The Budgerigar Society - The History of the Society
Since the naturalist, John Gould, introduced the small grass parakeet to England in 1840 no other variety of small cage bird has created as much interest as the Budgerigar. And the Budgerigar Society in Great Britain can rightly claim that it is the most well-organised and efficiently run society out of all branches of the cage bird fraternity, with its own headquarters building in Spring Gardens Northampton. The Budgerigar for many years has been acclaimed as the most popular house pet.
History
The history of the Budgerigar Society (BS) has been eventful since the initial set up in 1925: the BS now has a membership of 3000+ with an office, a full time secretary/treasurer to deal with all daily queries, membership, correspondence, minutes of meetings, ring orders, for taking show entries for the World Championship show staged at the Doncaster Dome every September, and many other tasks too numerous to mention.
February 1925 saw the formation of the first BUDGERIGAR CLUB (BC) at the Grand National Show at Crystal Palace. There were 18 founder members, most were prominent personalities with titles attached to their names including eight fellows of the Zoological Society. The subscription was fixed at 25p; this figure would most probably be twice the current subscription (£21.50) had it been kept in line with inflation and the cost of living.
The first club show was held in 1926 in conjunction with the National, only nine classes were available and 100 birds were benched. By comparison with today's Club Show in Doncaster where there are some 740 classes with an entry of 3,000+.
And as early as 1926 the BC had patronage to offer shows with the stipulation that at least two classes for budgerigars must be provided to obtain patronage. A Judges' Panel was formed with 11 members on the panel (presently there are 160+), led by the Marquis of Tavistock. Currently the BS runs its own Judges Training Scheme, which lasts for 3 years before a trainee judge can take his/her final test to qualify as a full BS Main Panel Judge.
Within the first five years, the BC commenced issuing its BULLETIN four times a year, a format that continued till the eighties when both size and number of issues increased. Standardised show cages became compulsory in 1929. A Colour Committee was formed to look into new colours and mutations. And the first of the Area Societies was formed in 1928; Western Counties BS. The first Team Class was staged and A. C. Hughes had begun to make closed coded rings at 25p for 100.
The BS has organised many World Conventions, the first in 1954 and since then in 1959, 1975, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2006.
A Royal Patron
The name of the Budgerigar Club was changed in 1930 to the society's current name "The Budgerigar Society". This change occurred when His Majesty, King George V, accepted an invitation to become Patron of the Club. His request that the name be changed from the BC to BS was acceded to with alacrity. Membership then was 500 strong. There were eight established colours and Dr. Hans Duncker revised his new colour work to include those colours. The first rule was passed then to allow the committee to suspend members who were found guilty of acting contrary to the interest of the Society. During the mid 1950’s (the Golden Era of the BS) membership stood at 21,000.
The Fancy
A term used loosely for the bird keeping fraternity that consists of the Canary fancy, the British Bird fancy, the Budgerigar fancy and the Foreign Bird (including Parrots) fancy. Those who keep any of these types of birds are called "Fanciers".
Structure
The Budgerigar "Fancy" is divided into two categories; the serious breeder and exhibitor and those who keep budgerigars in their back garden purely for pleasure.
It is difficult to ascertain how many fanciers come into the latter category but the former is more easily defined.
The ruling body in Great Britain is The Budgerigar Society (BS) and part of its history is mentioned above. Also the BS is further divided into ten areas called Area Societies who are affiliated to the BS. Most fanciers are members of either the parent body (BS), their local Area Society and in many cases members of both. There are also six national Specialist Societies in G.B. catering exclusively for the specialist budgerigar varieties and each is an associate member of the BS.
The BS is run by a General Council (GC), (equivalent to a Parliament) consisting of 22 councillors. These are made up of 12 nationally elected councillors with the other 10 being elected by the BS membership one from each of the ten area societies. The Council is elected for a 3 years term and meets twice a year and the day to day running of the Society's affairs are invested in the salaried general secretary who is responsible to the Chairman of the Society. There are a number of sub-committees elected for the three-year term from the 22 strong Council who meet on a more regular basis to discuss and make decisions appertaining to the affairs of the Society.
Each May the Annual General Meeting of the B.S. is held in Northampton. The GC usually meets on the day prior to the AGM. Nowadays, all elections and Rule Changes are conducted by balloting all BS members; in this way every member has the opportunity to be involved in the Society’s decision making.
Rings
Those who fall in the serious fanciers' category ring their baby budgerigars for identification and exhibiting purposes. A metal closed coded ring with details of the fancier is used to ring a baby budgerigar between the ages of 7-10 days. All rings are obtained through the office of the BS. About 200,000 rings are bought every year so this gives some indication of how many budgerigars are produced every year. Ring colour is changed every year and is issued from the 1st January. Of course this figure does not take into account those who breed for leisure and who may not use rings.
At the moment the BS issues 6 magazines (The Budgerigar) per year to its members. Although the BS have 3000+ members, the figure of the serious fanciers are much more than that because of those who are members of their area societies and not members of the BS. A figure of 5,000-8,000 is more realistic for the total number of fanciers in the U.K.
Overall Scene
There is most probably a small club within each town in the country, either catering exclusively for budgerigars or a mixed variety club. These clubs meet on a monthly basis with guest speakers invited from all over the country. They also run two or three shows a year for their members. Of course the public is invited to attend these shows and that is how recruitment to the hobby is initially made.
Most, if not all, of these clubs tend to affiliate to their area society. Within the London & Southern Counties BS there are about 40 affiliated clubs.
The Budgerigar Society in itself is affiliated to two bodies:
- The National Council for Aviculture (NCA) in U.K. which is the voice of all bird keepers who keep track on all government legislation and represent the fancy as a whole.
- World Budgerigar Organisation (WBO), which is an advisory organisation liasing with all the countries of the World that have a strong budgerigar following. (www.world-budgerigar.org)
It is a fact to say that the BS is the strongest and most well organised society in the World as both the secretary and immediate past chairman of the WBO come from the BS.
Shows
The Budgerigar Society gives an assortment of Patronage packages to some 180 shows within G.B. culminating in its own World Championship Show held in Doncaster during September each year, the entry for the 2006 show was 2,845.
The Patronage offered by the society is probably the most sought after in the G.B. and is based on benched entries the more birds benched the better the Patronage. Overseas patronage is offered to all affiliated parent bodies overseas.
For further information please do not hesitate to contact the Secretary Dave Whittaker at:
The Budgerigar Society
Spring Gardens
Northampton
NN1 1DR
Tel: 01604 624549
Fax: 01604 627108