ROSE OF THE SHIRES
Sue & Nathan
IN AT THE DEEP END
It's really strange how we get into this crazy but lovely sport. Me for one, never had a clue what it entailed, or what went into it. Getting the breeding, feeding and training right. Now if you asked me "how do you train a racing pigeon?" in 1992, before I met my husband Nigel, I'd have probably have given a daft answer, then told myself "no sue, not at the gym"!! I soon found out what it was all about in 1993 - in at the deep end. Like the saying goes, "if you can't beat them, join them". Mind you, I've never had any problem with Nigel and his pigeons. If they're the only birds he takes out apart from me, that's cool. I soon got doing jobs at the club on race night. Yup! they let me loose with a ball of string, seals and sealing gun. I was well pleased with myself, after all I'd never seen a clock before known how to use it!
Then after a while I got promotion, and was allowed to strike a clock. I thought, "how exciting is that", what next I wondered? Well over the years I've got a dab hand at this sport. Chief trainer, expert broken leg fixer, wonderful surrogate mum to babies, and I'm overwhelmed by my hidden talents. The one task I still haven't mastered after 15yrs' apprentership is clocking in on race day. They still won't stand still and hold their leg up so I can get the rubber off. So I've given up on that one, well for the time being anyway. I lost that job and gained another. Thanks to my nephew Nathan, who is my co-scribe. "Aunty Sue, would love to be scribe for Rose of the Shires? Dropped in the deep end yet again. I hadn't a clue about write-ups, reports, etc. I do the writing and Nathan gets very verbal, only joking - he's my partner in slime!! I can honestly say, I enjoy every minute of being a scribe - and I hope those of you who read it also enjoy it too. We're looking forward to the start of the new season again. So until then I'll stay "in at the deep end" and learn abit more. Nathan and myself would like to wish all of you guys and gals a Very Happy New Year.
