By Brian Dearn
Lancashire Social Circle Spring Gathering 2017
Spring came early to Southport when the members of the Lancashire Social Circle held their Spring Gathering at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Southport on the weekend of the 3rd 4th March. As the Circle has been going for 111years and holding a function, both in the Spring and in the Autumn apart from the war years, this function must have been well over the 200th event the origination has put on. I am pleased to say the standard has not dropped off in any way, with 124 members and guest coming from all parts of the country along with eight fanciers who were attending for the first time. Speaking to them, all are looking forward to a welcome return in November should they be fortunate enough to be invited again. The weekend kicked off on Friday when many of the fanciers took full advantage of the offer of a lunch provided by the hotel at a reduced price. As more and more fanciers arrived the hotel bar was filled to capacity, once again the hotel had put on a couple of barrels of guest beer for the members and with prices of all house drinks and wine at concessionary prices the weekend got off to a great start. With a free and easy night on Friday some members chose to brave the wet weather and venture out for a dinner at the various restaurants around Southport, while others again took advantage to the hotels kind offer to a subsidise dinner. As the evening went on and members and their guests arrived back, it gave everyone a chance to catch up since our last function. Guests attending for the first time were given a special welcome when our new President Chris Knowles took the time to introduce himself to everyone. As the night went on the hotel provided trays of sandwiches for the late drinkers and this took us into the early hours of the morning, when following breakfast the Management Committee held a meeting which the Honorary Members are invited to attend. Before we knew it, it was time to set up the room for the Saturday night official dinner. While the hotel staff set the tables that has been pre-arranged, a number of members get involved in what might seem the small things, placing the hand crafted place cards on the correct tables and in particular the correct order. By this I mean making sure with members speaking from the floor never stand with their backs to gathering. The programmes of events which also contain the running order need to go in front of everyone that is seated, and the yearly hand books containing all the information needed for the forthcoming season and entry forms are placed on the member’s seats. The programme on this occasion was four A4 pages printed on a glossy card with a large photo of the new President Chris Knowles on the front cover, in side we found four pages of photos many taken at the prize presentation along with a number of older photos from previous functions, that brought back memories for many as a small number were no longer with us. Page five was a reprint of an article on one of the founder members Stephen Stow reproduced in1948 almost 70 years ago that many fanciers found fascinating, and finally the back page had a list of all members attending along with their guests names.
Past Presidents Eric Entwistle, Bob Smith and Roger Sutton with Chris Knowles
Saturday evening started at 7 00pm when everyone entering the Ball Room was greeted with a glass of wine to take to their table, before viewing the large framed table plan. Once assembled the President Chris Knowles from Stockport asked all to stand in silence, of a past member Harry Aspin who we had lost since our last function. Following a lovely four course dinner the President welcomed everyone especially those attending for the first time, and an extra special welcome was extended to two guests that had made an extra special effort to be with us for the weekend, these being Emlyn Cross from North Wales and Philip Curtis from Yorkshire. Chris offered apologies from several members who were unable to attend, in particular John Marsden and Brian Newson both who are having health problems. Chris made special apologies for two honorary members Bob McLaughlin who has had to go into hospital a number of times these last few months and the journey from Scotland was out of the question for the Spring Gathering, and Guy Barrett OBE. Guy has been coming to the Circle now since the 1930's and many will be sad to here he has now had to go into a care home. He has been a great administrator for the sport having been President of the RPRA and the FCI on two occasions, and his absence from the Lancashire Social Circle dinners won't be the same without him. As long as I have been coming the functions Guy has always had a place on the top table, and this year's table plan was somewhat different without him and his long standing guest Bill Lewis from Kempsey. Apologies had also been received from John Dearden, Ray Pollitt, Alan Harrison, Rod Adams, Ken Cliffe and Brian Tattersall.
New member John Mills receives a welcome from Chris Knowles - Dave Jones congratulates Arthur Cowley on his RPRA appointment - Vin Donnelly congratulated for his recognition award from the RPRA
John O'Hanlon printer for the LSC with Brian Dearn - Guest Tom Pepper (Centre) with the LSC Secretary and President
The President then introduced a new member to the Circle John Mills from Liverpool who Chris felt would be a great asset to our origination, before introducing John O'Hanlon who many had not met before but, is the printer of the program of events which have been put together by the Secretaries of the Circle and printed by John for over 30 years. At this point it was the turn of the Secretary Brian Dearn to pay a tribute to the late Harry Aspin, who had first came to the Circle as a guest of John Eaton in1984 and became a member shortly after in 1989. A very popular member and close friend of past President Roger Sutton and one of his guest John Archer. Harry suffered from Pigeon Lung and in 1994 disposed of his birds, but in 2002 following the construction of a new loft based on the loft design of R & B Smith made a comeback. Some of the newer members who only met Harry in his later years missed a real character who many of the more long standing members had the privilege to experience. Always fun to be with and a real ladies man, had one of his lady friends knock on his door, and when his wife Collette opened it, the lady said I am having an affair with your husband Harry. To which Collette replied, "well tell me something I don't know,” and shut the door. Only Harry Aspin could get away with that. He was a great story teller and under Roger Sutton's Presidency if time allowed Roger would ask Harry for a couple of his many stories that had been produced in a small booklet for the Gathering.
