LANCASHIRE NEWS

Hi everyone and welcome to Lancashire Life.  Well it’s Sunday night, Monday morning and as I sit here at my desk typing this report it’s snowing in Manchester and the garden is white.  It’s been really cold all day, all week in fact and my fingers turned purple trying to break the ice out of the drinkers nearly every day.  The widowhood cocks in their boxes were nice and warm having their newspaper lining but their water pot on the front of the box was just a solid square of ice that I couldn’t even break out!  Although they don’t like it that much, it hasn’t stopped the stock birds sitting out in the aviary all day and for the first night in a long time, the sliding doors were closed to stop the cold air blowing in their loft.

We had a very nice, but quiet Christmas and New Year with Kim and her Fiancé joining us for Christmas dinner.  We were all tired out by 7pm and they went home to chill out leaving Eric and I to do the same, even Pip was exhausted eating all that turkey, retreating to her box for a long sleep in peace and quiet.  It seemed strange without her but Mum didn’t join us for dinner as she’s getting a bit confused and frail so she stayed at the nursing home with her paper hat on joining in the festivities there.  New Year’s Eve was also quiet and we all chose to stay at home watching the telly, watching the usual fireworks at midnight in the neighbourhood.   The credit crunch must have affected everyone as the usual two hour display was over in a flash (pardon the pun) and the skies were quiet not long after midnight.  I’m looking forward to 2009 with renewed interest in the birds now that Eric’s home and recovering.

The British Bulldog wrestler with the late Lol Whittle.

Some more hens have found new homes and will help some fanciers out who were short of one or two, or three or four.  It seems strange now that the numbers have gone down so much, when I go out with a full bucket of corn to feed them all, I come back with half of it, so in time my corn bill will also see a marked reduction.  I’m glad I didn’t pair up early though with such cold weather, on speaking to one or two of our members I’m told their birds were leaving the eggs, not wanting to sit.  The plan now is to wait for a few days until the weather warms up a bit and try the odd pair out that I have kept, it won’t be very many though so I don’t need many of the new Pink rings which have just come out.  The last time they were this colour was in 2005 and I was under the assumption they ran in five year cycles so expected Blue ones this year.  They arrived last Saturday but I didn’t know until teatime as the postman very kindly left them on the front doorstep and didn’t bother to ring the bell.  Not to worry they’re here now and I haven’t had any members ringing me up in a panic wanting rings.

It’s been a mad few days last week, I don’t know if you read in last week’s BHW about the three lofts burned to the ground in Conisborough, Graham Burton posted the pictures and it was a shock to see them.  We were also sent some on the Pigeon Chat forum to look at and it was heartbreaking to see the birds black and charred in the remains of the ashes.  I spoke to one of the fanciers today who described seeing the fire engines screaming past him on his way to work, not knowing that it was his loft with two others on fire.  He received a phone call whilst driving to tell him his loft had burned down and naturally he was devastated.  All this happened on Christmas Eve so you can imagine what kind of Christmas those families had, he couldn’t even open presents and his mind kept wandering back to the fire and the utter carnage caused by it.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel though because Pigeon Chat has donated £1,000 out of proceeds raised on the site to get these fanciers up and running again.  We have been given some other cash donations and I am currently organizing an auction of birds along with Mark Thomson from Yorkshire and the other moderators on the site.  Graham and Pat Burton have also been taking cash donations from the South Yorkshire Fed and Cumbria Region along with pledges of help from other Yorkshire fanciers.  I know this is not in our region, but just imagine if it happened to you, if you walked on your pen one day and all you can see are ashes.  In fact it has happened to lads and lasses in our area, Frank Beck, Tony & Simon Hughes, Stu & Damien Malone to name but a few, these guys have all suffered the sickening sight of their birds and lofts in ruins.

This brings me back yet again to my quest to get some kind of fanciers fund set up by the RPRA with a percentage of the proceeds of the Blackpool Show channeled into the fund for genuine cases like this.  I know I have mentioned it before but this is a perfect case where the fund could be put to extremely good use in at least buying the lads a new loft each to set them on the right road.  Graham Burton has mentioned it in his region and I will be doing the same when I attend the North West Region meeting this weekend, so let’s hope we can push this forward and look after our own fanciers for a change.

I have closed the donation list for birds now so that I can sort out the auction lots, but if anyone would like to make a cash donation to the fund my address is at the end of the column.  Or if you would like to help by buying a youngster in the auction just log on to the site, the caliber of birds on offer is fantastic from some of the top flyers in the country.  I am also in talks with one or two of the loft manufacturers to see if they can help us out, and this sounds promising.

Pat McGrory & Phil Murray, Oldham Fed.

Jimmy Bardsley.

Ken Wroe.

