This is a message from me to the membership of LABPIF.
Dear member
The published A.G.M of the L’Association of British Pigs in France on Saturday 8th November 2008 was confirmed to me as now being an Extraordinary meeting of the Association.
I had hoped to email this letter directly to members of LABPIF which I must confirm is from me personally and is not instigated or approved by the current committee of the Association. I have been unable to gain access to member’s names and email addresses despite requesting this information many times. I personally feel it important to make this last attempt to encourage members to attend the meeting in the hope that many of you will be interested at this important time to participate constructively with the days’ events. I have no idea how many of you there are, but assume there could be around forty members, based on the membership forms that were being filled in at the Open Day back in July.
This meeting will be a chance for the membership to air their views and to influence choices by means of suggestions or voting in a new committee. You may have a proxy vote which you can also use. Pass it on to someone you can trust to use it for the benefit of the membership. You will also need to advise the acting Secretary of your intent for your vote. The meeting will also give members the opportunity to be actively involved in their association whether that role might be as a committee member, or to form part of a team that can work together and really turn this organisation into something that everyone can enjoy.
It will also be an opportunity for members to make their suggestions as to what they would like to see included in the website for example. Also the kinds of events that they would like to participate in during the coming year. What about a social side? A chance to meet up with each other and get to know each other without the daily politics, or the pressure of an ‘event day’.
At its’ conception a year ago, I believe that there were some very firm ideas as to what path the Association would take. I joined in July and have been frustrated like many of you I imagine, that nothing has happened during this latter period, and I have no idea of what path the Association was to take, and can only go by the guide lines as stated below that can be found on the Association website. This meeting will be a good opportunity to find out about and discuss those original plans, and decided whether they are practical to achieve and/or how to achieve them.
As written, the aims and objectives of the Association are:
1. To promote British Pigs wherever possible and also to support the native breeds.
2. To educate breeders to a high standard of health and welfare of their livestock
3. To support the breeders in farm practices such as Artificial Insemination, breeding programmes, etc by way of demonstrations, open days and training days.
4. To educate the breeders on the requirements of farming in France and to comply with French Legislation.
5. To develop markets for both breeding and fattening stock thus creating a demand for the pigs produced.
This is your association. You thought it worthwhile when you made the decision to join, so now this is your chance to actively make it work. Without your presence, the choices for committee members for example will be very limited. It can only be for the good to have as many interested people there as possible to affect the right changes and really make the Association a worthwhile community to belong to. Please stand up and be counted. Put your grievances and frustrations aside, and be there.
I urge you all to give some serious thought to this, and if you want to make a difference then please come along to the meeting. Notify the acting Secretary of your intent as soon as you can so that she will know how many people to expect on the 8th. Alternatively you can forward your suggestions by private email via TAS which may make contact a little easier for you, and make it clear what you would like to be included in the discussions if you cannot attend.
Do you have a particular skill that you can offer? Are a good organiser? Do you have access to contacts that could benefit events etc? Do you have appropriate skills that could benefit the British Rare Breed Pig Community? More importantly than all of those things though, please consider a position on the committee – ‘new blood’, new and fresh ideas – these things are so important for any organisation, and for this Association in particular, an injection of new people could really make a difference, and you could be actively involved in creating a really positive future for all of the membership.
As I have already said – you thought LABPIF a worthwhile organisation to join in the first place, and with your input it can be what ever you want it to be, but you have to be there on the day to make it happen.
We could call these ‘new beginnings’, so please be part of it.
Many thanks for taking the time to read this.
Kate Ball
