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WILLOWSTAFF - THE BEGINNINGS:

Jenny and myself purchased our first Stafford (a bitch) in May 1985, with the assistance of Brian Grattidge of the well known ‘Karjobri’ Kennel Name. Beth was
a standard black/brindle bitch out of Ch Pegs Bolton Trip and Lady Black Bess. Shortly afterwards we purchased a dog out of Ch Karjobri Black Pepper x Moonlight Symphony, born 29 June 1985 and we called him Buster. Originally intended as pets, we decided to show our dogs on a casual basis and so began a ‘hobby’ which has lasted over 37 years and which has taken us all over the UK and abroad judging in America, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain and Sweden – some hobby?!
 

Needless to say, Beth (Beth Ann of Birkholme) and Buster (Buster of Birkholme) produced our first litter in May 1987 and we kept a bitch and named her Jemicks Black Siren (Becky). Becky did very well in the show ring despite hating every minute, and by then we had got the bug and so we purchased a dog from Bob Evans in the Black Country (now Councillor Bob Evans who has responsibility for the Black Country SBT Museum). Josh was out of Ghengis Arn - a son of Malstaffs Danny Boy and Yankeestaff Fandango [bred by Nancy Malec]) and we aptly named him Birkholme Bovver Boy. Josh was a successful show dog and in 1989 he was mated to Becky which produced the very first litter with the Willowstaff Kennel Name. There were 3 dogs and 2 bitches in the litter and owing to work commitments etc., we didn’t keep anything for ourselves. We did however show two of the puppies: Willowstaff Guardian Spirit (dog) and Willowstaff Dark Crystal (bitch), who both gained RCC’s under June Bennett and Barbara Lacey respectively. These awards were achieved despite the fact that due to circumstances beyond our control, neither was campaigned sufficiently to gain further success. We were fortunate to be in a position to buy back Willowstaff Dark Crystal (Millie) at 4½ years of age and mated her to Moosskel Medicine Man in 1994, which produced Willowstaff Warpaint. Mac (who was jointly owned with Mick’s Father – Frank) was a top-size dog who did a lot of winning and gained his KC Stud Book number. We also kept his sister Willowstaff Wild Child for her bloodlines and future breeding programme. Millie was mated for the second time in 1996 to Spirestaff Jimmy Jazz (who went on to become a Champion) this was the first time he was used at stud and this mating produced Willowstaff Sheer Elegance, a multiple Stud Book winning bitch and also Willowstaff Tommy Gun who was campaigned in Germany and then Spain when his owners Frank and Gerlinde Weyand moved due to the introduction of the German BSL. Tommy Gun gained CAC and CACIB’s in both Germany and Spain.

Jemicks Black Siren (Becky) had one other litter in 1992 and the surviving bitch out of the litter we kept and named her Willowstaff Sugar and Spice (Tilly). Her father was Dustin Dan – a dog of superb conformation and athleticism. Unfortunately Tilly only ever produced one puppy and ultimately had to be spayed. Nevertheless she remains one of our favourite bitches who did a fair amount of winning and lived a long and healthy life until she had to be put to sleep in October 2007 at the ripe old age of 15.5 years.

Willowstaff Wild Child (Annie) was mated in November 1996 to Ch Boldbull Black Jack and produced Willowstaff Night Guardian (D) and Willowstaff Sheer Delight (B). Willowstaff Night Guardian (Jake) was shown to some success but is predominantly a much loved pet, and Sheer Delight (Willow) was given to our good friend and eventual partner in the Willowstaff Kennel Name, Sally. Willow hated showing and was subsequently mated to a son of Bovver Boy in 1998 which produced Willowstaff Sheer Magic (Zola) who resided with Jenny and Mick and who we showed spasmodically, mating her to Ch Polynesian Waka Navigator in 2002.

Prior to mating Zola, Willowstaff Sheer Elegance was mated to Steelyard Double Dash in December 2001, producing one of our most successful bitches: Willowstaff Poetry N Motion JW (Mollie). Mollie was given to Sally Cox and around that time Sally was incorporated into the Willowstaff Kennel Name and is joint owner of all our more recent Staffords, 3 of whom reside with her in Essex. Zola produced a litter of seven in July 2002, 6 of whom were bitches, and we kept another winning bitch: Willowstaff Spellbinder JW.

One must not forget Steelyard Innovator at Willowstaff JW whom we purchased from Simon & Sue Hunt in 1999 out of Ch Boldbull Black Jack (the last litter he sired) x Steelyard Silken Steel. Zac has been a successful show dog gaining his JW/Stud Book and proving himself a most useful Stud Dog, Siring (in addition to our own stock): Tittley & Bosanko's Garwstaff Nats Our Boy JW, RCC, John's Welshstaff Pearley Jack JW, 2 CC's & 1RCC, and a promising young dog: Hall's Willowstaff Black Prince - KC Stud Book (scroll further down this page to see photo on the left). 

