Newsletter – November 2025

My very dear Irish Terrier Friends

It seems to have been a long silence and I have to confess that my life has not been at all easy. It all started with another broken leg, that was entirely my fault fidgeting around and slipping, but the saddest thing which I do want tell you very briefly was that my beloved son Jamie died after a brain haemorrhage – it was a truly desperate experience for me.

People say we were very alike in many ways and his presence was always peaceful and so well suited to me. We adored each other and he was so dearly loved by the rest of the family.

It wouldn’t be true to say that there are no more tears but with everybody’s kindness and help and my beloved Irish Terrier Marybel, we have all survived.

Marybel takes great care of me and when anyone comes to see me, she plants herself firmly in front of me, facing my friends – it’s really sweet and makes us all laugh. I have a great many cousins who have all been wonderful and I cannot thank my family enough for their kindness.

We had a lovely summer in Lymington and this really is a magical place to live – very reminiscent of childhood days when we knew everyone and trusted everyone. I do feel hugely privileged – we shelter behind the Isle of Wight and the storms blow over.

Marybel is the most wonderful companion – she makes everybody laugh and does stunts with the tennis ball, jumping as high as the gate and has a very characteristic little trot back with the ball in her mouth. She’s absolute heaven for me and I cannot sing the praises of our lovely, beautiful, loyal, funny beloved Irish Terriers. She has taught me to feel that life is not such a bad thing after all!

Marybel I confess, loves to sleep on my bed, she knows that my pillows are sacrosanct but she gets up as close as she can.

We probably won’t talk about this again but I did want you to know that it’s been a very trying time for us all and it seemed sensible to just keep quiet and out of the way until the worst was over, and after all, there is always so much to make us grateful.

We had a wonderful gathering at the Animal War Memorial last week, having missed last year I was amazed at what a tremendous crowd had gathered and to my great delight Richard read the little poem and the applause at the end went on forever.

Please let me know if you would like a card and I will be delighted to send it to you.

We’re going to have Derek Jacobi reading it and we will be putting it up on the website over the coming weeks.

We placed our wreathes carefully and as always they were dedicated to the Micks an the Airedales. I have a special place in my heart for the Airedales, they were wonderful in the field and could do the tasks that would have been too much for a smaller dog – they could carry more weight in terms of medication or water bottles than our best beloveds and have every right to be remembered.

There was one sweet moment for me when a darling Irish Terrier puppy came wriggling up and smiled at me – my heart gave a jump, she was the image of our adored Miss Liberty Belle. I said to the owner “Is she one of Ann Bradley’s dogs? She looks exactly like one of ours when she was a puppy” “Yes!” she replied “We lost our old lady and she is a huge comfort.”Nothing changes.

 

I think it was a unique and wonderful effort to have such a beautiful memorial and hope that the rest of the world will copy our idea – I know of nowhere else that has such a lovely tribute to the animals.

 

It was lovely to meet old friends and talk about the Micks. They have always been the greatest joy and solace in my life and for 90 years, (my brother’s Jocky-Boy arrived when I was 3) I have never been without one.

 

I hear the Christmas bells ringing, please do send us some pictures. When we were children, my brother Ronald’s Jocky-Boy was always the shepherd’s dog in the nativity play at the church with more or less success. As he got older he would try to lie down and start yawning and looking out into the congregation to spot his friends. There were several Christmases when he jumped up behind us as we were doing our shepherd and angel bit and he almost pushed us off our perches.

 

It’s fun to have Christmas in view, but what a wonderful summer we had. The heat was sometimes merciless but although it’s getting colder, I’m wondering why we all complained about the heat.

 

Marybel had her first Christmas present – a long plastic tube with 6 bright turquoise tennis balls with her name on them. We’ll be sending picture soon!

The newsletters will roll out as before and I shall have great pleasure writing them.

With kindest regards and special love to the dogs.