Welcome, I can’t believe it’s been a year since I was invited to be President, after much consideration of about 10 seconds, I agreed! On my way to the last AGM I was chatting to an old friend inquiring if she was also attending, sadly she wasn’t, but inquired why I was going: “ I have been made President”. Rather than congratulations, her response was “my god you must be old”. Fortunately, I was able to respond that I was yet to catch up with her- bridges are still being repaired!!
What a year it’s been, I started the year as the new President, by lunch time I was the interim chairman, due to a certain amount of discord amongst the Board, fortunately by the beginning of December, with Simon Somers at the helm as the new Chairman, the Board united behind him and haven’t looked back. We have been friends for over 40 years. If someone had told us when we first met at RIHS when it was at the NEC, that 40 years later we would be Chairman and President of the then Hack and Cob one day, firstly we would have fallen about laughing, than had another drink and ciggie – not much has changed. He hit the ground running, under his leadership this board has achieved so much, most of which is unseen. Everyone is aware of the changes is in the office which is now in the capable hands of Philippa and Tracey. The unfair bad press from the London International was very damaging to both the reputation of the Association and individual board members, most of this was caused by inaccurate reports in the equine press and people on social media. This was particularly unfair on many members of the Board who had been totally unaware of what had been going on. The saddest part of this was that 98% of the competitors had a fantastic time and there were some great winners.
The Nat Champs under the direction of Sarah Carey and her committee was a success, turning a small profit and when the only complaints are the indoor loos smelt and the Ladies ring was too small( better than too big) we can’t have got it too wrong! This is no small achievement, having only taken it on in April. We are all aware that there are still areas that need improving and this is work in progress. None of this would have been possible without our fantastic sponsors, so a massive thank you to them. Also to Dale Atkinson, who is a pivotal member of the team and works tirelessly to make sure the evening performances run smoothly, be under no illusion making sure judges are in the right place at the right time is like herding cats !!
This year I was asked to take on the dope testing more due to having John alongside me having been a team vet for many years at Olympics, World Championships and European Championships, he comes with a certain amount of experience. Our budget of £5,000 with each test costing £300 we carried out 14 test, targeting pros, board members and some random. All tests came back negative., John works closely with the Hong Kong Jockey Club who are continuously monitoring performance enhancing drugs, so hopefully we will be one step ahead of the game, clearly there is more of a perception of doping than is actually taking place.
With regards to the Board, I am sure that the membership are totally unaware of the hours spent debating issues and reading emails in regard to all facets of showing and the running of the Association. The hours they devote to the Association should be applauded.
My final thank you must go to the Badminton Estate for allowing us access to these wonderful rooms, to Margaret Hopkins who has agreed to show us round the famous stables later on, and finally Helen and her team for looking after all things culinary.
Lucy Killingbeck
