Latest Club News

Prior to the Herd Walk at Warrenho on Friday 19th July, the Club Committee gathered. A few matters were discussed which will be of interest to the wider membership.

WIDENING THE MEMBERSHIP

It was decided that it would be to our advantage to encourage a wider group beyond the core Angus Breeders to get involved with our club. We agreed we would now welcome:

Full time Agricultural Students

Commercial Breeders who have an association with Angus

Business who have a keen interest in serving Angus Breeders

If you know of anyone who fits into one of these categories and may be interested in joining, please encourage them to get in touch.

CHANGING OUR NAME

The club covers a very large geographical area, from Wiltshire to Kent, and from Oxfordshire to the Isle of Wight. The club currently has some 70% of it's membership West of London. It was decided that the club would be more accurately named the SOUTH ENGLAND ABERDEEN ANGUS CLUB. This would also make membership more attractive to potential members who would not regard themselves as in the "South East"

The change in name was agreed and we will now be the SOUTH ENGLAND ABERDEEN ANGUS CLUB. (SEAA)

A full copy of the minutes of our meeting are attached below.

Minutes of the SEEAA Committee meeting held at Lynfield House,

Finchampstead on Friday 19th July 2024

Present: Mike Spooner, Angus Stovold, Tom Beadle, Matt Stoker, Rob Bishop, Andrew Carter, Terry Ives & Christopher Hood (Secretary)

Apologies: Nancie Hood, Simon Maiklem, John O’Hara & Robert Whitcombe (Robert had sent written comments on the Agenda which were circulated.)

Recommendations for election of Committee Members

The Secretary circulated a note (Appendix A) suggesting a more formal structure to electing Committee members for the club, which included serving a fixed term of 3 years, a maximum number of 12 people at any one time and a mechanism for dealing with conflicting views when trying to reach a decision.

After some discussion it was felt that the current more informal arrangement which allowed anyone to join the Committee who wished to serve was quite adequate.

Recommendations to Financial Handling

Appendix B to the Agenda was circulated. The Secretary explained that he would like to be able to use online Banking. After some discussion with the Bank, it looked as if the only real option would involve this to be operated by one person only. However, a solution which will allow dual authorisation has been found which was quite workable. The Secretary recommended that we go with this. The Secretary suggested that together with Mike Spooner and Andrew Carter there should be a Finance Committee with the mandate being changed so that the main point of contact for the Bank would be passed over from Mike to the new Secretary. There was some discussion as to whether dual authorisation was really necessary, as this was becoming more difficult with Banks, but it was decided to stick with this recommendation and deal with any issues if and when they arose.

Club Membership

The Secretary said that the club currently had 50 members with several resignations over the past few years. He suggested that it would be useful to open up membership to people who potentially would have an interest in Aberdeen Angus and suggested 3 categories: -

Commercial Breeders both Beef & Dairy

Students

Commercial Business with Agricultural interests

This was thoroughly debated, and it was agreed that this was a sensible direction for the club to move in. To that end it was agreed we would have the following membership subscription rates: -

Commercial Breeders £20 (in line with the current subscription)

Students (Free whilst studying)

Commercial Businesses £100

Changing name from “Southeast England Aberdeen Angus Club” to “South England Aberdeen Angus” Club

With over 70% of the current membership of the club located west of London, it was suggested that it would be more appropriate to call the club South and not Southeast.

It possibly gave the wrong impression to prospective new members and would encourage breeders with no obvious other option to join us. This was debated and agreed.

Website & Social Media

The Secretary explained that this was now fully built and was capable of listing stock both for sale and wanted and encouraged the committee to support the Website to ensure the information remained both current and relevant. The committee felt that the website was a real plus and resolved to provide more content.

It was felt we were missing a trick by keeping our Facebook page private and it was agreed that this will be switched to public access.

Herd Walk 18th September

The Secretary said he had organised a Herd Walk to take in the Rooksnest and Shefford Herds which would start with lunch being provided at Plain Farm.

Herd Competition 2025

The committee discussed possible judges for next year. It was agreed to approach Owen Tunney. The Secretary has already talked to Owen about a visit to his herd in September and it was agreed he would be approached while this was going on. This would give time to find an alternative should Owen not be available

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Any Other Business

AGM 2025

It was agreed that Reading University was a good venue this year and we should try and return. It was felt lunch should be organised. Chris Reynolds talk was very well received and something similar would go down well. The Secretary will try and find a speaker to specifically address the future of Beef Farming. A date in March was the popular time.

YDP

Terry Ives reported that the current year’s YDP had been fraught with problems and there had been big problems with communication leading to very poor attendance. This had already been addressed going forward and should be rectified for 2025.