Council Meeting Report March 2011

Highlights :

You are here: Home

Cat News

General Cat News

Council Meeting Report March 2011

Written by Administrator

Thursday, 03 March 2011

The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy

Meeting of Council

Friends House, Euston Road, London

2nd March 2011

1.30pm

Chairman, John Hansson started the meeting by asking the room to congratulate Margaret and David Kidd on their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, the room applauded this news.

John went on to say that sad news had been received of the British Shorthair judge, Carol Rouse who had passed away, John asked for the room to stand for a minute’s silence.

John Hansson asked the delegates if all of their clubs had returned their documents to become members of the GCCF, everyone said that they had and John said that there was one club that had not completed and returned the forms but he was not prepared at that point to single them out publically.

John went on to say that if the forms were not returned the club would be removed from the list of delegates.

C1760 – Apologies

C1761 – Minutes of Previous Meeting – 27/10/10

Irene Roos, Maine Coon Cat Club (Executive) raised several typographical errors.

Gillian Cornish raised the incorrect spelling of her name in the minutes.

John Hansson asked the delegates how they would like to be referred to in the minutes, if they would like the word ‘delegate’ or their name.

Irene Roos, Maine Coon Cat Club (Executive) said that the minutes were not consistent and that sometimes it said one thing and other times another.

John responded that was why he was asking.

John took this to a vote and the room by a clear majority voted to have names included instead of ‘a delegate’.
John then went on to ask if that would be the club’s name or the delegates.

John told the room to ensure that when they spoke, they were clear about which club they were representing.

A delegate shouted out from the mumblings in the room “Name of the delegate”, John responded that the person is there on behalf of the club and not representing their own views as an individual, John said “Delegates are here to represent their clubs, are they not?”

John took another vote and the room voted for it to be the club’s name that the delegate was in attendance for.
The following clubs and delegates asked for typographical errors to be rectified in the minutes:

Norwegian Forest Cat Club
Irene Roos, Maine Coon Cat Club
Dorothy Tomlinson, Manchester & District Cat Club
Dominic Bray, Kernow Cat Club
Janet Tonkinson, Havana and Oriental Lilac Cat Club

Maria Chapman, London Cat Club asked for Steven Crowe’s name to be corrected, something Steve had not noticed himself which was met with laughter.

Sue Kirk, Essex Cat Club asked for the spelling of her name to be rectified from ‘Cook’ to ‘Kirk’ although she had once been a Cook – with an E – she was no longer! This was met with much laughter.

Shirley Bullock, Abyssinian Cat Club (Executive) asked why the agreement at the last meeting that said all alterations would be emailed into the office to save this long process in valuable meeting time.

John agreed that this was what had been agreed but it needed to be done.

Barry Newcombe, National Cat Club asked how he would now be listed in the minutes.

John replied that it would state the name of the club.

Mark Lewis, Coventry & Leicester Cat Club asked for alterations

Mick Coomer, Shropshire Cat Club Asked for alterations.

C1762 – Matters Arising

Carol Pike, Seal & Blue Point Birman Cat Club asked why the costings on Page 4 for the Gala dinner were different to the costings now being given.

John Hansson said that at the October meeting the figures had been a guess to see what the response would be and that the figures now were based on fact.

Dorothy Tomlinson, Manchester & District Cat Club asked if there was an update on the breaking up of the SLH section etc referred to in the minutes on page 7.

John Hansson responded that “all would be revealed later” and it would be to take away and not for discussion.

Read the BAC Renew Update Here

Shirley Bullock, Abyssinian Cat Club (Executive) said that there was nothing about it on the agenda.

Anne Gregory, Southern & South Western Birman Cat Club (Executive) retorted that it was on the agenda.

Irene Roos, Maine Coon Cat Club (Executive) referred to Page 11, Item 8d and suggested that the wording agreed at the last meeting was open to abuse and that a judge in the Siamese section could say – “ahhhh, I can show a Household Pet” and if showing in the Household Pet section as well on that day could say “ahhhh, I can show in the Siamese section”.

Carol Pike, Seal & Blue Point Birman Cat Club said that she thought it read perfectly and was understandable as it was, but added that might just be her.

C1762 – Executive Committee Minutes – 24/11/10

Dorothy Tomlinson, Manchester & District Cat Club raised item EC2578 and asked to know more about the ‘Magical Machine’ that was going to create judges reports for the cat fancy to buy.

John Hansson said the delegates could look later as there were copies to buy at the front of the room and they were selling the copies for £10 for the critiques from the Supreme Cat Show.

