The King of Pigeons at Christmas
My little tale starts in the summer when I was waiting with my basket of pigeon’s I placed on the path outside my house to be picked up for a race. A neighbour passed by in her car to get to her house with her kids and waved as people do. She came over and said would it be alright if my son came over to look at the pigeons he watches your pigeons fly over my back garden all the time and he calls you the king of pigeons it would make his day. Which made me smile, of course I replied. He came over and stood looking into the basket at the birds I said do you like pigeons he just nodded and stayed silent he didn't have to say anything I could see the wonder and the magic in his eyes something I could relate with from when I was a little child some fifty plus years ago when an old pigeon fancier told me his story of how he had won a medal with his racing pigeon from France and I at the time thought to myself I’m going to do that when I grow up. After a couple of minutes the child's mother called him back and I thought to myself that was lovely to see. Fast forward to a couple of days before Christmas, the season of good will to all and my wife said to me I can hear what sounds like a child giggling at the front door go and check. So being an obedient husband I did but there was no one there only an envelope which I presumed was a Christmas card on the door mat. So I passed it to my wife who opened it saying its a Christmas card from one of our neighbours and proceeded to read it out aloud. Saying to Karen (my wife) Dave (me) Bubzy (my little dog) pigeons at which point she paused took a deep breath and continued saying and the famous Barcelona Dream Girl adding isn't that lovely. Now for those who are not aware Barcelona Dream Girl is my pigeon that I sent to the Barcelona International race this year (2025) and against all the odds excelled returning on the 5th day to take 27th Open 3rd Section breaking Jim Emerton’s long standing 30 year record of 879 miles and being the longest flying pigeon in race time ever in the British International Championship Club from Barcelona at 914 miles. Not only that she was the longest flying bird in the 8 countries in the whole convoy of the International 15,598 birds. I can confidently assume that the giggling child at the door was the same boy that wanted to see my birds and that he was excited delivering a Christmas card to the king of pigeons. Regarding how the family new about Barcelona Dream Girl I can only surmise that the family that sent the Christmas card found out about Barcelona Dream Girl from the local newspaper as they did print an article about her or alternatively from social media because I had never spoken to them since the summer when the young boy saw my pigeon’s going to a race and I was called the king of pigeons. By the way I would never be that presumptuous, arrogant or self-important to call myself that there are many other great fanciers that fit the bill for this title than me just a back garden flyer with my little loft and small team of pigeon’s. I bet you're wondering why I’m telling you about this but there is a very important moral to my tale. And that is never forget that we the fanciers actions whether we are aware or not we are all ambassadors for our sport and our interactions and our conduct with none pigeon fanciers is paramount to the future of our wonderful sport. What you say and what you do in person or especially nowadays on social media can inspire or discourage the dreams of children and adults alike from a lifetime of experiences with our wonderful feathered friends. Afterall we stand on the shoulders of those that came before us and carry their hopes and dreams with us, we the fancy here and now are the ones that define what the fate of the next generation is. Remember that this sport is as much about people as it is about pigeons, pigeons are the conduit that brings people together.
Yours in sport
Dave Bunker Brierley
