Jacky Ash (11)

Hi,   I have been grooming for 25 year + having started when I bought a Westie from the Ashgate kennel.  Grooming a show dog was a key skill if you wanted to do well and I had a very good teacher, Sue Thomson.  My first lesson was terrifying.  Sue put one of her champion American cocker spaniels on a grooming table, and told me to trim the dog for her.  Needless to say, when she returned an hour later I was still brushing the dog, not having a clue where to start.   My grooming career had begun and many trips down the A303 to Somerset for Sue’s help hand stripping my show dogs.

I moved to Somerset with my family in 2007 and now Sue and I work in together with our showing.  We used to offer just specialist hand stripping services and trained many owners from around the world hand strip their own show and pet dogs.   As the business grew I wanted to be qualified in all areas of dog grooming and trained with Kelly Davis for my Level 3 Diploma.  

My salon Ashgate Grooming Ltd currently employs 2 full time professional groomers, Jordan Cummins and Kerry Walcroft.  I have 2 trainees and 2 self employed groomers working from here as well.   I am very lucky to also have Gemma Langford working from here.       With the opening of our grooming school in 2020 -  Ashgate Grooming Academy - Gemma and I have been very lucky to train super students to their Level 3 Diploma in Dog Grooming as well as giving them specialist training in handstripping.

I love everything about grooming dogs  and want to help improve the level of education currently being delivered to students.  Although I don't groom myself anymore I am proud to have built a purpose built Salon which allows us to also host seminars.

My greatest industry achievement is the feedback I receive from customers and students who come to Ashgate.  We strive to give all the dogs in our care a good experience when they are with us and we hope to teach our students in a fun, relaxed but professional way.  

Thank you for reading my profile and I look forward to meeting you and your dogs soon.  Kerry Walcroft, Jordan Cummins and Gemma Langford are all members of The Spotlight so please go and view their profiles