Jenny Dunstall, Coventry & Leicester Cat Club said that she had been mentioned in the minutes as having been sent a letter from the executive regarding her registration of kittens, Jenny informed John Hansson that she had not received a letter.

John responded that one hadn’t actually been sent.

C1763 – FINANCE

The treasurer Steven Bunce addressed the room and said that he was able to give the full 14 month accounting year information with that period end only happening the day before (1st March 2011).

Steven said that the January figures were “not inspiring” and said that February 2011 income was also “poor”.

The Supreme Show was currently showing a surplus of £5-6k and that the GCCF had a general income of £39k and from this needed to be deducted £25k for the cost of the Investigations Committee and the Disciplinary Committee leaving a surplus of £14k for the year which equated to roughly £1k a month surplus income.

Steven had been able to prepare some forecast figures and saw that over the next year the salary bill would increase some £750 a month and that in April National Insurance would also increase. The increase in overheads was being predicted to be some £2750 a month.

Steven said that serious action was needed very quickly and added that the GCCF would not survive on the current account and that Executive needed to urgently make decisions.

Betty Shingleton, Oriental Bi-Colour Cat Club stood and asked why the delegates had not been given balance sheets and that it was the first time she could ever recall a GCCF Council meeting where the delegates did not have figures to look at and she added that it really wasn’t good enough.

Steven responded that she could have one but he could only give her the printed figures up until the end of January as the year end had only happened the day before and that he had not had time to finish them.

Betty responded that she felt very strongly about it and that Steven would have been the first to complain if it had happened with previous treasurers.

Barry Newcombe, National Cat Club said that he was staggered that yet again there is a £25k deficit for the disciplinary committee and that over the last few years the GCCF would have lost over £250k and it now needed tearing apart.

John Hansson said that if Barry felt so strongly why he didn’t bring a proposal from his club.

Barry said that he had told his club of the difficulties.

John said it was chicken and egg; unless something was done about it and it was brought up in discussion rather than “‘merely’ shouting about it” which John then quickly took back but went on to say “merely talking about it”.

Betty responded that the Executive were the people with the power and that they should be able to look at it.

John said that he took umbrage and that the Executive have very little power at all and that the fact remained if he wanted to change, then a proposal from the club would need to come forward.

Barry said that on that basis, all delegates should take it back to their clubs.

Lisa Talboys, West Country Cat Club asked if it was possible to see a breakdown of the costings instead of the massive figure of £25k.

John Hansson said it was for the Investigations Committee and Disciplinary Committee.

Lisa again asked for a complete breakdown.

Steven said that there had been £5200 income from fines and that meetings had cost £7700, legal costs were £4023 and salaries were £15750.

This was met with wide spread gasps of horror.

The delegates wanted to know who was being paid £15750.

John Hansson said that it was a breakdown of office staff to cover the work.

John Robinson, West Country Cat Club said that a recharge for office time spent on one thing or another was just taking from hand to feed another.

Steven said that 2 individuals worked solely on IC/DC.

Lisa retorted “Blimey! Any jobs going?”

Janet Tonkinson, Havana, Oriental Lilac Cat Club said she was about to say the same.

John Hansson retorted that if they wanted to commute to the office that was fine.

Carol Pike, Seal & Blue Point Birman Cat Club said that the GCCF had put the registration costs last year with an additional £5 fee for each litter registration and wanted to know if that figure for the year saw an increase or a decrease.

John Hansson said that no doubt it was down, but that was a trend.

John Hansson and Steven Bunce could then be heard talking to each other although the microphones could not pick up what was being said.

Steven said that registrations for 2009 saw an income of £279,134 and that in 2011 in a 13 month period the income from registrations was £338,000 which was a large increase, however the registrations in numbers were down.

Barry Tackley, National Cat Club said that the GCCF couldn’t continue at that rate and that Betty Shingleton was right, the delegates needed printed figures so they could see.

This was met with a large amount of clapping.

John Robinson, West Country cat Club said that based on the fact this years prices across the board are 12.5-25% up, he asked for Steven’s best opinion on how he saw that impacting.

Steven Bunce said that was difficult to predict and some people won’t take the increase and would choose not to register but that the GCCF needed to cut overheads, he said that it wasn’t enough to hope the income would come and that the overheads must be cut.

Maria Chapman, London Cat Club asked if there was an increase in registrations last year with the price increase before.

Steven said he hoped they would increase.

Shirley Bullock, Abyssinian Cat Club (Executive) wanted to know if there was an increase in income or an increase in registrations and asked if it meant more cats?

