Bolton Clubhouse Charity Auction 2025 by Brian Dearn 18-03-25

Bolton Clubhouse Charity Auction 2025

Pigeon fanciers have always rallied when called upon to raise money for worthy causes, and on Sunday 16th March was no different. Fanciers from a wide area of the North West assembled a small number of quality pigeons to raise money for the Children's Hospice Derian House. Everyone of us knows someone who has suffered from Cancer, but to lose a child to Cancer is unthinkable. The Mayor of Bolton Councillor Andrew P Morgan opened the event with a few fitting words of enthusiasm. I was very pleased with Jayne Mitchell who had donated a pigeon to the auction along with Les Green the auctioneer who answered the many question put to them on pigeons and pigeon racing by the Mayor and Mayoress, their enthusiasm was clear to see and were surprise with many of the answers they received from both Les and Jayne.

 Les Green from Northern Premier Auctions took to the floor explaining this was an ideal opportunity to purchase top pigeons that under normal circumstances would not be for sale. He went on to explain if these were for sale on the internet their prices would escalate so fanciers here today were about to get the bargain of the season. A licence to hold the sale had been provided by DEFRA with the bird flu affecting the movement of birds. The Mayor and Mayoress watched on and by the look on their faces were amazed at how the bidding was going and the prices paid for this worthy cause. It was a close run thing for the highest price bird with one from Les Green that fetched £350 and a second from Ray Lunt that brought £340. Two great gestures one from the Massarella Stud of a top pigeon, along with another nice gesture from Chris Ryan from the North West One Loft Race who donated something special from two top pigeons, with the winning bidder could enter this bird into the NWOLR at no extra charge.

The auction was held at the home of pigeon racing in Bolton and the support from the fancy was remarkable, with fanciers from Liverpool, Cumbria and one fancier Scott Irving  who had travelled down from Annan in Scotland. A fabulous buffet lunch had been provided with more than enough for all along with tea and coffee throughout the day. The food had been put together with Christine the wife of Peter Fearn who had advertised the event on social media. A lot of the work behind the scenes was down to Rebecca Stanley, supported by her partner Jamie Langrish. Rebecca is the hard working secretary of Gt Lever and Dist HS who use the Clubhouse as their HQ and run the local shows alongside their breeder buyer sales. The idea for the charity sale came from Joe Lonsdale who is trying to promote the Clubhouse, and from the number of fanciers who had never been before, were amazed at the facilities on offer for race marking, showing and the entertainment room with its own bar that is owned by the members themselves.

A number of fanciers brought along a raffle prize, and this took place following the auction with the proceeds going to the charity. The total sum raised was £3162 and the representatives from Derian House were there to collect the donation and were again most grateful for the work everyone had put in to make the auction a success. I understand the donation will be reported on their web site, with the publicity not doing the sport any harm at all. I have to thank Peter Fearn for the photos to go with this report as these all help make the article.

Brian Dearn. Tel. 01254 772515.