Summarised Report of the General Council Meeting Held At The Budgerigar Society Office On Wednesday 20th JULY 2011
Members Present
Ghalib Al-Nasser, George Booth, Roger Carr, John Cosby, Grant Findlay, Bob Francis, Gordon Grist, Terry Jukes, Gren Norris, Alex Woan.
In Attendance
Dave Whittaker – General Secretary
The Chairman opened the meeting and said that our President and Vice Chairman, Dave Hislop, couldn’t be present as his wife, Marie had a very important hospital appointment, nor could our President Elect, Maurice Roberts due to work commitments. He went on to welcome the members that were present and thanked them for giving up yet another day of their very valuable time and asked that all business be conducted through the Chair.
Apologies were received from Mrs Janice Al-Nasser, Dave Hislop, Donald McCallum, Maurice Roberts
Minutes of the General Council Meeting held on Saturday 16th April 2011
After a slight amendment to the item regarding the WBO the minutes were ratified.
Matters arising
Blue Cube – The Secretary informed the meeting that no progress had been made to date but felt that the work needed to be carried out and then efforts be made to secure the cost from Blue Cube; After some discussion it was decided that the matter be left in the hands of the Secretary, Grant Findlay and Roger Carr to have the work completed.
Drop Down Barriers
The Secretary informed the meeting that these were not an urgent matter as the legislation does not become effective until the end of 2011 and added that our neighbours J R Watson would consider sharing the cost.
Bio-security
The Chairman stated that the papers from Ian Fielding had been circulated inviting comments but as the show season is now upon us he proposed to leave this item to a meeting later in the year so that any amendments that may be required could be put in place in good time for the 2012 show season.
Financial/Membership reports
The Secretary had circulated these reports giving details of membership figures, ring sales and a financial report.
The Secretary went on to give an overview of the Bucktons Sponsorship deal and said that he was meeting with Bucktons in the near future for further discussions.
Woking Event
Roger Carr tabled a comprehensive report of the event that showed that it had been a very successful weekend and thanking all those who had helped to make it so.
The Chairman stated that the Society had received a lot of positive feedback about the weekend and said that he considered it had been a really great event and asked that a vote of thanks be recorded on behalf of the Society and its members to Roger Carr, Fred Wright and Dave Whittaker for all their hard work in putting together such a great weekend for everyone’s’ enjoyment.
Spring Event – 2012
Roger Carr informed the meeting that he had visited the Northern BS area to look at possible venues and was pleased to be able to report that the members of the NBS were very enthusiastic about the event being held in their area in 2012 as it was their own 75th Anniversary.
He suggested that the event be held at the Holiday Inn at Seaton Burn, that would allow everything to be held under "one roof", It was agreed that the Secretary should go ahead and sign a contract with the Holiday Inn.
It was suggested that a BS panel should be formed to answer members questions on current matters following the AGM, the classification should be reviewed and the show should possibly include a team event involving the Area Societies.
The event will be held on 11th, 12th & 13th May 2012.
The Way Forward
The Chairman split the meeting into two groups to look at the papers circulated by Roger Carr & Dave Herring and Maurice Roberts & Donald McCallum together with a letter from Kevin Addison.
One group looked at "tiered membership" but felt that this was not a priority at the present time but suggested that the Society talk to the younger members and invite people from forums in an attempt to bring on board younger members and get them involved in the fancy.
The second group looked at "promoting The Budgerigar Society" and suggested a number of ideas that could be looked into including; a question box, leaflets to be given away at CBS shows, pet owner leaflets, circulating promotional material to places such as libraries, Women’s institutes and local councils and look at greater exposure on the internet.
It was also agreed to purchase pop-up display banners for each member of the General Council to take to shows with promotional material, membership forms and sales items.
WBO meeting – report
Grant Findlay tabled a report of the meeting held on 27th May in Australia. Following the report it was suggested that the criteria for judges being placed on the WBO panel should be looked at and that the BS may also need to look at our own judges panel criteria.
WBO - Gould Award
Grant Findlay outlined the idea of this award and suggested that the BS should put forward a name for it. (The Gould Award will be awarded for Meritorious Services to the World of Budgerigars with only one award per year to be allocated to the winner from any part of the world").
Two names were put forward with the successful nomination being for Jeff Attwood.
Chairman/Secretary referrals
Guidelines/pictures
It was decided that following the circulation of pictures showing degrees of flecking and opalescence to members who attended the Annual Judges meeting at The Budgerigar Society office and members who attended the open meeting at The Woking Event that the pictures would be published in the magazine and circulated to all members of the Judges Panel together with the up to date copy of the Guidelines and a letter explaining that the pictures were a "work in progress" and not for use when judging shows.
The Secretary handed out samples of the plastic rings that hadn’t arrived in time for the last meeting and asked members to take them away and look at them closely and then write into the office with any comments.
The secretary advised the meeting that he had been approached by the Budgerigar Forum regarding the sponsorship of Cage Labels to all BS Patronage Shows. It was agreed that the Society accepts the offer on a two year deal.
Future meetings
The next meeting of the General Council will be on Saturday November 19th 2011