Change, Is It Good Or Is It Bad?
The English language is a weird and wonderful thing! Take the word “change” for example; it can have several meanings depending on the context in which it is used. For example, it can mean the coins you have in your pocket or it could be what you get back from the shopkeeper when you buy something but don’t have the right money to make your purchase or it could mean altering something for either the better or worse, depending on your point of view - it all depends on the sentence in which you use the word. Learning English must be a nightmare for anyone whose native language it is not.
Change, particularly when the meaning is to alter the way in which we do things, can be as difficult for people to accept and understand as the English language is to foreigners, especially when particular actions have been carried in what can be described as “Traditional” ways by the same individuals for a considerable number of years.
Change has to be “sold” to long established workers and the need for change has to be understood and accepted as a necessity in this ever-changing world in which we live.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not against change but I like to be involved in the decision to make changes where it affects the way in which I live my life and that includes the way in which I carry out my duties as an official in the sport of pigeon racing. All too often changes are imposed upon us, by very well-meaning individuals, without any consultations with the people who have to use the tools or the systems as part of their daily routine. Apart from the demand for higher wages the prime cause of workers withdrawing their labour is the change of working conditions or changes to the ways of doing things being imposed upon them without first discussing the changes with them.
As far as pigeon racing is concerned we could take the imposing of ETS on the Fancy as an example of a new system being imposed on the Fancy without too much or, in fact, any consultation and as a result the initial reaction from a large percentage of those who actually race pigeons was to say the least not favourable! How much better would it have been if the whole idea of electronic timing of birds had been discussed with a large cross section of fanciers and their ideas considered and maybe adopted before the change came into operation? I’m sure it would have made the whole concept much easier to “sell” to the Fancy if this simple procedure had taken place.
The start of any new season, and I’m sure 2017 will be no different, is when the ideas for change that have been developed during the long, hard, and cold Winter months, are imposed upon the unsuspecting officials of Federations and Clubs throughout the land and arms are thrown into the air with a cry of “Not another change I’m giving this job up!”.
Changes are often perceived as too complicated and probably not necessary anyway or are being introduced without sufficient time for those who work at marking and clock stations to learn and be confident in operating the new systems. Another question that is often asked is “Has this new system been thoroughly tried and tested and all the snags ironed out before we are being asked to use it?” I would like to think that the answer to that question is ”Yes” but if the examples of the haste with which Companies market new electronic systems is in any way the norm, then I have my doubts!
Our Federation
Now to things of a more local nature as far as I am concerned The Staffordshire Moorlands & District Federation.
We undertook our first race of the season yesterday (22 April) from Tewkesbury and as you can probably imagine I was wondering what sort of support the new Management team for the Federation would get when it came to the actual racing.
Well, having already received the magnificent support for the Breeder/Buyer auctions I should have known better than to worry about racing. Once again you demonstrated how dedicated you are to our Federation by sending 2235 birds to the first
race, that compares with 1425 birds for the same race last year, so here I go again singing the praises of a membership of whom I am really proud,
Paul Beck THANK YOU, ONE AND ALL.
The race itself turned out to be a super affair and although, as I sit here on Sunday morning penning this article I only have the early bird information in from the Clubs, I can already identify some outstanding
performances. For example Paul Beck up at Longdendale timed in two super pigeons on 1420ypm to more than likely take the first two positions in the Fed. Close on Paul’s heels was Mick Webb from Poynton also with two birds on 1410 and 1409ypm.
Most Clubs recorded some rather special performances from individual members, for example, Prince Bros took the first four positions at Ipstones, Mr & Mrs Geoff Kirkland claimed the top six at Leek, Dave Jones at Packmoor scooped the first two places and at the same time cracked the 1400 barrier with one of those birds, Dave Yeomans also broke the 1400 barrier when scoring one, two and three at Shelton and Jeff Perkins also joined the 1400 club while taking the first four at Milton.
That just about sums up all the info I have at the moment, but the full Early Bird list is available to view on the Federation website (www.moorlandsfedpigeons.co.uk) and the full result will also be published there as soon as we have received and checked the information from the Clubs.
Hope you all enjoyed the first race of the season, I know Jill and I did, and we are both looking forward to the rest of the season one thing I can promise is that there will be no changes of systems in our Federation and, so, no further withdrawals of labour!
Cheers for now.
Brian T Smith
Press Officer
Staffordshire Moorlands & District Federation
