News from the Chair
News from the Chair
Be honest the above picture is a familiar scenario in many fancier households at this time of year isn’t it?
We are all in search of the “perfect pigeon", but in truth such a thing is purely subjective and depends upon the personal preferences of each individual fancier and on the goals which he or she has set for their loft. For me purchasing new bloodlines is an exciting part of our hobby and adds an extra interest because it’s always nice to see how new introductions perform against birds that are already established within the loft. Of course we all know that not every bird we bring in will leave its mark however if we are lucky enough to come across one good one then it can turn everything around seemingly overnight and the pigeon sport is full of countless examples. The famous Janssen brothers were once asked Are there any real breeding pairs? To which they replied: Pairs that give good birds are not rare, but pairs that give real super birds are very seldom found. Whenever you breed a super bird, this pair is already a very good breeding pair. This statement from the greatest pigeon fanciers of all time , made me wonder if we are all to easily “tricked” by adverts which extol in abundance the virtues of “golden couples” I think if every fancier was honest with themselves this is something which we are all guilty of from time to time , but as Ad Schaerlaeckens once said :the only people who don’t make mistakes are dead people , so while you are making mistakes we are ok! So, we ordinary mortals can take comfort from this because even the great fanciers make mistakes but the clever thing is we don’t always hear about it. This is why I have so much respect for Jos Thoné because he openly admits that on the road to success he had many bad races along the way . How refreshing it is to hear from a genuine champion who doesn’t shy away from the realities of racing pigeons for such things really do give hope to the hard working back garden fancier who are the real backbone of our beloved sport .
I am not a lover of the winter months because it means my time in the loft is limited and so now, I spend my time reading books and watching DVDs all relating to the sport. Recently our friend Alan Concliffe paid us a flying visit and brought us a beautiful vase with a pigeon on it and a box of DVDS to help me pass the time which is very much appreciated. In pigeon racing we are on a perpetual journey of discovery and so on days when the weather prevents me from going to the loft , Dad will bring a few birds up to the house and we go through them together and as a result it keeps me up to date with the goings on inside the lofts.
Saturday the 24th of October was a particularly wet dark day and so I opened up the box of DVDs which Alan had left and I came across one which featured the legendry long distance fancier Jim Biss , what a treat it was to see this master craftsman at work and listen to some of his straight talking common sense advice , now I know people say times change and we must move forward , but surely we must also remember the old adage of “if it aint broke don’t fix it “ and I firmly believe that many of the older fanciers could more than hold their own in today’s competitive climate !
Although I have lived in Dorset over twenty years I still have a strong affinity for the great people and fanciers of the West Midlands an extremely competitive area which over the years has played host to some of the sports all-time greats , many of whom I and many others would be willing to bet could give the hallowed Dutch and Belgian flyers a considerable run for their money , this was something that was again brought home to me after seeing an old film presented by Tony Cowan entitled “small is beautiful “, volume one of this series introduced us to some of the Black Countries finest small team fanciers , including a young Mark Evans. Although this is a few years old I highly recommend (if you can get a copy ) watching this film has reaffirmed my belief that a small loft of all important quality birds will win the day , the hard part is finding them but one thing is certain its great fun giving everything you can to this great sport .
As always my friends until next time enjoy your pigeons!
Hillside lofts of the late grate marathon master Jim Biss.
Some of the legendry long distance birds of Jim Biss
A lovely gift from our friend the dark Buschaert man Alan Conclife
The genius that is Jos Thoné
The Black Country’s Mark Evans
