As well as the Chairmen, who took the lead role, the Society continued to be shaped by a succession of secretaries. Mr T Harry Halsall succeeded James Reid as Secretary in 1946, although he had been ready to undertake the role in 1938.

Harry Halsall was the first to be paid a salary by the Society, but he would also have retained other professional interests – a practice of Secretaries continued to this day. The Society was strengthened considerably by him over the next 12 years until his untimely death in 1958.

In 1950 there were 1,000 members and by 1952 it was reported that the ‘social side’ had improved so greatly that members from different nations would stand together at the International; one wonders what happened before they stood together !? Harry Halsall is also credited with publishing the ISDS Constitution, printing the first Stud Books and publicizing the Society’s activities. The achievement in publishing those early Stud Books cannot be understated – today it is the backbone of everything the Society does in the registration of Border Collies and demonstrates the pedigree of the dog back to the 1870’s. During his time, the Hyde Park Trials recommenced and in 1956 it was a first when television filmed the Llandudno International.

Mr Robert Jarvis, a Chartered Accountant, took over in 1959 and ran the office for only a few months before finding the duties greater than anticipated, resigning before year-end. This sudden change caused a re-organisation of other responsibilities. The Society had always had the office of National President for each of the nations, but from 1959 much more responsibility for the organisation of trials was given to these National Presidents and their Local Committees. Wilfred Dunn was appointed Secretary in October 1959 and he would have seen a continued change in the Society as membership grew to 3,000. He left the Society with a reported £8,000 in assets.

Jim Evans, appointed in 1968, was a Chartered Accountant and is credited with having put the Society’s finances in order. In 1971 the BBC programme ‘One Man and His Dog’ started and BBC’s Blue Peter had its first Collie, ‘Shep’, a great grandson of J M Wilson’s Cap. Jim Evans left the Society with £14,000 in assets and was succeeded by Lance Alderson in 1972. 1973 saw the registration of the Society for VAT, an unwelcome expense but a signal of further growth. Lance Alderson worked hard and helped develop commercial sponsorship but when he left all was not well.

The new Chairman, Ray Ollerenshaw, took control in 1977 and directed the appointment of Philip Hendry, an insurance broker from Bedford. Such were the state of the finances that Mr Ollerenshaw had to organise a whip-round amongst the Council members to ensure there were sufficient funds for Mr Hendry to run the Society on his return home.

The new Secretary was a firm leader of the Society, industry and public office for the next 24 years; he became a director of his insurance firm, Chesham Insurance, and rose to become A. P. Hendry CBE and Leader of Bedfordshire County Council. Membership was 4,500 and the Society benefited from periods of sponsorship from Pedigree, Sun Alliance, Land Rover, National Grid and finally, to be with us in our Centenary Year, Gilbertson & Page Pet foods. He built the Society’s turnover to be £46,000 by 1980; £96,000 in 1990 and £198,00 in 2000 with assets of £150,000; a very different Society from 30 years before. He planned his retirement for 2001 but, sadly, only lived another year.

In their search for a new officer, Council wished to appoint a Chief Executive with business, finance and, to cope with modern times, computing experience. One comment was “we have enough people who will gladly tell us how to run a sheepdog trial, we need someone to tell us how run a business”, or words to that effect!

Mr Lorton started in 2001 and discovered that the finances were not so strong and the country was descending into the disaster of foot-and-mouth with the cancellation of all trials – what an introduction! The Society only survived a cash-flow crisis into 2002 thanks to the generous contribution of members to the Chairman’s Appeal Fund of £32,000.

However, in the next five years the Society did better than survive, it grew and succeeded enormously. Mr Lorton oversaw the introduction of significant initiatives, including:

• a new computer database (CRIS) to manage all membership and dog registration;
• in-house publication of the Stud Book;
• computerized accounts;
• a new, six-times-a-year member magazine;
• two world trials;
• an internet ISDS Shop business;
• the ISDS Associate Nation scheme.

(l to r) Norman Lorton and Jim Easton MBE - 2002

By 2005, annual turnover had risen to £460,000 – the ISDS was back as a substantial, and strong, society with 5,400 members and well able to start the next 100 years of ‘improving the shepherd’s dog’.