Steven said it didn’t.

Shirley asked if he knew how that would impact.

Mark Goadby, Office Manager addressed the meeting and said that there had been a decrease in registrations and an increase in their income. Mark said that the increases on costing had varied across the board and that small increases had been added to the more used products and larger increases placed on the less used items.

Chris Patey, Kentish Cat Society said that going back to the £25k loss, he suggested that delegates needed to come back to Executive and say ‘Sort it”.

Steve Crow, Burmese Cat Club (Executive) said that he thought to be fair to Executive (and added he was on Executive for those who did not know) that delegates may remember last June’s meeting when it was raised as a unacceptable costing, John Hansson asked delegates if they wanted to throw away the rule book out of the window and get rid of IC/DC, he added that any judicial process was a costly one. Steve added that the GCCF had to comply with the law, giving solicitors fees.

Steve said the GCCF had to find another way of ‘doing it’ and that they were looking at ways of cost reduction which meant a complete overhaul.

Steve said he supported what John had said and that they were all in it together and that Executive and delegates weren’t different species, that they were elected and they were the same as they were before. Steve added that the only way to stop that cost was to suspend IC/DC as the fines imposed were often not paid.

John Hansson reiterated that the IC/DC figure was all lumped together and that the only way to reduce or stop that figure is to suspend the IC/DC process.

Mary Taylor, Suffolk & Norfolk Cat Club asked if the GCCF were up to date with computer systems if that would save money in the long run.

John Hansson said that yes it would, systems we have now are reliable, sound and safe but that it was another story.

Carol Pike, Seal & Blue Point Birman Cat Club said the staffing costs were so high and that last year there wasn’t a treasurer to be paid, Carol asked if delegates were aware that the Treasurer was no longer paid.

Lisa Talboys, West Country Cat Club asked about the delegate’s paperwork postage that is received 3 times a year, Lisa asked why it could not be on the web or sent by email.

John Hansson praised Mark Goadby, Office Manager who attempts to email all meeting paperwork.

Lisa said that delegates could be given the choice or email vs. postage which would save money, being the whole point.

Harry Meekings said delegates didn’t need to print out the information but delegates could bring laptops and work from them.

John Hansson took a vote on who would be prepared to receive their council paperwork by email and the overwhelming majority said they would.

Mike Barrett from the Exotic Cat Club said that he would prefer email as the first thing he does as his paperwork comes through the door is scan and email it to his committee.

Betty Shingleton, Oriental Bi-Colour Cat Club said that she thought there was something in the constitution that stated paperwork must be posted and recalled a court case where delegates were required to send in their envelopes to prove the mailing had been sent and received at certain times.

Someone suggested that the constitution should be changed.

John Hansson said that they could look at content and see what could be changed.

Maria Chapman, London Cat Club said that it would be okay by email or on web.

Mrs J Atkinson, Ocicat Cat Club said that an email receipt could be sent.

John Hansson said it was fine.

Chris Patey, Kentish Cat Society asked how he could sign up for email.

The room laughed.

John Hansson said to email Mark.

Betty Shingleton, Oriental Bi-Colour Cat Club asked about those members who couldn’t print them off and didn’t have access to the internet.

John Hansson said that delegates could opt for either, and all would be happy.

Steven Bunce said that he had a draft balance sheet for the end of January 2011 which he would have copied for distribution in the break.

Betty Shingleton responded that there had always been printed figures available at every meeting.

Steven apologised and said that the reason he hadn’t prepared one was because his own practice had been extremely busy and something had to give.

Steven went on to talk about sub letting a room in the GCCF offices, he said that there was a lot of old records and information that could be destroyed and/or microfilmed to free the room up which could potentially see an income for the GCCF by way of sub letting.

Steven said that there were many office lets in the area but it was worth a try.

Dorothy Tomlinson, Manchester & District Cat Club asked why we were sub letting if we owned the building.

John Hansson confirmed that the GCCF owned the building.

Steven Bunce said that the property had been bought for £327,000 and was showing a value of £210,000 in the transfer of assets in the Limited Company paperwork.

Sarndra Devereux, North West Cat Club asked for a vote of thanks for Steven Bunce for all of his hard work and for giving council up to date figures.

Steven went on to say that he thought his idea of levying a £1 fee on all club members would put back the money into the GCCF that the IC/DC costings took away.

Jen Lacey, Korat Cat Association (Executive) said that she was a member of the Disciplinary Committee and that she was happy to receive her documents via email which she was happy to print off.

