LES J. PARKINSON'S
NEWS-REPORTS-ARTICLES
Last winter we were having much colder weather and a lot of snow, that as usual caused no end of problems; in this country it doesn't take much for the weather to affect our everyday lives. This year we are having a spell with a warmer climate and that snow has turned to water, causing even more problems. What this is doing is helping those young birds in the nest to grow better and make stronger pigeons for the future, or that is what many believe and fanciers keep telling me that is what is happening. I suppose it is correct to a certain extent but as I have often said, the best pigeon I ever raced was bred next to open bob wires with 6 inches of snow only a few inches away! Pigeons are what they are and I have come to the conclusion that no matter what the weather is, as long as they are looked after by their parents they will grow and the cold will not make too much of an impact on them. Over the years fanciers have said that they have bred better pigeons when the weather gets warmer but in comparison there are fewer pigeons bred outside the normal breeding period of nature i.e. when the weather is colder in early January therefore you are not going to get as many winners. On the other hand the best distance pigeon I ever raced was August hatched and flew Rennes as a yearling and went on to race Pau more times than any other pigeon I have had from such a distance. So as long as they area reared well and have a good stable constitution I doubt if it matters what time of the year they are bred.
I have changed my views over the years and never been afraid to put pen to paper with them. We all change as the years go by and we all see things in a different light and as I approach my 65th birthday I am looking back through notes and seeing how I have changed my views and the way I do things. Going through the box of photos and some old articles I have also been reflecting on the way I have done things in the past and we are all aware things we do in our young days shape the way our future goes. I have done many things in my early days that I look back on and think to myself "Was I right in doing that?" Of course I was because if I had not then the path I have taken since would not have been the same and therefore who knows what I would be doing now. We all make mistakes with whatever we do and if we look back at what we have done in pigeon racing I doubt if anyone can say they have done everything correctly ever since they started in the sport. The point is how many have made mistakes and not corrected them whether in the way they breed or race their pigeons and how many have not been able to select the right pigeons to do a job? How many times have we sent a pigeon to a race just for the sake of it, never to see that pigeon again when a rest just might have seen that pigeon put up a creditable performance a few weeks down the road? This year I shall be thinking about the season ahead and looking at the things that have gone well and try and improve on them without going that step too far to change things too much. Last year I went back to grass roots racing with the club. I only missed three channel races with good cause so this year I am not looking to miss any, though whether I will or not depends on how things go because there are so many obstacles ahead that we cannot predict what will happen week after week. How often do our best pigeons suddenly fail to return from a race and leave us scratching our heads? How often do we lose too many young birds and have too few to select from for the following year? Once we let the pigeons out we never know what is going to happen to them, even around home nowadays because there are far too many birds of prey. Even the wild bird population is dwindling. We see little of some birds around the garden that appeared every year at one time.
Club/Fed News
Things are moving along pretty fast now and there is so much going on especially the breeder/buyers with fanciers setting their sights on a few good prizes in the longer young bird races. The last three Sundays in March are set up with the Mid Cheshire Fed followed one week later by the Middlewich sale and the month finishes with the Rudheath sale at the local Working men’s club. I will bring you up to date nearer to the time because these breeder/buyer races are very popular. The weekend of the first of these sales sees the NWCC entertaining members and friends for the Classic presentation on the Saturday evening. There is a good turnout with around 60 booked for the event at the Kinderton Hotel, Middlewich. The following day is a double booking with the Mid Cheshire breeder/buyer and the NWCC AGM which is a shame because there are a few who would like to be at both events. There is more good news for the NWCC. I hear that the Wilmslow club have also chosen to make the Classic programme their club channel races. I do have those races and they start on the 5th May at Kingsdown. 17th May Seaton. 31st May Carantan. 14th June Fougeres. 28th June Messac. 12th July Niort. Then for young birds 20th August Bedhampton. 13th September Carantan which will be the young bird race incorporating the Gold Ring race with these rings being available from the secretary who will also provide you with any other officials who will supply them to you. With two individual clubs now joining and a third club also being interested the future is looking good and the hard work by the officials is beginning to pay off. Sales are a big thing in this sport because there is always money needed by some organisation and to be honest we do need to help our sport go forward. There is a lot of generosity in pigeon racing one way or another, the problem is the fanciers whose birds bring the most are the ones who are targeted more often than not but they do mostly come up with something. I was recently looking at a very good transporter fund sale for the M11 South Road Club and what a good sale it is with many top fanciers donating pigeons and being involved in one way or another. No doubt Bruce McAllister, John Searle and Dave downing are going to be busy taking phone calls. I am basing this on the 1st National winners who are donating pigeons. I am not going to give a list of those donating because there are quite a few and to select and just a few would not be fair to those not included, however there will be an advert in the BHW shortly where they will all be listed and you can take a look yourself at the quality on sale.
Photos
Since I started looking through the box of photos I have come across some interesting snaps at all sorts of events. The one that does stand out was taken at what is now the Crewe Premier. In those days this was one of the biggest clubs around and between the two clubs they were sending over 1,000 birds a week. I recognise most on the photo and some are still flying today but not many. Talking of presentations, I found one of a group of ladies who were plentiful at the prize presentations at one time but not today when many clubs don't even have an annual prize presentation unless it is after a meeting at the local club headquarters. Also got one of the late Geoff Newsome taken on a visit to his lofts. He was a real gentleman of the sport and a very good fancier. I found one that will bring a smile and it is of one of the Middlewich club’s hard workers Robert Carson who has two children of his own now and on this photo is with his sister Rachel. I was talking to Chris about photos and he was saying they mean and tell you more than words at times, especially older photos that you can relate to.
Robert & Rachel Carson in their younger days
Crewe presentation 1978
The late Geoff Newsome
Ladies at a past presentation, how it used to be.
Les J Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ, Tel: +44 (0)1606 836036. Mob: +44 (0)7871 701585. E-mail:
