This article was written by Mr. Richard Edwards and amended and approved by Mrs. Gwen Broadley.  It appeared in the premier issue of the ILD (International Labrador Digest) and is being reprinted in memoriam to her.

Mrs. Gwen Broadley owned and bred top class Labradors for over sixty-five years.  Her Sandylands prefix is the most successful prefix in the history of the show Labrador.  Within Great Britain, Sandylands has no equal, indeed it does not have a close rival.  Many good dogs have been exported from Sandylands and dogs carrying the prefix have taken their championships throughout the main countries of the Labrador world, and they continue to do so.

The foundations were Juno of Sandylands and Ch. Jerry of Sandylands.  Jerry was born in June of 1929.  The 1930’s were an especially productive era for the Labrador in Britain.  Countess Howe was at the height of her powers and her dogs dominated the show ring and the trials.  It was not easy for a novice to break into the scene and Jerry took five years to complete his title.  Pre-war, there were three Sandylands title holders, Jerry, June and Janice of Sandylands.  Some of the early “J” breeding were exported to the United States of America.  In the Complete Labrador Retriever, Helen Warwick recalls that Mrs. Mariel King of the Kingswere kennel brought in Jewel of Sandylands and her litter sister Jean of Sandylands – both were grand-daughters of Jerry in the middle of the 1930’s.  Jean was the dam of Field Ch. The Spider of Kingswere, who was a wonderful producer for them.

Obvioulsly, with the coming of the second World War, all the main kennels cut down their activities drastically and many gave up completely.  Mrs. Broadley did manage to keep a nucleus of stock going.  In the very darkest days of the war, in the period when it looked likely that Britain would be invaded, it was very difficult to justify any sort of breeding.  Eventually, the tide of war turned and it was clear that the Allies, led by the U.S. and Britain, would win, and breeding started up again on a limited scale.

From the very start of shows after the war, Mrs. Broadley was in a very strong position and was able to rapidly develop the Sandylands prefix into one of the most important in the country.  At this time, Mrs. Broadley maintained a kennel of show gundogs.  Writing his review of the kennel for the 1949 Our Dogs Annual, Mr. Frank Warner Hill of the famous Beauchief Springs wrote:  “Arriving at the top ina any sphere is a long and arduous experience and once established, remaining there is doubly difficult.  Thus we appreciate the continued high standing of Mrs. Gwen Broadley’s gundog kennel which houses seven champions, two of which been added this year.  The champions are Ch. Landyke Patrick, Ch. June of Sandylands, Ch. Sandylands Blackberry, Ch. Sandylands Harley Superb and Ch. Sandylands Beau (Labradors), Ch Sandylands Shrubly (English Springer) and Ch. Harley Cherrybank Gentleman (Cocker).   Four other C.C. winners are the Springers, Sandylands Sherry and Sandylands Shandy, the Cocker Harley of Sandylands Fancy and the Pointer, Harley Lady of Bonnyside.”

Mr. Topott of Nottingham owned the Harley prefix and some of the dogs were in partnership with him though none of the Labradors were jointly owned-they were Mrs. Broadley’s alone.  It must be remembered that all of this was within a few years of the end of the war.  The successful pattern was set and so it continues to the present day.  In this immediate postwar period a number of dogs were exported to the U.S.A.  In particular, the yellow male Ch. Landyke Patrick and the big winning black bitch Ch. Sandylands Harley Princess.

Around the middle 1950’s, Mrs. Broadley went into partnership with Countess Howe (Banchory).  An interesting arrangement was made whereby some of the dogs were in the joint ownership of the two ladies but both Countess Howe and Mrs. Broadley had some dogs in their own names.  It was a short but highly successful partnership especially with the black dog Ch. British Justice, who was a big winner of the era.  Before she was exported to the U.S.A., Ch. Sandylands Harley Princess had a litter to which included Ch. Sandylands Belle of Helenspring who had been sold but was bought back into Sandylands to replace her mother.  Belle was to prove a brilliant brood.  In three litters to Ch. British Justice, Belle produced Ch. Sandylands Justice, Ch. Sandylands Jilly and Sh. Ch. Sandylands Juno.  In a later litter to Ch. Whatstandwell Coronet, Belle was the dam of the lovely black Ch. Sandylands Cora.  It was around this time that Countess Howe was having the greatest difficulty getting around and she decided to give up the Labradors and the partnership with Mrs. Broadley was concluded.  Mrs. Broadley was in a difficult position; she had no place to house the dogs.  She went from having a brilliant kennel full of top winners, back to the Midlands with only a few Labradors, of which only Juno and her daughter, Sandylands Annabel were of breeding age.

Around this time Mrs. Broadley awarded Sam of Blaircourt his first C.C. and after the show, persuaded the Cairns (Blaircourt) to let her have him.  Sam was made up very quickly.  Mrs. Grace Lambert (Harrowby) then made a very good offer on Sam which Mrs. Broadley accepted.  Sam had a fine career in America.  In an attempt to replace him, Mrs. Broadley asked the Cairns for a dog puppy from a litter they were expecting.  In due course, a black dog puppy arrived unseen in a box by rail from Scotland.  He was to become the legendary Ch. Sandylands Tweed of Blaircourt.  Now, clearly, Mrs. Broadley knew the quality of the Blaircourt bloodlines and knew that the puppy ought to be nice but no one, not even Mrs. Broadley, the greatest breeder of show Labradors of all time, could have any idea just what an impact this dog puppy was to have.  Tweed is behind every single top quality show Labrador in Britain!  Since the early 1970’s every single show Labrador champion in Britain goes back to Tweed, usually many times.  If one were to extend the pedigrees of some top winners back, Tweed would appear time after time after time.  The Brabbans’ lovely black bitch Sh. Ch Cambremer All That Jazz has over ninety lines back to Tweed if one were to extend the pedigree far enough.  Of course, he is so far back in the pedigree that he is having no impact but it is an illustration of just how central the dog was to the Labrador in Britain.  There are plenty of other pedigrees that would illustrate the degree to which Tweed’s blood infuses the show Labrador.  Although it may not be to the same degree, most of the top winning show Labradors throughout the world have Tweed in their pedigrees.

Before he was exported, Sam of Blaircourt sired a litter that included Sandylands Shadow, who was mated to Tweed’s son, Sandylands Tan.  This breeding produced a whole range of important show and breeding stock.  For Mrs. Roslin-Williams (Mansergh), the mating produced Reanacre Sandylands Tarmac, who was so vital in developing her lines.  For Mrs. Broadley, the mating produced a very beautiful yellow bitch in Sh. Ch. Sandylands Tanna who was later exported to Mr. J. Lewis II in the U.S.A.  Tanna had a yellow brother in Ch. Sandylands Tandy, a great stud dog through the 1960’s and early 1970’s, and another of the breeding was the great black show bitch Ch. Sandylands Truth who won the C.C. at Crufts and was the dam of four British champions including Sandylands Mark and his litter brother Sh. Ch. Sandylands Midas, who was later exported to Mrs. Grace Lambert.  Mark was to prove the greatest sire of champions of any breed within Great Britain and it is doubtful if his record will ever be broken save by artificial insemination – all Mark’s British champions were conceived naturally.  Thus, within a decade of being in such a difficult position on the break-up of the partnership with Countess Howe, Mrs. Broadley had regrouped to such an extent that the Sandylands Kennel had reached new heights of success.