In addition to campaigning dogs Jenny and Mick have been members of a number of Breed Clubs for many years, but our main Club is the Notts & Derby
District SBT Club. Jenny was Club Secretary for the 7 years to March 2009, followed by the roles of Treasurer and News Bulletin Editor and Mick is the Club Chairman and Breed Council Representative. Jenny was also Public Relations Officer for the SBT Breed Council of Great Britain and NI for the four years 1998-2002.  Mick & Jenny also ran the monthly Notts & Derby Members' Handling Classes for many years on behalf of the Club. We retired from the N&DDSBT Club at the 2022 AGM after over 30 years service and continue our close association through our Life Membership of the Club.

In 2007 Jenny was approached by the late Alec Waters (Ashtock) along with 4 other breed experts to write chapters in a NEW SBT BOOK.  The book
was published in February 2008 as part of the Best of Breed range of books entitled: "Staffordshire Bull Terrier Edited by Alec Waters" (The Pet Book Publishing Company: ISBN 1-906305-00-5 RRP: £12.99) and Jenny is proud to have been part of this project.  Jenny is the author of Chapter 1 (Getting to Know The Staffordshire Bull Terrier) and part-author of Chapter 6 - 'Training & Socialisation', having written about 'New Challenges' (see page 104 to the end of this Chapter).  Other Breed specialists who contributed chapters are Alec Waters (Ashtock), Jim Beaufoy (Wyrefare), Clare Lee (Constones) and Norma Vann (Vanoric).  The book is aimed at the informed enthusiast and new SBT pet owner and we can thoroughly recommend it. 
 

We have both pursued judging careers and are now both on the A1 List of Judges. Mick judged his first Championship show in 1999 at the SBT Club of South Wales (Bitches). He has since judged Dogs at Notts & Derby at their Diamond Jubilee Show in 2002 and Western SBT Society (Bitches) in 2004. Jenny judged her first Championship Show in 2005 (Bitches at Potteries SBT Club), and Mick has also judged abroad in America and South Africa and both Jenny and Mick had the great honour of judging the Inaugural Championship Shows of the SBT Club of Northern New South Wales Inc., in Australia in September 2005. 

In 2006 both Jenny and Mick judged at General Championship Shows:- Mick at Leeds in July and Jenny at Midland Counties in October.   See 'Show Photos' for photos of these and other shows.  Mick and Jenny also had the pleasure of judging in South Africa in 2008 - Mick at the Northern Tshwane Show and Jenny at the North West Club Show, which was yet another very memorable and wonderful experience. Mick last judged Bitches in the UK at the Potteries SBT Club Championship Show on Saturday, 19 July 2008.  Jenny last judged Bitches in the UK at the Notts & Derby District SBT Club Championship Show on 26 July 2009. Both Mick & Jenny had the great honour of judging the inaugural 'Joseph Dunn Tribute' Championship Show on 29 August 2009 in Bratislava, Slovakia - this was the first time UK judges had been invited to judge Staffords at a SBT Breed Club Championship Show in Slovakia. Mick judged dogs and Jenny judged bitches - see 'Show Photos' page for photos from the Show.  On 3 July 2010 we had  the great honour of judging the Swedish Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club Championship show in Gränna, near Gothenburg. Mick judged the dogs and Jenny the bitches - the show was a spectacular event with a record entry. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and thank the Club for their wonderful hospitality and the exhibitors for the sporting way in which decisions were received. See 'Show Photos' page for further information and photos of the principal winners.

Jenny judged both sexes twice in 2011: in Dortmund, Germany at a Champ Show on 15 October 2011 and in the UK at the Midland Counties Canine Society Champ Show at the end of October. Mick judged bitches in Norway on 27 November 2011.  We were both honoured to have been given the opportunity to judge these shows and in particular the wonderful hospitality extended to us by our overseas hosts.  See 'Show Photos' page for principal results.

During 2013 we had the great pleasure of travelling to Australia where we both judged at the SBTC of Victoria Champ Show on 9/10 March, followed by the Speciality Show for the Northern SBT Club of New Zealand on 16 March.  This was followed by a trip to South Africa in May when Mick judged the North West SBT Club Show on 18 May and Jenny judged the Western Gauteng Champ Show on 19 May. Then it was back to the UK when in July Mick juded Dogs at the Notts & Derby District SBT Club Championship show. A great year.

