Steve acquired his first English Springer Spaniel, Deefa (Wenskip Keeping the Promise) in 2005 as a pet. It was Deefa who was to lead Steve into the world of gundogs and spark his passion for all things spaniel. Steve joined the Essex Spaniel Get-Together (www.esgt.co.uk) a local training club when Deefa was six months old, never imagining the great influence the club would have on him and his wife, Tracey. He became Secretary of the club in 2010, and in 2024 took over as Chair of the club. He is also one of the club's trainers.  He will shortly be taking over as FT Secretary of the Eastern Counties Spaniel Society and has recently been appointed to the Kennel Club's B Panel for spaniel judges.

A second springer, Sage (Belvden Stonesby Ashes) was added to the family in 2006 for Tracey to train.  Both Steve and Tracey started competing in working tests.

Jem (Jem's Shooting Star) joined the team at six months' old, and using the experience he had gained with Deefa and Sage, Steve started competing in Novice Field Trials with Jem.  Unfortunately work commitments at that time meant he couldn't compete as much as he would like.  Jem was proving to be a special dog for Steve, and in 2012 the Nossewej kennel name was formed as he decided to put Jem into pup.  He thought carefully about which stud dog to use and decided upon FTCH Morfudd Mungo, whose temperament and style he admired.  A dog pup, Spud (Nossewej Causing Chaos) and a bitch pup, Marmite (Nossewej Here Comes Trouble) were kept back from the litter.  Both had success in working tests and more importantly both gave Steve his first Novice Field Trial awards with Spud achieving a COM, and Marmite a third place.

It was decided to carry out a repeat mating in 2014, and this time two dog pups were kept; Marbles (Nossewej Lost My Marbles) and LB (Nossewej Bonkers Bob).    In 2017 Marbles achieved the Novice Field Trial win that Steve had been working towards, whilst LB received multiple Novice FT awards with Tracey.  Steve began competing in Opens with Marbles, achieving several awards, the best being a third place in 2019.  Both dogs are now standing at stud.

Spud, Marmite, Marbles and LB have all now been retired from competition, instead now forming Steve's beating and picking up team.

In 2020, Steve had high hopes for his young springer spaniel Dora (Shiveck Piccolo at Nossewej) but due to Covid-19 he feared he may have to wait a further 12 months.  However, on 23 October 2020, at the tender age of 19 months, Dora entered her first Novice Field Trial, and after a two dog run off, was awarded first place!   Dora only competed in a couple of trials during the 2021/22 season due to injury and coming in to season.  However, she did manage to gain her first Open award; a Certificate of Merit.  Steve & Dora's partnership continued into the 2022/23 season where they were awarded COM, 4th & 2nd places before winning the London Working Spaniel Society's Open AV (exc cocker) stake meaning they had qualified for the British Championships.  Unfortunately they were put out on their first run at the Championships.

Steve loves training dogs, with a soft spot for spaniels, and what started out as a potential hobby has now become a passion.  Many great friendships have been formed over the past 18 years.  He gets great satisfaction from helping people train their dogs, whatever the breed, whether it be as a well-behaved pet, for the beating line, picking up, or trialling.

Sadly Deefa, the springer that sparked this passion, is no longer with us, having passed away in December 2019 at the grand old age of 14 years 2 months.