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The 17th Breed Council AGM was held on Thursday 14 May 2009 at the Kennel Club, London W1, followed by a Meeting of the Breed Council.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
In his first annual report, Chairman Peter Mills remarked on the fallout from the damaging attack on Pedigree dogs, and the amount of work necessitated by this in ensuring that the collective views of our breed enthusiasts were heard in all the debates that followed.
One area of particular personal interest had been the ongoing work by the AHT on the DNA project into inherited Eye conditions. Despite a shortage of samples to work with, progress is slowly being made and the areas that contain the location of the responsible genes are continually being reduced. More recently, the project has relied on funding from the KC Charitable Trust; and its Chairman has given assurance that he could see no reason for the funding to stop.
Delegates were thanked for the commitment to Council of themselves and their Clubs: in giving constructive and plentiful feedback, suggestions and comments.
The Secretary, Christine Morrell was re-elected for a second term of office (for 2009/12). Treasurer, David Mannings, had proffered his resignation and Delegates co-opted Lynne Marrow (for 2010/11).
MEETING
The following items were discussed:
Health Matters: as part of the KC Health review last December, Councils were asked to nominate a 'Breed Health Coordinator' and Mrs Margaret Woods was duly elected to the position. It is anticipated that in the future, by working with Clubs' health Representatives this in effect could form a "Health Subcommittee" for Golden Retrievers. Since the last meeting, responses on health and welfare issues surrounding pedigree dogs had been submitted from Council to the Kennel Club; the Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare and the Independent Inquiry supported by the KC/Dogs Trust.
Breed Standard: earlier last year, Delegates had started to consider a possible rewording of the section regarding "hindquarters", seeking to expand the clause and improve its interpretation with respect to reducing potential for over-angulation. Having been rather overtaken by events, Delegates felt that on balance, the new paragraph introduced by KC now covers the point about avoiding exaggerations; and so will not be proposing any amendments.
Animal Health Trust: the Oncology group has received a number of samples for its cancer genetic studies on mast cell tumours, melanomas and soft tissue sarcomas, but still is in need of more blood or cheek samples from affected dogs as well as from unaffected dogs, especially those over 6yrs old. More information is available on the AHT website ( http://www.aht.org.uk/science_oncology.html ).
B List criteria: Delegates had previously discussed whether candidates for the Council B List should need to attain the three KC seminars in addition to the Breed Specific seminar. After further consideration by Clubs' committees and in light of it now being a requirement for a majority of Clubs, this addition to Council's criteria was approved, becoming effective for nominees to the 2009 lists which will be published after the meeting in October.
Judges Training: Delegates began to consider how best to develop the skills of 'novice' judges; and this will be discussed further at the next meeting.
Breeders Competition: there was general support for a proposal from the Northern GRA that Breed Clubs be exempted from having to schedule the new KC 'Breeders Competition' at their Championship shows. This mainly was on the grounds that Club shows already are lengthy events and many have established 'special' classes: also noting that thus far, there has been only one entry in the competition.
Council Website: given that most Clubs now have their own websites, Delegates gave approval to a modernisation and streamlining of the site's content to make it more relevant to today.
Date of next meeting: Thursday 22 October 2009
Christine Morrell - Secretary