BASC Breeder Club for gundogs launched at The Game Fair
The BASC Breeder Club, launched in partnership with Agria Pet Insurance, is free to join and provides five-week insurance cover for puppies.
Crufts 2025: meet the judges
Judging in BASC’s gamekeeper rings at Crufts is a dream for many who have dedicated years to breeding and training working gundogs.
The trio who make up the the judging team for Crufts 2025 are Colin Adamson, Sara Chichester and Angie Cooper.
Colin Adamson
Colin Adamson grew up in the village of Bradley, near Skipton in Yorkshire, where he first discovered his passion for dog training by helping a local farmer train border collies. In the early 1970s, he purchased his first spaniel and trained it using a Peter Moxon book, eventually working his dog, Ben, on local shoots. This experience ignited a lifelong involvement with gundogs and the shooting world.
In 1973, Colin began his career as a gamekeeper on a sporting estate in Scotland, training his own spaniels and Labradors, which became integral to his work. His interest expanded to pointers when he and a friend trained one to count grouse on the estate, later achieving field trial champion status with Bella. Over four decades as head keeper on a large grouse moor, Colin honed his expertise in training and working with pointers, setters, spaniels, and Labradors, making a significant impact in both his profession and the field trial community.
Throughout his career, Colin found immense satisfaction in running trials for all gundog breeds and working with these remarkable animals. For him, the ideal day is spent on the moors, walking up with a spaniel hunting and a Labrador retrieving game.
Sara Chichester
Sara has had dogs all her life, growing up with terriers, lurchers, poodles, and Alsatians. Her mother bred poodles in the early 1960s, and Sara took over her Wiscombe affix for gundogs in 1985.
She is an A panel judge for retrievers and pointers and setters, judged the P&S Champion Stakes in 2024, and serves on several gundog club committees, including the Kennel Club field trial committee.
An accomplished handler, Sara has owned, trained, and handled six Field Trial Champions, including three Gordon Setters, one Irish Setter, one pointer, and one retriever (FTCH Highdunscott Alice of Wiscombe, who won the 1995 IGL Retriever Championship).
She represented Team GB in the World Championship of Pointing Dogs and the Ladies St Hubert.. Notably, in 2017, her team achieved second place in both events, and she became the first person to win an award in the World Championship St Hubert with a Gordon Setter.
Sara continues to work all her dogs in the shooting field and enjoys shooting over her setters and spaniels. Her passion for training and competing has taken her across the globe, showcasing her expertise and love for gundogs.
Angie Cooper
Angie has owned Golden Retrievers since 1981 and began showing them later that same year. Over the years, she has made up three full champions, won several junior warrants, and earned two top puppy in breed awards in 1992 and 2004. Angie has also been involved in working her show-bred Golden Retrievers for over 35 years and, alongside her partner, now works with both working-bred Labradors and goldens. She has picked up on grouse moors in North Yorkshire for more than 20 seasons, as well as in Northumberland, the Yorkshire Dales, and on local Midlands pheasant and partridge shoots.
Angie has achieved wins at all levels of working tests with her show-bred dogs and earned field trial awards with a half-show, half-working-bred bitch, securing a coveted UK stud book entry. While she does not compete in field trials herself, she enjoys supporting them and regularly assists at events. Since 2006, Angie has attended the International Gundog League Retriever Championships annually, reporting on the event for various publications. As a judge, she has overseen retriever working gundog tests for many years and, since 2014, has served as an NP field trial judge.
Angie has awarded Kennel Club challenge certificates in Golden Retrievers in the UK since 2011 and has judged the breed across many European countries. She also has experience of judging BASC classes at Crufts before and is set to judge Golden Retrievers in Australia in 2025. A dedicated member of The Golden Retriever Club, Angie served on its committee from 2013 and as honorary secretary from 2015 to 2024.
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Victoria Chesters talks about the many firsts at the opening of this year’s partridge season in company of her new gundog-(still)-in-training, Walter.
Bumper entry for BASC gamekeeper classes at Crufts 2023
Gundog Day kicks off Crufts 2023 tomorrow, with BASC’s gamekeeper rings hosting 20 classes for working dogs at the world’s biggest dog show.
