Just in the last few days of my morning dog walks, there has been a noticeable chill in the air, even though we have had some hot sunshine in the middle of the day. The footpaths are covered with fallen leaves and sweet chestnuts, the Autumn Equinox is upon us, and Strictly Come Dancing has started. Autumn has arrived, and Christmas and winter are just around the corner! Before all that, though, our long-awaited National Exhibition on Sunday 3rd October, at Stafford County Showground is nearly upon us, and we anxiously await our first major event in too long. I can’t pretend that this has been an easy ride, as active planning was delayed by waiting for Government decisions on lockdown and the opening up of public events. Then there was the possibility that covid vaccination passports would be required for entry – fortunately now not the case. However, some special precautions will need to be in place to reduce any covid risk, but hopefully these will be minimal and manageable, and will not detract from the anticipated success of the show. Understandably, some people are still worried about the risk, and will not attend, and some traders have experienced serious loss of income because of the pandemic, and will not be present. Nevertheless, our office team of Les, Lynda and Anne have worked tirelessly to plan the event and distribute wristbands and table bookings. Chris Smith will be the good hands in charge of the Exhibition side of things this year, and hopefully things will run smoothly there as well. Of course, on the weekend itself, we will have our army of security staff, Parrot Society officials, and other volunteers to set up beforehand, tidy up afterwards, and ensure smooth running of the event in between. See you there!
I will remind you that our AGM on November 21st will not now be held at the Quality Hotel, Allesley, Coventry, as we were notified at short notice that the hotel has been taken over, and will be closed for refurbishment. It will instead be back at a previously used venue – The Old Palace Lodge Hotel, Church Street, Dunstable, Bedfordshire LU5 4RT, from 2 pm.
Finally, some news about the minutes of Council meetings. These are published after approval by trustees at the following meeting, and are available to be read by every member. Historically, these have been printed in the next available magazine, but when reproduced in full, they can run to four pages, thereby taking space away from more interesting articles. Therefore, we shall now print just a précis of the minutes in the magazine, with the full version available by email or post upon request to the office, or on-line in a new ‘Council Minutes’ box on the Members Only section of our website.