bill brightmore

[Guest fell terrier]

i have been lucky to know an old guy that in his heyday use to dig with bill and every couple of weeks i go round and visit him just to listen to his storys i was talking to him about bills blacks and where they came from as i have dogs that carry these lines and he went into his back room and came back with a large box full of photos and started rumageing through them after a few minute he gave me a photo of the first black terrier that bill ever owned it turned out that he had given bill that dog as he never kept a black en and he then proceeded to tell me numerous tales of digs they had all around our area and afar he also said that he was the one that started bill off with working terriers i thouroughly enjoy my visits with george who is now 87 i have just interviewed him for a friend for his next book i just hope he lasts to see his self in the book he chuckled when i showed him the picture of bill with his terriers in the first edition of the book he could even remeber the names of them he told me a story of when they were digging a badger and it bit georges finger clean off and all bill could do was laugh by the sound of it him ,bill ,ronnie joel and tiny forsyte had a great many good times together working terriers and testing them to every quarry that was available to them

above is a picture of mr and mrs george warrener thanks for all the brews and grub

[raspme 0]

you ill get where shite would nt ha! nice one fell,im the man with the googles!

[waz77 15]

Sounds interesting Fell

[dfee 1]

i picked 2 pups up the other week that are brightmore bred on the fathers side,they'r a nice stamp of dog very strong.

[Guest fell terrier]

googles ??? i get about for a fat lad i grew up two streets from him as a kid i was forever pestering him lol still am now

[jonesy 111]

Its good on those long boring summer days to talk to the old timers,can teach you a few things aswell.

[Guest fell terrier]

he and his wifes life has been devoted to hunting their whole house is like a museum full of hunting stuff from books painting s to old cutting from newspaper cuttings even from local papers when the rspca helped to free one of bills dogs from a bill set them where the days if only i was born fifty year ago the rspca are the terriermans worst nightmare how things change

[Guest fell terrier]

probably because they were bred genuinley worker to worker worked hard and culled hard you cant win em all but if the foundations are put in right in the first place success has a greater chance to succeed.remember the fell terrier and the lakeland terrier was bred and worked by many a men through out or county plus other surrounding countys still are years before smooth black stuff ever was heard of i am not slagging smooth stuff off as i have wittnessed some very good workers that are smooth but up here a dog needs a good jacket to withstand the elements all to often i have witnessed a dog dug from an earth on a hunt day in adverse weather go under due to shock it doesnt help if there is no jacket to help them try and keep warm and dry. the modern 4x4 with terrier boxes are a god send but what about in the days gone by when the terriers had to walk all day wether they had dug or not can you imagine one without a jacket.no doubt brian nuttall and the likes have bred some excellent terriers though out the years i myself have a dog that carrys the bloodline of tarmac but if you read the history books and listen to tales of old men where did these men start from mainly lakeland hunt terriers didnt smithy carry john cowans blood where did johns come from?most dogs i would think if traced back would come from a simular gene pool once upon a time the difference is as far as im led to believe the men of old refrained from infusing bull blood unlike what can be seen in some terriers of today i have pictures of terriers of brightmore and the likes that were the most ugliests rat like creatures on earth the show game smartened a lot of them up when i ask george about shows he replied i never once showed a terrier the only thing i showed em was work but bill use to take em to shows sometimes showing the odd one of mine on the rare occassion that i had a looker looks were imaterial to him work is what they were bred for in georges eyes if they didnt work then they didnt last long i have no doubt opened a large can of worms here.and look forward to other opinions on the subject

[spindolero 1,111]

Interesting post FT,

Yes Brightmore threads definitely open a can of worms generally, as anyone on the old Working Patterdale site will testify.

[Guest G.Mac]

Good man Fell,you should record his tales for the future.

My dad knew Bill very well and when driving through Cumbria would stop for a drink with him in The Bull across the street from where he lived I believe.

Bill used to get him booked into a small guesthouse just up the road from Kirkby.

One of the best digging dogs he ever had came from Bill as did a few others.

I've some pics here of dogs Bill bred and sent over that they dug with,I'll look them out for you if you want.

[Moby 0]

he sounds a proper chap not many of the oldschool about nowadays.i will look forward to reading some of his stories

[Guest fell terrier]

he sounds a proper chap not many of the oldschool about nowadays.i will look forward to reading some of his stories

yes dig em out mate i have just copied some now from the old days for george on new paper will try and put em up ill maybe get a few storys of old today as im off to see him to return some pictures and for the crack

[Moby 0]

excelant i will look foward to them.i wonder if we will be able to talk of days gone by when we get to his age,sadly i dont think so.

[Guest fell terrier]

not the best of photos but i have not got a scanner yet

[Guest fell terrier]

the black dog was this the start of a dynasty ? crap photos i know but taken on the phone will scan some better ones in time