THE BUDGERIGAR SOCIETY’S CLUB SHOW 2009
On Saturday and Sunday 26th & 27th September, at The Dome, Doncaster
Now is the time when exhibitors, and non-exhibitors, BS members and non-members who like shows, look forward to the Show Season. Hopefully prominent in their thoughts (with their own local show) will be THE National Budgerigar event – The BS Club Show.
This year, the Club Show Committee have introduced a number of changes which we hope will both enhance the event, and encourage more fanciers to exhibit -- and perhaps enter birds in our Sales Classes, which is always a very busy and successful market place! More of this later.
Main Arrangements:-
THE JUDGES selected for this great event are:- Bob Allen (Western Counties B& FBS) Roy Aplin (Western Counties B & FBS), Ray Brown (Yorkshire BS), Eric Evill (South Midlands BB), Marlene Ferguson (Scottish BS), Bob Francis (BS President) , Don Havenhand (Yorkshire BS), Keith Leedham (Midland Budgerigar Association),Michael Little (Northern BS), Robert McLean (Scottish BS), Gren Norris (Lincolnshire & East Anglia BS), Pat Norris (Lincolnshire & East Anglia BS), Bob Travnicek (United States of America), Trevor Treheege (Former Trainee judge of the Year),Gary Warren (Welsh BS) These will be augmented by four extra judges, engaged to speed up the selection of birds for the section line-ups. Those four judges have been selected from next year’s list of colour judges for next year’s show.
• ENTRIES CLOSING DATE. Many fanciers have, over the years, said that they are reluctant to enter birds because of the gap between entries day and the Show date,the closing date for entries will be Tuesday 15th September. There will also be space on the entry form for exhibitors' email address so that they can sent confirmation of receipt of entries
• STEWARDS The Budgerigar Society’s Team of Stewards has an enviable reputation for its hard work and efficiency, throughout the show from the erection of staging on the Friday to its dismantling on the Sunday night. Would you like to be part of this ‘happy band’ ? If so, please contact Pete Smith, 32 Wakefield Road, Snydale, Pontefract, West Yorks WF7 6BT Telephone:01977 780102 Email wfpete70@aol
Or Dave Hislop 389 North Drive, Cleveleys, Lancs FY5 3PF Tel: 01253 855894 Email dave.Hislop@btinternet.com
Preferences will be given to stewards prepared to help in addition to Saturday morning. The stewards list will close at the end of August, or when sufficient numbers have been reached.
• BOOKING IN ARRANGEMENTS Birds will now also be accepted on the Saturday morning of the show, to make it easier for many fanciers who do not like their birds to spend more one night away from home --and of course to reduce accommodation costs to those exhibitors.
Exhibitors will be asked, on their entry form, to specify whether they will bring their birds on the Friday night or the Saturday morning. This will allow the Show Management team to anticipate the number of stewards they will need for checking in duties on each day. We would ask fanciers to let us know of any subsequent change to that declared booking-in date, by phone to Dave Hislop or Pete Smith – phone details will be in the schedule
Fanciers bringing their birds on the Saturday morning are particularly asked to be prompt. Birds will be received on that day from 7:30am to 9:30am ( Friday times are 2pm to 10pm)
JUDGING commences at 10am prompt
SEMINARS COMMENCE 10am
SHOW OPEN TO PUBLIC It is envisaged that the show will be open by 3:30, on completion of judging. Fanciers will appreciate that this is the start of a new procedure and we would ask them to understand that there may be some variance on this – a little time either side. To help to achieve this timing, arrangements have been put into place to minimize the time taken in judging, as stated in the judging paragraph above. For this same reason, for example, there will be no individual introduction of the judges as they appear to take part in judging the major specials, because of the additional time that this ceremony takes. We feel that this will not detract from the overall spectacle of Best in Show ,etc judging. Obviously, all such procedures will be reviewed for future events.
• CAR PARKING Exhibitors with 20 or more birds to bench will be provided with a facility to enable them to get closer to the hall for unloading and loading their birds.
