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The club was formed in 1967, primarily to cater for the Tortoiseshells and Brindles and other rare varieties which were "in need of fostering". By the following year Black Eyed Whites and Dark Eyed Goldens were being shown at Club shows. Lemon Agoutis started their show careers in the RV classes and it was to be nearly ten years before they were accepted into the NACC along with the other AOCs.
As the club entered the 1970's many varieties existed only in the hands of one or two devoted breeders. One of these was the smooth Roan which was created by Jon Billings. Within a few years Roans appeared quite independently as sports in Self Black litters. These were first christened Dapples and later became our present Dalmatians. In 1971 Isabel Turner imported Cresteds from the USA (just beating the quarantine regulations) and the same year a fancier wrote an article to describe the "Shelties" she had created. Both these breeds quickly gained popularity, so that by 1974 the CCC was formed, followed by the Sheltie Club in 1975. By this time Tricolours and Bicolours were being shown with a provisional standard, and three generations of Rex were introduced, the result of years of work by a Mr Dobson. Saffrons were occasionally shown and 1975 saw the Guide Standard for the Harlequin and its colour variations. About this time Sables, reputedly of high quality, were regularly shown, mainly due to the efforts of a Scottish fancier - Joyce Archer. Sadly they later disappeared and are now rarely seen.
1976 saw the onset of conflict and hostility among RV fanciers, mainly centred on the Dalmatian and Roan cavies. The eventual result was the formation of the British Cavy Council, which ruled that the RVCC should no longer cater for Dalmatians and Roans, which would be fostered by their own club from January 1st 1978. Another controversial decision of 1977 was that NO crested varieties would now be accepted by the RVCC and they must all be shown in the CCC. The devotees of the crested Shelties quickly overcame this problem by renaming their pigs "Coronets", but for many other crested RVs this was bad news, as we know to this day! Early in 1979 the Gold Argente made steps in popularity, largely through the efforts of Mark Metcalfe, while the fanciers showing Apricots discovered that they were in fact showing Buffs.
The 1980's saw the introduction of Satins and Texels. The former were imported from the USA in 1983 and the latter painstakingly created by Claire White.
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