With the President back on the his feet he paid a fitting tribute to Dan Driscoll a past guest of the Circle and someone who has made a small but very significant contribution to the LSC's Centenary Book, before asking Alan Jones to introduce the principle guest speakers for the evening. Alan who comes from Garston Liverpool was the winner of the Brian Dickinson Trophy this last season and as many members know is probably one of the most difficult of all the trophies the Circle have win. Alan in his own light hearted way did a splendid job giving the background to what were two very different speakers. The first the Reverend Canon Roland Harvey who was a priest and the second a comedian who had made several appearances on television. The first of these Roland Harvey gave a very interesting insight into his life and how his life had turned in different direction which he explained as dead cat moments, which at the time made a great deal of sense. He spoke of his love of rugby and how he had moved from being a civil servant and working in the unemployment office to joining the priesthood.
Members and Guests from North Wales Dave Puckle, Stephen Beardmore, Emlyn Cross, Andrew Lloyd, Phil Bates, Malcolm Parry-Jones, Barry Maidment and David Jones - Visitors from London, Hon. member Brian Woodhouse with Keith Davison and Albert Stockwell
The second speaker Tom Pepper took the microphone and delivered over 30 minutes of his life story that was totally different from the first speaker, having been on the boards all his life. He was very pleased to be with the Lancashire Social Circle that evening as over the years he has travelled many miles to attend functions but in our case it was only a 2 minute taxi drive away, as he only lived down the road at Birkdale.
Following a short break the President welcomed everyone back with his address and made special mention of recognition of two circle members who had made significant achievements from within our ranks, firstly seated on his left a long standing member of the circle and very loyal servant to the RPRA Vinnie Donnelly. Who had recently been fortunate enough to be a guest of the RPRA at Blackpool when he was awarded an outstanding service award for his contribution to the RPRA North West Region. The second of our high achievers was none other than Arthur Cowley who at the recent RPRA Council meeting was elevated to the post of Vice President of the RPRA.
A past President of the Circle Roger Sutton made the reply on behalf of the members thanking both speakers for their contribution to a very successful evening and went on to explain the importance of the social side of the sport. Then explained how boy from his area who had a troubled background and was very difficult to handle had become a entirely different person once he got some pigeons and had the responsibility of looking after them. I noted on the news only this last week a similar case following the Cruffs Dog Show when a boy with Autism that would not go out of the house was again a different boy once he got a dog.
George Hilson (Centre) with his guests David Sanderson and Scott Irving - Hon. member Stan Dangerfield (Centre) with Gloucestershire visitors Andy Florek and Phil Allen
New guest Stephen Allen with Hon. member Bill Wortley from Scotland - Hon. member Dr. Geoff Richmond with guest Chris Sutton
March 2017 Spring Gathering Gallery:
Chris extended his thank on this his first Gathering as President to all that had made the evening possible, the Secretary along with the members who lent a hand in the afternoon to set up the room, the principle guest speakers and of course George Hilson for his work capturing the memory of the weekend with his camera. He finally had the pleasure to remind everyone of the forthcoming Ladies Weekend, arranged as usual by Tony Merrick who along with his wife Kim, never fails to provide us with a very special weekend full of enjoyment. This year’s event is to be held at the Royal Clifton Hotel in Southport where the chef has just won the award for the best chef in the area. With the event taking place on the weekend of 6th 7th October 2017, a number of room have been book and so if you wish to come along please give Tony a call on 01539 445995 and add your name to the list.
This concluded the official part of the evening and all members were pleased with their Hand Books which contain the up to date information for the year ahead, including the race entry forms for the races which for many is not that far away. The evening went on into the early hours and one of my guests Peter Hargreaves, who was attending the function for the second time, had a number of fanciers asking for advice regarding his recent notification of putting a sealing on the membership of 50 for his local club Oswaldtwistle HS. Peter has been a great worker for the sport and has many innovative ways to attract new members he has produced a booklet which I believe the RPRA have given there backing for that would help any club that is looking for new members. If you are one of the above that would like to attract more members then why don't you visit the website which is www.oswaldtwistlehomingsociety.co.uk and very soon your club might have to stop excepting new members.
Brian Dearn
Tel. 01254 772515.