On 12 September 2014 Jenny had the honour of judging Dogs at the first National Breed Show Championship Show organised by the SBT Club of France and on 13 September she judged Bitches at the CACIB Show organised by the Regional Canine Society (all breeds club) - French KC/FCI. A fantastic experience.

On 28 March 2015 Mick had much pleasure in judging both dogs & bitches in Slovakia at the Specialna Vystava Terierov Show held in Vinicne.  Another wonderful trip where the hospitality was excellent and the quality was extremely high.

On 4 April 2015 Jenny had the honour of judging Dogs at the prestigious National Terrier Club Championship Show in the UK when she awarded the Dog CC to Waystaff Diggers Double (his 3rd - thus gaining his Title) who also went Best of Breed and the RCC to Itcheboren Moster Show. Her Best Puppy Dog and Best Puppy In Breed was Illori Akinlana. Well done to all concerned.

Jenny judged for the first time in Spain when she judged the C.E.S.B.T. Championship Show in Madrid on 23 May 2015 - another great honour and experience with dogs of a high standard and where the hospitality once again was second to none.

Jenny and Mick judged the 'Stafford Showdown' organised by the Northern California SBT Club in Fresno, California on 6 & 7 February 2016 respectively. We were extremely pleased with the overall standard of the dogs and in particular our principal winners, that were all top quality examples of the breed. Our sincere thanks to exhibitors and in particular Susie & Butch Krauth for their friendship and hospitality during our all too brief stay. 

In March 2017 we both travelled to Slovakia to attend the Terrier Club Champ Show in March; sincere thanks to our fellow enthusiasts for their company and especially to Svetozar & Lenka Prochotsky (Perunstaff Kennels, Slovakia) for the excellent hospitality and friendship throughout the duration of our visit. This was followed in June 2017 when Mick was honoured to be invited to award Green Stars for the first time in Southern Ireland at the Cork SBT Club which was a wonderful experience with the usual first class hospitality extended by his hosts. Jenny was delighted to judge Bitches at the Notts & Derbt District SBT Club 75th Anniversary Show in July 2017; a great experience with wonderful support from abroad and top class exhibits. Photos will be added to the Show Photos page in due course.

2018 turned out to be a very hectic year and one in which we bred our very last two litters. These were out of each of our 'youngsters', Flame and Tess who produced litters of 4 and 6 respectively and this kept us busy for most of the year. We also spent the intervening time working on Chapter 1 of a book we contributed to which is entitled "Stories Of Breeders" which was launched in March 2019 at the Slovakian Terrier Club Show by Svetozar & Lenka Prochotsky who were the driving force in its conception. We are proud to be associated with this book which comprises chapters written by like minded breed enthusiasts from various European countries.

In 2019 Jenny had the great honour of judging Staffords at the Slovakian Terrier Club Show in March and had a quality entry of 85; as always the hospitality afforded us by Svetozar & Lenka and indeed the Club, was second to none. We also took the opportunity of visiting Jozef Pucek who is the joint owner of Lara (Willowstaff Special One) out of our final litter. It was great to see Jozef again and also to see Lara so happy and settled in her wonderful home with kennel mate Jimmy (Perunstaff Black Balance). A future mating is planned between these two and we look forward to a happy outcome in due course.

In May 2019 we both judged the SBT Sporting Club of Italy 'Stafford World' Show and thank our host Gian Luca Meles (Melrosstaf) for his warm welcome and excellent hospitality during our stay. We thoroughly enjoyed the judging and also watching the Sporting Competition the previous day. The dogs without exception were in excellent condition.

lJenny had the great pleasure of completing her first appointment in Ireland when she judged Staffords at the Belfast General Champ Show in October 2021 (deferred from 2020; due to Covid). On 30/31 July 2022 both Jenny & Mick are Referees at the Notts & Derby District SBT Club double Champ Show weekend (the second day of which is the Club's 80th Anniversary Show). Jenny is looking forward to her next UK appointment at the Midland Counties General Champ Show in October 2023. 

Looking to the future, we are due to judge in Perth, Western Australia in November 2023 (deferred from 2021 due to Covid) which is another wonderful experience which we both very much look forward to.
 

So 37 years on and here we are, still actively involved in the breed through judging and occasional exhibiting (our youngest are now veterans!). We are however taking a step back from some activities and after over 30 years service on the Notts & Derby Committee during which we ran the Handling Classes, Mick served as Vice Chairman and latterly Chairman and Jenny served as Secretary, Treasurer and latterly Committee Member, we retired at the 2022 AGM. We are also no longer breeding; having bred our last 2 litters in 2018. We are thankful for all the memories and experiences the show world has given us; may the Willowstaff Kennel Name continue to influence the pedigrees of those other breeders who have homed our Willowstaff puppies.