Don..Knee deep in Angora !

 The sight of your first Angora is always unforgettable.  As a kid I was taken to Southall Park Carnival every year and always headed to the animals section first.  My first sighting of an Angora was a lovely Smoke with signs of DO NOT TOUCH on its pen. Fatal !  I wanted to touch that rabbit sooo much, but sadly never did :(

DO NOT TOUCH !!!!

About 1977 a  friend rang me and said there was a rabbit show across the road from his Mother’s house, we were both animal mad.  I took the bus ride and we found ourselves at Ealing Rabbit show .  The very first rabbit I saw there was a sooty fawn Angora belonging to Anne and Terry Adams of Hassan Stud, I was gobsmacked.  

It wasn’t long before Anne gave me a lovely white, mostly of Willowbank breeding and taught me to groom (I am still learning ! ).  I was a regular At Ealing, New Maldon and other shows I could get to by public transport for some years after and joined the committee as a junior member.  The Ealing shows were great fun., a lovely bunch of people, fabulous rosettes.  I went on to buy a few more Angoras mostly of Willowbank breeding and enjoyed success on the show bench.  When I left home I parted with my Angoras for what would be  a long time.  

Hassan Snow Princess.. the one that started it all back in 1977.

My next exposure was in America, I was living part time in New York.  I went along to an animal show on Long Island and saw my first American English Angora. It was a complete snowball, immense furnishings lovely short cobby body and short square head.  It was the Angora I had always wanted to breed. Type was phenomenal.  I kept a pair there and bred a lovely litter which I wish I could have brought home to the UK.

When I finally came home for good I began my search again but I had this perfect snowball type burned into my head. I have tried to find Angoras that fit my perception of the breed standard.  The original line drawing that used to appear on all club literature was in fact what I wanted. 

A snowball , well furnished with a square, short, broad head. I am busy putting together the pieces .