ARAB HORSE SOCIETY COUNCIL
Minutes of the meeting held at Agriculture House, Hungerford
On 22 October 2015 at 11.00 a.m.
Present:Mrs. A. Dixon (Chairman)Miss Katie Gore
Mrs. J. Lowe (Vice Chairman)Mrs. Carolyn Kokta
Mrs. J. ArmstrongMrs N. Meredith
Mrs. Anne BrownMrs. Joanna White Mr A.R.Mcleod (Treasurer) Mrs D. Whittome
1.APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
None
2.MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING
Minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated and approved electronically. On a proposal by Mrs J Armstrong and seconded by Natalie Meredith the Chairman signed them as a true record.
Correction approved. 10.2.4. It should read ‘periodically’ and not ‘every year’
3.MATTERS ARISING None
4.CORRESPONDENCE
4.1.The Chairman had written a letter of condolence to Mrs. Roebuck after the death of her husband and had sent a card of condolence to Mrs. Pauline Mohammed after the death of Moosa Mohammed.
4.2.A letter had been received regarding a confusion which had arisen about judges attending the NaSTA Performance testing. Mrs. Whittome had responded and dealt with this.
4.3A letter had been received regarding a registration query. SB & R was currently unable to register the horse.
4.4A letter and an email had been received regarding the conduct of a Council member at the UK International Show. The Chairman had already spoken to the Council member, however Council requested that a letter should be sent pointing out that at all times a Council member is a representative of the Society and must behave appropriately.
4.5A letter had been received regarding the sale of Windsor House and the Chairman had made reply that the Trustees had all been legally appointed to administer the funds in a conscientious and fit manner. Full compliance with all Charity Commission requirements had been observed.
4.6A recommendation that the quorum should be reduced to 3 instead of 6 was rejected as felt not appropriate for the Arab Horse Society.
4.7Individual Council members from time to time need confidential electronic documents with which to work and concerns were raised about electronic security. Protocols are in place. Before any data requested is released it must have written permission approved by Council.
5.WINDSOR HOUSE
5.1 The Treasurer reported that the sale of Windsor House had completed. The proceeds of the sale are currently on deposit and Council agreed that the best secure investments in which to deposit the funds should be found. The sale of Windsor House had been protracted and complicated. Council thanked Mr. McLeod and Mrs. Meredith for their work on the sale. The Society would have faced substantial bills to undertake essential repairs on the fabric of the old building and the new owners of Windsor House are undertaking work estimated at £300,000 to bring the house up to current standards.
5.2 The purchase of Agriculture House could now proceed. A survey of Agriculture House had been obtained and the opinion of the surveyor was that there was no reason not to proceed with the purchase. All Council members were in favour of proceeding with the purchase, A modern, well equipped, fit for purpose building was to be purchased with the added benefit of high speed broadband and a building requiring little maintenance.
6.FINANCE REPORT.
6.1 The Treasurer had placed the sale proceeds on temporary deposit while medium and longer term investments were arranged. He suggested that the proceeds should be invested in fixed term deposits, details of which would be circulated to Council for approval. Proposed by Jayne Armstrong, seconded by Carolyn Kokta. Approved by all.
6.2 The Treasurer explained a different way for the setting of committees budgets in order to make their administration simpler and easier to understand. Whilst the Budgets still require to be done annually by each committee for the activities they were responsible for, the overall staff costs, because the staff were now undertaking a range of responsibilities, should be run as a collective office staff cost. It was agreed that this made sense.
6.3 The costs of moving the office equipment including the fitted Library, rent, relocation expenses, computers installation etc. had come in considerably under budget for the move and a tremendous amount was saved by the amount of work done by Council members and staff and the fact that the new offices were so well equipped.
6.4 There has been a substantial drop in SB & R income but in mitigation a large sum had been received at the end of the last year for imports but not actually actioned in the year.
6.5For this year, the Treasurer anticipates a £2,000 surplus for the Society. This had been achieved by very hard decisions being made by Council to reduce costs.
7.BUDGETS
7.1PR&M For clarification and for the Accounts, the committee is to be called the Public Relations and Marketing Committee and its areas of responsibility are outlined in the byelaws. Membership fees and entitlements are the responsibility of the whole of Council. A discussion was held on a suggestion to increase the Bronze Membership fee however this was not accepted. Mrs. Kokta said that her committee spends a lot of time discussing what can be done for members which do not necessarily show or breed and it was agreed that any seminar ideas discussed within the committee could be jointly shared with the either SB & R or S & E committees. An important part of the committee’s responsibility is to pursue items like press releases about the Arabian horse to other publications.
7.2The PR & M Budget had been amended by the Treasurer to place the cost of postage of the AHS News within the office costs. The number of advertisements for the Year Book was looking good.
