L J Parkinson - 02-08-24

L J Parkinson

Time is moving on and at times it appears I am catching up with the results all the time, but we get there in the end. Putting these notes together each week takes on average more than one day which seems to take longer the older I get. Anyway, I have always enjoyed putting pen to paper which is why we scribes carry on. Scribes come and go, and I have spoken to many fanciers/scribes over the years and hopefully learned something. The problem is as a scribe I hear so much about pigeons and systems and especially in my early days I was swapping and changing far too often. We hear something, go home and start to think even more about a particular point raised on that visit which often results in a modification to the system I am already using. Quite often that has proven to be a big mistake because I have undone what I have worked on in the loft to get where I wanted to be. Like most pigeon fanciers I would like to think I am learning about pigeons every day, probably we all think the same. However, there is a point when we must stop and think about what we are doing, are those little changes going to turn our systems upside down to the point where we make a mess of all the work we have done over the years. Pigeons don’t like change, yes, they will get used to anything, as we all do, but it can often set us back. On the other hand, if we don’t try to improve, we can get left behind and then it’s hard work getting back up the ladder to where we were before we made those changes. Since I started back racing, I have seen the changes in the sport, Elizabeth did say I would which at the time I brushed aside. Yes, I have still been in contact with fanciers during the spell away through the website but being involved at the roots of the sport is a different matter. I raced young birds last year and the old bird season this year and yes, I am now seeing a change. I know this is going off the subject, but we are talking change, I took Elizabeth to the supermarket recently and could not believe how much everything has gone up. We came out with one bag of shopping and a couple of things that need carrying. As I got in the car I turned and said how expensive the supermarket was, to which she said she was a bit surprised. When we got home, I did something I have never done before, I checked the list against what we had bought, everything was correct. I had to smile when Elizabeth said that I had not commented on the cost of pigeon racing and how much everything had gone up since we last raced. I suppose it is down to greed in many cases, companies always putting prices up, making billions of pounds profit and the heads of those companies getting paid 7 figure fees, no wonder living is getting harder. Back to pigeons, when you look around at other hobbies, we are not too bad, everything goes up and that is never going to change. Gone are the days when workers would bring home a pay packet of less than a handful of pound notes, mind you they were worth something in those days. Racing pigeons as a hobby has gone up and there are many who leave the sport because they cannot afford to spend so much on pigeons anymore. I am hearing now about fanciers changing their names that they have raced under for decades. They have been keeping the partnership name for nostalgic reasons, but many have already said that is going to change. Elizabeth has told me to take her name off, she can no longer take part in the everyday running of the lofts, so why leave her name on, Elizabeth’s decision not mine.

