I developed a love of Irish Setters as a young boy the very first time I saw a beautiful looking show bred dog owned by one of our neighbours. I was brought up in the East End of Newcastle upon Tyne, within walking distance of the shipyards; and this dog really stood out from the packs of curly tailed mongrels that were more "traditional" in that area. At about the same time I was given a storybook called "Irish Red" by Jim Skelgaard , which was about a young American lad who had both English and Irish Setters that he used for shooting, that was it I was hooked!

Soon after moving into my first house, I bought my first Irish pup, and called him Red - the name of the Irish Setter in the story book I had read as a child. He was followed within two months by my next one, Mick. I had just started shooting, and decided to train the two dogs. This was done with the aid of a Peter Moxon spaniel training book and several visits to one of my friends who ran spaniels in field trials. As a result I enjoyed many years shooting with the dogs, and considering they were from "show stock", they did quite a good job. However the one thing that frustrated me was the fact that they would come on point, and despite my shouting at them from about sixty yards, they would not move in until I had walked right up to them. Not the first or the last time a dog knew more about his job than me!

As my two dogs approached eight, I started to think about what to get next. When I started shooting I had decided that I needed a dog to pick up and decided to get one of the Hunt, Point, Retrieve (HPR.) breeds, so I got a Large Munsterlander whom I called Sam. He was without doubt, a "Raving Lunatic" and although my interest in HPR was short lived the dog "unfortunately" lived into ripe old age, the bane of all our lives! So once again an Irish setter was favourite, only this time I decided to get one from working stock, and would, if I could make a decent enough job of the training, run it in Field Trials.

I rang the Kennel Club and got a list of Trial dates. The first Trial that I attended was an autumn trial on partridge, where I met for the first time Colin and Julie Organ, who have since become great friends of my wife and I. Fortunately they who took me under their wing, showed me the ropes and introduced me to several other competitors. This was a huge advantage since what Colin and Julie don't know about training and trialling is probably not worth knowing and the honesty and integrity that they bring to judging field trials is second to none. I very much liked the style of the "working Irish" and decided that was what I wanted. I followed the summer trials on grouse the following year and that was then Julie Organ introduced me to Will Sloan. At the time Will was running both Irish and English setters. I was particularly taken with the little Irish bitch that he was campaigning. She was called Moanruad Ali and can only be described as a little "flying machine".

My initial interest in getting one pup had now developed into two pups - I have never seen the point in doing things by halves! Anyway, Will put me in touch with Declan O'Rourke who had a litter of pups by Ardoon Lusk Boy and Moanruad Breda. I spoke to Declan and his mother at length and we agreed I could have two dog pups that had been going to go to shooting homes. I particularly wanted one of the dogs to have a blaze of white on his chest, so Mrs O'Rourke agreed to pick one out for me. The second pup was to be solid coloured and I would pick it myself when I went to collect the pups. It was at this time that I first met Jean Brown and her family since I had agreed to bring a bitch pup back for them, from the same litter.

My wife, Kit, and I set off for Ireland to meet Declan and his mother and collect the pups. The one with the white chest we named Lusca Max the solid red pup we called Lusca Perry. While we were there Declan took us to watch him work his Irish Setter dog "Ranger of Lusk". In retrospect, this alone would have made the trip worthwhile. Declan worked the dog through a field of corn and the dog quartered with such pace and style, obeying every whistle command he was given, and completely ignoring a hare that got up right under his nose. The dog was so impressive and we set off for home with a clear objective in mind regarding the standard we wanted to achieve. A week later Jean arrived with her parents to collect their bitch puppy, and by the look on their faces they were as pleased with her as we were with ours.

As young pups Perry showed more early promise than Max. At nine months Perry was already "setting" partridge and running with great maturity. By twelve months old there was little to choose between the running of the two dogs but Perry had inevitably developed more confidence around game than Max, who had been slightly later to come to point. The pups had been born in May 1991 so they were eligible to run in the summer puppy trials the following year. I was unsure about what was required at the trials from a handling point of view and whether I had the dogs trained well enough. I discussed what I had been doing with a few people, who put me in touch with Derek Harrison, an "A" panel judge and head game-keeper on a local estate. I asked if he could help and we arranged to meet up. I was amazed at how willing the trial people were to help a complete field trial novice and how generous they were with their time.

