Sheffield & District 5 Bird Championship
Round up of the 2012 YB season
Well here it is the full results list for the silly season, young birds of course. Although, as I have said previously, this year as a whole seems to have been a little silly really with all the adverse weather conditions the birds have had to contend with each week. The run up to this year’s young bird season had been absolutely terrible weather wise and to try and get the young birds training down the road was almost impossible. Yet again I heard stories of Joe Bloggs losing this many and that many from training. The losses in young bird racing seem to be getting greater each and every year; maybe fanciers are breeding more and more youngsters to compensate for the losses and miss using medication in an attempt to keep them healthy. But by doing this actually results in losing more due to over crowding and ill health, caused by over medicating. Who knows? I’m sure there are lots of reasons but we all know how disheartening it is to suffer such losses, as it leaves you with very few yearlings for the following year. Despite the losses I know of one or two fanciers who are contemplating getting rid of their old bird teams with a view to just breeding or even just bringing in a team of babies to train and race each year, thus doing away with being tied to the loft all year round and no longer having the work load of racing old birds whilst trying to work with the young ones. Not to mention having the worry of the losses and holding back young birds to carry over to the following year. Work the youngsters hard then empty the loft at the end of September. I must admit this is something that appeals to me in my current situation and is something I am looking at doing for 2013 at my own house in Rotherham as our lofts are in my brother Darrell’s back garden, which is a 30 mile round trip for me. So 2013 may see me flying a small team of our young birds to Rotherham whilst Daz carries on concentrating on the widowhood cocks in Sheffield. It will be a bit of an experiment to begin with as I really do work daft shifts which will complicate things to say the least. We shall see!
On to the results for the 2012 young bird programme. The first race was from Stratford on 14/07/12 when 17 members sent 85 birds liberated in a north wind. 1st 5th 6th Mr&Mrs A Jackson 1227, 1196.38, 1196.22. 2nd 3rd 4th Mr D Turton 1208, 1202, 1198. Very well done to Andy Jackson and Dave Turton dominating the first race both having 3 in the top six prizes, top flying. And again picking up several hundred pounds for their efforts.
Again at Stratford on 21/07/12 20 members sent 100 birds. Again having a good race in 1st Mr&Mrs Jackson 1450, 2nd K&J&P Jenkinson 1424, 3rd Carder&Thomson 1405, 4th Brelsford&Davidon 1391, 5th Garner&Morton 1389, 6th Mr&Mrs P Plant 1381. Not only did Andy win the red card but he also bred the pigeon in 2nd place for the Jenkinson loft. The prizes well spread this week, which is always nice to see.
Ricky Brelsford of Brelsford & Davidson
Windrush 28/07/12 saw another good turn out with 20 members entering 100 birds. 1st Brelsford&Davidson 1572, 2nd D Turton 1568, 3rd & 6th Mr&Mrs A Jackson 1566.65, 1552, 4th & 5th Carder&Thomson 1566.06, 1565. Congratulations to Brin and Ricky the winning bird being pooled right through to the £10 netting them a cool £255.80, well done lads.
The next race was from Hullavington 04/08/12 and this race truly belong to what has to be said, one of the hottest lofts of 2012 in the local area Mr&Mrs A Jackson taking 1st 2nd & 3rd 1598.066, 1598.066 & 1597, 4th M&A Sherwood 1580, 5th D Turton 1579, 6th Wolstenholme&Son 1564. Very very weldone to my good friends Mr&Mrs Jackson 1, 2, 3 in this competition is breath taking and pocketing the best part of £500 in the process, well done you two.
Blandford 11/08/12 saw 85 birds being sent and liberated in a east south east wind taking the second young bird win in 1st Brelsford&Davidson 1346, 2nd Garner&Morton 1335, 3rd K&M Wolstenholme&Morton 1325.48, 4th D Turton 1325.33, 5th Helliwell&Huchinson 1324, 6th Brelsford&Davidson 1320. Great to see the prizes being well spread out yet again. I have to say a big well done to Dave Turton yet again in the prizes, for me he is the type of fancier what this club is all about and if you read my loft report on him last winter you’ll know what I mean. Well done Dave mate.
Yeovil 18/08/12 saw a little drop in birdage with 70 birds liberated in a south west wind. Yet again taking 1st as well as 6th Mr&Mrs A Jackson 1738 1670, 2nd D Turton 1734, 3rd M&A Sherwood 1708, 4th B&C Brelsford 1701, 5th Brelsford&Davidson 1688. All very common names featuring in the prizes this week. Jackson, Turton, Sherwood and the Brelsford family. Not much of a look in for the others when these lofts are on form...!
Dave Turton
Now this race is where the top dog was to be decided and it was a race between two good friends Andy Jackson and Mark Sherwood. Mark had done extremely well with the old birds and Andy had managed to select his 5 young birds much better than he had managed during the old bird season as he was winning the regular club and getting up on the fed but was behind in the 5 bird due to his poor selection (his words not mine). There was only a few points between them but when it mattered most last years Champions showed just why they are champions by becoming the first loft ever to be premier prize winners twice in this red hot club. So from Hullavington 26/08/12 93 birds were liberated in a west wind and taking 1st, 2nd & 6th and making them champions of 2012 M&A Sherwood 1506, 1478, 1450, 3rd Garner&Morton 1461, 4th Mr&Mrs A Jackson 1460, 5th Carder&Thomson 1452. Congratulations Mark and Alison regardless of the following weeks Carentan result they proved that once again they are the best of the best.
Carentan 01/09/12 have a guess who won this one to top there season off... 1st & 3rd M&A Sherwood 1057 823, 2nd W Lax&son 967, 4th K&J&P Jenkinson with an all pooler 689. Well done Pete and the Jenkinsons, these are two names that always seem to feature in the water races.
Well that’s it for another year for this great club, let's hope the coming years are equally successful. Only time will tell...! As you can see from the results, one loft in particular has had a tremendous young bird season, in fact they have had a great season all round. The loft of Mr&Mrs A Jackson have left almost everyone in their wake this year as their relatively small team of pigeons have been in super form from start to finish. Andy is a lorry driver for Arnold Lavers meaning he has early starts and often long hours at work. However, he is very fortunate to have a lovely wife who runs her own hair dressing business from home. Because of this Andy’s way of managing his birds is worked around both his and his wife’s work commitments. And boy does it work!!! From one of the smallest back garden set ups you will probably see the performances achieved in recent years have catapulted Andy to become one of the main fanciers to beat. However, the 2012 season has simply been breathtaking. I will be doing a comprehensive loft report on Mr&Mrs A Jackson in the near future. I think you will find it a rather interesting read.
Andy Jackson admiring yet another winner
I will also be paying a visit to two of the region's top lofts. These aren’t within the radius of the 5 bird club but are more well known for their MNFC and Northern Classic results as well as dominating their local clubs and federations. I must admit I am really looking forward to visiting these two super winning lofts. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading about them.
That’s all for now, thanks for reading. Any news and views please contact me at