C1764 - GCCF INCORPORATION

Steven gave an overview of where the GCCF was with the incorporation and explained that he had been in correspondence with the Inland Revenue and had on the previous day pointed out that there had been a massive loss in property value and that the crown had not suffered a loss from the GCCF as a business.

Steven confirmed that the members of Executive were now listed as Company Directors and that Marshalls had drawn up required legal agreements and paperwork. A PAYE scheme and a VAT scheme had been sorted for the new Limited Company ensuring that employees would not need to be made redundant and re-employed.

Maria Chapman, London Cat Club asked if the employee’s rights were being transferred.

John Hansson said it wasn’t necessary as it was the same company.

John Hansson said that it was interesting to note that no one had seemed to notice that the clubs were very wealthy and that there were in excess of One Million pounds in club funds and that most did not realise that all of these were now protected because of the GCCF becoming limited.

Carol Pike, Seal & Blue Point Birman Cat Club asked if the clubs who were bound by GCCF rules now needed to change their own paperwork to illustrate the change of company.

John Hansson said it was the same thing as it was before.

Carol asked John to confirm that as clubs nothing needed to be changed.

Mike Barrett of Exotic Cat Club said that the Articles of Association and Memoranda showed some changes needed to be made.

John Robinson of West Country Cat Club said that although the GCCF as a new organisation may not choose to use the ‘Ltd’ part of the name, the old club has now been wound up and this is now a new organisation, the clubs affiliated to the new organisation should notify the change at their clubs AGM’s as it is legally a different company.

John Hansson agreed the need to inform the AGM.

Shirley Bullock, Abyssinian Cat Club (Executive), said that collectively clubs are worth over 1 million pounds and asked if there was a time delay to their liability if the GCCF were to fold.

Steven Bunce said that as of last night the old GCCF ceased to exist and that today the new GCCF was in place.

Steven went on to say that the GCCF still had net assets and that the GCCF was solvent.

Steve Crow, Burmese Cat Club (Executive) said he wanted to answer Carol pike’s question directly and that the clubs are no longer affiliated, they were now members and that was the only change. Steve went on to say that the clubs are limited by guarantee to £1.

John Robinson, West Country Cat Club said that the £1 liability kicks in after 3 years as the reasons given for becoming limited were the threat of insolvency, so if the GCCF were to go bust, then the clubs would be liable.

John Hansson said that if it looked like they were going down they would have to do something drastic with the assets.

Barry Newcombe, National Cat Club asked if a breeder could now say they were a member of the GCCF.

John Hansson said no, they were a member of a club; the club was a member of the GCCF.

Steven Bunce said that if the GCCF looked liked they were ‘going down’ they would be able to just ‘shut it down’ and that it wasn’t rocket science, if the GCCF weren’t making money they would just stop.

Pat Cherry, Oriental, Cinnamon & Fawn Group asked if there would be any office redundancies if that were to happen.

Steve Crow, Burmese Cat Club (Executive) said that the office staff would still be entitled to redundancy.

Steven Bunce confirmed that the office staff would retain their employment rights which were all transferred.

John Hansson suggested Steven move on to the ‘Transfer of Assets; to which Steven replied “I though I had done that!” to which the room laughed.

C1765 – BUSINESS PLAN

(Click here to Read)

Steve Crow, Burmese Cat Club (Executive) said that he had renewed the GCCF Business Plan.

Click Here to View GCCF Business Plan.

Steve spoke about the person who has been assisting the GCCF with finding sponsorship, called Ash Gilbert who was introduced to Steve by a Council Delegate.

Steve was pleased to report that Ash in his capacity as advisor had confirmed that the new GCCF logo depicting a cat would help greatly to identify that the GCCF was in the business of cats and that this would make a difference to sponsorship.

Steve reported that the GCCF logo had been used from the centenary logo without the centenary logo and that this had been produced free of charge as with the centenary logo, Steve now said he had films of the logo.

Steve pointed out that Cat Breeding is a luxury hobby.

Steve confirmed that since the last meeting there had been no uptake on sponsorship despite the 5 hours given free of charge from Ash Gilbert, however the advice was that if the GCCF were to give more credence and marketing to the running of the Cat Welfare Trust this would give the GCCF a ‘warm glow of supporting cats’ that would make them more attractive to potential sponsors.

Carol Pike of the Seal & Blue Point Birman Cat Club started to speak and Steve interrupted her saying he knew what she was about to say.

Steve said they had made contact with Ash and he had worked for 5 hours over October, November and February for nothing and that he had now agreed a further 5 days work, his daily rate was normally £600 + vat but Steve had negotiated the 5 days for a total of £2000.

