RENIER GURNAY &
THE IRISH CONNECTION
I was chatting to Irish fancier and pigeon photographer Sid Collins on the phone the other day and suggested to him that he must have a veritable treasure trove of pigeon-related material that would be all the better for seeing the light of day. He got to work straight away and has come up with the following:
Hi Cameron
You asked me to send something old. I hope this is OK.
My father and Mr Palmer were great friends. After his death, the family asked my father to accept some pigeon items found in an outhouse. I was helping my father clear the items and found a tin box containing some old ring lists etc. I also found some sales lists. The ring numbers on the rings correspond with the birds listed in the sales list. These are the rings belonging to the original Gurnays imported by Mr Palmer, from Fred Shaw and Renier Gurnay. I think this was around 1920. There were name and address rings with Gurnay’s name also.
It has been suggested to me by a Gurnay expert that the name and address rings may have been provided by Fred Shaw but one cannot be sure if this is correct or if Gurnay provided them himself.
Having seen Gurnays some fifty years ago, their images remain planted in my mind as to what the perfect racing pigeon should conform to.
Regards, Sid Collins, Northern Ireland.
Elimar readers are invited to forward material which they believe others will find of interest.
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Elimar - January 2014
