LES J. PARKINSON'S
NEWS-REPORTS-ARTICLES
Middlewich FC 2019 Presentation.
There have been many changes over the years with presentations, they used to be a family affair but that has long since gone for most of the weekly clubs. We recently attended the Middlewich FC annual get together where the prizes were handed out. There were only 20 in attendance, but we all sat around one table for a meal at The Boars Head Hotel Middlewich. Club secretary’s wife Allison was taken into hospital a few days before so they both missed the event, but we do wish Allison well. Anthony has done a good job for the club since taking on the secretary’s position and will be carrying that on into the 2010 season, he is also secretary of the Mid Cheshire Fed so has his work cut out.
The prize money was improved with sponsorship from Elimar Pigeon Services Ltd who have confirmed that they will ensure the same sponsorship is available for the 2020 season. This makes all the difference to any club and helps to cover a lot of the season’s expenses, that is as long as you have a good season. The club would also like to thank Pat & Liz McGuiness for their support with the headquarters and the meal they put on for this event. There was a good atmosphere on the day, and everyone was talking to each other, this was helped by having all present around one table.
Elizabeth with Dawn Latham
Let’s move on Peter & Dawn Latham are the highest prize winners for the season with 11 x 1sts and £182. Peter comes from a long line of pigeon fanciers who have been competitive in the town for many years before I joined the club in 1969. They have done well in the NWCC young bird race in the last two seasons as well so what they are doing is working.
Club secretary Anthony Evans is next with £107, he was telling me that is main aim is competing in the National races where he has had some early success. The problem is competing in both club and Nationals is hard work when you don’t have a reasonably big team of pigeons to race. It is also a fact that racing pigeons pressed for weekly competition don’t always perform as well when it comes to the National races.
Smiling Mark Smith with Elizabeth
We than saw Mark & Heather Smith collecting £70. Mark had a few problems last year with vermin in the loft and thinks that is the reason why he was having problems getting them going strong enough to compete on a weekly basis. I hear Ferrets and Polecats have been causing a few problems in lofts. Word is he is things going to change and more effort put into the pigeons.
David Wilkinson wiht Mum
£61 goes to DJ & CJ Wilkinson with David now settled down at his new address. Due to health issues David doesn’t have as many pigeons as he used to have, but he did have far more room at his previous address.
Craig Wilkinson with Nanna
David’s son (CJ) Craig also races under the title of Dickens & Wilkinson who collected £21 in prize money. After a few years of swapping and changing Craig has now settled down and has a good set up where he can concentrate more on racing. He has now also gone into show pigeons so I don’t know whether that will affect the racing side.
We are now in the middle of January and I hear there are a lot of youngsters about but that is not the case with the Latham partnership. Peter was saying that there is no point breeding early, they need a lot of looking after for a few months more. When you look how well they race the young birds right through to the young bird channel events, there is no point in breeding too early.
Anyway, all the best to everyone for the coming season. I am going to have to get back into writing, I miss finding out what fanciers do to get their birds right. I also hear how fanciers make mistakes when they are preparing their birds for the best races. One thing is for sure, if you get everything right at the same time pigeon racing is so easy. The problem is those years don’t come along very often.
Mr Les J Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ. 01606836036 Mobile 07871701585. Email