Although there is a definite air of good natured competitiveness at the field trials most of the competitors are first and foremost "sportsmen" and this remains, by and large, the case to this day. Derek advised me to withdraw my pups from the first trial and spend the day with him, this I did, and learnt more in two days with him than I probably would have done in twelve months left to my own devices! Despite Derek's support all did not run entirely smoothly at my first trial. I was still anxious that the training had not been enough and that my two dogs might run off and get lost. I decided that the obvious answer was to get them both collars with identity discs, which I could put on them whilst they ran in the trial! Fortunately a well meaning judge drew me to one side before I ran the dogs and pointed out that it wasn't quite the way they did things at field trials! This was however, quite an expensive experience since prior to the trial I had done my best to get dogs used to wearing the collars by letting them wear them over night. Every night they would chew them off each other, leaving the buckles and identity discs for me to find on the kennel floor the next morning! I think they went through about six collars between them!

That summer I won the second puppy trial I ran in, with Lusca Perry, and whilst thanking the judges I was able to acknowledge and thank everyone for the help that I'd been given. I was also presented with a trophy, which was somewhat unusual in appearance since all it consisted of was a base of marble with three little stumps sticking out of it. I was told that it had once had a pointing dog on it, which had got knocked off and lost, but that it seemed a pity to withhold the trophy because of a little wear and tear! The appearance, or lack of it didn't matter, it felt like the FA cup to me!

That was my first season over, and Will Sloan advised me to rest the dogs for a few months before getting them ready for the following spring (who was to argue), Will later admitted that he wished he could follow his own advice more often!

Over the next couple of years Max really came into his own. He was a very stylish dog and his running action was a lot "flashier" than Perrys, you had the impression that you could have put a glass of water on his back and not a drop would have been spilt whilst he was running.

When Max and Perry were four years old, I asked Will Sloan if I could buy two pups from a litter he had, he agreed, so off my wife and I set to get our next two pups. This time we travelled to Clara Campbell's kennel at Wick, right up in the far north of Scotland. Clara had a kennel of working gundogs, which were traditionally hired out to highland estates during the shooting season.

We had arranged to meet up with two other trialers who were also taking a puppy from the litter. We went to Clara's house early in the morning since it was seven-hour drive back to Northumberland where we live. Clara was there ready to meet us and what a personality! She had such a fountain of knowledge about the dogs, their pedigrees and working abilities that we could easily have been there still listening days, if not weeks, later! Will had very kindly instructed Clara that I was to have first choice so she took us out to have a look at them. The four pups were milling around so I went into one corner and whistled the pups over, I scooped up the fist two that came over, held them up, looked at them and said these two will do - yes I know, very scientific! The two new additions where Ardoon Jack and Ardoon Danny and they were sired Cromabu Ash out of Moanruad Breda.

At this time Max and Perry were four years old and still going well in the trials, and now I had these two youngsters to bring on. Jack showed a lot of early promise, and would do anything to please as long as it involved running flat out! Jack didn't achieve anything in the puppy trials, but the following spring I had second in an open stake on partridge with him, just two weeks before his second birthday. He followed that up by winning the Breed Stake in the summer at Shap, whilst his kennel mate Lusca Perry was second. Jack is a different dog to Max and Perry, more powerfully built and really most at home on the grouse moors, which suit his strength, stamina and determination. Since about the age of three, his focus when out working has shown a level of concentration and single mindness that can often make him seem almost antisocial. You could call him the ultimate professional - never knowingly takes his eye of the ball, or in his case the bird!

