Following being approached by Mark Bird to ask if I would be willing to take the vacant Owners Representatives seat on the Board of the GBGB, I agreed to do so on a temporary basis, and until such time as a new election could take place.
I made it clear that I would not be seeking election when this process commenced. I felt that after the work that Paul Emphrensen had done during his tenure that it would be a shame if the owners seat was not occupied for any length of time, and his intiatives “withered on the vine” and hence my decision.
I believe that Paul was a catalyst for change, and many of the things that he set in motion will come in to force, and his legacy to greyhound racing will come in the future.
I have obviously been in touch with Paul recently and he has offered his support and assistance in anything I need. He has sent me the notes of his innovation panel meetings in addition to a number of other papers.
I believe that the innovation panel was a very good idea and this is something that I will be continuing with, and I have already approached a number of the existing panel members and they have all agreed to continue.
Paul also wanted to add some young blood to the panel, and I am in the process of inviting one possibly two young people to join. I have also spoken to Kevin Perisi and he to has offered any assistance that he can give, and I shall certainly be taking him up on that offer.
In the interim, I will be concentrating on the ideas and plans that Paul had put in place to ensure they come to fruition, before looking at short term initiatives I can try to implement myself.
As a revamp of the Owners Bonus Series all tracks should be holding four Owners and Trainers Nights before November
I see these as a good opportunity to attend and meet owners throughout the country, providing tracks give sufficient notice for me to plan them in my diary, and to advertise my attendance.
On 22 March I attended my first Board meeting. One of the things that Paul had been pushing for was an apprenticeship scheme within greyhound racing to both encourage young people in to the sport and to give those already working within kennels a recognised qualification to work towards.
The Board received a presentation from a training provider who set out how they can deliver this scheme for the GBGB, by working with funding providers, government departments, apprentices and trainers in whose kennels the apprentices will work.
The would be providers have knowledge of the greyhound industry and how tough working in a kennels can be, and we had every confidence that they could ensure that a successful programme of apprentices could be delivered.
A scheme like this does not come together over 8 months and was already on the GBGB’s “To do list”, and a great deal of work had been undertaken to get to the current position, but I think Paul was instrumental in giving it the final push.
The welfare sub committee meeting that I had been due to attend two weeks before the Board meeting had been cancelled due to the publishing of the Injury Data, Homing Statistics and Greyhound Commitment.
These were obviously discussed at the meeting as were the Public Relations implications of their publication. The figures are a starting point and will no doubt be a standing agenda item so progress towards improvement can be monitored.
The Greyhound Injury Recovery Scheme is one strategy for improvement with the commitment that no greyhound should be euthanised on economic grounds. The scheme is not quite finalised yet but significant progress has been made.
My feelings after the meeting were that there is a very strong Board in place, who are committed to change and are fully engaged in developing a long term plan for greyhound racing.
I shall be publishing blogs on the GBGB website, and using other organs of communication including the Greyhound Racers Facebook group, when I have anything to report”
