Southern Counties Bearded Collie Club
The SCBCC is dedicated to promoting the interests of the Bearded Collie
IN MEMORY OF...
Mary Jamieson
Mary was born on 3rd September 1940. One year after 2nd World War started. She together with her mother and sister were bombed out of their home near Thornton Heath and Croydon when Mary was old enough to remember it, and they were then evacuated down to Devon.
Mary’s god mother made all the arrangements for their accommodation and she was fortunate enough to have a private tutor for schooling. The time spent in Devon was when Mary started her love of horses and riding. She was lucky enough to have access for riding a pony and the outdoor life.
After the war and after her father (who was a Master Builder by trade) had been DE mobbed from the army, the family lived in Addiscombe for a while. They then moved to a bungalow on a large plot of land in Biggin Hill, Kent.
Mary went to school in Bromley and continued her love of horse riding, and because her father took to breeding German Shepherds she learned to love dogs and their welfare.
After leaving school at 16 years Mary went to work in a laboratory at a factory that made capacitors. That was where she met and worked with Sylvia and they became life long friends. Their job was to test the capacitors after manufacture. Both Mary and Sylvia were each other’s Brides Maids when they were both married and both couples enjoyed holidays together several times.
When Mary reached the age of 18 years she applied for and got a job as a Civil Servant. She had several positions in the Civil Service commencing with a position in the Department for Overseas Development. As she got older and for advancement she transferred to another department in Stag House, Victoria, London, where she became Personal Assistant to The M.P. Barbara Castle, who was Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity at the time. Once again she transferred for advancement to another department where she organized and oversaw dining and celebratory dinners at the Royal Naval College Greenwich. Here she employed and supervised dozens of the staff in the kitchens and those who waited on table.
By this time Mary had married for a second time. She had two young boys from the first marriage Mark and Philip, and she was holding down a second job where she was working in a wine bar in Westerham in the evenings. This being necessary in order to make ends meet.
Mary’s second husband George, wasn’t happy about the long hours that Mary was working and so she made her final change of employment to the NHS. This job was for managing and supervising thirteen houses on a site near Bromley which were occupied by mentally disadvantaged people of all ages. There were doctors and nurses at this place who were all answerable to Mary and she loved that job. Unfortunately, she had to take early retirement at 60 in order for her to nurse her husband through his illness until he passed away.
Throughout her career Mary had continued with her love of horse riding and had had one or two unfortunate accidents. One was where her horse back- heeled a hoof into her face which broke her nose and cheek bone which required a stainless steel plate repair, and secondly suffering a broken knee, which took a long time to mend. Because of the second accident and prior to George’s passing they both enjoyed a visit to the Edenbridge and Oxted Show in the Autumn. It was at that show where Mary first saw a bearded collie which she fell in love with. Apparently George remarked that perhaps she should consider giving up riding as she was well into her fifty’s and get herself a beardie. She agreed and that was the beginning of her life with the breed.
In 1997 Mary, still living in Biggin Hill, started life with her first Bearded Collie, Jamie. She bred her first litter with Jamie in 2000 and from that litter of six she kept one of the puppies another bitch which she named Honour. In order to train her dogs properly, Mary joined the Sevenoaks & District Dog Training Society, she also joined the Southern Counties Bearded Collie Club sometime in the seventies and whilst in the SCBCC she stood and served on the committee in several positions. She attended several seminars and training courses and achieved the Kennel Clubs Silver Award Certificate for testing dogs and their owners in the Good Citizen Dog Scheme. She passed the Gold test in that scheme with Jamie on 30th September2002.
Mary managed to get a third Beardie that had been bred by Toni Teasdale. This one she called Mia. All of her dogs were named after famous female actresses, Jamie Lee Curtis, Honour Blackman and Mia Farrow. All of her dogs did well in the show ring. She travelled all over the country to different dog shows and venues for many years and won many rosettes and trophies for competitions in different categories.
When I first met Mary she was also Secretary of the Sevenoaks and District Guide Dogs Association, She resigned from that position when we moved down here to Lingfield in November 2019. Mia passed away in March 2020 and Mary was lucky enough to be offered another puppy bred by Toni Teasdale. That one she named Cassie. She then went and joined the East Grinstead & District Dog Training Club and helped with the training of puppies and older dogs in The Good Citizen Training Scheme. She held the position as Senior Trainer until June 2025, when because of her illness, she felt she couldn’t carry on any longer.
In 2015 we felt that Cassie needed a companion. Mary did her research and found the Lucas Terrier breed. We managed to obtain one from a breeder in Aberystwyth, Wales and we named her Bramble. She and Cassie became good pals. Mary and I subsequently joined the Lucas Terrier club and Bramble had a litter in January 2018. She had two dogs and two bitches. We kept one of the dogs and named him Bracken.
Obviously, Mary’s life was fulfilled by her involvement and love of horses and dogs and because of her connections she met so many people and made so many friends.
David Adby
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Elizabeth Kershaw
Elizabeth Kershaw was passionate about maintaining the Bearded Collie as a working dog, fit for function and protecting this for the future. She spent her whole life in and around dogs, dog training and dog health. From serving on the committee of the Reading & District Dog Training Club, to the many years she served as a well-respected member on the SCBCC Committee as Working & Education Officer, Editor and Chairman.
Elizabeth was always in demand at our social events to give advice on training and indeed she was one of the first to introduce clicker training for puppies in our area and starting puppy training earlier than most, and with great success.
Elizabeth always had a Beardie by her side and was always happy to help members who wanted to take the Working Tests. Some ten years ago or so, Elizabeth was involved in a Bearded Collie health report with Dr. Anne McBride of the University of Southampton. Never shying away from trying new things, Elizabeth should be remembered as a pioneer in dog training.
For all those who she helped and all those who knew her she will be remembered fondly as that quietly spoken lady who was always there for anyone needing help.
Thank you Elizabeth.
