Newsletter – March 2026

Dear Irish Terrier Friends

Marybel has extended her ring of devoted friends – everyone hangs over the gate to talk to her and she and I have a deadly secret which is, we both know she can get under or over the gate with complete ease and run back the same way she went looking like true innocence “No I haven’t been out!” She’s pretty agile and has a very loving personality and a real ‘socialite’
Not at all discriminating and ready to commune with anyone who comes within sight of the gate.

She has extended her repertoire which begins with jumps through her hoops, then onto the table, onto the chair, back under the table and up again. She’s a very coveted choreographer and enjoys little variations to surprise us! She leaps onto the old wooden table which has a wonky leg and likes to make it rock.

She seems so very well in spite of her age, she’ll be 9 in June and is still a puppy at heart. I wonder if this is what endears the Micks to their families? It’s rather like having a permanent toddler in the house but I can only say she has brought friendship and laughter to everybody here and I bless her dear heart every single day. Interestingly she does not like being in trouble, knocking a cup off the table or nabbing a piece of cake or a chocolate biscuit – which is not acceptable, even if nobody’s watching.

I have never had an Irish Terrier who was not a thief when it came to food. Years ago when the children were young, the 2 ITs at that time were Bunch and Becks, and they ate a whole terrible German Gingerbread Babes in the Woods house (Lebkuchen). They also sucked sherbert out of the very elaborate tree decorations – they had a rather quiet Christmas Day!

This is a picture of Marybel’s’ thieving at it’s best!

If you’re wondering why she’s called Marybel, one reason was that Libby’s name was Liberty Belle and Libbs was convinced she’d given birth to Marybel who she adored. Marybel was named after one of the fairies in Fadden and the Fairies – you can listen to it or order a copy of the book from the website. When the puppy arrives in the land of the little people, 2 fairies step up and say “We’re Marybell and Little Flo, We’ll teach you all you need to know.” – the name just suits her to perfection.

Copies are available here . . .

Click on the book cover to hear Derek Jacobi reading Faddie.

She is a born entertainer and gets very put out if friends gather round the birdcage – Celandine and Freddie Patches are in good heart, they have a swing in the cage and Freddie can actually swing himself which makes me laugh! He still sings and has been full of song all through the winter.

I felt my heart drops into my boots the other day when a friend said “We tried having canaries once but they only live for 2 or 3 years and the tears when they die were more than we could bear, and they are now much more expensive to replace.” I said “Well I’ve never thought like that about my birds, my canaries live forever!”

Celandine has grown a magnificent coat of feathers which range in shades from silver white to almost tangerine – she looks like an angel, Fred, is much younger (he’s only 2) and she wallops him just for fun or when she thinks he might be growing amorous.

They’re endlessly amusing except to Maryb who thinks that everything should be about her!

Now that the sun is out, we all gather in the front porch topping up our suntan. I can hardly believe that Crufts has been and gone – it makes me so sad as I remember the happy times that we had at the show at the NEC. Discover Dogs is something not to be missed. My granddaughter Kate came with me for years and loved every minute. I hope that if you attended this year, you visited Discover Dogs with its banner that says ‘We wish you the top o’ the morning’

I caught up with Daisy a few weeks ago, she’s a lovely girl who belongs to Derek Jacobi and Richard Clifford – they adore her of course and she is quite a hard act to follow after their first beloved Bella. Bella used to sit in Derek’s dressing room at the theatre and knew to the minute when the show was over – she would wait, wagging her tail, for the fans to come, probably stretched out on Laurence Olivier’s chaise longue. She was a beautiful dog too and great fun. Daisy and I are devoted to each other and she always whispers in my ear “Take me to the seaside!”

I had the great pleasure yesterday of meeting one of the organisers of the marvellous Irish Terrier Jamboree (held on a Cornish Beach in October) – we can share more details of this year’s Jamboree closer to the time. It’s a very impressive and wonderful gathering and Mandy has promised videos, pictures and a written piece.

I do thank you sincerely for the many many kind wishes and sympathy sent when Jamie died, we won’t talk of this again, but thank you from the bottom my heart.

With much love and blessings.