Steve said this had been discussed in Executive and Finance and that he had told Ash there would be no more work if he did not demonstrate a return.

Steve said it was a speculative investment.

John Hansson asked Carol if that answered her question.

Carol said that she understood all large amounts of money were to be discussed in council before being paid out.

Steve Crow said they had discussed if £2000 was a lot of money and they had decided it was not and that Carol could argue against it but the Executive have to make decisions in between the council meetings.

Steve said communications with members was a problem and that Ash was helping them develop their systems, for instance a blog was now going to be used to communicate with the Cat fancy and that Executive Member and Korat Cat Association delegate Jen Lacey was to be the Official GCCF ‘Blogger’.

Dorothy Tomlinson, Manchester & District cat Club asked what a Blog is.

Steve Crow explained that it was a page that was updated as often as required and which kept archives of posts and information, an online information stream.

Barry Tackley, National Cat Club asked if the GCCF were going to advertise.

Steve said that the London Pet Show was giving the GCCF free space and free penning and handed over the delegates to Anne Gregory, Southern & South Western Birman cat Club (Executive) to explain more as she was ‘managing that’.

Anne told the room that clubs were able to attend on the Saturday and Sunday of the show on Bank Holiday Weekend, 7th & 8th May.

Anne said that the space given by the London pet Show was worth well over £5,000.

Steve addressed the meeting again with regards to the IT systems and said that Ian Macro and John Cavannah had been giving up their time for the GCCF’s investigations into a new computer system.

Steve said that the Kennel Club had come back to him and said that they would after all not be assisting the GCCF with the new computer system. Steve explained that the GCCF wanted to use the Kennel Club’s server to host their system on but the Kennel Club had declined.

Steve said he was currently negotiating with the Kennel Club as to if they would give the GCCF their codes for their registration system as this would greatly decrease the costings of writing new software.

Steve said it was disappointing but the Kennel Club were looking after themselves, he said that the meetings had been good and useful but they were after all a business.

The Financial projection of this is that the Kennel Club not helping us save money as we hoped, is not good.

Steve said that the GCCF need programmers to write code and programmes to be able to use in 2001-2012 and 2012-2013, he was hoping to get systems up and running for summer 2011.

Steve said that the cost of a new system for the GCCF office would cost £80,000 and that he hoped they could get discounts; it was not clear how these would be achieved. Steve said that the GCCF wanted to borrow money from the clubs by way of a 5 year bond; he said that the clubs would get their money back in 5 years time.

Carol Pike said there was no guarantee the GCCF could repay the money in 5 years.

Steve said that if the GCCF were borrowing money from a bank they would want their money and interest and if it was not repaid, the bank would sue, he pointed out that the clubs were in the same position; Steve said the lottery tickets were slow to sell.

Steven Bunce said that if the GCCF borrowed from the bank, the loan would be secured on the property.

Steve Crow said that the clubs would have first call before tax, vat etc.

Steve Bunce said that clubs could call on the assets of the GCCF and that although the Inland Revenue are preferential they would be in line behind the clubs who have secured loans.

Carol Pike said that it was okay as long as that could be guaranteed.

Dorothy Tomlinson of Manchester & District Cat Club said that Steve had said we are losing money and on that basis how would the GCCF be able to pay it back?

Steve Crow said that was the reason for the 5 year pay back time to give the GCCF time to turn the business around and with an online system there would be less staff to pay or they could be reassigned.

Steve said there were 2 simple choices, the GCCF grows or is left to stagger on and wind up the business.

Steve Crow said that he was prepared to guarantee that in 5 years there would no longer be a recession.

Dorothy Tomlinson, Manchester & District Cat Club asked if Steve was saying we HAD to have the new IT system?

John Robinson, West Country Cat Club asked Steven Bunce if the GCCF implemented the IT system, in the current climate if that would produce the £80k required to pay back the clubs.

Steven Bunce said that he didn’t think anyone could guarantee that.

John Robinson said he couldn’t go back to his members until he had concrete figures.

Steve Crow said it was up to the delegates, he said he was keen on being totally transparent and if he had a crystal ball he would use it, he said there is a risk in everything.

Mick Coomer, Shropshire Cat Club said that if the GCCF didn’t go down that route they would end up faltering.

Nicky Goulter, Long Hair & Semi Long Hair Cat Club said Well done to Steve Crow and the teams, she said that £80k for an IT system was great value and wished them luck and to get it working!

