(Afghan Hound Database and Breed Information Exchange)
 Chaman Afghan Hounds UK Page 6 (By Steve Tillotson October 2013) Molly Sharpe also judged the breed, so let's have a look at what we know of her judging record. This won't be a full record of Molly's judging, just a collection from the AHT archives. We can add to this section as more information comes to light. Noting that Molly was located in Scotland, several hundred miles away from southern England, it's interesting to note that she was the Judge of the first ever Southern Afghan Hound Open show. (From the SAHC website "It all started with Albert Munro receiving a letter from Mrs Lily Southgate sometime in 1946 (she never did date her letters) in order to inaugurate a new Afghan Club, which Mr Reg Floyd wished to get going. The meeting took place at the King's Head, Putney. At the meeting, the business of starting the new Club was transacted (the procedure was simpler then) and it was decided to call it the Southern Afghan Club. Officers and Committee were elected, the original Officers being Mr Reg Floyd (President), Mr Leo Wilson (Chairperson), Mrs Lily Southgate (Secretary), Mrs Jessie Polson (Treasurer) and Mr Albert Munro (ViceChairperson). This team pressed ahead, and came eventually to the holding of the first show. The fee for entering this show was one guinea and membership of the Southern Afghan Club was also one guinea). SOUTHERN AFGHAN HOUND CLUB, 1947 Below is a scan of a prize card from that very first SAHC show way back in 1947. Now I know "Who" won that prize card, but I don't know with which dog she won the prize card. The winner was Ms Eileen Snelling (Khorrassan). I know this because I helped Ms Snelling during her recovery from a fall and a broken hip. During that wonderful period of being with her, she shared many stories. She had kept "every" prize card, Challenge Certificate etc she had ever won over a 40 year breeding and showing history. With her permission, I was able to scan all of these prize cards/certificates. Amongs the hundreds of awards is the one below, showing Molly Sharpe as judge.
LADIES KENNEL ASSOCIATION, 1959 The next prize card we have on file is for 1959 when Molly Sharpe judged the prestigious Ladies Kennel Association at Olympia, London. Again from the Eileen Snelling collection, and this time we have details of the dog that Molly chose as her Best Of Breed -
CRUFTS 1958 AND 1973
It is a huge honour to be invited to judge at the worlds largest and most famous dog show -Crufts. Molly was honoured twice, once in 1958 and a second time in 1973 which happened also to be the Centenary year of the founding of The Kennel Club. So to be invited to judge that particular Crufts was a very special honour,
Molly's best dog/best bitch for the shows were as follow - 1958, Khan El Kabul (dog) .Ch Wild Iris of Khorrassan (bitch). I checked the Eileen Snelling archive collection and was able to track down a photo of Molly at Crufts with Dr Porter and Ms Snelling. I can validate this because the ring number on Dr Porter (67) is the number for Khan El Kabul as printed in the catalogue. Thank you to the (late) Ms Snelling for her precious archives 1973 Ch Marquis of Anzani (dog) , Ch Bondor Barbarella (bitch) AHC NORTHERN NEW JERSEY, USA 1976
Thanks to the kindness of Rik Mcdowell (Panache, USA) we also have the photograph above of Molly judging in the USA. Rick informs us "Here is an ad for Portia's daughter PJ that I bred winning one of her specialty majors under Molly Sharpe herself. She said to Susan that PJ could have been an own daughter of Rana because they looked SO much alike. Could there be a higher compliment??" Thank you Rik for sharing that lovely anecdote and treasured photo of Molly and PJ. Related content Breed History Canada Rana Of Chaman of Royal Irish Page Previous Chaman Page Library Of Articles/Main Menu Toolbar Whats New Page |
