The 2021 Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday 17th April 2021 Via Zoom call. Following the cancellation of the 2020 AGM it was determined to make provision for all members who wished to attend to join a Zoom meeting.
There was a good Zoom attendance at this meeting (17 members) and the AGM business was satisfactorily completed.
2020 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT – April 2021 Ian Mason
In this very strange year, I hope this message finds you and your animals well.
It has, of course, been a year without Agricultural Shows. There were some virtual shows and I did, on behalf of BAGS, contribute to the Royal Three Counties Virtual Show. BAGS also held their own Virtual Angora Goat Show and I would like to thank John Taylor for the difficult task of judging by photographs. He carried out the task with great diligence and I would like to congratulate all the prize winners and thank all those involved, particularly Kathryn who collated all the entries and photographs. There is hope that in 2021 many shows will return, although there will inevitably be some changes, in particular a likely significant reduction in visitors to the earlier shows in 2021.
We were not able to hold the usual BAGS AGM in April 2020 and the officers and committee have therefore remain unchanged. An AGM will be held in 2021 and will most probably, be an on-line version.
The Society has now been running Grassroots for over twelve months and it does seem to have bedded in well, with I believe, few if any minor teething problems. Many thanks to Imogen for operating the system. Thanks also to the rest of the Committee for their continued support of BAGS.
Sadly I report the death of Richard Yonge’s wife, Mary, who died peacefully at home in July following a fall. Richard and Mary have exhibited their Puslinch Angoras very successfully for over the last thirty years and have been very active BAGS members.
Lockdown has, of course, affected everyone this year in various ways. Those of us who have been blessed with livestock to care for, are, I feel fortunate compared with many. We do have outside space and fresh air to lighten the day. I felt this time did give the opportunity to catch up on fencing repairs, shed refurbishment and re-roofing projects which would have been rather later in completion without lockdown and restrictions on activity away from home.
I hope that 2021 will see a better year for all of us with Coronavirus under control and a return to a more normal way of life. Devon County Show and the Royal Three Counties Show have announced their dates and anticipate proceeding with shows even if in a modified reduced footfall form. This latter Show is now not scheduled , but a Show called the Good Life Show in July at Malvern will be an opportunity for Angora Goats to be shown. A virtual Show for BAGS members is also anticipated but details are yet to be finalised.
I am sure we would like to think that we can meet up next year. Meanwhile, keep safe.
Addendum – more information has now been received about 2021 shows. Devon County Show is going ahead at the beginning of July. The Good Life Show at Malvern is also going ahead on 21st and 22nd July. Our own Virtual Show needs to be discussed and planned. The website host has now changed to a new provider and is still in the process of being updated. Grassroots has also been moved to Jackie Andrews and David Norman. Ian thanked Imogen for all her hard work in getting this system up and running
Officers of the Society
David Haworth remains as our President
Dot Tyler is our new Chairman.
Chris Tyler remains as Treasurer
Jackie Andrews has taken over as Secretary/Administrator and she and David Norman (who is now formally elected onto the Committee) are sharing Grassroots duties.
Ian thanked Imogen for her work on the Committee and hoped to welcome her back in the future.
Discussion period
It was agreed that the Malvern Show would be the Breed Show (judge to be decided) but that the Virtual Show (hopefully with John Taylor as judge again) could be the National Show.
Suggestions for additions to the website were requested. For example, the fact sheets need to be updated.