A few nights ago I had a brilliant conversation with a gentleman who I can only describe as a real fancier and true champion from the UK whose personality and passion for the sport and everything to do with our winged warriors is nothing short of infectious! A winner on the North and south road racing routes at the highest levels . Frank Bristow has an encyclopaedic knowledge concerning management , racing systems ,the continental racing scene, and is a first class raconteur , such pigeon men are worth their weight in gold , in fact they are diamonds which is exactly what we talked about! You see Chris he said there’s a lot of sayings in the pigeon sport and I look at it like this you have to break a lot of rocks to find the diamonds and that’s what good pigeons are and just like diamonds they are rare!
As I digested the analogy which Frank had given me it made me think of another two sayings firstly a fool and his money are easily parted and secondly, fools rush in where Angels fear to tread. This begs me to ask a question of my own are fanciers too quick at times to judge the potential quality or, lack of it as the case may be? The obvious and immediate answer is yes because like it or not it is a part of human nature to make judgements, a fact that is backed up by science as a series of experiments by Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov shows all it takes is a tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger from their face. The same can also be said of pigeons, because each fancier looks for different qualities based upon different personal preferences and requirements . If there really was “A Wonder strain” not only would they make a fortune on the commercial scene , but only the very wealthy could afford them and then there would be no pigeon racing as only the people who spent large amounts of money on pigeons would win the races every week , but to the ordinary back garden fancier I say do not lose heart because not everything is a question of cash in a sport in which we deal with a living creature , a great man once said “man cannot live on bread alone” you see we need more than money in this life and despite what adverts would have you think money cannot buy success in pigeon sport , Yes it may help with purchasing raw material but just because I go out and buy paints and a pallet knife doesn’t mean I am going to be the next Vincent Van Gogh , besides he had one ear I’ve one arm and cannot paint stick men let alone Sunflowers, well you have laugh! No on a serious note I am learning more and more that the price and value of a pigeon are two vastly different things and this is why as fanciers we must see to it that stringent selection policies are implemented within our lofts. The late Piet de Weerd , a man who many regard as the selector in pigeon racing history often said “The basket is always the best selector” and the more seasons that go by , the more I’m inclined to agree with him, particularly in the modern era which seems to be driven by commerce and clever advertising , and the advent of so -called “paper pigeons” also large teams being sent to the races many of which fall by the wayside when tested vigorously in the heat of competition. In the analogy of rocks and diamonds it is easy to determine in which category such birds belong! As I began to put this article together , at one stage I thought am I barking up the wrong tree but having read Keith Gaut’s article in The British Homing World on July 24th then it would appear that I am not alone in my thinking after all!
The stories of the great fanciers of yesteryear have always fascinated me , yes I am aware of the need to remain up to date with what is happening in the modern fancy but in my opinion , for what it is worth “the old masters” as I call them probably forgot more about pigeons in their time than many modern “champions “ could learn in a lifetime , because they maintained a small team of birds which enabled them to know the mindset and characteristics of each individual pigeon and thus knew how to motivate them accordingly. They had the ability to think like a pigeon. there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the late Jack Adams of Redditch England was such a fancier and I may add so to is Frank Bristow because to win one Kings Cup is an achievement but two is extraordinary, so what was it that enabled both these fanciers to achieve their dreams , I guess you could say they knew that “diamonds are forever “but a champion pigeon is once in a lifetime !
“Diamonds are what every fancier is looking for"
My favourite pigeon book by one of my heroes in the sport winner of the Pau kings Cup race in 1968 the late Jack Adams Jnr of Redditch. A down to earth fancier and writer who probably forgot more about pigeons then many modern day “superstars “all put together .
Frank Bristow (Left) with son George Frank is a down to earth pigeon fancier with a fanatical approach to the sport
