Sire:

NL/Lux/Dt/DtVDH/World
Ch Jamescroft Squire
 

Jamescroft Magic Miranda
                    

Tenfield Rambling Runaway
Res CC, CAC, Res CACs, CK

Bridgefarm Barleycorn
1 CC, 3 Res CCs

Bridgefarm Harmoney

Stromin Beryllium

Sh Ch Zach of Dunblair

Darwin will always remain very special to me, a strong character and such a true and typical Golden, she will always be my number one, though her daughter Teal has run her close.  My challenge now is to breed another one like her.  Darwin was born in Germany, from Race's only litter - her brothers and sisters went to German homes and at just over 6 months old, she accompanied her mum, grandmother and Auntie Rhyme to the UK.  Imprisoned in quarantine for 6 months, Darwin lacked the socialisation crucial to a puppy's development  and she came out suffering dreadfully.  Not only did she look like a cruelty case, skin and bone, but she also suffered mentally.  It took many months of patient exposure to people and new experiences to develop the confident girl we loved so much.  We owe a lot to the ringcraft societies (including Test Valley Ringcraft and the late Bob Prestidge of Bearded Collie and Polish Lowland Sheepdog fame) who helped overcome her fear of strangers, by patient handling.
Our patience was rewarded when at 17 months she attended her first two Championship Shows and delighted me by winning all of her five classes, under two different judges.  The best was yet to come, as we practiced her retrieving skills and were invited out on the RA Shoot Larkhill for the 1997/98 season.  Here Darwin proved amazing, she astounded the guns many times finding birds missed by other dogs.  On two occasions she had a round of applause for spectacular retrieves in front of the guns and made me very proud.  I was honoured when once asked 'Is she Holway bred?' and then proudly answered that I had bred her myself.  She was the first dog I attempted a Show Gundog Working Certificate with and gave me the confidence to have a go with subsequent dogs.

    

Darwin loved water and used to lead the others through the garden fence and into the river when she thought we weren't looking.  More than one afternoon was spent with us frantically tracking the escapees along the course of the river - they loved every minute!
Darwin never attended many shows as she was always 5-6 months between seasons and only kept her show coat for a couple of months.  She also spent 'time-out' to produce three litters and being dark and 'typy', inevitably her coat appeared when the wrong judges were available.  This was a source of endless frustration - according to at least two Ch Show judges, she should have been 'made-up to a Champion' - and I personally think she is the best Golden I have ever had.
When you have so many dogs, you're not supposed to have favourites, but Darwin was our number one - naughty but nice, a real old fashioned Golden who could think for herself, but also tried hard all of the time to please, a genuine all round do anything dog.  She inherited her mum and granny's waggy tail and in turn passed it to her daughters Bungle and the waggiest waggy dog of them all, Teal.  Darwin had a real sense of humour and if we found something funny, she would laugh with us, she was such a character.  But you can see from her eyes and expression that there is great intelligence there, as well as a loving, tactile nature.

Darwin ruled the roost as number one dog, very subtly.  When she died it was quite obvious she had been number one girl, as a power struggle began with Chase and Bungle, neither of whom ever reached it to the top.  Ever the patient mother and grandmother, Darwin didn't have to do much for everyone to know she was boss, it was all in a look or a posture. 
Darwin was a strapping girl measuring just under 22" at the shoulder.  Once she had recovered from the shock of quarantine, she never visited the vet.  That was until one day out on Salisbury Plain, a young and extremely boisterous Tor ran full pelt into Darwin, who was standing minding her own business and hit her broadsides.  She screamed like I had never heard a dog scream before and wouldn't move, I thought he had broken her back!  After a while I managed to comfort her and get her back to the car, which fortunately wasn't too far away.  Tor had twisted the vertebrae in her lower back and I knew just how painful it was, as Iboth she and I endured trips to a chiropracter for exactly the same thing.  After several treatments, Darwin seemed back to her old self and moved normally again, but just six months later ......... he did it again, this time in the garden running flat out and hitting her sideways on again.  After this, Darwin never quite recovered in spite of visits to the chiropracter every few months, until it was announced at 12 years old that she couldn't be helped any more because her vertebrae had fused.  At 7 years old and having already won a Ch Show Veteran Stakes class, her show career was ended, as not only did she suffer some back pain, but she had to be spayed with cystic ovaries (I know how that feels too) which made her coat quite unmanageable.