Christopher Hood
27 Mar 2024
AGM and Conference, Reading University
AGM & Conference Wednesday 13th March
It was nice to see so many of you at Reading University. For those of you who couldn’t come here is
a brief report.
The Club Accounts
Mike Spooner summarised the Income and Expenditure for the Club which showed an Income of £1076.45 for the year with expenditure of £1419.27. This let a balance at bank of £7165.41.
Chairman’s Report
The year’s activities were summarised for the meeting. Starting with a herd walk at the Mottistone
Herd on the Isle of Wight, at kind invitation of Micheal Poland which was followed in the summer by
a well-supported herd competition and finally a visit to the Standlynch Herd by kind invitation of
Andrew Carter. ( Full details on website)
Changes to Club Officers and Committee
John O’Hara, having served his 2 years as Chairman stood down and was replaced by Tom Beadle. Matt Stoker took on the role of Vice Chairman. The committee was re-elected with the addition of Terry Ives, who was the only change. (See website for full details)
This Year’s Events
Plans have been made to visit the Warrenho herd on 20th July, with a further visit to the Rooksnest
& Shefford Herds in September. Dates are yet to be confirmed. There is also an “away day” planned to visit the Buckhurst Herd near Bury & the Morpheus Herd near Northwich. There is no herd competition this year. Full details of all planned events will be confirmed nearer the time so please keep an eye on the website and facebook page.
Any Other Business
The Secretary took the opportunity to bring the meeting up to date on developments with the website and his thoughts on how his role could be made more accountable to the membership.
He also took the opportunity to suggest that a student membership and associate membership could be added. This would allow students with an interest in Pedigree breeding to get involved and would also hopefully get associated companies and suppliers to join. A committee meeting is to be called to consider these things in the near future. Full details will be available on the website.
Professor Chris Reynolds
The meeting was treated to a fascinating talk by Chris on agricultural research at Reading
University. Chris is Deputy Head of Agriculture Policy and Development at Reading University and
Director of the Centre for Dairy Research. A good part of his talk was directly relevant to Angus
breeding, specifically the enormous amount of research that has gone into Methane reduction and the examination of herbal leys as an alternative to the traditional reliance on ryegrass.
Felicity Hunter
Felicity is the new Communications Manager at the Aberdeen Angus Society and took the opportunity to introduce herself to the club and explain what her role. She will be spending quite a bit of her time ensuring closer links between the Society and the regional clubs.
Ian Watson
Ian is the newly elected President of the Aberdeen Angus Society. Ian detailed his background and
described his priorities while in the role. It was quite clear that he is under no illusions as to the priorities and will work tirelessly to achieve his goals.
Minutes
Please find the full minutes attached here