Parkinson L.J.
I was talking to a fancier recently who was telling me that there is a possibility that the BICC are opening marking stations further North. This could be good for the club because there are a lot of fanciers further North who would like to compete in the club for International races. Some may think it is not possible for the Northern half of the country to win the International, what a load of rubbish of course they can. As with every race we compete in we need to have the conditions in our favour on the day and there is one thing for sure the conditions will suit the North at some point. It?s no good being a defeatist, all we need to do is keep sending and one day it will happen, in the meantime enjoy the races. What we need to do is make sure that when the time comes we have entered birds that are capable of topping the list and everyone thinks they have them in the loft. Hang on a minute did I hear someone say, "Mine are not capable" how do you know if you don't try, many a good performance is missed because we have not sent to a race. I would not have thought I could have been 3rd Open in the National FC 408mls but I was and the two pigeons that beat me were flying the best part of 180mls less than my entry but they were still winners. On the same day, I was also 33rd open so the conditions suited my pigeons on the day. That can happen to anyone because winning in National competition is what we all need to aim for, the pinnacle of pigeon racing. And with the prospect of the BICC possibly extending their facilities further North anything can be achieved but we need to send first. The one point is if it does go ahead then the committee are listening to the fanciers and not sticking rigidly to what they think should be done. That happens far too often in pigeon racing and is part of the reason some clubs are not working well as they should be.
The two places where fanciers have asked for are in the Runcorn area on the west side of the country with the other being in Hull on the opposite side over in the east. In club racing channel racing into the North West is falling down the list of priorities for many fanciers because there is nothing to race for in clubs and sending your pigeons to water races is not cheap so this could be a good alternative. Locally the clubs are suffering in this area but finding the solution is not always easy, however now that I have taken the North West Classic on again and got in the region of £3000 sponsorship for the races who knows, this might be what the area needs and if so for that we need to thank the sponsors. For a number of years now racing has been on the decline in the area and they need to join together and form a cheaper more competitive organisation but again you know they old saying, ?A big fish in a small pool? I very much doubt if there is even the slightest chance of that happening, there are some stubborn pigeon fanciers about. Pigeon racing is getting too small to have an axe to grind everyone needs to get on and reduce the general costs in the sport. I was recently looking for a photo for the Blackpool edition but could not find it, I wouldn?t mind but it has cropped up several times when I have been looking for something but now I want it as usual nowhere to be found. While looking through them I thought I would sort a few out and do a few articles on presentations, loft visits etc. and see how they go, after all I have been around a bit over the years, yes, I am referring to visiting pigeon lofts and presentations. It?s quite interesting looking at the old photos because I have seen some of these fanciers in the last 12 months and they are not recognisable to the old photos. There are some who you can see straight away who they are, some never seem to change all that much. I remember one loft visit I made over 20yrs ago and did what some considered was a real good article so I was pleased. That pleasure did not last because a few weeks later the fancier who took me to see him informed me that he had been caught cheating. These are the hazards of the game, you never know what is around the corner, there?s always a chance that you can get tripped up. There are many forms of cheating and dope is one of them and that is used on racing pigeons with most never being caught. I do know of people who have been accused of using a substance that is illegal in pigeon racing but when tested the results were negative. It's nice to know when you see good winning fanciers who get to the top through knowledge of racing pigeons and hard work. We know that they are used in all kind's of sport with what appears to be only a very small number being caught for one reason or another. Will the authorities ever get on top of them, I very much doubt it because there are always new forms of drugs coming out and don't show up as an illegal substance until someone looks into them more often and they realise what advantage they are giving to the user.
There were all sorts of things that came to mind when looking at the old photos and many thoughts came to mind about those fanciers of the past. Many of them are no longer in the sport for one reason or another but their stories are still interesting even those that go back to the late 70's. When I got the folders out with the old loft reports on I could see how far I have come with my writing, mind you it is far easier now with the pc correcting spelling and grammatical mistakes. Writing is easier than ever as long as your mind kicks in when you need it to and that does not happen at times. If you can get the brain into action you can type pages quite easily but when it doesn't the articles don't come out as well as you want them to. What I do like to do is have a pen and pad on the table at the side of the bed because as we all know when you cannot sleep all sorts of things go through your mind. There's nothing worse than lying in bed thinking about things and not making a note only to wake up thinking to yourself "What was it that crossed my mind in the night" and you have not put pen to paper and no matter how hard you try to think what it was you cannot, another gem passed me by.
Les J Parkinson.
11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich,
Cheshire, CW10 0NJ.
01606836036 Mobile 07871701585.
Email
web site www.elimarpigeons.com