7.3SB&R The Treasurer and Committee Chairman had been working on the SB & R figures and the figures were acceptable.
7.4S & E Budget had also been prepared and, with the inclusion of the Malvern budget, shows a surplus. The BACS budget was in order. The HOYS expenditure needs to be carefully monitored andany allocation of tickets within a sponsorship deal must be distributed amongst the sponsors. If anyone else within Council wishes to buy any level of tickets, the costs must be met personally.
7.5 HOYS will cost the Society £1,500 more than sponsorship income which will come out of the HOYS Fund previously accumulated. Mrs Dixon and Mrs. Armstrong had met with HOYS and are awaiting news on the 2016 sponsorship deal.
7.6The Treasurer stated that the Budget for next year was showing a loss of £4,000 which may be covered if there is a rent income from the spare office space. With the new structure of Budgeting in place for the future the aim was to reach a break-even point on the running of the Society. It was a great improvement on the situation 3 years ago when facing a loss of £30k. The Treasurer would circulate the amended Budgets to be approved by electronic means. Better use of electronic communication enables the usual December meeting to be cancelled bringing a saving on costs.
7.7 The Treasurer urged Committee Chairman to have their reports ready for the R & A punctually in December.
8.DATE AND VENUE OF AGM 2016
The date agreed is Saturday 16th April 2016 commencing at 1.30pm. There was a suggestion that it might be possible to hold an educational event on the same day as the AGM. This was well received and the venue will be booked accordingly. The date will be put in the Yearbook as well as on the website.
9.WELFARE
Mrs. Meredith reported that the recent welfare case in the public eye was going to appeal and there was currently nothing further to report. Mrs. Green and the RSPCA are in close contact; Mrs. Green should closely liaise with SB & R on this particular case. In future consideration could be given to covering some out of pocket expenses incurred by the Welfare Officer.
10.COMMITTEE REPORTS
10.1Stud Book & Registration Committee Meeting of the 14th October 2015 and PPS Committee Minutes of 30th September 2015
10.1.1 The PPS Minutes highlighted the issue with the PPS rosettes not being distributed at Malvern. The rosettes for 2015 would now be sent out by Mrs. Ponsonby and the cost of postage borne by the S & E Committee. Although the correct rosettes had been taken to Malvern and the Show Secretary had been provided with a list of the horses eligible to receive them, unfortunately they had not been placed in the stewards’ rosette packs for distribution in the ring. JA felt that the Show Secretary did not have time to deal with these rosettes, but DW pointed out that it was part of her job to do so and that the rosettes were a promotional exercise an appreciated by those that received them. Some exhibitors do not realise their horse is a Premium offspring. A suggestion was made that the onus is upon the exhibitor and that the names of the Premium Scheme Stallions is listed on the Shows and Events website with a note advising exhibitors to check if their horse is by a PPS Stallion.
10.1.2 There were 2 horses forward for Performance Testing this year. Both had achievedNaSTA Performance Class One (AHS Grade A).
a) 2004 Grey Stallion MUKHTAR IBN ETERNITY (by Eternity Ibn Navarrone-D out of Monsoon by Djammal) and
b) 2009 Gr. Mare BARTRAMIA (by LVA Maximus out of Branta by Dhruv)
10.1.3 Mrs. Whittome asked whether Show Results could be made available after the Show as the PPS have a High Points Show Award and Mrs. Armstrong asked Mrs. Whittome to contact her after the show as the draft would be available before final checking and appearing on the website.
10.1.4A request has been made to allow a gelding which has stored semen to performance test. SB & R and the PPS had agreed this but the proposal will be put in front of NaSTA at their next meeting for a final decision. It is a policy already adopted by SHBGB. Agreed by Council.
10.1.5Mrs. Whittome informed Council of Premium Stallions who had died in the last year. 1) CZARUS, SAMBIST, AL SOOD AND HERITAGE ORION. CHATANZ has been retired from stud aged 25. Also advised of 2 pending PPS potential premium stallions for next year, subject to inspection.
1) 2002 Chestnut stallion PSYCHES BOY (Padrons Psyche out of Zaneta by Fanatykand
2) 1998 Chestnut Stallion CRYSTAL MAGIC (Silvern Sceptre out of Crystal Lazuli by Crystal Magician)
10.1.6A malicious communication had been received by a Council member who reported the call to the police. The advice from them was to note on the website that a call had been received and that local Police had been informed.
10.1.7A discussion took place regarding the microchip conversation on social media with varying views. SB & R had a concern about the readiness to use social media and recommended no response and asked that any Council members approached should refer them to the office for information on registration matters. Others felt that a response was called for on the AHS page as that is where members now look for an answer. The packaging which expired in September had been resterilised and chips repackaged.
10.1.8Racing: The relationship is growing and we feel more confident that racing paperwork for 2016 with the new EU Regulations in force from Jan 1 2016 will be handled correctly.
