2006 REPORT
by Judith Cockerill

This is my final report after a six year stint as Chairman of the Centre West Club. Although it has been a long period, it has been extremely enjoyable and hopefully beneficial to the Club.

We closed 2005 with an Open Veterinary talk by Steve Borsberry, a local vet, who is nationally renowned in the cattle industry. He spoke about a wide spectrum of cattle diseases and general health care, which was most interesting and informative. Our talk was held at the Warwickshire College of Agriculture and we thank them very much indeed for their hospitality.

In December the Club held their Christmas Dinner near Worcester at the March Hare. A very good turnout of members made the evening most enjoyable with good food, successful raffle and a surprise 30th birthday present from the Club to Matt Harris, who was Vice-Chairman at that time.

2006 started with some reasonably good sales for some of our members at Perth in February. One of our members purchased a very good bull at a very reasonable price!!!

Our Annual Dinner was once again an outstanding success in every department. Held as usual at the King Charles Restaurant in Worcester in March, many members and friends enjoyed a stupendous meal followed by an excellent talk from the Principal of Warwickshire College, Ioan Morgan. He explained about the present position of the College, how it has developed over recent years and his vision for the future.

In May a team of Centre West members returned to Staffordshire to trounce the Midland Club members in a quiz – when will they learn!!

June saw a handful of members attend a farm walk near Weston Super Mare by kind permission of Martin Boucher, a breeder of some excellent Simmentals. His herd consisted of some extremely good quality females, which had bred a number of very useful commercial bulls, for which Martin has a regular clientele. Some bright spark in our group, thought it would be a good idea to climb to the top of a very large hill on the farm, to enjoy the view. How embarrassing that the same person, who was one of the youngest, was the last to the top and the one most out of breath!! She shall remain nameless!! The view was breathtaking, looking towards the Somerset Levels and we were so lucky to have such a beautiful sunny day to view it. We were given a fantastic meal by Mrs. Boucher, such warm hospitality and a beautiful garden to walk round before we left.

Martin Bouchers Smart Females

The Showing Season was then upon us, Day Shows, Away for days Shows, all good fun and all in good hot weather, although by the time the Royal came round, it was getting too hot for the cattle, let alone us! Unfortunately Boddington Estates were not able to show at the Royal, but we still ended up with two First Prize winners in the Club and good results in the Young Members Judging, well done to all. Although the turnout at the Three Counties Show was not good, excellent numbers and quality were on view at our two local Shows, Kenilworth and Moreton-in-Marsh with very satisfactory Interbreed results. It was good to see Jimmy McMillan in his first outing as stockman for Boddington Estates at Moreton, we wish him and his wife Kathy well in their new “in situ” and hopefully they will get fully involved with the Club.

Moreton-in-Marsh Show

Our Herd Competition was expertly judged in September by Steve Knight (ex-Wroxall), we thank him very much for giving up his time and hope he enjoyed the experience.

The Results are as follows:-

Large Herd
Booth and Bell (Crackley)

Medium Herd
Peter Burgess (Tilbrook)

Small Herd
Tim Greenow (Fortress)

Shebdon Award for Special Achievement
David Fisher (Cotteswold)

Best group of Maiden Heifers
Boddington Estates (Sterling)

Best group of in-calf Heifers
John Rixon (Lopemede)

Bull under 2 Years of age
C.H.Evans (Wroxall Shaggy P)

Best suckled calf
Judith Cockerill (Farnborough Trailblazer P)

The Awards were kindly presented by Pip Knight at the ‘highlight’ of our Club Year, which was the return of the Centre West Calf Show, held for the first time since Foot and Mouth.

Award Presentation

The new venue was Cirencester Cattle Market on Sunday 1st October by kind permission of Arthur White (Chief Auctioneer) and his staff. We cannot thank them enough for all their help and assistance in enabling us to get the show back on the road. Thanks must also go to Robert Hewlett, whose suggestion it was to approach the Market and restart the show. Although the day was very wet and windy outside, it did not worry us, as we were undercover. We had a good turnout of stock and an excellent attendance of members and friends, totalling over 50 people. The facilities at the Market made it an ideal venue and the refreshments, supplied by members, were greatly appreciated.

The results of the show, judged by Arthur White and ably assisted by John Pullin are as follows:-

Champion Young Handler
Vicky Hicks

Reserve
Amy Booker

Champion Male and Overall Champion
Warwickshire College – Moretonhall Trident

Champion Female and Reserve Overall
James and Belinda Kimber- Beanhill Sahara

Reserve Male
Boddington Estates – Sterling Supremo

Reserve Female
Booth and Bell – Crackley Kitty (P)

Following the show, we held our A.G.M., where the election of Officers was carried out.

The new Officers are as follows:-

Chairman – Peter Burgess
Vice-Chairman – John Rixon
Secretary – Sam Evans
Treasurer – John Fellows

I would like to conclude my report by thanking the Committees, which I have worked with over the last six years. Their help and support has been invaluable to me, especially as I did not expect to take the Chairman’s role, being so new to the Club at the time.

A special mention goes to Matt Harris, former Secretary and Vice- Chairman, who has moved on to pastures new, but I know we will see him again at future Centre West events, when he is able. He was a great support to me and I wish him well for the future. A big thank you to Sam Evans, who has stepped into the Secretary’s role so effortlessly and to the Staff at the Simmental Office, who can always be relied upon when help is needed and always done with a friendly smile. Life will not be quite the same without Marion, make sure you come back regularly, because we will all miss you!

Finally I would like to wish all members a happy 2007 and continued success for the Breed.

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