From The Chair By Chris Williams
A New sign for our lofts for the 2022 season
At the time of putting pen to paper beginning this article, The Blackpool show of 2022 is just days away. This means that a new season is just on the horizon and who knows what it will bring. On Sunday 2nd of January, I was able to escape to the loft for a short time and feed the birds, just before the weather closed in yet again. I am unable to spend a great deal of time in the lofts during the winter months as I don’t like to carry the wet and damp weather which we inevitably experience at this time of year in the UK as I do not wish to compromise the birds health, after all damp inside a pigeon loft is to be avoided at all times! I cannot wait for the new season to start, I tend to get cabin fever once Christmas is over but at least there is Blackpool to focus on. It will be great to catch up with some familiar faces once again. Joining us this year are our great friends Neil and Debbie Howes of Coventry and we are all looking forward to a good laugh and a few drinks along the way, it’s a shame that you always to get one or two individuals who seem to thrive on making disparaging remarks about the show, my answer to this like anything else in life and pigeons is that its only what we, the fanciers, make of it and I and those in our company fully intend to enjoy ourselves come hell or highwater!
Pigeon sport to me is as much about the friendships we forge as the fierce competition we face on race day, for several years now I have had the privilege of contributing my articles to The Canadian Pigeon Racing International magazine, in that time a great friendship has develop[ed between myself and the co-editor Brad Foster. On New year’s Day I received a telephone call from Brad informing me that he had suffered a stroke shortly before Christmas, thankfully he is now at home recovering, I am sure I speak for all his many friends in the sport in wishing him a speedy recovery, on a personal note please remember Brad I am always at the end of the phone!
I was speaking with a fancier friend of mine the other day and the name of the late Marley Westrop of Sandy in rural Bedfordshire came up in conversation particularly his famous winged warrior “The Rome Cock”. Which flew The Faroe Isles, 733 miles and then Rome at 916 miles. This dual performance from these race points earned this master fancier his place in The Guinness Book of Records. Looking back at the greats of the past has always helped to inspire me but we must also look to the future or run the risk of getting left behind, because as any serious fancier is aware ours is a sport that exists in a perpetual and at times perplexing state of evolution. As a second generation fancier I love to hear of younger fanciers attaining success at the highest levels that this great sport of ours has to offer. Few can have failed to have noticed the outstanding performance of 18 year Owen Abery who won the 2021 Central Southern Classics Thurso race on the 16th of July with 63 members sending 415 pigeons. Reading Owen’s account of his win and life in the sport in the BHW 2021 stud book, one cannot help but be captivated by his passion as he describes the events of that momentous day, such things fill me with hope that despite the everchanging and fast paced world in which we live, pigeon racing and its magic still has the capacity to enthral the imagination of the young people of the 21st century, all we have to do is be willing to try. Congratulations on your achievements Owen and all the very best to you for the new season!
That’s all the news for now until next time enjoy your pigeons and see you after Blackpool , have a great weekend!
Brad Foster
A rising star of long distance pigeon racing Owen Abery
