Gwen Broadley was born in 1906. She is on record as saying that as a child she was crazy about animals but not interested in dolls and such. Gwen’s first dog, a pet Labrador, was born in 1929 and registered as Juno of Sandylands. The prefix Sandylands was registered with the English Kennel Club in 1931 and so the Sandylands kennel has owned, bred and showed Labradors for some 75 years.

Gwen got into showing when someone admired Juno and said she was worth showing, at her first show Juno won two first prizes and that was the start of what has become one of the most celebrated kennel of show Labradors of all time. Only Countess Howe’s Banchory kennel can claim the same sort of fame in Labradors that Sandylands enjoys, but Countess Howe bought in most of her top show winners whereas many of the Sandylands champions are homebred.

Like so many people before and since, once Gwen started to do a bit of winning in the ring she was hooked. She bought in a black dog and registered him as Jerry of Sandylands he became the first Sandylands’ champion. Jerry was the first of the many big winners at Sandylands and he and Juno are behind the top Sandylands winners of the present day. Over the years Gwen bought in stock, but always there was this bloodline back to the originals, Jerry and Juno. In this sense there is continuity to the Sandylands Labradors and it runs on to the present day; this continuity is something that Mr.& Mrs.Anthony and Erica Jayes are keen to maintain.

In the 1930’s, Gwen moved to the English Midlands to set up and manage a boarding and breeding kennel at Shotton for Michael Withers. With Gwen in charge the Shotton prefix rose to the top in English Springer Spaniels. This time at Shotton was to prove an invaluable apprenticeship for Gwen for here she was dealing with all sorts dogs as boarders and at the same time making a network of contacts in the dog show world which were to serve her well across the years. During the time at Shotton, she kept her own Labradors and made up three champions in the 1930’s Jerry, Janice and June.

Gwen on Sandylands beach with her first three dogs	Gwen with her labradors at Shotton Kennels

In the late 1930’s Gwen married Cyril Broadley and she moved away from Shotton. She added Cocker Spaniels to her kennel and she also had English Springers in her own name. The War years were very difficult for the dog game but Gwen was determined to keep her kennel going and when the shows restarted after the War, Gwen was in an exceptionally strong position in Labradors, Cockers and Springers. Within ten years she had made up a whole string of champions including the Labradors, Blackberry, Princess, Belle, Beau, Bob, Superb, Jilly, Justice, Juno (the second Juno) and Landyke Patrick. In Springers she took Showgirl, Shrubly, Shot, Sherry, Shandy, Secret and Castlecarry Cameronian to their titles. In partnership with Mr.Topott she made up the famous Cocker Spaniel Ch.Harley Cherrybank Gentleman. In Pointers she took Owlsmoor’s Lammoran Myrrh and Sandylands Neashope Candytuft to their titles. It was stunning winning and this time was one of the most successful of all for Sandylands. No one can deny that in the decade after the Second World War, Gwen Broadley’s Sandylands kennel was at the very top of the show Gundog world.

	Ch Sandylands Justice (left)   his dam Ch Sandylands Belle of Helenspring (centre) and his sire Ch British Justice (right)

In the early 1950’s, Gwen went into partnership with Countess Howe; what a combination Banchory-Sandylands. The partnership had run but two years when Countess Howe had a serious accident and she gave up the Labradors. Gwen moved back to the Midlands and met and married Frank Truslove and set up the Sandylands kennel at Lower Shuckburgh where she lived and bred her many famous Labrador champions over the next forty years.

	Gwen with Lorna Countess Howe and Miss Lang

It was through Frank Truslove that his nephew, Allan Taylor, became involved with Sandylands. Soon, Allan had introduced Gwen to his friend Erica Jayes who, close on fifty years later, is now the sole owner of the Sandylands prefix with Mr.and Mrs. G.Anthony. Allan Taylor, in partnership with Idris Jones, owns the Belroyd kennel prominent in a number of breeds but above all for their world famous Pembroke Welsh Corgis.

Ch.Sandylands Tweed of Blaircourt

Around this time, the late 1950’s, the Sandylands kennel needed a stud dog and Gwen asked for a puppy from a litter bred by Mr.& Mrs.G.Cairns and so the legendary Ch.Sandylands Tweed of Blaircourt arrived at Sandylands. Tweed proved to be a critically important influence upon the show Labrador and he added a new level of authority to an already extremely important kennel.

Tweed’s grandson, Tandy, was the first major yellow stud dog at Sandylands.

