Parkinson L.J.
There are quite a number of discussions going on about the bird flu that is once again becoming a problem in the sport. Over the years this has caused no end of problems and caused race programmes to be changed and even stopped. There have even been many concerned as to whether the shows are going to go ahead with pigeons or whether the stalls for pigeons will be empty. We are off to Belgium for a week which will take in the Fugare Show and we are not sure whether or not there will be any birds. It's a pity that this show coincides with the second show at Doncaster, we enjoyed the first one, in fact that was the first time we had been to the town since the BHW show was there in 1976 and if we go again it will not be to the same hotel which was very poor. As we all know the show moved to Blackpool in 1977 and has been there for the last 40yrs, so I am told the contract at the Winter Gardens is up at the 2018 show. If that is correct no doubt the RPRA will be looking at it to see the best way forward. The problems at the Winter Gardens in we appear to be getting a smaller area and everyone seems to be cramped into smaller spaces. However, it is a good place to go and there are plenty of people there over the weekend, not as many stands as there used to be but still plenty to look at.
Paul Cremers old owner of De Reiger products with his 70th birthday cake
Racing is fast approaching and I was talking to one of the Middlewich members about how the club’s will go on in the coming season. As I was saying the more fanciers the merrier in any club but the problem with the 5B is they have a big radius and with the winds being predominantly westerly there is always going to be an advantage to the east of the club and that does show up on the results, especially when we know the pigeons follow the M6 which is a great landmark. This is not just with this club it is with most clubs where the majority of fanciers are of a similar performance level. But as we know there are fanciers who beat the odds week after week but there are nowhere near the numbers of such fanciers as there are of the average fanciers who are in the majority. We also know the fact is if you are a good pigeon fancier’s you will win wherever they live but we also know that position does get those extra prizes. As the saying goes, “The wise man lives in the East”. Anyway, back to the show, It has been a while since we took a trip to Belgium and with the Fugare Show so we decided the time was right to visit our friends on the continent. We were up early and after leaving the NWCC presentation the previous evening we had not had a great deal of sleep. But I have to add that we actually had one of the best trips to the continent that we have had, it was a lovely day for late February and there was little traffic about. When we arrived at the hotel what we should have done was take a nap because we were going out with Frans Rigole and his family for a meal at 5.30pm. Instead we did the usual thing when we are going on holiday; we visited the bar before going back into the rooms and a shower before meeting our hosts downstairs. As we all know little sleep and a few drinks soon put you on the wrong side of the alcohol level. Guillaume had arranged for us to go to what was a first for us in Belgium and that was a meal the Belgium Pigeon House which I am going to leave for now because it is a different place and I want to do a separate article on this one. However, I did get to sign the guest book and took a look inside to see who had been and added a few words of their own. Fanciers from around the world had been to visit and added their views on what is a place worth visiting. It’s so unusual as anyone who has been will tell you and from someone who has never had pigeons but through a chance meeting with one of Belgium’s greatest fanciers the idea of the Belgium Pigeon House was born. Anyway, enough on that one because it will spoil the story when I put it all together with the help of owner Griet.
Les J Parkinson with Leen and Guillaume Vanneste and a Lady from China on the stand at the Fugare Show - Les & Elizabeth with the Belgium House owner Griet
Geert and Marc Pollin with Les J Parkinson and Kim Crowley from Cloud Media Advertising - Les J Parkinson with Andre Vaernewijck from Waregem
The next couple of days saw us walking the shops because the weather wasn’t that brilliant to go anywhere. But after many visits to Brugge which is a great city you can only walk around the shops so many times and once is enough for me and for the life of me I cannot see why anyone wants to walk around the same shops time after time. What there are in Brugge are some excellent restaurants that are well worth a visit and there wasn’t a bad one on this trip. Along with Steve we went to the Belgium Pigeon House on Tuesday to take some photos and as we walked down the main drag in Brugge to the square at the centre of the city I said about how few pigeons we had seen. Then we reach the square where there were quite a few flying around. It was Wednesday before I saw my first pigeons in a loft and that was when we went to the home of Frans Rigole. Since we were last there the partnership has been changed from Taveirne-Rigole to Vanneste-Rigole after the death of Gust Taveirne. The new partnership of Frans & Guillaume has introduced a few new stock birds and these were the ones that I was looking forward to seeing. The pigeons are really looking well and there was a cracking team of young birds there ready to either go out or to the Fugare Show. Yes, the Fugare Show that’s another story as I sit here working on these notes because the bird flu is causing a great deal of concern. The benefit is the government have given the go ahead for the show but as expected with restrictions. I can say this now because the show will be over but I suppose the way out is to agree a sale and finish the deal in the car park at the end of the day because the restrictions are on the show being held in the building and nowhere else. If there is a problem with birds in the show there are 5 vets present for one reason or another. I think they are being a bit over cautious because the Flu they have found is in one duck, that’s government for you. Anyway, on the Thursday we moved to the Park Hotel Kortirjk where the facilities were much better with a swimming pool unlike the NH Hotel in Brugge who took theirs out. There was also a play area in the Park Hotel which meant Ebony and Graysen were well away because outside the weather was still not improving even on the Friday when sunshine was