The London Cocker Spaniel Society started life in 1932 as the London Sporting Spaniel Society and in 1946 became the LCSS. The Society at that time was a show society restricted to Cocker Spaniels.
In 1960 the Society set up a Field Section and unusually opened up the field events to all breeds of Spaniel. The Society has run hundreds of field events under Kennel Club auspices and our 100th event was our very first Field Trial. In the late 1990's we began to formalise our position within the Society and with the Kennel Club. We changed the Field Tests and assessments into the more formal "Gundog Working Tests". We ran 3 of these a year. We then became the first society to run a "Working Gundog Certificate day" and we have continued to support this KC initiative throughout its evolution.
In the early part of this century we applied for and were granted "Any Variety Novice Field Trial status" by the KC. We applied for Any Variety status so that all of our members could compete in Field Trials. Indeed in our first Field Trial there were 5 different spaniel breeds represented!
A few years later we successfully applied for "Novice Cocker Spaniel Field Trial status". We have now settled into running 4 Field Trials a year, 2 Novice Cocker and 2 Novice A.V trials. We also run one of the only "All-Aged Cocker Spaniel Gundog Working Test" in the UK each summer.
In 2008 we ran a successful "Field Trial Judges Seminar". It was one of the first for run for spaniels in the UK. The feed back from members was great and we will continue to offer these seminars on an annual basis.
We continue to look to the future and with our ever increasing membership both in numbers and experience.We have recently set up a formalised Field Section with its own rules and committee. In addition we will be holding our Field Section Annual General Meeting and as you can see we now have our own website.
We intend to apply for Open Cocker Spaniel Status in 2009. We will also continue to provide for our other spaniel breeds in the society by applying for All-Aged status at the same time.
Our membership comprises about 60% Cocker Spaniel, 35% English Springer Spaniel and 5% other variety of sporting Spaniel. We actively encourage all breeds of Spaniel to participate in our events, not just Cockers and Springer's.
We are a very friendly and enthusiastic club and we actively encourage novice handlers and dogs in our gundog society. We know it can be daunting coming into any new sport and here at London Cocker you be guided and supported. We have members with little or no experience right through to people who have competed in and Judged the Spaniel Championships. There is no experience or breed snobbery in our club. Our events are mainly run in Essex and Suffolk.
So come on and join us!
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Contact Frank Geraghty
Field Secretary of the London Cocker Spaniel Society on either:
01473 328485 or 0777 5614300
All of our events are kindly sponsored by Skinners Dog Foods