Chairman's Report (for the Year 2000 AGM)

Besides the year having flown by so fast, it was certainly not without a fair share of trials and tribulations. I will do my best to summarise these events in order for our members to remain in the know.

Stemming from our AGM held in March, it was agreed that the club investigate avenues of improving the gene pool in this country - primarily by means of artificial insemination. One sub - committee meeting has taken place from which several decisions & actions were raised. Primarily that the source of semen be from the USA (British, German & Australian lines are here). The semen to be sourced from dual purpose sire i.e. both show and working stock. We hope to have some feedback by the next AGM.

Mid year, our chairman, Paul Bagley returned to the UK leaving a large gap in our club which will be no easy task to fill. I had to step in as the chairman. Boris Daniels was subsequently voted in as the new vice-chairman. Ray and Lilian Taylor (our President and Vice President) fortunately stepped in to assist whose help has proved to be invaluable. We wish Paul all the best in his new endeavours. Jayne Bagley retired as secretary, however, agreed to continue assisting the club as treasurer. The role of secretary has not been filled, with the club distributing these duties amongst the committee in the interim.

Our Shooting Ratings (SR) were delivered a serious blow by the Federal Council (FedCo) this year when the effective date of the 1/1/99 was revoked and moved to 1/1/2001 due to some misunderstandings within that forum. Our Year 2000 trial was no no longer acknowledged, but the judges had been approved which meant that we had to run under an Open Show license (informal KUSA event). However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise since it made managing of the SR a lot easier i.e. entries on the day and not 30 days before etc. The results from the SR will be found further on in this annual. A formal proposal was drafted and forwarded to The Kennel Union of Southern Africa (KUSA) for inclusion on the FedCo Agenda for the meeting this December. Three items specifically were mentioned, approval of 3 new judges, approval of awards made in 1999/2000 and that the SR be classified as an Open Show event. If this is approved, the club would have achieved a major milestone in its history.

The Open Show (Dog Show) was held on the 13th August 2000. A total of 27 dogs were present which is slightly down on last years attendance. Mrs. Liz Megginson was our judge and she certainly played along with all the cajoling and fun of this event. Her winning dogs were certainly worthy of their awards and wish to congratulate those who won. A special thanks to those who attended and helped promote the gaiety of this event and taking this opportunity to come out with their dogs and enjoy themselves in the presents of other Weimaraner lovers. A further word of thanks must go to our sponsor of the dog food, namely Olympic, also I&J for their prizes all which helped make this show fun for all who entered.

The Prize Giving luncheon this year was a resounding success, the committee supplying the potjies which were rapidly consumed, after the second or third helping. Those that were presented with trophies and awards, congratulations, they were hard earned.

On the subject of dog shows, it is a little disconcerning to see that our numbers at shows are dwindling. I must emphasise the importance of dog shows and the good it does for the breed. Having a Weimaraner which is not of sound body and conformation would have a detrimental effect when bred with, those poor genes are passed on from generation to generation, in the case of close breeding, compounded. With dog shows, a breeder gets untold amount of information from breed judges, leading to an improved awareness of breed defects and strengths. This gained knowledge can be put to good use when breeding by working on the strengths and improving the weaknesses. This also has benefits for the working side since a Weimaraner with poor conformation will not be able to work as effectively as one which is (assuming equal nose and style) i.e. a dog with good angulation and movement would be able to work more effectively than one with poor angulation and movement.

Regarding field work, this has taken an upswing with more persons showing an interest. This is extremely encouraging since the working abilities of the Weimaraner in general in this country does require work to achieve the Weimaraners full potential. With the adoption of the SR, we will be on the right track to help achieve this target.

Our finance for the year has been healthy, with the purchase of T-shirts and golf shirts, badges and bumper stickers, we can look forward to an improved visibility. Our thanks to Boris Daniels in particular in this regard.

In closure, I would like to thank the committee for their hard and dedicated work. Trust all our members had a Merry Christmas and wish all a prosperous New Year.

L. Derek Nell - Chairman