Danny Whitehead & Phil Murray.

Richard Clarke & PM.

Alan Partridge & PM.

Droylsden Flying Club/John Bancroft - Trophy winners 2008 - Old birds, 1st Swainswick Mr & Mrs Bancroft, 1st Lessay Kenyon Bros, 1st Messac Mr & Mrs Bancroft, 1st Niort Longest O/B Cup Mr & Mrs Bancroft, Longest Old Hen Cup GB05D04125 Red Cheq Hen George Fairclough.  Old Bird Inland Avg Mr & Mrs Bancroft, vel 1439, Runner up Chris Delahunt & Son vel 1423.  Old Bird Channel Mr & Mrs Bancroft  vel 1076, Runner up John Smith & Son vel 986.  Champion Old Bird C Delahunt & Son GB06V05980, 3x1st, 1x3rd.  Young Birds, A Clough Memorial Shield, YB Avg Shield C Delahunt & Son vel 1503, Runner up J Sinclair vel 1474.  Weymouth YB Cup replaced with Picauville J Smith & Son.  Best Young Bird Mr & Mrs Bancroft GB08D27728 1x1st, 1x3rd.  Breeder Buyer – Breeder Kenyon Bros £105.  Buyer NE Johnson £105.  Gold Ring 1st J Sinclair £100.  2nd Kenyon Bros £75.  3rd & 4th J Smith & Son £75.  Young Bird Avg 1st three races Mr & Mrs Bancroft £50.  Points league 1st C Delahunt & Son 176pts £100, 2nd Mr & Mrs Bancroft 171pts £50.  3rd J Smith & Son £25.  Prize winners - Chris Delahunt & Son 7x1st, 8x2nd, 5x3rd, 6x4th.  Mr & Mrs John S Bancroft 6x1st, 5x2nd, 4x3rd, 6x4th.  Chris & Jim Kenyon 4x1st, 2x2nd, 5x3rd, 1x4th.  John Smith & Son 2x1st, 3x2nd, 5x3rd, 1x4th.  Norman E Johnson 3x1st, 2x2nd, 1x3rd, 4x4th.  Jack Sinclair 1x1st, 2x2nd, 1x3rd, 1x4th.  Brian Jackson 2x3rd, 1x4th. George Fairclough 1x2nd.  Mick Kelly 1x4th.  Mick Farrell & Walter Townley 1x4th.  Picauville is not included in the Young Bird Avg but replaces Weymouth for the YB Cup being the furthest race.

Eccles & Winton HS/Jerry Thomas – The class for Channel cocks was held on the 20th December, 2008 when 40 cocks were entered.  Judged by B Smith of Weaste, the winner was Ferguson & Son of Eccles with a Dark Cheq.  2nd A Langslow of Salford with a Schallie.  3rd & 4th E Newton & Son of Eccles with a Blue and a Blue W/f.  VHC A Langslow with a Cheq.  HC E Newton & Son with a Dark Cheq.  COM & Reserve A Langslow with a Blue and a Blue Pied.  The special went to the winner.  The club would like to thank all the judges for their time and effort in attending the shows and of course the fanciers for taking part.

Hindley Homing Society News/Powder Blue – It was good news to my ears that my club had decided that we purchase a Memorial Trophy for the late Lol Whittle, this to be flown for on the Portland race.  Well done to members paying for this out of their own pockets.  It came to show that they have not forgotten what Lol did for the club.  Yes for 11 years that I was Secretary Lol gave £50 each year to be flown for on young bird racing as specials.  Attached is a photo of Lol with his friend The British Bulldog one of the top wrestlers in the world.

Well time flies on and it will not be long before the lads are pairing up their birds for early bred youngsters.  My old friend Jimmy Hamilton the Secretary of Farnworth Flying Club called round to see me and having a good chat, before he left a young bird was promised for me to race.  It shows there are still gentlemen in the sport.  Jimmy’s wife Mags was with him and I learned she was having problems with her heart, so we the members of Hindley HS wish her well.

I was asked by one of our members what I think of the ETS.  My answer was “can you remember the farmer with his horse and the harness strapped to him, well they have tractors now pulling a twelve disc rotavator at the back.  I can remember the time when Wigan Amal were having an 18 bird Toulet clock as a master timer, Wigan Oak Leaf Club proposed to the Amal that we purchase a new Quartz STB, this was carried by all clubs in the Amal, but there were still members that wanted to keep the old clock, that included the Secretary.  However after 12 months Harry said he should have had this clock ten years ago, so Neil you have my answer.

