NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER
by Doug McClary
July 2013
A full programme
With our National show it has been a busy time and I seem to have much to mention this time. However a couple of deaths have caused me sadness. Firstly Major Claude Hill’s daughter emailed the news that Clade had passed away. His decline since losing his wife Win has speeded up but he seemed always to be able to maintain his cheerful front and seemed to enjoy the usual insults provided from me. Here was a man with a great record of pigeon achievements for the sport in general and as a judge provided us all with a record of good sound class judging. He always set an example in decorum for us to follow and I very much regret his passing. My photo of Claude is one taken at the 1985 Royal Cornwall show left to right,Doug McClary, Sid Sauvary, Keith Foley, Ron Connebear, Claude, John Robilliard and Mike Hale. Ron Gardener of Aylesbeare has also died. Here was another man with a terrific record of service to the pigeon racing sport both in terms of administration but also in convoying and race controlling. He was one of the mainstays of the Devon Federation and then the West of England Continental Amalgamation. Together with wife Shirley, daughter June the Gardener family worked at all levels of the sport and I doubt that thy ever received the recognition deserved. I last saw Ron when I called in during my 2011 visit to England, as they were living just two addresses away from my daughter.
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Fancy Pigeon judges
Judging of show racers is a subject of much debate and probably always has been. I have always favoured good showmen judging as long as there is a mix of the use of good racing fanciers with empathy for the breed. Good racing fancier have for many years kept the show racer as a good looking form of the racing pigeon and my fear is that the present regime in Britain is mainly to use showmen only. This has resulted in the birds getting larger and losing some of their balance, for essentially, ours is a handling breed. Just think back to the days when our blind racing fancier Jed Jackson judged. He had to rely on handling properties, though wife Joan always helped in the visual sphere. Some of the worst judging to be seen will be by pure fancy pigeon fanciers who have little or no experience of the show racer and judge according to their own inexperienced ideas on what they think a show pigeon should look like. Imagine therefore the problems here in Australia where so few have experience of the show racer. So, who do we get to judge? Recent fancy pigeon usage in one show in the country has produced winners which would not win under any circumstances in Britain being large, loose and carrying lines. I am told that at a show recently where an American fancy pigeon judge was used, it soon transpired that he had little or no knowledge of the British Show Racer. However, to his credit, he asked to see the Standards book and decided to judge them as good looking racers. However, the standard he used did not translate into his sphere as the show racer being a handling breed. He judged using a set of five show pens to which he had every exhibit penned for his judging. The whole process apparently took all morning for just over a hundred birds. . His eventual winner was a blue and apparently a good racier type of bird. This just goes to prove how difficult it is to find judges with any experience of our breed and why there is a need to cultivate and bring along good racing men who can be decisive and select good lookers. I met the judge, American Art Carte at the Australian National and we briefly talked about his judging. He explained that he had to have the birds brought to him as the pens were four high and he could not reach them in the higher pens. He told me that he had enjoyed his judging of the British Show Racers very much. Art and his lovely wife, who was greatly impressed with Australia, had travelled down to Adelaide from New South Wales with John Hanson and Tim Fairfax, a road journey of 17hours. He told me that we had met many years ago at a National Young Bird Show in Louisville, Kentucky. What smashing people they are.
Rugby
Stephen, my son and I went to the Lions match in Melbourne and joined the 56thousand other spectators for a great occasion. The support for the Lions was unbelievable with red shirts to be seen in more profusion that the gold and green ones. The noise was terrific with the vocal support afforded to the men in red. We had excellent seats in the front row of the third tier of the stands in this excellent covered stadium. In the event it was disappointing as far as the result went but in all honesty the Aussies deserved to win for they showed more enterprise and attacking flair than the rather disjointed British team. It is a long time since I was in such a crush as that and of course Plainmoor at Torquay and St James Park at Exeter hardly prepare one for such a huge and vocal crowd! I travelled in and back by train and found the occasion a most rewarding one. However, what amazed me was the amount of drinking that went on. The longest queues were for the bars and for the gents’ toilets. Never have I seen such long queues for the toilets. As for the drinking they could only buy the Australian pale stuff and I would rather go without than have to resort to that.
Liverpool, Liverpool
Last evening Liverpool played Melbourne Victory at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) to an amazing 95,000 sell-out crowd. There had been great excitement at the visit of the Reds and it just goes to show how sport-mad the Australians are. It was suggested that this was probably the biggest crowd Liverpool would have played under.
Local Boy Makes Good
I can almost see that as a headline in the Minehead Mercury reporting that pigeon fancier Roland Thresher is to judge at the Australian National show. He will doubtless see this as a means of deposing George Hensley as Minhead’s No.1 fancier but I suspect that our George has plenty up his sleeve to keep himself to the fore.