expected but a little colder. What I did notice was the temperature was somewhat higher than here in the UK which was noticeable when we were back home. Guillaume was saying that he would be at the XPO Centre from 8.30am to see the people with the stands arriving and would be available anytime we wanted to call in. The hall was full so there was again a good turnout of exhibitors and unless people stayed away because of the restrictions the weekend looked like it was going to be a success but on the Friday, no one really knew what was going to happen. What I did know was I have just heard Elizabeth say “It’s time to go shopping” not my day, perhaps I will leave these notes and finish them when I get home. Right it is Monday morning and after 8 days in Belgium I am back on my own PC which makes everything a lot easier, I do see quite a few jobs have piled up for my attention. After having a quick look through the various bits of paper and Lizzie is not in for another couple of hours I think I will press on with the show material. As expected there were many of the top names in attendance, I didn’t get to speak to many of the big names from Belgium because they were continuously surrounded by fanciers trying to get a few words with them. One fancier I was interested in speaking to was Gino Clicque because a few years ago, when we visited his lofts he was in the process of building a new loft with the exterior being Canadian Pine and a lot of thought had gone into the design of the loft. Yes, he has clocked top winners in there but proportionately there were no different from his older lofts that have stood there for years. He did say that we would have to go and see his new set up because since our last visit he has made many changes. At the time of the show he also had one of his top pigeons on the Pipa site and it was on 275,000 Euros and with a week to go thoughts were on whether this one would beat the record set by “Bolt” who was sold for over 300.000 Euros, be interesting to see what happens. Gino did add that as we were discussing the sale the highest bidder was in South Africa. Kim asked me why certain stands always had plenty of people around them what was so special about them, that was easy to answer, I said if you look they are all giving something away and it is mostly alcohol. This is the only show that I have been too where they give so much away, alcohol I am referring too. One stand where there was no alcohol to be had was that of Marc & Geert Pollin who always have visitors calling in because they are a top racing and breeding loft whose birds are winning in many places. I have been to their loft on several occasions the first being when we had a bus trip over there about 25yrs ago. I know that because Kim was with us and she was still at school and now has children of her own at going through the same process with Ebony in the High School. The only problem was the bird flu that caused about a dozen stands not to make an appearance, these were from outside Belgium. I had a word with Guillaume Vanneste who has a part share in the show and he was pleased with the overall attendance but would have been happier if the gloss had not been taken off with the bird flu.
Les J Parkinson and Gino Clique - Our party at the Park Hotel in Kortrijk for an evening meal
Walker’s Transport had a stand at the show because of their regular visits to the continent to collect birds. I recall when I first met Mark he was not going to get involved with pigeons but not only has he built up the best pigeon collection service we could wish for he now has pigeons of his own and this year he has friends are racing them for him. Another show over and it was a pity it did class with the second show at Doncaster but that’s the way it goes. I don't normally comment after a funeral but it was nice to see so many at Brian Stansfields funeral, in fact he was probably looking down and I can imagine him saying, "I had a full house for this one" standing room only. There was a lot of light heartedness on this occasion which is what I am told Brian wanted and Lindsay made sure of it. I like everyone else present was amused at the story told about many years ago, when Brian & Cameron were waiting for the pigeons to come from a race, it went something like this. They stood there in the garden scanning the sky looking for the pigeons who were due from the race. A voice came from the house, "Tea's ready" they both turned around and looked behind them and continued to scan the sky. A short time went by and again the shout being a bit louder came again, "Tea's ready" still they scanned the sky looking for the pigeons to return. Shortly after they heard steps coming rather quickly down the path and both turned around to see a plate coming their way before hitting the ground. Brian in his humorous way looked at Cameron and said, "See what you’ve done now" Of course the members of the congregation saw the funny side. This was how Brian was; he had a great sense of humour. I am told that Cameron is going to do what his dad wanted and that is to race the pigeons and send them to Tarbes with the National, let's hope they get a good one for Brian.
Middlewich
There are a lot of breeder/buyer sales going on at the moment and they are something that many clubs need to keep them going. The local clubs being the Middlewich FC & 5B are having their sale on Sunday the 19th March with penning from 12 to 1pm at the Boars Head Hotel Middlewich. The race will be from Bath on the 19th August with marking at your own club's to make life easier and you just need to claim through your club results. The radius is the same as the South West Cheshire Fed and you need to contact Jimmy Smith on 07734050259 for more information. In the modern day of racing pigeons clubs need to do whatever they can to attract entrants and these sales are what many clubs do to help them survive.
Mid Cheshire Fed
There has certainly been some bad organising here with two breeder/buyer sales going on the same day with many of the same members likely to want to go to them both. The Mid Cheshire Federation are also having their sale on Sunday the 19th March with penning from 12 to 1pm but this time at the Rudheath Club. The following week the 26th the Rudheath club are holding their own breeder/buyer. Tried to get hold of the senior officials for more information but they must have all been away at the Social Circle.
Les J Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive,
Middlewich, Cheshire,
CW10 0NJ.
01606836036 Mobile 07871701585.
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