Posted by Mark S
on June 22, 2009, 8:10 pm
86.154.246.116
At the Area Meeting near Ide Hill on Sunday, Colin Squance resigned as chairman of the SE Conference and has been replaced by Howard Jarvis. Colin issued the following statement:
The best part of a decade, if you are committed and fully involved, is long enough for anyone to act as Chairman of such an important Point to Point region. Long enough to face up to the many challenges both internally and also within the area as a whole, but not so long that you run out of steam completely.
It has been no secret that I have wanted to retire this year if a suitable person with the appetite, enthusiasm and energy could be found to take over. I was therefore delighted to hear from others that Howard Jarvis, our recently retired starter of many years, was prepared to accept a nomination and give it a go. He will, I am sure, be a most popular choice and I shall be very happy to give him all the support I can.
Looking back, to my mind the two most important factors that confronted the sport and which had to be addressed were closely linked. The first was the eventual banning of hunting with its potential threat to the staging and administration of Point to Point meetings. It meant that we faced Hunts generally unwilling to spend any more money on course maintenance than they had to, resulting in some courses being for a while substandard. Tomorrows’ challenge now that the future is a little clearer is to convince hunts to continue to make good the investment shortfall not only in maintenance but also advertising for the long term benefit of all. The second factor was the development and subsequent launch of the new Point to Point Authority to take control of the sport from the MFH and move it forward. This has resulted in a gradual moving away from ‘stand alone’ meetings to more of a franchise operation based on the achievement of set terms and conditions. The new arrangement which is also on-going has meant keeping the various factions on board whilst more authority was moving slowly but surely from the individual hunt sponsored committees to the Board. To a great degree this has been made much easier through the South-East area already having adopted most of the Boards requirements years in advance.
On a more local level just as the shortage of Point to Point jockeys brought about our involvement and promotion of pony racing primarily to help provide a new generation of young jockeys, so the next decade will no doubt raise its own problems to solve, such as the shortage of horses that we currently have, and the fast changing weather patterns.
If I have any disappointments it would be to see the fall off in the number of members of the Supporters Club although I am sure that its current committee now have this challenge very much in hand. Finally, I had also hoped we had seen off the ‘old farts’ in the sport and that the new vibrant group that make up the Point to Point Board would carry all before them, but I see that there are still some alive and well sitting in Shaftesbury Avenue ( for the time being!)
Thoughts for the future; an amalgamation of two regions,( but which two?), more meetings not fewer, but this will only happen if the Hunts make sufficient money to justify the organisation involved ( unless of course the meetings are sponsored and organised by the area itself ), an amalgamation of the Hunts Club with the Supporters Club, and lastly a huge (relatively ) regional advertising budget funded by the area that can be professionally applied for the good of the sport in the South-East and individual meetings in particular.
Contrary to what the odd detractor might say, the South-East area is held in very high regard on a national basis and will be in good hands for the future.
Best wishes
Colin Squance
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