10.1.9Concerns were raised regarding the possibility of an additional zootechnical document being required by the EU prior to breed documentation being issued. To date no information has been received from DEFRA. Mrs. Meredith and Mrs. Phizacklea are attending the British Breeds Committee Meeting next week and will report back afterwards. Additional concerns were raised about a proposed plan that any PIO will be allowed to complete a Transfer of Ownership.
10.1.10Under new Regulations coming into place on 1 January 2016, the order of the Passport pages need to be changed and the UELN needs to be shown on most pages. SB & R are investigating ways in which to comply. Previously issued passports will still be legal for the time being. The AHS will print a limited number of passports until we know what exactly is required by government in order to save money in case more changes are made.
10.COMMITTEE REPORTS
10.2Public Relations and Marketing Meeting of 29th June 2015 amended and lst. September 2015 and matters arising
10.2.1Mrs. Kokta is rewriting the promotional leaflet. SEIB are still prepared to sponsor this.
10.2.2The question of junior sweatshirts for the 2016 was raised and Mrs. Compton is looking at prices also for such items as beanies and gloves. The Treasurer hoped that the committee would bear in mind the losses made in the past. Mrs. Armstrong said she had used an online supplier which may still have our logo so would not charge for the embroidery and individual items could be ordered.
10.2.3Mrs. Brown highlighted the calendars being produced, a few of which will be sent round to the main media outlets and to the welfare organisations to help promote the Society to a wider audience.
10.2.4No further update on an AHS DVD.
10.2.5HOYS Stand. There are now only 3 stands and not much footfall past them and there was no longer the large area as in the past. It was suggested that instead we should ask HOYS if we could distribute the AHS Leaflet before and during the Class at HOYS.
10.2.6The Treasurer clarified the position on insurances in that comparative quotes would continue to be sought except on the Members Insurance which he had not had any success with and so that PR and M could continue negotiation with SEIB on the promotional leaflet.
10.2.7The Treasurer also clarified the position on the £10 charge for upgrading membership during the year and said that this was not a £10 renewal fee. The membership income had decreased by less than £2,000 in 2015, not as quoted. However the member numbers had been mainly retained because members had remained as Bronze level. Before this level was introduced full members would simply not have renewed at all resulting in a loss of members over several years of between 150 and 200 members each year. It was agreed that Membership levels and fee should remain the same but subject to regular review.
10.2.8Mrs. Brown advised Council that the Yearbook was nearly ready and produced a list of the articles intended. She was still waiting for Show Reports which had proved difficult to source. Sasha Melia has brought in over £7k of advertising. Alexia Ross is going to help with the editorial and Marilyn Sweet is also to join the editorial team. Mrs. Brown also wished to contact Laura Pyke as she wrote well. Mrs. Kokta‘s partner had volunteered to help with the non horse-related advertising however reported almost no response on the basis that the circulation was too small.
10.2.9Mrs. Kokta had prepared a job description for recruiting a Press Officer. However, it was pointed out by Council that this was part of the PR & M Committee remit and that a Council member of their Committee should be collating column inches that could be regularly sent as press releases on promoting the Arabian horses to the various weekly/monthly magazines.
10.COMMITTEE REPORTS
10.3Shows and Events Committee Meeting of 9 September 2015.
10.3.1Mrs. White reported that since the last Council meeting she has taken over as Chairman and Mrs. Armstrong is Vice Chairman. She reported that judges for Malvern are mostly in place however, commentators still need to be appointed as the date clashes with the Royal International. Marquee and hotels are booked for 2016. People are reserved to work in the VIP and Judges tents. DC’s and Stewards still to be booked.
10.3.2Mrs. Lowe asked if anything had been discussed about the judging systems for Malvern 2016 and queried whether anyone at Aachen had seen the classes judged with 3 judges. She requested that this method of judging is looked at however Mrs. White said this possible future method of judging was on the back burner for the time being.
10.3.3Mr. McLeod said that it was not worth the cost and effort to pursue the First Aid company who had failed to turn up, therefore the amount owing would be written off.
10.3.4Show expenses had been paid to the Show Director however no Show Report had been forthcoming to date, despite several emails sent. Council requested that the Chairman now write to ask for one.
10.3.5The requirement for a Show Director had been discussed in Committee and it was suggested for 2016 that it could be managed in-house via Linda Nicholson with additional helpers for support. A named Show Director would be discussed at the next Council meeting.
10.3.6The 2016 Show Rules were presented and, subject to a couple of amendments, were passed by Council.
10.3.7Judges Training. Two In Hand candidates had passed all the necessary assessments and were approved to be added to the AHS List of Judges. One other candidate had also passed but was recommended to be asked to take one mentorship with an experienced Judge at a show with a good entry prior to being added to the List of Judges.