Another success for our breed in top flight inter-breed competition with Jo's young Orlando taking the IB male champion, plus the Berkshire pair made it to the last three in the Flack pairs trophy. Congratulations are very much in order, not only to Jo, but also to everyone who has brought pigs forward at the shows this season. I have seen a fair number of pretty good BKs out this year.

I would hope the obvious success of pigs by the more recently imported boar lines does not lead breeders to forget the importance of maintaining a reasonable number of all the lines we have within the breed. My attention has been drawn to this matter by the serious position of the once very popular Nama Abel line (our first boar was a Nama Abel bought from the late Hugh Cawthorn), with only two showing up in the last survey. We have located some Nama Abel sired litters & hopefully there will be a young boar or two suitable to retain for breeding. The fact that the club are aware of the situation & can do something about it before the line disappears altogether emphasises the importance of the breed surveys in monitoring the state of the breeds with a limited genetic base.

Our link with the Lambourne Valley Real Cider Company continues to "bear fruit", an e-mail from Roy Bailey informs me of anther £25 "commission" from cider sales to club funds, plus the publicity which is difficult to measure, but it all helps & must be good news.

Also the PG Wodehouse Society has committed to sponsor the Ch of Ch prize money over the next five years. They also put out a press release covering their involvement with the Berkshire breed which appeared in the "Times" & also on Radio Four's Today programme, the latter including an interview with Richard Briers & extolled the benefits of BK meat. The article & interview are both on the PG Wodehouse Society website, as well as our own (click here for The Times' article, or here for the Radio 4 interview). The society chairperson (even I can be PC!) will be present at the CH of CH final at Newbury on the 18th Sept to present the sash to the winner with Jo Clarke's daughter Sarah, presenting her mothers' memorial trophy. So please as many qualifiers forward as possible to make this another BK Champion of Champions to remember.

John Mason,
Chairman