As Chairman I had prepared a report which I read aloud. I had wanted to make Breed Council meetings and activities more transparent to generate interest, educate those who will be involved in the future & remove any mysticism that has surrounded the Breed Council. I had written synopsis after each meeting and these had been published on both the Breed Council’s website and Facebook pages and in the Our Dogs newspaper.
There had been some very important breed issues dealt with over the last year – in particular, changes to the Breed Standard regarding the colour Merle and the FCI differences to the published UK Breed Standard. NI Whippet club had returned as members after quite some time and it was good to have all 11 UK Breed clubs as members. There were reports from both the treasurer and the Health Coordinator. The officers of the Breed Council retire in rotation and it was the Secretary’s position which was available for election. Russell Sykes was prepared to stand for re-election and, as no other nominations had been received, Russell was re-elected for the next 3 year term.
The treasurer, Molly Head, expressed a wish to stand down throughout 2019 but gave assurances that she would not resign the post until a successor for the role is identified. There were proposed changes to the Breed Council constitution and once these have been ratified by the Kennel Club, the Breed Council’s constitution will be altered.
There was a lunch break before the afternoon ‘Ordinary’ meeting began.
The Secretary had written to the Kennel Club with regards to the registration of Merle Whippets following the amendment to the breed standard which became ‘official’ as of 1st December 2018 – this letter requested that the Kennel Club should not allow registration of merle Whippets. This request will now be considered by the KC Board at their next meeting.
To engender support, I had personally emailed many Whippet and Sighthound Clubs and ‘Persons of Influence’ across Europe, Australia and New Zealand with regard to the FCI ‘patronage’ issue, outlining the differences between the UK & FCI Whippet Breed standards, including the Merle exclusion. The FCI breed standards commission is held annually, I had therefore outlined the urgency to generate support from Whippet specialists, to bring the FCI standard back in line with that of the UK standard. The email was also sent to members of the KC Board to appraise them of the situation.
In the responses, there was considerable shock from many who had not seen that the UK and FCI standards were now different and there was much support to return to the UK version.
The Health Coordinator, Jo whitehead had also been very proactive throughout the year and had sent in a detailed account to the Breed Council.
A report from Breed Education Co-ordinator Mrs Pam Marston-Pollock outlined the work of the BEC during 2018, how the model of working for the Whippet Breed within JCF would move forward, and what had been achieved in terms of training during 2018. The BEC stated that JCF commenced on 1st January 2019. Updates on the JCF were also listed. A great deal of work has been accomplished and there are already 3 BAD and MCE dates set for 2019 Contact Pam Marston Pollock on whippeteducation@gmail.com if you are interested.
At the previous Whippet Breed Council meeting Miss Fiona Mycroft had delivered an excellent presentation to the meeting on the possibility of organising a ‘Whippet Speciality’/WOTY. Sadly, due to lack of support & funding, she would not be pursuing the matter at the current time.
The whippet themed lunch was set for Wednesday 6th February and there were over 50 booked attendees. It looked like it would be a great day out!
Finances and donations were discussed and suggested dates for the next meeting were proposed, which may be linked in with another JCF special education day.
All in all it was a constructive meeting with a very positive look at the business conducted by the Breed Council throughout the previous year.
Ann Beckett-Bradshaw (Chairman)
Whippet Breed Council