AGM

1. Apologies for Absence.

The Chairman's Report. The Society was healthy in membership and finance. The only cloud on the horizon was the Editorship of Wooster Sauce, a problem still unresolved. It might be we should have an Editorial Board, and if members knew anyone with the talent and interest to take on even a small part of this vital task should let her know. The report was adopted.

2. The Membership Secretary's Report was adopted.

3. The Treasurer's Report and Accounts were adopted.

4. The Editor of Wooster Sauce reported, and his report was adopted.

5. The Website Editor's report was adopted.

6. Election of Officers. The officers were re-elected.

7. Election of Committee Members. The two committee members retiring in rotation were re-elected.

8. Any Other Business. There was a suggestion from the floor for an annual (rather than bi-annual) dinner . After discussion the Chairman agreed to consider this, but in view of the work involved it seemed unlikely.

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The Chairman introduced Christine Coe, a remarkable breeder of Black Berkshire pigs. She kept her pigs in Warwickshire, and worked during the week in Plum's bank, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, in Canary Wharf. And at the Royal Berkshire Show she had won the rosette (the Chairman presented her with the rosette) for being the Runner-up Champion Berkshire.

She had with her Kevin, who looked after the Warwickshire farm.

She said she would talk about the life, work, and output of Berkshire pigs.

Genetically, pigs were related to the hippopotamus. The Berkshire pig had in the last few hundred years improved every breed of pig.

They may rush at you, but they do not mean to be enemies. If you stop, they will recognise that you are human, and they have benefited a great deal from human beings. First, they know that humans will feed them. Secondly, they expect that humans will scratch their backs, or at least stand still while they rub the mud off their backs on to you. This is really what they want.

PG Wodehouse was right in emphasising how much they would eat. They could grow until they weighed 250 kg but at that weight they would have too much fat for most consumers. So usually they were kept down to 50 kg, at which stage they would be a balance of flesh and fat. The best plan would be to let them grow to that size but after that they would just put on more fat.

However, Wodehouse was not right in saying that you could lead them by the ring in their nose. Rings can be put in noses but it is to stop them rooting up the ground.

There are only 382 Berkshire sows left and we (Christine and Kevin) had 10% of that total. We are the largest Berkshire breeders in the country. The pork is delicious and we can arrange for members to ask for their own Berkshire if there is enough demand.

In the question session, I asked if she would let us have a list of places like Beale Park near Reading which was not a proper farm but had a few Berkshires and piglets and could make a good family day out. She aaid she could only do this if they were members of the Pig Breeders' Club.

At the end she received prolonged applause.