Welcome to the Club’s Autumn Newsletter. Despite quite a quiet summer period (which
was why I did not do a summer letter) a great deal has happened since the
Spring Newsletter especially in recent months!
However before describing recent events I
will start by stating that the Club’s Bi-Annual Ballot to elect the Executive and
Judging Panel is shortly due. I want to
get this sent out asap, so could any member (whose been a member for atleast the
last 3 consecutive years i.e. 2008, 2009 & 2010) who would like to stand
for any position please send their nomination to me by the very latest of 11 October 2010. This date also applies
for the current Executive and Judging panel, anyone who wishes to no-longer to stand
should please contact me or your name will automatically be included on the
ballot.
Work has begun on the overdue Club Handbook
but it was sensibly decided not to finalise due to the above mentioned ballot,
as if printed pre-ballot the book would be almost instantly out of date! As a
result this is a last chance request/opportunity for adverts, articles, etc. Adverts
available at a cost of just £10 Full Page & £6 Half Page, could you please
forward any material to me by 11 October
2010. Our
current aim is to have the book compiled and printed in time to be handed out
at Harrogate 29/30 January 2011.
Before going any further I must announce (to
those of you who don’t already know) and send massive congratulations to Katrina Goodship
and her partner Simon on the birth of their son Dane on the 3 August; Dane
weighed in at 9lb 2oz. I’m told that he’s already attended his first show which
was at Bristol and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Our two summer Points Shows were again at the
N.C.C. Championship Show – Oswestry and at Betley Horticultural. Oswestry saw a
disappointing turn out of Non Self’s including Agouti’s! Agouti placings were:
Best adult Pete Holdaway’s Silver boar ‘Ratzinger’; Best 5-8 a Silver boar from
Val Pearse; Best u/5 Rebble Cavies Silver boar.
Betley had splendid total entry and saw a good turnout of Agouti’s with
best Agouti again going to Pete’s ‘Ratzinger’.
By
popular demand our Southern Area S.S. was held at Essex
on 22 August and this attracted a good entry of 46 for judge Tony O’Neill. This
was a long journey for Pete Holdaway but he was rewarded for his efforts taking
a third consecutive SASS BIS with his Silver’s; this latest win with his superb
and consistent Silver adult boar ‘Ratzinger’. ‘Ratzinger’ was in top form and
this was required to fight off strong competition from Steve Davies. Runner-up
was Steve’s Lemon adult sow ‘Pandora’ whilst third went to his Golden adult
boar ‘Red Bull’. There was also great and pleasing to see consistency in
judging as Essex class’s judge Peter Gammie placed the same three pigs
1, 2 & 4 in his Agouti section just being split by Pete’s Silver 5-8 sow
which Tony placed fourth. ‘Ratzinger’ and ‘Pandora’ finished second and third
Non Self under Peter but they had to give way to Twisted Whisker’s awesome B.I.S.
winning Rex. Back to the Stock Show it was great to see a good team of A.O.C.’s
from Madelaine Coomber including a lovely young Cream 5-8 sow. The Solid’s also
had good competition for Penny Bell’s Optimist Stud, this from Nicky Reynolds’
Tartuffe Cavies with Penny’s Silver 5-8 sow edging out Nicky’s Silver adult. It
was also pleasing to see Nicky showing a Solid Golden which are rarely seen
here in the UK.
The Young Stock Show was our latest event on 4
September at London Championship Show. This saw a splendid total entry of 75
made up of 28 youngsters and 47 supporting class Adult/5-8’s for judge Peter
Gammie. This was again to be Pete’s day;
he retained the Best in Show trophy he won last year with ‘Ratzinger’, again
winning with another Silver boar named ‘Rex’; he made it a one two when another
of his Silver boars was runner-up. After last years disaster of just one Golden
entry (which was absent) it was good to see five entered from two exhibitors
this time round (though again two were absent); leading the way and making it a
clean sweep for Devon in the Grand Challenge was juvenile member Melanie
Arnold’s with her super boar, congratulations and well-done Mel you should be
proud to have your name engraved on the fabulous 1917 Silver Presidents Cup.
Melanie also won the Golden sow class whilst the Silver sow class saw a good
win for Val Pearse and prevented Pete gaining a Silver clean sweep! Simon Neesam
for the fourth consecutive year was Best A.O.C. with one of his Lemon’s; this splendid
boar also did extremely well in the London classes going Best Marked/Ticked u/5
and was placed sixth in the Best in Show line-up, very well-done Simon. The
A.O.C. entry though proved disappointing - there were no Chocolate’s again
entered and sadly the two each of Cinnamon and Cream were all absent! Best
Solid went to Optimist Stud’s Silver.
Supporting classes saw again a triumphant day
for Pete’s Silver boar ‘Ratzinger’ who was Best Support and also best
Marked/Ticked adult on the London side and was placed fifth in the Best in Show
line-up. ‘Ratzinger’ won a large and very strong breed class of 13, second in
this class was a stunning boar from Simon which was second Best Support; third
in this class was another boar from Pete whilst other quality pigs came from
Jane Phillipson and Mary Jaffa. Pete also won the 5-8 section with a Silver sow
that again won a strong but small breed class and this sow was third Best Support
ahead of the third adult, Steve’s Lemon sow ‘Pandora’.