Results

The latest race for the Mid Cheshire Fed was another Mangotsfield when 54 members entered 822 birds that were liberated at 14.50pm in a strong west wind. Acton Bridge FC member Eric Taylor had a good race with 1^st 2^nd 3^rd club 1^st 2^nd 4^th section 1^st 2^nd 4^th fed. Eric has been a good fancier for many years, so it is no surprise to see him at the top and this week recorded vels of 1509/1492/1475ypm with three yearlings. Completing the top 4 in the club to be 20^th fed on 1442ypm with a 2yo are Mr & Mrs carl Hickman. Middlewich FC fancier Mark Smith is there again picking up 1^st 3^rd 4^th 5^th club 3^rd 16^th 17^th 19^th fed with 2 x 3yo, yearling and 2yo clocking up 1485/1447,1443/1442ypm. Wish the winners would email me information on their winners, make better reading. 2^nd club 8^th fed goes to Ebony Crowley from Elimar Lofts with a yearling blue hen. This was one of a batch bred for Ebony by Brian Jones from Rodeheath, Ebony have been expecting these pigeons to show after being on the fringe of the result for most of the season. Lymm FC fancier Andy Roberts takes the top 4 positions collecting 5^th 6^th 7^th 12^th fed on 1472/1468/1467/ 1453ypm. Martin Williams is 1^st & 4^th a yearling and 2yo in the Wrinehill club after clocking a yearling to go with 9^th Fed on 1458ypm ahead of a yearling to the lofts of Andy Emery whose first pigeon clocked up 1448ypm to take 2^nd club 14^th fed with Darren Everill 3^rd club with a 3yo on 1433ypm. D & P Whitefield take top spot in the Halmerend FC with a 3yo recording a vel of 1454ypm. 2^nd & 3^rd go to N & S Harvey with vels of 1430/1392ypm. In the Rudheath WMHS C & I.L Cooper collect the red card plus 11^th fed after seeing home a yearling on 1453ypm. Dave Lowe, who is having a good season is 2^nd club 13^th fed with a yearling on 1451ypm leaving 3^rd to Kenny Burke who clocked a 3yo on1426ypm. Over in the Sankey Bridge HS I Hill covered the top 4 positions with a team of yearlings clocking up 1447/1442 (2) 1430ypm. Earlestown FC saw a good race for RYADS Loft who took the top 4 places with a 4yo and three yearlings on 1442/ 1442 (2) 1440ypm. Brian Vout wins the Leigh & Atherton HS with a vel of 1428ypm after clocking a 2yo ahead of Simon Kennedy who clocked two yearlings on 1425/1424ypm. That leaves us with the St Helens FC where A Greenall takes the top three places after recording vels of 1436/1408/1406ypm. What a great result for the South West Cheshire Fed when the family of the late Melvin Bratt kept the race team going to top the fed. There 20 members entering 130 birds that were liberated on the 13^th of July in a light south west wind. A few years ago, Guernsey was not the best of race points to compete in with sometimes heavy losses and this year I have stayed clear of it, mainly because I need the yearlings for next year. I was talking to Roger Sutton about this race point, and he was saying that he has found the pigeons are doing a better job of it since there have been more races from Guernsey. Roger went on to say he had been talking to Martin Brammer who pointed out that the bigger libs headed straight home, but the small lib saw some head towards France. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier Winsford winners H Bratt & Son, it’s certainly nice to see the family keeping the birds on the road to top the list with a 2yo on 1317ypm. 2^nd & 6^th club 3^rd & 20^th Fed are won by the partnership of G&A&C Jones recording vels of 1305/1215ypm. The next three places in the club go to Richard Ormandy who saw home 2 3yo and a 2yo clocking up 1268/1237/1218ypm. Mark Smith is having a very good season and in this race is with the Middlewich 5B he is 1^st 2^nd 3^rd 5^th club 2^nd 4^th 5^th 14^th fed with vels of 1309/1303/1289/1244ypm. Mark is doing well in all three clubs that he has been racing in this year, well done. At the time of going to press Mark had experienced a bad training toss and had some good prospects for the future missing, which he needed to replace some of the older pigeons that are now slowing down, such as the 4yo clocked in this race. By the way I lost 11 the same day. Jones Bros & Karen are 4^th 6^th 7^th club 8^th 16^th 18^th fed reaching vels of 1262/123/1223ypm with 2 x 2yo’s and a yearling. The Crewe West End sees S & T Soper leading the way on 1275ypm collecting 6^th fed along the way. R Parker is 2^nd & 3^rd club 9^th & 17^th Fed on 1260/1224ypm with a yearling and 3yo. 4^th club goes to Bob Humphries whose first in the clock recorded a vel of 1209ypm. In the Duddon PFC K & K Rowland topped the list with a 3yo on 1258ypm ahead of Gary Adamson on 1256ypm. It was a close run race in the club because the next two positions went to KW Walker & Sons1256/1247ypm, the first 4 in the club are all together in the fed taking 10^th 11^th 12^th 13^th fed. In the Halmerend FC D&P Whitfield recorded vels of 1144/1105/1056ypm

Les Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ.
Tel: +44 (0)1606 836036.
Mob: +44 (0)7871 701585.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web site: http://www.elimarpigeons.com