Sandylands Tandy

As the show Labrador scene expanded with the new prosperity in Britain in the 1960’s Sandylands prefix became more and more central to the breed. After a slow start to his stud career, the breeders realised the potential of the black Ch.Sandylands Mark, a son of the lovely Ch.Sandylands Truth, and he produced champion after champion for so many grateful breeders.

Ch Sandylands Truth

Ch Sandylands Mark

Having purchased the lovely Sh.Ch.Sandylands Star of Jayncourt from Gwen previously, in the early 1970’s, Mr.Garner Anthony of Hawaii became a partner with Gwen in the Sandylands prefix and kennel.

The 1970’s proved to be another golden era of winning for the kennel. A whole string of top winning Labradors was taken to their British titles.  Girl Friday, My Lad, Midnight Magic, Blaze, Honesty, O’Malley, Come Rain, Colour Print, Columbus, Storm Along, Mercy, Busy Liz, Sparkle, My Rainbeau, and Rosy, all born in the 1970’s, and all taken to their championship from Sandylands itself. As well as these dogs owned by Gwen and Mr. Anthony, they bred and sold on dogs that became champions for other people, such as Giselle, Magic Moment, Clarence, Sonnet. Mirth, Not Tonight and Steptoe were also bred at Sandylands in the 1970’s.  It was a fantastic time for the kennel.

As well as winning in the ring the stud dogs were breeding on for Sandylands and many other Labrador breeders.

 Come Rain in particular became a wonderful brood at Sandylands and she underpinned much of the breeding programme of the 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Sh.Ch.Sandylands Longley Come Rain

born 1972 – an important brood

Across the 1980’s and 1990’s Gwen Broadley and Mr. Anthony continued to produce top winning Labradors, the typical Ch.Sandylands My Guy was a great ambassador for the breed with his lovely quiet style and in Sh.Ch.Sandylands Bliss the kennel had one of the very best show Labradors of any era. Bliss died whelping the litter that included Sh.Ch.Sandylands Gad-About who has been a successful sire with some lovely top winning yellow children. With Bliss dying giving birth to the litter, Erica hand-reared the four puppies, a tremendous undertaking requiring a lot of hard work and patience – but how it paid off.

	Ch Sandylands My Guy
Sh Ch Sandylands Bliss

Erica had started off at Sandylands as a child just helping out. For many years she worked for Gwen as the kennel help but as Gwen became less able to manage the kennel, Erica took on more and more responsibility and became Gwen’s friend and confidant, eventually, she became as close as a daughter. When it became apparent that she was very unwell, Gwen made it clear that she hoped that Erica might be able to take over the Sandylands prefix – that was her wish. Thus in 1999 Mr.& Mrs.G.Anthony and Erica Jayes then became partners in Sandylands. Now in 2011, following Mrs Anthony's death the kennel and the Sandylands prefix are in the sole name of Erica Jayes, and the kennel has relocated to Greystones, just 6 miles from the old Sandylands at Lower Shuckburgh.

Gwen Broadley was one of the most respected and loved people within the dog show world. Everyone knew her and she had innumerable friends and acquaintances worldwide. Gwen had a charismatic personality; people were drawn to her and her Sandylands kennel. Her kindness was legendary. Gwen hated being put an a pedestal but she did like to be treated with respect – why not she had earned it - and just as she could be kind and helpful she could be very direct with anyone who tried to take advantage of her. Simple courtesies were important to her, she liked to be called Gwen not Mrs.Broadley but she preferred it if you called her Mrs.Broadley until she asked you to call her Gwen.  Anyone saying something about Sandylands that was not true would be told by Gwen that if they had any questions about her dogs they should come to her directly. Gwen Broadley was loyal to her friends and elicited tremendous loyalty in return from them. Allan Taylor, possibly Gwen’s closest confidant of all, also remembered she could be very impatient, always wanting to get things done; it could be said that while she was very kind, she did not suffer fools gladly. She always counselled people to be prudent and careful and would often say “do not do anything in a rush, dear, think about it for a while”. Gwen’s sound advice and her responsible leadership of the show Labrador world are much missed.

Above all Gwen Broadley cared for her dogs. Of course, puppies and, sometimes, older dogs had to be sold but the welfare of the Sandylands dogs was very important to her. Gwen set great store by the good temperament of her dogs – she rightly asserted that the number one priority in a Gundog was a good temperament. Much earlier than any of the official health schemes were introduced by the Kennel Club, Gwen was health screening her Sandylands dogs. Like every breeder, Gwen had her setbacks, but she tried very hard to do the right thing by her own dogs and for the Labrador breed.