Our Club Website is still proving a big success and
has currently recorded 2200 hits, attracting International interest and new
members. The last couple of months have
seen Pete and I put in a lot of work updating and improving the site and recently
have added amongst a number of things 25 photos from the above mentioned shows. The site also contains useful information on
the Club & Breed including events from the Club’s history throughout the 20th
Century. If you haven’t visited the site
please do so www.nationalagouticavyclub.com
and if you have but not recently, it’s well worth paying it another
visit and to do so regularly. Both Pete and I would appreciate any feedback
regarding the site and its content andif anyone has any good quality photos past or
present or any old Agouti material I would be grateful if you could forward to
Pete or I.
Silver Agouti – I’ve done much long, time
consuming but enjoyable research on this magnificent breed over the last few
months and have found out a lot of splendid information on the development of
the breed which started by taking a huge step forward in 1924. I require more time to do a bit more detective
work but hopefully I’ll get a piece written for the new Club Book, if not it’ll
be on the website so watch this space for more!
The 2010 Points Competition is nearing its conclusion;
remaining is the un-advertised in ‘Cavies’ magazine Scottish National (9 Oct)
with points also awarded for the N.C.C. Show at that same event, judges Steve
Davies & Peter Gammie; and finally our Welsh Area Stock Show (20 Nov) judge
Pete Holdaway.
This update includes the
results from the Southern Area Stock Show, Young Stock Show
and London Championship Show. All these shows were strongly
contested with some excellent breed classes, both in terms of numbers
(Silvers mainly) and quality. A.O.C.’s were well represented at the Essex SASS
but were reduced by a number of absentees at London. Goldens have recovered slightly from the
rock bottom of last year when there were none at all at the YSS but still have
a way to go. Following her success at London, our juvenile member Mel Arnold has
surged into second place in the Golden competition and is just one point behind
Miss B Richardson in the Juvenile section. With just two Stock/Points shows
left this year, there is all to play for in a number of the competitions.
Points Competition latest
positions are:
GOLDEN: Steve Davies 89, Mel Arnold 38, Katrina
Goodship 30, Madelaine Coomber 28, Julie Inch 9, Rebble Cavies 6.
SILVER: Pete Holdaway 179, Jane Phillipson 46,
Steve Davies 27, Mary Jaffa 20, Valerie Pearse 22, Malcolm Atkinson 12 and Ted
Williamson both 12, Rebble Cavies 9, Tartuffe Cavies 8, Simon Neesam 7,
CAC Cavies 6, Doug Rennie 4, Zanadu Stud 1.
CINNAMON: Dilemma Stud 59, Madelaine Coomber 9,
Zanadu Stud 5, B&E Emmett and Tartuffe Cavies both 3.
LEMON: Stuart Inch 74, Simon Neesam
70, Steve Davies 45, Madelaine Coomber 17, Hero Cavies 6.
CREAM: Madelaine Coomber 46, Dilemma Stud 15,
Tartuffe Cavies 8.
CHOCOLATE: Dilemma Stud 16.
SOLID: Optimist Stud 218, Hero Cavies 61,
Tartuffe Cavies 38, Rebble Cavies 1.
JUVENILE: Miss B Richardson 23, Mel Arnold 22,
Beth Holdaway 5.
Club Championships are rare but have seen 2 successful
Certificate claims recently:
Pete Holdaway’s Silver boar ‘Ratzinger’Jane Phillipson’s Silver boar ‘Montague
Archie’
Congratulations to you both on your
tremendous consistent success and surely ‘Ratzinger’ must be near a splendid
Double Certificate!?
Show Dates 2011 are still to be finalised but all gets underway on
the 29/30 January with our Adult Stock Show at the UK’s Premier event at Harrogate, which has gained a new sponsorship deal and will now be known as
‘Burgess Premier Small Animal Show’.
Stock for sale: The following Members have stock available: Jane Phillipson has Silver’s including
dilutes.Tel: 01926 490582. Mobile: 07901 551035.Email:
Janemargaretp@hotmail.com;
Nicky Reynolds (Tartuffe Cavies) has the following young boars – 2
Solid Cinnamon’s, Solid Cream and a Cream Agouti all of nice show/breeding
quality Tel:01473 422676.
Email: tartuffe.cavies@ntlworld.com.
I would like to welcome New Club Members: Jim Weir (Angus - Scotland); Mrs. Liz Cross - Newhaven Cavies (Colyton, Devon)
and Mrs. Elle Peacock – Cathdenbelle Stud (Camberley, Surrey).
I will finish by saying I hope you’ve found
this letter useful & interesting; good luck with your Agouti’s and hope to
see you at shows especially our Club Stock Shows.
Steve Davies (Secretary)
