DOUBLE JUBILEE CELEBRATION
Members from the Crested Budgerigar Club (CBC) and Spangled Budgerigar Breeders’ Association (SBBA) gathered together
on the evening of Saturday 30th June 2012 to celebrate a milestone in both societies’ history. It was a Jubilee
Celebration for both societies and they held a joint function with 43 fanciers attending
the 24th show organised by the Specialist & Rare Variety Open Show (SRVOS)
held at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Flore, Northamptonshire.
Guest of Honours Chris Hawkins, Maurice
Roberts & Bob Allen
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A three course meal was served and
in between courses speeches were made by senior fanciers. Ghalib Al-Nasser, in his treble
role as the Chairman and past President of both societies as well as the Show Organiser
& Chairman of the SRVOS thanked members and guests for attending and made a special
welcome to the three overseas fanciers who were present at the function namely John
Carter, President of the Australian Pied BS, as well as two overseas CBC members Carlos Ramôa from Portugal who will be
judging the SRVOS next year and Martin Stieglmaier from Germany. Ghalib was pleased to see fanciers from the ten area societies as well as
the six specialist societies represented at the function. He thanked Maurice Roberts,
President of the Budgerigar Society, for attending the function as the Guest of Honour and
also to Chris Hawkins, President of the CBC, and Bob Allen, President of the SBBA, for joining him at the head table. |
| Ghalib reflected on the role of the
specialist societies within the fancy as a whole, and the beginning of the CBC, formed on 20th
October 1962 with 26 members; also on the formation of the SBBA
on 14th November 1987 with
34 members attending. His association with both societies has been long, as he joined the CBC in 1972 and was chairing the first SBBA
inaugural meeting as a co-founder member. He was pleased and honoured to still be at the
helm of both societies so many years later and even more pleased to see Presidents from
the five specialist societies and two area societies as well as The Budgerigar Society,
Maurice Roberts, attending this unique function. Those were Chris Hawkins (CBC), Bob Allen (SBBA), Dave Guppy (CBBA), Michael
Chapman (VBC), Janice Al-Nasser (RV&CBS), Margaret Chapman (LEA) and Rick Watts (LSCBS). He hoped that fanciers will join next year in
another jubilee celebration when the show committee of the SRVOS will be celebrating the
Silver Jubilee Show and invited the Management Committee and members of the Clearwing
Budgerigar Breeders’ Association (CBBA) who will be celebrating their Golden Jubilee
to join them in another double celebration. |
All Presidents at the Jubilee
Celebration – standing (left to right) Chris Hawkins, Michael Chapman, Rick Watts,
Dave Guppy, Bob Allen. Sitting – Maurice Roberts, Margaret Chapman, Janice Al-Nasser
|
Maurice
Roberts, Budgerigar Society President, was the second speaker whose knowledge on all the
specialist societies is unique as he is a member of all of them as well as a member of all
the ten area societies. He reflected on the role that Alan Fullilove, founder member of
the CBC, played in the early days of the formation of the club till the time he handed
over the secretarial duties to Ghalib in 1976 before his retirement. Alan is alive and
well, making him the only CBC founder member still living who sent his congratulations to
the CBC.
Maurice
said that the role of the specialist societies is as important as the role of the area
societies in making the fancy flourish with each having their own areas of
responsibilities.
The
last speaker of the evening was Grant Findlay who said, like Ghalib, he filled a double
role within both organisations as he was for many years the Membership Secretary &
Treasurer of the CBC as well as past President and for one year he was the Secretary of
the SBBA. He also praised the work that Ghalib has done for both societies and many others
and said that, like him or not, he was the common factor in the CBC, SBBA and SRVOS and
has held them together for so many years.
He
proposed a toast to both the CBC and SBBA and hoped that they continue to flourish and
serve their members well.
All
fanciers who attended said how much they enjoyed the evening with the usual friendly
banter and even Janice Al-Nasser made a short speech, saying that Ghalib is celebrating
his own Golden Jubilee on 1st August as he landed in England 50 years ago and that she is
making a collection to mark the event by seeking donations towards a one way ticket back
to Iraq, and felt that this would probably result in a business class ticket!