The Australian National Show
Elsewhere there will be a report from Roland Thresher on his judging experience so I have little need to make mention of that aspect. I had mixed feelings about him travelling to Australia as it is nearly ten years since my removal over here and in that time I have received no visits from show racer fanciers from Britain. Therefore, I had some doubts as to whether my birds had changed, whether they had fallen back in quality and perhaps whether I had lost my touch in the show racer stakes. I was therefore looking forward to have him go through my birds including my old timers which he would have handled in 2003 prior to my departure from England. First however, there was the National show to get over. I had arranged for him and Julie to fly direct into Adelaide the day prior to judging so that he would have no chance to view any birds in Australia. Everything went to plan and we met up in our hotel after my arrival in Adelaide and penning my birds after such a long journey. After our meeting we were joined by Fred Frendo and Len Miller both of New South Wales and we enjoyed a wonderful evening in the bar. Nowadays I do not seem to get the same thrill at showing that I used to get when attending shows in Britain. However, for this one I worked at the birds and prepared them meticulously. Their feed had been moderated and I felt when I basketted them on Wednesday evening that they were in pretty good condition and ready for the show. The journey on Thursday took nearly ten hours, prior to which I cleaned the baskets again and when they came out to be penned there were no obvious problems, as they had endured the time and distance very well. As showing readers will know, that is as much as one can do. The Friday morning dawned and after a good breakfast we set out for the show at the Agricultural showgrounds. Once in the hall, which is large and well lit and ventilated, I introduced Roland and Julie to a lot of people and then left them to enjoy the Kings, the breed which Julie keeps. I was judging the Dragoons that day so my morning was taken up with that. I guess I have a pretty good idea of the type of bird that Roland goes for so in some ways held a slight advantage. I had some bankers including my adult blue entries and once my judging was complete, I was able to look over the top of the pens and could see that I had won both these classes as well as the young blue cocks. I will never go near judges when they are judging. Had I won no more I would have been pleased with that because as is well known I love my powder blues. The blue cock was BYB at the last National and the hen had won best blue at the same show and had been BIS at the Sydney show as a YB. And I felt that they would stand a chance under Roland. Ann and I then made out the prize cards for the Dragoon section leaving Roland and Julie to finish up. Had I written the script of my show beforehand I would not have dared hope for the results I finally found for myself. There were 221 birds entered which is quite good for a breed which did not exist in the country prior to 2004. I had entered thirteen classes and found that I had won eleven of them and was 2nd in another. I failed to get a card in only one class the young blue hens but had suspected that my two entries could have been in better show condition. In five of those winning classes I took both 1st and 2nd with my two exhibits. On top of that I won BIS with an adult opal mosaic white flight cock a bird I have always admired, reserve best and best opposite sex with the adult blue hen and BYB with a young mealy cock bred out of a Jim Fitzpatrick mealy cock. I could hardly have done better. I was more pleased with the adult chequer hen class in which I entered two good hens out of my originals and they took first and second. I have always thought that these two deserved to be campaigned at the British classics. I am beginning to feel however that this might be my last long haul show as the journey and the strain is just too much. Perhaps this is a good time to quit the showing at National level. Obviously with a result like that I was most happy and enjoyed the remainder of the show and this included the presentation dinner at our hotel. The show seemed to fly by and suddenly it was Sunday morning, the gift auction, ring auction and unpenning of the birds. Together with Roland and Julie we left Adelaide by 11.30 am for the long haul back to Mount Eliza. The journey was uneventful though tedious and we arrived back home for some relaxation and in time to see England win the first test match.
Roland & Julie
Loft Visitor
Roland and I had looked forward to our visit to my lofts. I had breakfasted early and returned the birds to their compartments so they were settled and over their ordeal. Our first compartment was the one containing the old boys, ten older cocks, all of which he had last handled in 2003 in my lofts at Exeter. He was quite emotional to see them again and to handle them, commenting on how well they handled for their age in one case almost fifteen years old. We went through the majority of the birds in the morning as it was our intention to have a quiet day after the hectic nature of the show weekend. It proved to be a warm and sunny day so we were able to have lunch outside on the deck with views over the bay on one side and the lofts and garden on the other. It had been a great pleasure having a British showman here to see the birds after that near-decade in this country as a second opinion is always a valuable contribution for future plans. Perhaps I will return to this side of the visit in due course.
Fanciers I have known
This month I am using a good Welsh friend, Bert Dougal. Bert was not a show racer showman but did so very much to encourage our showing particularly at the Royal Welsh show. He was a former seaman who possessed a wonderful store of stories and experiences from those days. He was the chief steward at the Royal Welsh show and greatly respected by the Association. He would have seen the show develop from a travelling venue one to its present permanent showground at Builth Wells. He invited me over to judge on possibly the second year at Builth and thereafter I judged every second year for a number of years. He witnessed our family growing up and during their young years he was very kind always providing them with a few shillings for spending money and in looking after us all when we attended the show. He wrote beautiful prose in his letters to me and each letter was enjoyed and savoured. Bert was instrumental in expanding the pigeon section and in shaping it towards its present standing as an integral section within the overall show. I valued his friendship very much and will always have great regard for all our memories of him. The only photo I could find was a very early one taken at the Devon County Show at Exeter in 1974 when Bert came across to judge and stay with us. Left to right Doug McClary, Bert Fowler, Walter Newcombe, Les Dawson, Bert Dougal, Bill Pooley and Ron Kennedy. In front Hannah McClary.
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In conclusion
Quite a lot to cover this time so the article is a little longer than normal. If you have reached this far, thanks for reading the contents and remember as always, that I am pleased to receive news and views here at 3 Kunyung Road, Mount Eliza, Victoria 3930., email
Kemyel Lofts of British Show Racers
douglas-mcclary.blogspot.com.au
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