For all things alpaca!
Arrive from 12:00pm
Lunch at 12:30, AGM during the afternoon!
The Manor At Abberley, Abberley,, Worcestershire WR6 6BN
An informal AGM session combined with Sunday Lunch (our rather late Christmas social…) and a chance to catch up with your fellow members.
Please let us know if you can join us – it would be really great to see you!
WSAG Committee
West Shires Alpaca Group would like to thank all the entrants to the Royal Three Counties Fleece Show which was judged at the weekend – this year we had a fantastic entry.
A huge thanks goes to Roger Clarke for his meticulous and professional approach to working his way through over 150 fleeces, taking time also to educate the fleece stewards along the way, making the long days both fun and educational.
Thanks to our ‘crack’ team of fleece stewards who worked hard to make sure everything ran so smoothly – no mean feat!
Our sincere thanks must go to Julia and Adam Berry for hosting the show (allowing fleece to take over their house!), and for feeding judges and stewards so well – an army marches on its stomach so they say!
In summary, a great show that ran well – we really hope to see your entries again next year!!
Results will be released very shortly.
We had a very informative and interesting Saturday afternoon talking about how to decide on which stud male to use for your dams. Jay covered some of the theory, talking about the various parameters that you need to consider such as your aims for breeding, fibre quality of the stud and dam, colour, the qualities the stud gives to his offspring, the pedigree and colour ancestry of the stud and dam, conformation of the stud and dam, etc. There is a lot to consider and a good breeder can help with their detailed knowledge of their studs and the attributes they can influence over your dam and hopefully improve in the cria.
Roger then introduced some of his studs and talked about their fleece qualities. We moved on to look at some groups of very cute cria sired by the studs we had already seen. Knowing the dams the cria were from, Roger explained how some of the studs didn’t massively improve on fleece stats for dams that didn’t have particularly good fleece themselves but were able to sire very good cria from good dams – often given the term ‘polishers’. Other studs were able to improve fleece quality for most of their offspring compared to their dams – known as ‘improvers’.
Thank you to Roger for hosting the event and to Roger and Jay for sharing their knowledge and experience.
WSAG AGM 23rd February, 1pm (lunch) 1.30 AGM start, at Stoke Bliss & Kyre Village Hall WR15 8RR, followed by a talk by Cotswold Seeds on Pasture Management, with any questions welcomed from the floor – really useful for new and experienced owners. If there is anything specific you’d like them to cover let us know in advance!
We’re putting on lunch, just let us know if you have any dietary requirements.
Now for the formal bit!
The AGM is an important meeting for the group, it’s where members get the chance to openly discuss how the group operates, provide ideas for events or activities, elect committee members and see how group funds have been spent across the year.
Hopefully we’ve bribed you enough with a useful external speaker and the promise of a good lunch (we don’t skimp!) but on a serious note, it would be great if we could see as many of you there as possible!
Please confirm attendance at info@WSAG.org.uk along with any allergies/dietary requirements and we will make sure we accommodate!🦙😊🥪🥗🍰🥦🍍🥕!
It was really great to see so many of you at the WSAG winter social. We certainly managed to fill the pub and both the food and the company were excellent! 🍾🥘🍻
We know that many of you travelled some distance to be there, so thank you! We hope the event was a success and that you enjoyed the evening.
As we head into the festive season we would like to wish you all a very🎄Merry Christmas🎄 and all the very best for 2020🔔
Don’t forget, the next event is the AGM and talk on Pasture Management in February, preceded by our now traditional veritable feast, hope to see you there!
Thank you to everyone that joined us at Abberley Alpacas on Saturday (19th October) and a special thanks to Jay, Hilary and Ginnie for sharing their knowledge and experience for a very informative and valuable Alpaca Husbandry session. We hope everyone took away something useful from this afternoon.
See you next at the Midlands Championship on the 9th November…..if anyone is available on the Friday 8th and would like to help we do still need some manpower for setup, all offers gratefully received!
We all had a great day yesterday at Pure Alpacas courtesy of Hilary and Jay.
People brought their fleece with show result cards and histograms and Jay meticulously explained what it all meant – along with various history lesson opportunities along the way!
When we were done with looking at fleece it was time for a delicious barbecue – it was noted that lots of people went back for seconds…..and thirds… 😊
In summary – great weather, great company, a great learning experience and a fantastic spread to round it all off!
On Sunday we had the WSAG Craft Show judging followed by a BBQ.
Whilst the weather was unkind, in true British BBQ fashion, we adapted, with Iain (aka ‘Grumpy Chef’) cooking under a gazebo while the rain poured down and everybody else took refuge inside.
It might have been wet, but our spirits certainly weren’t dampened, and we had a very good and well attended event with good food and good company.
Our thanks go to Julia & Adam Berry for kindly hosting this for us and to the expert judges drafted in from the wider craft world.
Following the craft show judging on Sunday 9th June we’re having a BBQ for members – an opportunity to chat ‘alpaca’ and to see the results of the craft show. Food will be ready from 5pm. Hope to see you there !
We had a great day yesterday at The Mill at Clivewood, kindly hosted by Caroline and Ian Oakes. We were shown around their newly established mill that’s dedicated to processing alpaca fibre and saw all the machinery and processes involved in taking raw fleece and turning it into finished yarn. Caroline also showed us around her weaving studio showing us her many looms and the different pieces of work she has in progress.
It was a very well attended event with around twenty members present. Our sincere thanks go to Caroline and Ian for inviting us into their home and putting on a lovely event (and feeding us so well too!) that was both informative and social.
DON’T FORGET – the next event is the Royal Three Counties Show at the Malvern Showground 14th-16th June. VOLUNTEERS WELCOMED to help set up and run the show. If interested please let us know at info@wsag.org.uk.
