The Kennel Club held its first AGM in person since 2019 on 14 June 2022 at the Curzon Mayfair Cinema, London.
At the AGM the following ten Members were elected to the Board of Directors:
Mr S McCabe-Bell
Dr A Schemel
Mrs JK Millard
Dr IH Gabriel
Dr RW James
Mr N Brooks-Ward
Mr IJ Seath
Mr PE Rawlings
Mr S Payne
Mrs M Reynolds
Of the Directors listed above, the first eight named have been elected for a three-year term whilst the last two named have been elected for a one-year term.
Other business conducted at the AGM included the election of four Honorary Life Members of The Kennel Club as follows:
Mr P Follows
Mr KR Newhouse
Mrs GF Simpson
Mrs EA Stannard
The following four Vice Presidents of The Kennel Club were re-elected:
The Earl of Buchan
The Rt Hon Lord Fairhaven JP DL KStJ
The Lord Kirkham KCVO
Sir John Spurling KCVO OBE
The members elected a new Vice President, Professor SP Dean BVetMed MRCVS DVR.
Reports were made to the members by Tony Allcock OBE, Kennel Club Chairman on the Club’s activities; Mark Beazley, Kennel Club Chief Executive, who provided a report from the Executive as well as a presentation regarding the latest staff survey; Tom Mather, Chairman of Crufts Committee on the 2022 show; Kathryn Mansfield, Kennel Club Secretary with a report on the Non-Breed Standard Colours Working Party; Mark Johnstone, Chief Finance Officer, who provided the financial report for the Club; and Mark Bermingham, Head of Strategy, Planning & Insight, who provided an update on the new strategy and topline findings from the recent members’ survey were provided by David Douglas from Membership Matters, the company who conducted the survey.
Mark Beazley said: “The AGM provided the opportunity for us to update our membership on the strategy progress currently being undertaken at The Kennel Club.
I am pleased that we have been able to give topline feedback on some of the research that has been gathered so far which will be reviewed and will help shape the future direction of The Kennel Club as we approach our 150th anniversary.
“We have been extremely delighted with the feedback so far from our membership survey and have had a very good response rate of over 60%. Although early days, in analysis we can already see key themes emerging. The first two being that members firmly believe the role of The Kennel Club is to promote the safety and wellbeing of all dogs, and to encourage the responsible breeding of pedigree breeds. This comes as no surprise, but the high scores have shown how dedicated members are to the UK dog community. We have also noted that members wish their views to be considered as we look to develop our strategy to ensure The Kennel Club remains relevant, recognised and respected.
“Another theme indicates the appetite to look further at various aspects of what we do and our range of products and services. This is most heartening given where we are in our strategy development process and we appreciate the clear voice and support of the membership.
“As well as the member research we were also delighted to be able to share with the membership results from the recent staff survey that took place. The survey received an 83% response rate and it was great to see that there has been significant improvements in positivity for all comparable questions across the entire survey. It is worth noting that the agency executive carrying out the survey stated that in over 20 years delivering employee surveys, these improvements are the most significant of any organisation that they have worked with across a similar timescale.”
At the meeting, members were asked to vote on three motions regarding registration and transfer fees. These included raising puppy registration fees in line with inflation from £17 to £20; raising Assured Breeder puppy registration fees in line with inflation from £15 to £18; and raising transfer fees in line with inflation from £17 to £20. Finally, for a change in regulation which would allow The Kennel Club Board to increase such fees in line with inflation based on the UK Retail Price Index (RPI) monthly index as are required for the registration of dogs, pedigrees, kennel names, clubs and societies together with the show and trial licences. In the case of increases above RPI, the members in the general meeting would, on the recommendation of the Board, determine such fees.
Representations were made to the meeting to why The Kennel Club Board had put forward these recommendations by Mark Johnstone with the message that underinvestment could be detrimental for the future of The Kennel Club. Mark outlined that it can lead to outdated services and systems that are not truly future-proofed, and that it is only realistic, inflationary rises which would enable The Kennel Club to provide its core services to the best possible level and enable it to support the most effective delivery of our not-for profit activities, for the betterment of dogs. A 66.6% majority vote was needed on all three of these recommendations in order for them to pass, which was not received and therefore these motions were not carried.
The full report of the AGM will be included in the August issue of The Kennel Club Journal which will be available on The Kennel Club website.