stakes at Windsor under Mrs F Hamilton, and at this show he also won the Dog Res CC under Iris Combe.
Yes! Even more success. CORYDON RISING STAR won Best in Show at the Midland Collie Club Sanction Show under Marina Broadhead. He was made famous after we sent him to Australia where even though he was not really shown, he sired at least 26 Australian Champions, and I believe that he is standing second in the all time list of sires. This show was also memorable for me as we took CORYDON POLLY
TUCKA, she amazingly won a Reserve. I say this because she lost an eye soon after birth because of an infection. So she only had one eye.But she was a very beautiful tricolour who would have done wonders in
the ring, but she made up for it by producing two of the greatest Ch.Corydon’s Tuck’s Tiger and NU Ch Corydon Augustus Caesar. Ihave to say that she was probably my all time favourite of all our Collies.
1986 Much success this year as we made up two new champions. Ch Corydon Tuck’s Tiger and Ch Corydon Gold Star. Tiger won his CCs at Manchester where he went on to win Group 2. His second was at Leicester where he was placed Group 3 and the third was at the West of England Collie Club’s Ch Show. Ch Gold Star won his qualifying CC at the London Collie Club’s Ch Show. He was called Gold Star because he was perfectly marked in his white markings. So earning a Gold Star for perfection. Not to be outdone Ch Corydon Handsome Hotspur won two more CCs. He won them at the Midland Collie Club Ch Show where he was Best in Show and the London & Provincial Collie Club where he was Best of Breed. The year was also special because it saw the birth of one of our most successful brood bitches. Corydon Alonastar. She was the dam of Ch Corydon La Stupenda and three International Champions : Int Ch Corydon Star Macadam Int Ch Corydon Tiger Topps and Int Ch Corydon Carruthers.
1987 A very quiet year on the show scene, but we did have a wonderful 4 weeks in Australia and New Zealand. Barbara had been invited to judge in Newcastle and Perth in Australia, and in Wellington in New Zealand, while I had been invited to judge in Christchurch, New Zealand.
We were able to see our family members who had emigrated to Australia and also to see our many friends in both of these countries.We were reunited with some of the Collies that we had sent down under. Notably NZ CH CORYDON HOTROD and CORYDON HELLRAISER in New Zealand.
We did not go to quite as many shows this year because of the overseas trip, but we did show Ch. CORYDON TUCK’S TIGER a few times. He won the CC and Best in Show at the Lancs and Cheshire
Collie Club Championship Show under Phil Rodford. He also won 5 Res CCs during the year.
The year was also quite important because we started to show LOWERPARK MOONLIGHTER AT CORYDON. He won Best puppy in the breed at Windsor Ch. Show and at Welsh Kennel Club Ch. Show.
Two bitches that we showed with a little success were CORYDON TUCK’S WHISPER and CORYDON MEG MERRILLY. Meg won herself into the Kennel Club Stud Book by winning 3rd Prize in Open Bitch at
Midland Counties. Unfortunately she was not quite good enough toshow, so we gave her away to a very good local home. She did give us the CC Winner Corydon a Merry Twinkle.
Whisper won a Best of Breed at Retford Open Show, but she was really too small to win at the Championship Shows. But she did give us Corydon Whisper Willow.
1988 The year that CH LOWERPARK MOONLIGHTER AT CORYDON came into his own. He won 4 Challenge Certificates and 3 Reserve Challenge Certificates. The CCs were won at South Wales Kennel Association under Mrs D Field. Leeds Ch. Show under Peter Chave, where he was also Best of Breed. His qualifying CC came at the Welsh Kennel Club Show under Mrs A Bishop, again with Best of Breed. The 4th CC of the year waswon at Richmond under Mrs F Sommerfield where once again hewas Best of Breed.
Before all this excitement he went to the Smooth Collie Club of Great Britain Championship Show where he won Limit Dog andwent on to win Best Dog, Best of Breed and eventually Best in Show, beating all the Smooth Collie Champions. The judge was Marie Byrnes.
Not to be completely put in the shade, CORYDON CARUSO was placed best dog at London Collie Open Show, and CORYDON TUCK’S WHISPER won Best of Breed at the CollieAssociation Open Show. And at Scunthorpe Open Show.
Our dogs won 23 first Prizes in 1988.
1989 This was the year that belonged to CH LOWERPARK MOONLIGHTER AT CORYDON.
He won 6 Challenge Certificates. The first was at Bath under Harry Jordan, where he was Best of Breed. Then Gunter Rall from Germany awarded him the CC at London Collie Club. The third CC came at Three Counties when Ira Moores also awarded him Best of Breed. No. 4 came at Paignton under Hugh Jones who also awarded him Best of Breed. No. 5 came at Leicester under Ellis Hulme and No. 6 came at East Anglian Collie under Ann Arch, where he also won Best of Breed and went on to Best in Show. He also won 2 Reserve CCs.
CORYDON CARUSO was not to be kept entirely in the shadows as he won Best Dog in Show at Yorkshire Collie Club Open Show and at the Midland Collie Club Open Show.
And then little CORYDON TUCK’S WHISPER went to the Yorkshire Collie Club Championship Show was placed second in Limit Bitch and so qualified for the Kennel Club Stud Book.
Corydon Collies 