Bullmastiff Club of KZN - New Beginnings

For the last 50 years, there has been only one Bullmastiff club in South Africa, this being the Bullmastiff Club of Southern Africa. Due to KUSA (Kennel Union of Southern Africa) rules, all events of that club had to be held within the province in which it was domiciled eg Gauteng (formerly Transvaal). Club members outside of that province had to travel great distances to attend any function. Members from the Western Cape for instance had two days drive to get to an event, and of course two days driving back! Here in KwaZulu Natal, we are luckier, in so far as it is just six hours driving. That is fair enough for a show weekend, but not for a fun event that might last all of two hours.

Members in KZN decided to investigate the chances of forming a KZN branch of the BMCSA, so that we could hold local events, thereby eliminating much of the travelling, but KUSA rules state that it must be a separate club or nothing!

In June 2004 we held our Inaugural Meeting at Emberton Coffee Shop, Gillitts, KZN. 18 people attended and we received apologies from 24. Yes, there was the required interest in the new club. It was going to be hard work, but we felt that in the interest of our precious breed we had enough motivation to set sail.

• June 12th saw our first Committee Meeting.
• August 2004 the first of our monthly Newsletters was published.
• August 2004 we held a Beach Walk at Amanzimtoti. Six Bullmastiffs attended along with 9 other breeds. We had decided to include ‘other breeds’ in our events as a fledgling club such as ours couldn’t hope to have huge attendance numbers in the beginning, plus it would give us an opportunity to meet other breeds, which isn’t a bad thing.
• September 2004 saw the first of our Educational Talks on ‘Hip & Elbow Dysplasia’ by Dr Grahame
  Murray. 38 people attended
• October 2004 our club was affiliated into KUSA and our suggested name ‘Bullmastiff Club of KZN’ became ‘official’.
• October 2004 we held our second Educational Talk on ‘Cancer in Dogs’ by Dr Rick Last. 63 people attended.
• October 2004 we joined with BMCSA for a crit on our dogs by visiting UK judge and breeder, Angela McInnes. 11 dogs came during the afternoon and owners went away well educated on their dog’s good, and also not so good points.
• November 2004 we adopted our Code of Ethics.
• November 2004 the competition for our club’s logo was won by Linda Holliday from England. There was stiff competition, but we chose Linda’s entry because of its clean lines but powerful effect.
• In December 2004 our first Magazine was published. We had decided to produce two magazines a year, in December and June. The other months we would produce a Newsletter.

This is the first 6 months of the club’s existence. It wasn’t all smooth riding. We had external pressures from many quarters, but that was to be expected. We handled them in the way we thought best. Our membership continues to grow, and that can only be good for the breed.