What a year 2012 has turned out to be. It was probably one of the wettest years on record, especially for the east side of the country.
We had a fairly good spring followed by constant rain and low temperatures. The day my poults arrived in July, the temperature dropped to 7 degrees that evening and it rained for 3 weeks. We lost 500 poults that night due to hypothermia.
The Game Fairs were another sector of the industry which suffered due to the weather conditions. This had a huge effect on traders who rely on the summer months for income.
The SGA was in the same boat with our merchandise and raffle money well down on last year. It was amazing how many people mentioned the fact that they did not get the chance to have a catch up over the show season.
One of our great successes this year was our AGM which, for those of you who did not make it, was held in Inverness. A huge thanks must go out to all the keepers and friends who attended that day.
When I drove into the car park and saw so many SGA stickers on the land rovers and all the other four wheel drives, I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up! What a surreal feeling and when our PR Officer, Kenneth, told me we needed many more chairs for the hall, it made my day. So from now on, we will hold our AGM at Perth and Inverness in alternate years.
I was hoping to be able to update everybody on the tail docking issue before the close of the year, but no such luck.
Glasgow Veterinary School should have reported back to government away back in September. For some reason, the report has not come through yet. As soon as we have some news, I will pass it on.
I would like to thank Sheila, Mo, Kenneth and Victoria for all their hard work in the office. I must say thank you to the committee for all their dedication and support and, last but not least, I would like to wish all our members and supporters a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.