A Message from the Chairman
Uploaded September 2004

What a Royal, as if winning the "Flack" was not enough, to pile on BK success by landing the Inter-breed as well is the stuff dreams are made of. Congratulations to Jo and to Chris for bringing forward pigs which have resulted in the best result at any Royal, certainly in living memory for the BK breed. At last we have a traditional breed able to take on the modern breeds in open competition, a vindication of the quality of the breed winners put forward for the Championship classes.

Sadly, somewhat tempering the euphoria of the Royal, was the news that after a long battle with illness, a man who has probably done more than anyone for pedigree pig breeders in this country, a man of vast experience, ever willing to help and advise is no longer with us. That man was Geoffrey Cloke.

Thanks to Jo, we now have our own website. Chris Coe has kindly volunteered to look after and update it as required, so any requirements concerning the site can be directed to Chris [click here to e-mail]. This is a significant step forward, allowing dissemination of Information not only nationally, but worldwide.

Over the Summer, I had the pleasure of entertaining a leading BK breeder from New Zealand, Peter Le Bas. It was he who originally invited me over to NZ to judge at their Royal, and who during his visit, judged the Berkshires at the Gt Yorkshire Show. Among subjects we discussed was the possibility of establishing links with Berkshire breeders overseas, by the formation of some form of international BK association. This would probably be organised on a fairly informal basis, and as most countries with pedigree BKs are English speaking, language would not be a problem. Apart from the exchange of information, such an association would provide ready-made contacts by breeders visiting one another's country.

I expect many of you will be present at Hatfield Show in early September, when our club are "hosts" for this year, ie responsible for the stockmans meal, but also have the benefit of holding the raffle as a club money raiser.

The third BPA organised pig sale (RBST supported) took place at Ross-on-Wye Market on August 21st, with an additional sale in conjunction with the RBST sale of other species at Melton Mowbray Market on Sept 11th. I understand entries at Ross are up to last year, with around forty entered at Melton. From feedback from breeders of all traditional breeds, there is a good demand for their stock at the present time, so once again hopefully this will be reflected in good sale prices,

Once again we are indebted to Newbury Agricultural Society for allowing the Club to hold the final of our Champion-of-Champions at their show in September. Will all qualifiers make every effort to have their pigs forward & match the wonderful show we had last year. May I remind members that should a pig change owners after qualifying, it is still eligible to compete, ie the qualification stays with the pig. Also a reminder to claim your points for the Gillhouse Trophy - please let David know.

I look forward to seeing you at Hatfield.


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