CHAIRMANS REPORT – Doug Lockton
Following my appointment as Chairman of BMM in August 2019 there was a very sharp learning curve to organise the sale of mohair to South Africa. Dave and Jacquie’s help was invaluable but Dot did a fantastic job arranging the shipment and sale not least of all as the company in South Africa had only just been reorganised and was in new premises.
Then armed with our new expertise along came 2020 with the pandemic; nothing could be guaranteed and the Board felt that it was too risky to try to move members mohair.
Unfortunately, 2021 does not look much better but something has to be done and we are making enquiries to that end.
Please wish the Board well and we will be keeping you informed of the results of our enquiries.
Board directors – These are unchanged from last year
Chairman: Doug Lockton
Treasurer: Chris Tyler
Society Secretary: Jo Beswick
Other directors: Dot Tyler, Jeannie Camm and Mark Snook-Bevis Ian Mason was removed from the list and there were no new nominations.
Discussion period
The sustainable mohair standard in operation in South Africa leads to a difference of 10% in value between accredited and non-accredited mohair. We have yet to hear back from SA about our adoption of the standard (given our very different farming methods in UK).
Dot reported that the shipping company we used in 2019 is still OK for us to use.
Peter Creber is still OK to carry out the quarantine checks in Longdon.
Doug will contact Nic Fearnley and see if he is able to match the current very high prices in SA.
We will keep you informed of any decisions but there will definitely be a BMM collection this year.