Skelmersdale HS/Les Seddon – The prize winners for the 2008 season are as follows – 1st G O’Hare & B Taylor 7x1sts, 14x2nds, 10x3rds, 5x4ths, 6x5ths, 7x6ths, 1860 points plus £97.00 well done lads top flying.  Mr & Mrs L Seddon runner up 7x1sts, 1x2nd, 5x3rds, 4x4ths, 2x5ths, 3x6ths, 860 points plus £48.00.  3rd D Homes 6x1sts, 1x2nd, 1x3rd, 7x4ths, 4x5ths, 3x6ths, 770 points plus £35.00.  4th W Davies 1x1st, 2x2nds, 4x3rds, 3x4ths, 5x5ths, 3x6ths, 540 points £19.00.  5th A Beattie 1x1st, 3x2nds, 1x3rd, 2x4ths, 4x5ths, 3x6ths, 420 points plus £16.00.  6th J Burns 1x1st, 1x2nd, 1x5th, 130 points plus £8.00.  7th S Crisp 2x4ths, 1x6th, 70 points.  8th Southern & McCrudden 1x2nd, 1x6th, 60 points £3Dave &Brian only sent two or three times this year.  9th B Johnson 1x3rd, 2x6ths, 60 points £2.00.  10th Sealey & Son 1x3rd, 40 points £2.00.  11th G Watkinson 1x5th 20 points. Well done to all prize winners and especiallythe two novicesWillie60 and Steve.  I think these two will be fighting for top honours next year.

Lostock Homing Society/Ken Burke – The 2008 prize winners in the Club were as follows, inland races were paid at £22 per race and channel races at £50 per race.  1st R Kent 8x1st, 7x2nd, 5x3rd, 3x4th, 7x5th, 2x6th and £198.50.  2nd S Herbert & Son 5x1st, 5x2nd, 4x3rd, 6x4th, 3x5th, 2x6th and £138.50.  3rd K Burke 3x1st, 4x2nd, 5x3rd, 7x4th, 5x5th, 7x6th and £127.  4th J Smith 5x2nd, 3x3rd, 4x4th, 4x5th, 3x6th and £68.50.  5th CIL Cooper 3x1st, 3x3rd, 1x5th, 1x6th and £36.  6th K Riley & Son 2x1st, 1x3rd, 2x5th, 6x6th and £28.  7th T Howarth 1x1st, 2x2nd and £18.  8th J Lambert 1x1st, 1x3rd, 1x4th, 1x5th, 1x6th and £17.  9th M Hewitt 1x1st, 2x4th and £13.  10th ND Bloor 1x2nd, 1x5th, 1x6th and £9.  11th J Lawson 1x4th and £6.50.  12th GA Dimelow 1x3rd and £4.  13th WA Gough & Son 1x3rd and £4.  Total prize fund £668.  Trophy winners were – Old Bird Ave, Messac - S Herbert & Son.  Old Bird Inland Ave - K Burke.  Channel Ave, Young Bird Ave, Lessay 1, Fougeres, Niort and Longest Y/B race - R Kent.  Nomination winners – S Herbert & Son £75, R Kent £75, K Burke £50, CIL Cooper £40, J Lawson £25, M Hewitt £10, J Lambert £10, total £285.  Well done to all the prize winners.

Forthcoming Events

Ashton-U-Lyne Flying Club/Harry Kenyon –The next meeting will be on Friday 9th January, 2009 commencing at 8pm for rings and subscriptions.

Border Amalgamation – The AGM will be on Tuesday 20th January, 2009 again at the Liberal Club followed by an ordinary meeting, distribution of trophies and prize cards and a hot pot supper.

Eccles & Winton HS Shows 2008 – The Club will be holding a series of show at the Brown Cow, Winton on Saturday afternoons, with hot and cold meals served throughout the day,  Penning 1.30-2pm, all classes through the wires, 50p per bird, 50p non winner takes all.   Don’t forget these are all Saturday afternoon shows.  For further information please ring 0161-793-8598 or 0161-788-9456.  Everyone is welcome to turn up and enjoy the competition.

Failsworth Flying Club – The AGM will be held on Friday 9th January, 2009 again commencing at 8pm followed by an ordinary meeting and distribution of the prize cards with a hot pot supper to follow.  The distribution of rings and collection of subscriptions will also take place.

North West Region – The North West Region AGM will be held on Saturday 10th January, 2009 at the St James Club, Eaves Lane, Chorley, commencing at 2.30pm prompt followed by a delegates meeting.Sunny Brow HS will be holding the following ordinary meetings at the GMT Club on the 11th January, 8th February and 8th March, 2009.

If you would like notice of your Club or Fed meetings included just send the information and I will happily include it, together with news, photographs or items of interest.  Jeanette Taylor, 20 Warwick Rd, Failsworth, Manchester M35 0QQ, email jeanette@oasislofts.freeserve.co.uk or fax to 0161-684-8889.