My name is Brenda Spencer and I live in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, near to Staffordshire University Stoke Campus, not far from the second factory built by Josiah Wedgwood at Etruria in 1768.
The site to-day has been developed and is known as the Festival Park and has a multi-cinema, ski slope, Waterworld, large retail complexes and houses and offices. The Moat House Hotel is part of Etruria Hall, the home of Josiah Wedgwood, built in 1770.
We already had a dog, Bob, when I was born, so it was probably inevitable that I would end up doing something with dogs.
We had dogs, cats, rabbits, canaries, budgerigars and fish. I was always bringing some dog or cat home that I had decided was lost.
I lost track of the number of fledgling sparrows my mother brought into the house to rear. We even had a pigeon with a broken wing in the back bedroom for six weeks.
One of my most vivid memories as a child was when I was about 5 years old. It was the annual Park Fete and there was a sheepdog demonstration and also one by the RAF Police dogs.
The sheepdog demonstration ended in chaos with the sheep escaping whilst they were being loaded back onto the van and running out of the park.
One RAF GSD refused to jump through the flaming hoop and was taken back into the tent
So started my love of these two beautiful breeds. I had my first collie in 1971, but it was with a crossbreed Golden Retriever/Labrador that I started in obedience.