Danny was a more complicated dog for me to train, since although I had had a bit of success, I was relatively inexperienced in terms of training the dogs. Danny would not run in the fields at home, he was very obedient but just didn't really fancy the cornfields. However once on the grouse moor and with scent up his nose he became much more enthusiastic, Danny had two wins in Novice stakes plus a couple of other awards in Novice trials and although he wasn't in the same trialling league as his brother he was always a lovely dog to take on a shooting day.

Next came Tiqun Holly, whom I took her as a stud fee from a falconer and subsequent friend Tony Crosswell. Tony and I hadn't met at the time, but he had heard about my dogs, and came along to a trial with his wife Jenny and they decided to use Perry on one of their bitches. Holly was born in October 1995 and we got her at the Christmas time hence her name, Holly. She was too young to run in the puppy trials the following summer, so had to wait until the following spring to make her debut. She won her first trial, a novice stake on grouse in Sutherland.

In August 1998 I travelled to Ireland with Colin and Julie Organ and Jean Brown, to compete in the Irish Championship, an event held in the Dublin mountains over two days. I went "mob handed" taking Max, Perry, Jack and Holly. We had a great weekend enjoying the tremendous Irish hospitality as much as the dog work, and the trip home was made all the easier since Lusca Max had won the Championship! He was seven years old and the first dog from England ever to win and it crowned his trialing achievements for me. What a week-end!

However the following two years were to prove just as exciting since in 1999, Ardoon Jack won the Irish Championship with great style and returned in 2000 to successfully defend the title, making him the only dog in the history of the championship to achieve two wins! It was a wonderful achievement for the dog and his breeding and shared by all the Irish Competitors who like nothing better than to watch a good dog working. As the winner was announced the cheer that went up nearly took the roof off the hall, it was quite wonderful! Needless to say a celebration was required and we all retired to the pub across the road where I bought the biggest round of drinks of my life, and enjoyed every moment of it!

Time seems to fly; it's now January 2004 Max and Perry are enjoying their retirement, although I still enjoy taking them to the hill occasionally. Jack is nine years old and still enjoying things as long as he can do them flat out. Holly is seven years old and has had two litters of pups, the second sired by Jack. I have kept a dog and a bitch who are both showing promise.

Listed below are the dogs awards in open stakes:

From the Irish Setter Association England, Field Trial Winners 2000 Report

Mr. & Mrs. Robinson have had a year to remember. In 1998 they won the Irish Championship with Int.FT.Ch. Lusca Max, in 1999 they won the same Trial with Int FT.Ch. Ardoon Jack and then In 2000 went back and successfully held on to the title with Jack. I have competed in and judged this three-day Marathon which I regard as being the toughest test for any Trial dog in these islands. To win it three times in succession is a magnificent achievement.

By Steve's standards Int.FT.Ch. Ardoon Jack (Cromabu Ash ex Moanruad Breda) had a quiet season over here, picking up a 3rd in the IGL Open. His FT.Ch. Lusca Perry (Ardoon Lusk Boy ex Moanruad Breda) at nine years old, still manages to go well on his day and won a 2nd in the Association's Spring Trial and a 2nd at the SGA. His litter brother Int.FT. Ch. Lusca Max won the Scottish Pointer Club Open Stake. From the same kennel. FT. Ch. Tiqun Holly (FT.Ch. Lusca Perry ex Tiqun Brandie) won the Association's Spring Trial, thereby gaining her title and her litter sister, Tiqun Jess, won a C of M at the Dukeries GC.

Space does not allow me to write on the pedigrees of the dogs in Steve's kennel What I feel is important is that for the first time since Mrs. Nagle's retirement from Trials in 1995, we have working kennels that have a number of FT.Chs in them. For years, we saw some of our best blood being exported. Comparisons can be odious. I know that Mrs Nagle always kept a number of FT.Chs in her kennel. At one time, she had FT.Ch. Sulhamstead Baffle D'Or, Ft.Ch. Clogham Belle and their three sons, Ft Chs Bluff, Ban and Brantome D'Or with her at Westerlands. What she did not have were Int.FT.Chs - probably because she did not extensively campaign her dogs in Eire.