• SALES CLASSES. There is NO separate admission charge for entry in to the Sales arena this year. The £3 bird per Sales bird entry fee will remain. Notices will be displayed to confirm that birds can only be sold to BS/ or Area Society members, because of DEFRA regulations, so members are asked to advise their local fanciers who are not currently members of at least their Area society that this regulation will be followed.
• ADVERTISING RATES: Area/Specialist Societies will be charged £15 per half page, £25 per full page, offering a considerable reduction on the commercial rates.
• SPECIAL AWARDS remain in the excellent hands of Ken Whiting, but have been amended. The awards will be crystal for Best in Show, Best Young Bird, Best Any Age, Best Opposite Sex Any Age & Best Opposite Sex Young Bird, Smaller Crystal awards for Any Age and Young bird in each section. All such items to be engraved and in presentation boxes.
Juniors will receive sports vouchers and a framed certificate. Judges and speakers’ memento to be a framed coloured certificate.
• Prize money to remain the same, for Section Awards down to 5th place in each section ( Juniors down to 3rd).
• Admission charges are also held at £6. Catalogues will be on sale at £5 -- by post £6.
• Sections down to 20 as before for the Premier Area Breeder Competition;
• PHOTOGRAPHY; Fanciers are again asked to note that there is no photography allowd until the show open and No flash photography by any other than the official show photographers".
• The Australian Finch Society Club Show, held in conjunction with our 2008 , for the first time, proved such a success for both organisations that the format is to be repeated this year, enhanced by more varieties catered for by the Australian Finch society.
• The Rare Variety & Colour BS have offered to present a display of birds of the different varieties on that society’s stand. Hopefully all our visitors ( aspiring judges) will take the opportunity to study and compare the different varieties that appear on the judging/show bench. DEFRA regulations will, of course, be fully complied with.
Further details will be reported as and when they are finalized, and all aspects of “CLUB SHOW WEEK-END”, including details of the Seminars, The Annual Dinner Dance, Bowling night and all such peripheral events will be covered in those reports
All in all, NOW is probably the time for local and Area Societies to arrange Coach parties to the show. Make this marvellous event part of your society’s activities and help to draw fanciers to you local societies as well as this national event !!
And, for the future ………….Show Date for 2010 - 2nd/3rd October
Show Date for 2011 - lst/2nd October
Finally, a rather important, if disturbing issue:-
DO YOU WATCH AND ENJOY RED NOSE DAY, INCLUDING THE VARIOUS AUCTIONS WHICH TAKE PLACE ?
DO YOU FIND THE (USUALLY) EXORBITANT PRICES PAID UNREASONABLE, because most folk cannot afford the top prices offered - or is it OK to help a “GOOD CAUSE”?
There had been some controversy this year over the Auction of Promises, which has stood the BS Club Show finances in good stead, thus allowing Entry fees, Admission charges, etc to be kept down.. Apparently, some members who witnessed this popular feature have criticised the large sums that some of the items raised, feeling that this may give an undue message about the cost of the fancy for ordinary and possibly new members.
This reaction is rather disappointing, and the committee feels that the fanciers who have expressed such concern have missed the point of the whole exercise. The Auction of Promises is, very much like so many similar events that most of us have witnessed on the television and other large events (e.g “Red Nose Day”) – a charity auction, at which the money raised often bears little relationship to the commercial value of some of the goods on offer. It is an entertaining way for such benefactors of the society to make their donations and give financial backing to an event which incurs such considerable costs. To describe such transactions as a ridiculous amount of money being spent ignores the fact that such ‘good works’ give a lot of folk a lot of pleasure and therefore do not deserve to be criticized so strongly.
This ‘criticism’ out of the way, I feel that I must stress that the Show committee is greatly encouraged by the letters received from members. It is good that so many of our fanciers have the welfare of the society at heart to the extent that they take the trouble to ‘put pen to paper’ to express their thoughts. We urge such members to keep their contributions coming – on all matters pertaining to Club Show week-end
Dave Herring
BS Publicity Officer
Dr Rob Marshall’s The Budgerigar is by far the most impressive avicultural book I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing in my time at Cage & Aviary Birds. 
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