TORQUAY hosted the 2010 BCVA
congress in its Riviera Centre and
the delegates enjoyed the mix of
four parallel technical sessions, the
commercial exhibition and the
various social functions.
At the AGM, John Fishwick, a
senior lecturer at the RVC, was elected
as president with Andrew Praill
standing down as secretary to become
the junior vice-president.
Keith Cutler is now senior vice-
president and in his summary of the
year thanked the
members of Council,
the staff at head office
and particularly the
membership of the
associationforthe
outstanding support he
received in his
presidential year.
Gareth Hateley is
the new secretary and
Declan O’Rourke
continues as treasurer.
The Tuckey Award for the best
paper by a practitioner at the 2009
congress was presented to Paul Rogers
(Allen & Partners, Carmarthenshire)
for “A practising vet’s view of bovine
TB control in Wales”. The President’s
Award for the best overall paper went
to Mark Bryan (Vet South, New
Zealand) for “Incorporating the non steriodal anti-inflammatory drug
Meloxicam into the treatment of
clinical mastitis, reduced somatic cell
count and the risk of culling”.
The commercial exhibition formed
the hub of the congress where
delegates gathered for refreshment
throughout the day and there was
plenty of space to have conversations
and small meetings. Laptop
presentations and discussions were
much in evidence together with several
activity games such as “trap the badger” from My
Healthy Herd and rally
car simulated driving
with the Moore
Scarrett accountancy
partnership.
With so much
change being talked
about because of
pharmaceutical
companies’ mergers and acquisitions, it was
refreshing to bump into two businesses exhibiting at the BCVA for the first
time and getting to grips with the
relaxed atmosphere. Hypra is a large
Spanish group with a new UK office in
Nottingham and Animalcare is based in
York.
There was a buzz around the
exhibition and over 20 of the technical
papers were sponsored by exhibitors.
The opening reception bar at the
Grand Hotel and the dinner were
supported by Norbrook Laboratories.
Before the President’s Dinner on day
two there was a drinks reception
sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health and
the evening was marked by an
exhibition of dancing by the current
amateur champions, supported by “one
of the best dance bands in the
country”, the Ross Mitchell orchestra
and singers. This demonstration of
various dances, with many changes of
costume, was quite simply breathtaking.
Afterwards delegates were
encouraged to have a go under the
tutelage of former ballroom and Latin
champions Cheryl and Jeffrey
Dobinson. These professional
instructors were well-known to the then
president. Keith and Sam Cutler
entered in with enthusiasm and the
sparkling shirt that Keith donned at one
point added to the cheerful atmosphere.
For the final evening, a selection of
casino style tables with croupiers
encouraged delegates to lose their chips
without having to part with hard cash.
n Next year’s congress will be in
Southport from 24th to 26th
November.
