Summarised Report of the Budgerigar Society General Council Meeting
Summarised Report of the Budgerigar Society General Council Meeting held on Saturday, 19th March 2022 commencing at 10.00 hrs at Bugbrooke Community Centre, Northampton.
There were two apologies for absence from members of the GC due prior engagements and from the President.
Chairman’s Welcome
The Chairman advised that President Phil Reaney had sent his apologies for personal reasons. He then opened the meeting and welcomed everyone to the first face-to-face GC meeting for more than 2 years and to new council members Grant Findlay, Chris Snell, Adrian Richards, Adrian Terheege and our new Administrator Jason Julien. These had only attended Zoom GC meetings previously.
The Chairman advised that as a democratically elected group we are extremely privileged to be giving the opportunity to represent and carry out the wishes of members of the Budgerigar Society. He reflected on Bill Watmough who had donated the Society lectern, saying how proud he would be of the Society. He said, we have been hit hard during the past two years, with some members no longer being in the hobby and called for a minute’s silence as a mark of respect to our friends in the hobby that had sadly passed since our last meeting.
At this point President Elect Chris Snell presented the new Vice Chairman Grant Findlay with his VC ribbon and the new Society Administrator Jason Julien his ribbon.
Minutes of GC meeting held on 13 January 2022 via zoom
The minutes were proposed and seconded and unanimously accepted.
Avian ID Express Postage For Rings
The cost of recorded delivery for rings is £10.00 and 9 members had taken up this service for their 2022 rings. From the 2022 ring orders, three were sent back damaged, 1 of the recorded deliveries had not been delivered and a further 11 orders had gone astray and had to be remade.
Other postal options were discussed, and it was proposed and seconded that we retain the current procedure. The vote was 8 for, 3 against and 1 not voting.
National Colour Budgerigar Show
The National Specialist & Rare Variety Show committee have agreed to stage the National Colour Budgerigar Show in conjunction with their show on 25th June 2022. The Classification is to be extended to 8 Any Age and 8 Young Bird classes with 16 Challenge Certificates being awarded. Maurice Roberts is to be the first judge of the National Colour Budgerigar Show. A trophy for Best Colour Budgerigar In Show is to be donated by Ghalib Al-Nasser and Grant Findlay.
Spring Event Update
The BS Club Show Committee are looking forward to our post Covid kick start event for the 2022 Show Season on 21st and 22nd May 2022 at the Dome, Doncaster. The Schedule has been distributed with the March edition of The Budgerigar and good support and attendance is anticipated.
Members Engagement Survey
The GC were reminded the results of the survey were printed in the March issue of “The Budgerigar”. The Chairman said it was good that more than 100 members took part and thanked our main sponsor Countrywide Seed for sponsoring the survey with 10 bags of seed.
A summarised and grouped report has been produced and the suggestions made by members will be integrated into the work of future GC sub-groups.
Judges Handbook
The final draft of the much anticipated Judges Handbook was made available to the GC. This is a huge piece of work, and the plan is to have it as a loose-leaf format so that it can be maintained without a total reprint. Following a discussion, it was agreed that most of the publication is fit for purpose, but further work is required on the “faults chapter”, including improved illustrations.
World Budgerigar Organisation
The next WBO meeting is in Italy in September 2022 and the Society has one item of correspondence with the WBO on the Ideal and we await their response after the September meeting.
Joint BS and Area Society Membership
A scheme to make all new BS members joint members of their Area Society is still being considered. An important factor for success is that whatever is proposed it must be acceptable to all 10 Area Societies for it to go forward.
The proposal centres around the BS giving Area Societies £5.00 towards every new membership for those individuals first year, without impacting on BS subs. The Administrator is to write to the Area Societies pointing out the financial benefits of the proposal and bring the responses back to the GC.
Correspondence
G Paine dated 03.03.22
Mr Paine suggested we publish a request to gain club meeting ideas. This was agreed.
R Fox dated 02.03.22
Mr Fox has generously donated a carved and painted judging stick and would like the GC to decide what to do with it. After discussion it was agreed that this would be a one-off award for the trainee judge of the year. The Chairman remarked at the hard work and craftsmanship of such a lovely gift and asked Jason to write a letter of sincere thanks to Mr Fox on behalf of the GC and the Society.
Patronage update
The Patronage Administrator reported applications for Patronage 2022 are:
Rosettes Shows 18
Bronze Shows 4
Silver Shows 28
Gold Shows 16 This include 1 x 75th Anniversary and 5 x Area Special invite
Platinum Shows 2
Area Shows 10 LEA still to be confirmed
Area S & RV Shows 8
Gold S & RV Shows 1
BS S & RV Show 1
BS Spring Show 1
BS Club Show 1
National Show 2 Scottish National New
Total 92
Rosettes
Costing per each type of Patronage excluding delivery charges:
Rosette £8.00
Bronze £28.80
Silver £48.80
Gold £43.32
Platinum £43.32
Area £43.32
Nationals £43.32
Area S & RV £54.40
Gold S & RV £54.40
BS S & RV £54.40
Spring Event £1342.66
The spring event includes Class rosettes down to third place 1200 in total – any not used can be used for the Club Show in September.
A full list of the Patronage Shows is on the BS website and will be published in The Budgerigar
Judges Training Scheme update
The Judges Training Scheme Coordinator re-iterated how very few exhibitors are taking up the opportunity to become judges.
It was suggested that the Society criteria be looked at to help address this problem and the Society may be missing an opportunity to engage with novices. This could provide a scale for new and aspiring judges who, under the banner of the judges training scheme, can escalate up the show ladder, starting with rosette patronage shows or working alongside more experienced judges at the foundation level, allowing fanciers the opportunity to have a broader interest in the hobby.
It was also suggested that making members who are currently eligible for the training scheme aware of this fact may help. Currently the Society does not keep records of who shows in the various sections and for how long, but an option is to let members know the criteria via The Budgerigar.
Following discussion, it was proposed and seconded that a sub-group be set up led by the Judges Training Scheme Coordinator to look at the criteria for the eligibility of all members from novice upwards. This was unanimously agreed.
Society Stand at Stafford
This was very successful not only did the Society get some new members but also sold around £1000.00 of products. To that end the Society is looking for additional items to sell. Members have been asked for suggestions via Facebook.
Date of next meeting
After a discussion on the merits of face to face and Zoom meetings, it was agreed to proceed with a Zoom meeting on Wednesday 20th April commencing at 7.15pm