SUMMARISED REPORT OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING HELD AT THE BUDGERIGAR SOCIETY OFFICE ON SATURDAY 19th NOVEMBER 2011
Members Present
Ghalib Al-Nasser, Mrs Janice Al-Nasser, George Booth, Roger Carr, John Cosby,
Grant Findlay, Bob Francis, Gordon Grist, Terry Jukes, Donald McCallum,
Gren Norris, Maurice Roberts, Alex Woan.
In Attendance
Dave Whittaker – General Secretary
As the President, Dave Hislop was not able to be present, the President
Elect, Maurice Roberts opened the meeting and asked that it be a good constructive
meeting with everyone going home as friends.
The Chairman welcomed the members present and thanked them for giving up
another day of their valuable time for the benefit of the Society and its
members and asked that all business be conducted through the Chair.
He explained that the President and Vice Chairman, Dave Hislop could not
be present as his wife Marie had only come home for a few days from hospital
before returning for further treatment on the Friday.
Minutes of the General Council Meeting held on Wednesday 20th July
2011
After a slight amendment to the item regarding the guidelines, the minutes
were ratified.
Matters arising
Blue Cube – Grant Findlay informed the meeting that
the solicitors had now informed Blue Cube that the work needed doing and
sought permission to go onto their property to carry out the necessary work,
failing the Society receiving permission from Blue Cube, they have been
informed that proceedings will commence on 9th December 2011 to obtain access
to carry out the work.
The Way Forward – G Al-Nasser and D Whittaker will
now source a supply for pop-up banners to be used by council members at
shows they attend. Old leaflets aimed at pet owners will be redesigned for
distribution to pet shops etc. and calendars advertising the society will
be designed in large and small formats to be given away at shows and various
other outlets.
Sponsorship
The Secretary had met with Robert Evans following the last meeting but to
date had not received any answers. The Chairman confirmed that he was arranging
a meeting with Bucktons in the very near future to discuss future sponsorship.
WBO
Ghalib Al-Nasser confirmed that he had received The Budgerigar Society’s
nomination of Jeff Attwwod for the Gould Award.
Club Show 2011
The Chairman gave a brief report on the event and asked that a note of thanks
for a number of members who had been of special assistance over the weekend
be recorded in the minutes.
These included Michael Chapman and Grant Findlay who had filled in the gap
left by Ken Whiting’s absence, Bev and Laura Hutt and Ben Kyle who
had worked so hard on the society stand over the weekend, Sue Clarke and
Michelle Rogers who had done such a good job on the raffle and all of the
lads who turned up on Friday morning at the Dome who helped make the job
of getting the staging erected and ready for the birds so much easier.
NCA
The minutes of the NCA meetings held on 6th July and 5th October were circulated
for information.
Ghalib Al-Nasser brought to the attention of the meeting a number of NCA
awards that he felt that the society should be nominating some of its members
for; these included nominations for the Roll of Honour, Hall of Fame and
long service badges. A list of the nominations to be made will be included
in a future magazine and on the society website.
Spring Event – 2012
(Now to be known as “The Seaton Burn Event in Memory of John Herring”)
Roger Carr informed the meeting that David Herring had donated £1000
to the Northern Event to be used to encourage members to attend and be part
of the weekend but not to be used for parts of the weekend that The Budgerigar
Society has already committed itself to funding.
Roger went on to suggest that as David had donated the money in memory of
his brother, John, the event should in some way mark that; following a very
brief discussion on ways of doing this it was unanimously agreed that the
event will be known as “The Seaton Burn Event in Memory of John Herring”.
Roger Carr informed the meeting that the members of the NBS were very enthusiastic
about the event being held in their area in 2012 and arrangements were now
well in hand.
The event has now been booked to take place at the Holiday Inn at Seaton
Burn on 11th, 12th & 13th May 2012; the hotel being conveniently positioned
adjacent to theA1/A19 motorway.
The hotel rates negotiated for the weekend, if booked through The Budgerigar
Society Secretary are: £59.00 double and £49.00 single per night
for bed and breakfast.
For those reserving rooms and paying in full before 30th March 2012 there
will be the added bonus of free entry to the show.
The weekend will start on the Friday night with a reception buffet; Saturday
will consist of a lecture on the current judging Guidelines, the AGM, a
lecture by an international celebrity and an open forum where members will
be able to put questions to the society’s principal officers. In the
evening there will be an informal Dinner/Dance and a front line duo has
been booked for the entertainment.
Sunday will centre on the show and a major lecture from an international
celebrity.
Trips have been arranged to Beamish Working Museum and the Metro Shopping
Centre on Saturday and Newcastle Quay on Sunday.
Throughout Saturday and Sunday there will be sales birds available and a
range of trade stands covering the needs of all budgerigar breeders.
The show will take the same form as Woking 2011 with classes for 2011 bred
birds and any age birds. A full range of Challenge Certificates worth seven
points will be available along with a full range of section rosettes and
special trophies for the major special winners.
Colour Standards & Guidelines
Since the two judges meetings and the circulation of the amended guidelines
and accompanying pictures, five letters had been received from members setting
out some concerns and suggestions regarding the guidelines.
The full afternoon session of the meeting was devoted to this subject and
after a very lengthy and detailed discussion it was agreed to amend and
finalise the guidelines by deleting the paragraph; “Birds displaying
one major fault will not be able to win any major award other than a class
win (effective 2013 (directive)”, this means that birds displaying
only one major fault can go onto win major awards.
The pictures to illustrate the faults were also agreed and finalised and
these, together with the amended guidelines, will now be circulated to all
members via the magazine and the society website and will be fully effective
in 2012.
Chairman/Secretary referrals
It was agreed to award Preston Budgerigar Society Gold Championship Patronage
for their show in 2012 in recognition of their 50th Anniversary Show; patronage
for the 2013 show will be based on the benched entry for 2012.
It was agreed that two proposed rules changes regarding Artificial Insemination and Show Cage Drinkers will be put before the membership in 2012.
A request from Mr R Fox to advertise his forum in the magazine was rejected on the grounds it was not in the best interests of the society.
The Chairman informed the meeting that all members of the present General
Council will seek re-election at the forthcoming ballot and nominations
had also been received for:
Bev Hutt, Michael Chapman, Neil Johnson, Richard Miller, Dave Sturzaker,
Dave Woan and Fred Wright.
Future meetings
Meetings of the General Council will be held on Saturday 11th February 2012
and Saturday 28th April 2012.
The Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 12th May 2012 at Seaton
Burn.
An open meeting for judges and members will also be held on Saturday 12th
May 2012 at Seaton Burn.