As 2025 is coming to a close it’s time to reflect on our activities for this year.  This November will mark our 40th anniversary as the BKKS JSC, however, it may also be our last year as a BKKS sub-committee. 

 2026 will present a number of opportunities and might be challenging, but for now let’s look back at 2025.

Our year didn’t start until March (9th) when we held our annual trainee seminar which saw us induct two new trainees; Aaron Eden and Laurence Harvey to swell our number of trainees to three. 

Our Spring meeting took place in April where we concluded any outstanding business from 2024, including our review and proposal for update of the BKKS Show Rules and Guidelines, and planned for the year ahead.  The admin part of the meeting was followed by all the Judges participating in the Trainee Seminar photo judging exercise and comparing results and reasons for any differences.  A review of photos provides a good forum for debate and discussion of new koi varieties etc, but there is no substitute for koi judging “in the field”. 

April also saw two of our members attending an Open Day at Cuttlebrook Koi farm which gave them the opportunity to promote their sections forthcoming shows and interact with grass roots hobbyists.

May was a busy month for us fulfilling some overseas duties. Four of us judged at the Belgian ZNA Koi Show, one of whom was the Senior Judge, and five judged at the Euregio show in Holland where again one of us had the Senior Judges responsibility.

June was the month for the BKKS National where one of our members sits on the National Show Committee. Another of our members took the responsibility of overseeing the benching where our three trainees played significant roles too.

July through October saw us fulfilling our main role of providing judges for the Society’s Section Shows. Starting with the Scottish Show in July, followed by the Crouch Valley, North East, and Great British in August, Mid Staffs in September and the Birmingham & West Midlands Junior show in October. As well as judging these show, a few of our members were involved in the running of some of them, and several current and former members visited them as spectators.

During August and September we had multiple roles to play in two other shows. The ZNA Holland Koi Show where 5 of our members participated as part of the workforce and two others as judges. This show included an official ZNA Judging seminar in which two members were involved as facilitators and one as a panellist.  All of the others were invited to attend the seminar and participate. Whilst there we were presented to the Japanese ambassador for Benelux.

Judging with overseas judges gives us the opportunity to exchange views and share information. This year we had contacts with judges from America, Belgium, France, Holland, Japan and South Africa. The most significant of these being Japan where reciprocal exchanges of documentation have taken place to eventually align some terminology and explanations.

September saw us involved in the All England Koi show run by the South East Koi Club. Four of our members are also SE members and were involved in show duties. 5 were part of the International Judging Team and all 3 trainees were invited there to gain some experience.

Fitting in where time permitted four of our members gave talks including a practical benching seminar to some of the Sections.

For one of our members the show season is not over. He’ll be judging at the ZNA International Show in Ojiya, Japan later this November.

Our last event of the year in November or December is the JSC Annual General Meeting where we debrief the latest show season, assess trainee and probationer performance, and identify any process improvements or requests for changes to the show rules and guidelines or other updates to our JSC documentation.  As we would only make changes mid-show-season for safety reasons, any changes are agreed and made over the winter, so they can be implemented for the next show season.   This year’s AGM may also be the inaugural meeting of the future independent UK Koi Judging Standards Committee.

That’s the summary of this year’s activities. Our thanks go to the show committees that put on the shows that allowed us to maintain, hone and develop our skills. For many of them the future is also unclear but be assured in one way or another the JSC will be ready to assist.