Rosemary Fisher, Chinchilla, Silver Tabby & Smoke (Executive) said that there are only two certainties, death and taxes and that they couldn’t guarantee anything else. Rosemary said that the clubs have over 1 million pounds, she said that over £1750 had been donated as prize money and £500 of printing had been received for the GCCF Raffle and she wanted to know who in the room had bought tickets.

Rosemary said she was a fundraiser for a charity.

Lisa Talboys, West Country Cat Club asked if there was a positive feedback for the loans.

Steve Crow said that his club, the Asian Cat Association had discussed it at their AGM and has cash reserves of £2000 and were willing to buy a bond for £350 this being 18% of club funds, there had been discussion of going up to 20% but they had decided against it.

Steve said that he was surprised at some clubs that had £7/8k in funds and were only offering to help by way of £100. Steve said that many clubs had AGM’s in June and this was plenty of time.

Steve said the GCCF would not take more money than was needed.

Sally Rainbow Ockwell, Long Hair Cream & Blue Cream cat Association (Executive) said that firstly it was essential that the new IT system was implemented and that with a background as an IT Director her concern was that it would cost more than £80k. Sally said that delegates should go back to their clubs and say “We should support this” but only after a detailed breakdown presented at the June meeting.

The room applauded.

Steve Bunce asked that delegates in their own interest made sure the loan was secured which would make it easier to ‘sell’ to the clubs.

Mark Goadby, Office Manager said that Rosemary had done some ‘good PR’ for the raffle tickets and that up to 01/03/11 they had sold the total of 670 tickets. Mark said all costing for the tickets had been borne by sponsorship and all money raised went straight to the GCCF.

John Hansson said he had just had a great idea and suggested that clubs all buy £350 worth of raffle tickets because they could win the £1000 prize and that would be a great return on their money!

The room laughed.

John quipped “Just a thought”

There was lots of discussion amongst the delegates.

Jill Coomer, Colourpoint, Rex-Coated & AOV Club asked if the raffle tickets were sent out to clubs.

Barbara Gould, Tabby Point Siamese Cat Club said she had a similar question and said she had received tickets in registrations but where else where they available.

Steve Crow said people could request them from the office and that if they weren’t sold they would go in the bin.

John Hansson said that arrangements for the Gala Dinner were going well, there were only 18 rooms left.

The Dinner was £40 per person.

John said he would be emailing those who booked rooms to see what deposits they could give and that 80 seats for dinner had been booked so far.

Shirley Bullock, Abyssinian Cat Club (Executive) asked if anyone prestigious had been invited.

John said that Gill Wilson and her partner had been invited to thank her for her work in the incorporation, Christina Dugdale as President of the GCCF and other GCCF supporters would be invited.

John said they would be inviting FAB, Cats Protection.

John was asked by Shirley if Mr Pring would be invited.

When John realised who this was he confirmed Mr Pring was on the guest list.

C1766 – CAT PLANET PROPOSAL

Ongoing

C1767 – WORLD CAT CONGRESS

The World Cat Congress was due to take place at the Suffolk & Norfolk Show in 2013 at the Cambridgeshire Vet College.

John said that before the delegates left for their coffee break, there was a BAC Renew Update for all delegates to look at, John said it was not set in stone and it didn’t mean it stopped there, he said it was not for discussion it was to take away, digest and was then for sensible and logical discussion.

John said not to blame Executive, the BAC or anyone but him as it was his last time running a meeting so it was time for a bomb!

Read the BAC Renew Update Here

C1768 - JUDGES

Irene Roos, Maine Coon Cat Club (Executive) said that she had been asked by Margaret Kidd to speak to the meeting. Margaret was extremely upset that after writing to the GCCF office in April 2010 to request removal from the active judges list that she had received no acknowledgement or response. Margaret had written a further letter in August 2010 and yet again received no response or acknowledgement. Margaret wanted to know what she had to do get a response from the office to her request to be removed as she was still receiving judging invites.

John Hansson asked for the request from Irene and would action it.

Judges were all read out and approved.

C1769 – RULE CHANGES

1. Proposal for addition to Section 1: The Register

1d. Kittens resulting from matings between i) mother to son, ii) father to daughter and iii) full siblings will be registered on the Non-Active Register unless dispensation for Active Registration has been granted by the relevant BAC and/or approved by Executive Committee. This must be supplied when applying for registration or at any other time the breeder makes an application to transfer the cat from the Non-Active to the Active Register NOTE: Details on dispensation can be found in the GCCF Breeding Policy Document 4:10.

