The Beginning

By Susan Livingstone

It was in 1993 that Georgia Lawrence spoke to many Siberian Husky owners and exhibitors to see if they would be interested in a Scottish Club. The majority felt that with the numbers of Siberian Huskies in Scotland a Scottish club would be beneficial.

I then wrote to the Kennel Club for the appropriate forms and I also sent out forms printed by Janet Lodge, to Siberian Husky owners in Scotland, to be filled in and returned if they wished to become members. We had a good response, so the ball started rolling. Helen Feilden approached me at a show offering her help; she had previously been involved with a Whippet club, so she was familiar with the running of a breed club.

Our inaugural meeting was held in October 1994 and was well supported. Aitken Johnston, who is now the club president, chaired the meeting. It was discussed whether we should apply for a branch of the British club or an independent Scottish club. A vote was taken and the result was in favour of an independent Scottish club. A steering committee was then nominated and voted on with Mark Theaker as chairman, Helen Feilden as secretary and myself as Treasurer. The committee was Georgia Lawrence, Mary Davidson, Laurna McKie, Rhoda Sharp, Janet Lodge, Audrey Richardson and Jacqui Kelly. It was then up to the new steering committee to draw up a proposal Constitution and Code of Ethics for the club.

A special general meeting was held in February 1995 where the members accepted the Constitution and Code of Ethics. An election was held for the officer’s positions – Secretary Helen Fielden, Treasurer Audrey Richardson, and chairman Georgia Lawrence. The committee being Laurna McKie, Juliana Dorman, Steve Taws, Janet Lodge, Gordon Lawrence and myself.     Various events were held, fun days and fun rallies etc until on November 11th 1996 the club was finally given KC recognition.

The committee still contains a few of the original committee members, along with some new ones. The club was given Championship status by the Kennel Club in 2006.   We now hold two Open shows and one Championship show per year, plus the occasional judging and working seminar.   We also hold Rallies from the beginning of October until the end of March where members can enjoy running their dogs in harness against the clock in a competitive environment or just come along and run their dogs for the exercise and mental stimulation of the dogs.  Our members also receive the club's magazine Northern Exposure three times per year.

We now have a Welfare Scheme in place for Siberian Huskies, and money-raising events are held by the club and individual members to raise funds for this cause.