The Club is the oldest surviving Dalmatian Club in the World.
The Club was founded in 1903, at Great Harwood Show, near Blackburn in Lancashire, an agricultural show with pedigree dog classes. The founders, officials and members in 1903 of the newly formed North of England Dalmatian Club numbered 19 men and one woman.
The First World War saw a decrease in Dalmatian numbers and breed enthusiasts worked hard to keep the Breed in existence . Numbers increased gradually throughout the 1920’s and in 1935 the Club also held its’ first Open Show (not K.C. Licensed) in Wilmslow.
In 1936, The NEDC held their first Kennel Club licenced specialist Show. It was an Open Show judged by Mrs Lucy Gatheral (Phaeland)
Dalmatian numbers decreased for a second time throughout World War 2 and again enthusiasts kept the breed in existence. In April 1946 the Club held an Open Show in Stockport with Mrs W. L Yeomans judging Dogs and Mr T. Basnett, Bitches with 51 Dalmatians entered from 31 owners
The first NEDC Championship Show was held on 19th October 1946 at The Armoury, Stockport. The judges were Mrs D. Mullin, Bitches and Mr T. Basnett, Dogs, with 71 Dalmatians.
In 1949 the Club offered more activities to its’ members and in order to raise funds an annual dance was introduced.. The funds raised enabled the Club to offer financial help to some dog charities including The Animal Health Trust.
Club members badge was introduced by Mrs Macdonald-Smith in 1954
In 1949 the first edition of ‘The Carriage Dog Chronicle’ newsletter was produced with Major Bradshaw as editor and continues to this day.
In 1971, the Club started its own official North of England Dalmatian Club ‘Rescue Service’ covering the North of England. This became The North of England Dalmatian Welfare Service which continued from the 1970’s until 2025 when it was successfully merged with British Dalmatian Welfare giving nationwide coverage
In the 1970’s ‘Teach – In’s’ were introduced to further support previous events to educate members about the breed. These became Breed Seminars in 1992 and continue to educate aspiring Dalmatian judges to this day
Some Club events took place from 1980’s such as Dally Do’s with fun shows and fancy dress
In May 1988 the Club introduced the annual ‘Review of the Year’ as a pictorial review of all Challenge Certificate (C.C.), Junior Warrant (JW) and NEDC Club Best in Show winners’ and winners from the British Dalmatian Club, the Dalmatian Club of Scotland and the Joint Dalmatian Clubs’ Championship Show’ (plus the Northern Ireland Club shows in 1992) providing a ‘a readily accessible archive of the Dalmatians winning major awards during each year’.
The Club Best of Breed Diplomas were redesigned and in 1992 Johnathan Goulding (Skywings) became the calligrapher and continues to provide these Diplomas to this day.
In 1992 Mrs Peggy Pilgrim suggested that the Club have tablecloths to use at shows for the Official and Trophy tables, embroidered with members Affixes on green cloth.
The Club decided to produce a Handbook and combine it with the Annual Review in 1993 and to repeat this every four years
The Kennel Club proposed a Breeders Code of Ethics, which the Club adopted in 1993 and remains in effect to this day..
1994 the Club leaflet ‘Owning a Dalmatian’ provided a simple guide to the character of our breed for prospective puppy purchasers.
After two years of planning the Dalmatian of the Year took place in January 1996 at the Moat House Hotel, Doncaster with 42 Dalmatians competing for Dalmatian of the Year and Dalmatian Puppy of the Year under two Breed Judges, Ernie Paterson Camargue, the late Irene Haywood (Luccombe) and all-rounder Doug Kitchener. The format which remains the same today, is all General Championship Show C.C. winners as well as our sister Dalmatian Clubs’ C.C. winners (including all four Clubs’ Open Show top winners) compete under three ‘secret’ judges revealed on the day of the event to win Dalmatian of the Year and Puppy of the Year through a process of knock out rounds. In 2016 Dalmatian Veteran of the Year was introduced.
In 1996 we introduced leaflets – ‘So You Think You’d Like to Breed a Litter?’ and ‘Owning A Dalmatian’ and in 1997 introduced the Puppy Contracts followed by Stud Contracts,
In 2001 the Club Fun Day was renamed as “The Madge Cull Fun Day” in recognition of Madge Cull’s contribution to the Dalmatian world. It was held annually and profits were donated to the North of England Dalmatian Club Welfare Service.
2005 Mr Joe Neath proposed and the Club introduced a ‘Senior Member’ award whereby those members who had been in continuous membership for 30 years receive a special ‘Senior Members Badge’. This would guarantee an annual free Spectators Ticket and entry to The Dalmatian of the Year event which at that time cost £5.00 to attend. Club members achieving Senior Member status continue to receive their badge at the Dalmatian of the Year
2009 the members approved a statement on breeding from ‘Dalmatian dogs and bitches which have been BAER hearing tested by a recognised person of appropriate qualification as having Bilateral Hearing’ in the Clubs’ Code of Ethics.
Additionally that ‘all Club members litters should be BAER hearing tested’. The committee agreed that the Club should apply to the Kennel Club to have BAER Hearing testing for Deafness to be included as a K.C./BVA scheme. In 2016 final approval was granted from the KC for an Official BAER Hearing Testing Scheme.
In 2018 the Kennel Club was trialling the Judges Education Programme and the Club was one of the first breed clubs to be asked to produce a Dalmatian Breed Specific video to be used as an element of this education programme. The Club contributed to its successful production and it can be viewed on the R.K.C. web site.
The Club continues to provide Breed Appreciation and Hands On Assessments days for aspiring judges.
The Club holds a Championship Show and two Open Shows each year and recently this has increased to two Championship shows for an R.K.C. trial period.. The Open Shows are held in spring and summer, the spring show held alongside our Championship show and the summer Open Show is a partnership show with Leeds Championship Show and our own second Championship Show is in November.
The “Carriage Dog Chronicle” is still produced four times a year.
An annual “Review” recording the achievements of Dalmatians in Breed and General Championship Shows is printed annually and we produce a comprehensive members only “Handbook” combined with the Review every four years.
The Dalmatian of the Year event takes place every January. We are still providing education events to meet the needs of the Judges Education Programme and anyone who wishes to know more about our beloved breed.