(Existing rules 1d & 1e become 1e & 1f respectively)

Rationale

This is to bring best practice into the rulebook as stated in the GCCF breeding policy. It furthers the aim of making health and welfare of cats a priority in all aspects of our hobby, as it is essential to make safeguards for breed health in the coming generations. We are fortunate we can make our own rules on this, unlike the Kennel Club, which was forced into taking immediate action, and excluded the offspring of close matings from registration completely on 01 March 2010. Registering kittens from very closely related parents on the non-active register makes provision for test mating, and doesn’t penalise the occasional accident, thus removing an incentive to cheat. There’s also the acknowledgement that there may be exceptional circumstances when active registration is acceptable and this can be applied for as described in the Breeding Policy.

(See GCCF Breeding Policy Page 8 4:10)

A vote was taken and the motion was passed

2. Proposal to change SECTION 2: SHOW MANAGEMENT

The following rule was brought forward from the last meeting for further consideration.
2a (1) Having managed to the satisfaction of the Executive Committee at least two Sanction shows or

(2) Having acted as assistant show manager at not fewer than two Championship shows to the satisfaction of the Executive Committee. Forms recording the areas in which the assistant has been instructed must be submitted to the GCCF Office.

(3) In exceptional cases the Executive Committee may permit a person not so qualified to act as show manager.

Change to:

(1) Having acted as assistant show manager at not fewer than three Championship shows to the satisfaction of the Executive Committee. Forms recording the areas in which the assistant has been instructed must be submitted to the GCCF Office.

(2) In exceptional cases the Executive Committee may permit a person not so qualified to act as show manager.

Stephen Parkin, Abyssinian Cat Association asked to speak.

Sean Farrell, National Cat Club on microphones could not see who wished to speak.

John Hansson said in a pantomime- esque voice “He’s Behind You!”

Which was met with much laughter!

Stephen asked for it to be confirmed that no club would be disadvantaged by the new rule.

John said it was retrospective.

Dorothy Tomlinson, Manchester & District Cat Club said, again at the last meeting there was discussion about the rule change and that All Breed Show Management is not the same as Breed Show management and she had thought it had been agreed there would need to be two sets of rules in place.

John Hansson agreed there had been discussion at the last meeting.

Dorothy said that she didn’t understand why it hadn’t been added into the proposal.

John Hansson said there was nothing to stop her bringing a proposal from her club as a motion and John said “Well do you want it to go through or not?”

Paula Longbridge, Norwegian Forest Cat Club said there was a discussion but that’s all it was.

A vote was taken and the motion was passed.

C1770 - CORRESPONDENCE

1. Letter from Old Style Siamese Cat Club for discussion. (Click to read)

Maria Chapman, London Cat Club said that she thought the proposal was impractical and unreasonable and that the club obviously didn’t understand the process of IC/DC.

Maria said that the proposal could take the Chair and Vice Chair out of the judging arena for six years.

Sean Farrell of the National Cat Club (Executive) asked if it also impinged on equal opportunities in the work place.

John Hansson said that as current chair – not for much longer he added – said that he was impartial and that he was still liable to be disciplined if he were to breach the rules. John said that although the motion had been withdrawn as the delegate was not in attendance, it was important to discuss as the people who would stand at the June meeting as Chair and Vice Chair may have to reconsider if Council were to vote this through on the next meeting.

Anne Gregory, Southern & South Western Birman Cat Club said that the club clearly didn’t understand complaints about judging as the Chairman or the King of England judging Somalis could still be written to by the BAC.

Michele Codd, Burmese Cat Club (Executive) said that you could say the Chair and Vice Chair should not judge but you would be limiting who would apply to be Chair or Vice Chair from a long tradition of judges taking up those positions, if this proposal went through the GCCF would lose that.

Sally Rainbow Ockwell, Long Hair Cream & Blue Cream Cat Association (Executive) said she had 2 points to make, first that as Secretary of the Birman BAC she had on occasion had to write to John Hansson (much laughter) and if a complaint is received then an independent process takes place and Sally felt that the proposal showed a lack of understanding.

John Hansson asked the room to take a vote in the interest of showing potential candidates the feeling.

The vote was taken and the delegates voted that they would not support such a motion.

John laughed and said Thank you very much.

C1771 PREFIXES

1. For information only

C1772 BAC MATTERS

1. BAC revision update.

2. Proposal to change the BAC Constitution regarding limiting the reimbursement terms for BAC’s.

11h If the accounts submitted show that the expenses of the BAC, as defined in 11.f, exceeded the income, derived as in 11.b, 11.c, 11.d and 11.e, the GCCF will reimburse the BAC for the full amount of the deficit. Any deficit incurred by the BAC in payment of any other expenses, such as those defined in 11.g, will not be reimbursed.

Change to:

11h If the accounts submitted show that the expenses of the BAC, as defined in 11.f, exceeded the income, derived as in 11.b, 11.c, 11.d and 11.e, the BAC may request that the GCCF will reimburse the BAC for the full amount of the deficit, provided that the end of year balance sheet does not indicate reserves in excess of £500. The total amount of any deficit repayment will be restricted to the sum of £200 in any one financial year. Any deficit incurred by the BAC in payment of any other expenses, such as those defined in 11.g, will not be reimbursed.

A vote was taken and the motion was passed.

C1773 SHOW MATTERS

1. Proposal to modify show classes from the Maine Coon Cat Club. (Click here to Read)

Carol Pike, Seal & Blue Point Birman Cat Club said to leave the system as it is.

Steve Crow, Burmese Cat Club (Executive) said that the Burmese Cat Club had received letters of complaint about why the Executive weren’t doing something about titled cats being placed in the open, stopping untitled cats gaining their title.

Irene Roos, Maine Coon Cat Club said she had nothing to say on the proposal as it was self explanatory but to please support it.

The delegate for the Norwegian Forest Cat Club said that the proposal had been discussed at their AGM and it had been supported.

Paula Longview asked for clarification for part 2 and if it limited new cats at Breed Shows.

John Hansson said that he agreed and Part 2 needed to go back as it was not practical.

Paula asked John to clarify that it wasn’t just for Maine Coon Classes.

John said it was all classes not just Maine Coon.

Paula asked if it was all shows.

John said it was all shows.

Dorothy Tomlinson, Manchester & District Cat Club said that it was what everyone had wanted for a long time.

John said it was important to remember that not everyone wanted it.

A vote was taken and the motion was carried.

Harry Meekings, Balinese Cat Society asked if this would be implemented in time for June 2011 shows.

John Hansson said that in the February meeting all show items would be moved forward for implementation in June and that Council had voted on that, so yes it would be.

There was a large amount of feeling and discussion in the room that this was not feasible.

The delegate asked why the important items were left until last on the agenda as many delegates had already left and everyone was tired.

John said it wasn’t possible.

The delegate said that items this important should be higher up the agenda.

Brian Gregory, Maidstone & Medway Cat Club said that this motion would not affect schedules.

Carol Pike, Seal & Blue Point Birman cat Club said that she hoped the delegates understood the implications of their vote.

John Hansson said that was the joy of being Chairman, he didn’t have to vote, the delegates did!

2. Proposal from the Executive for the addition of an Olympian Class. (Click here to Read)

There was much discussion from the delegates about the Olympian class and how this would affect Breed Shows as the classes would not be available at these shows.

A vote was taken by John Hansson and there did not appear to be a clear majority so John said it would be held over to the June meeting.

C1775 STANDARD OF POINTS

Executive Committee recommends the following with effect from 1st June 2011 Deletions – emboldened Additions – emboldened and underlined

1. The Maine Coon BAC amendment to their Standard of Points: Withhold all awards for; 1. Any exhibit displaying any evidence of being polydactyl (anything other than four toes on each paw and one claw on each front leg).

Change to: Withhold all awards for; 1. Any exhibit displaying any obvious evidence of being polydactyl (anything other than four toes on each paw and one claw on each front leg). Note: Judges should be aware that polydactyl’s are known to exist within the breed; some overseas organisations recognise these for the purpose of showing. Exhibits displaying the characteristics of being polydactyl should be disqualified and no awards given. Judges are expected to adhere stringently to this as this is a specific withholding fault.

This item was withdrawn.

2. Ocicat & Ocicat Classic BAC amendment to their Standard of Points A vote was taken and the motion was carried. Many of the delegates had started to trickle away at this point.

C1776 REGISTRATION POLICIES Executive Committee recommends the following with immediate effect. 1. The Colourpoint Persian BAC proposed amendment to their Registration Policy.

Barry Newcome read out a letter from Betty Shingleton regarding the lack of information supplied to clubs according to procedure.

Sarndra Devereux spoke in her capacity as BAC Colourpoint Chair and said that all paperwork had been emailed to all relevant parties and that it was difficult to get 4 clubs together all at the same time and if 3 clubs can meet at the same time, then 3 out of 4 aint bad! Sarndra said that what was good enough for Executive should be good enough for council.

The motion was withdrawn and not voted on.

2. The Ocicat BAC proposed Ocicat Classic Registration Policy.