Keith Mott...

WINTER SHOWING - PART 1

I hate October! For starters my birthday is in October and I’ve got to the point in my life when I don’t like birthdays much. On the pigeon side, it’s all that boring stuff, cleaning out loads of feathers and feeding every day and no competitive activities. I’ve stated many times previously in my column, that I can’t turn off at the end of racing like most fanciers do and I enjoy the showing side of the sport, as much as I do racing. So lets get rid of October and all those feathers blowing around the garden, and have some fun at the shows! Over the next three weeks we are going to have a look at some of the shows I will be judging or visiting this winter.

Devon & Cornwall Show Racer Society

I first visited the Devon & Cornwall Show Racer Society Show back in 1996, when my good mates, Alan Spedding and Jim Fitzpatrick, were down from Scotland judging their show. I will be judging a show for the Society in November and would like to thank the secretary, Jill Fisher, for her email containing a bit of the club’s history: 

The Devon & Cornwall Show Racer Society was formed in 1970 and holds 4 shows each season, with these all now all being held at Kingsteignton in Devon. The venue for our shows is a local racing pigeon club's room in Kingsteignton and we have the added advantage of having fixed pens. With many thanks to them, the racing pigeon club to take care of our needs. In the early years, each of the four show were held in different venues around the Devon & Cornwall area and I do have lovely childhood memories of going to some of these shows along with my dad, Mevyn Patt. Our show dates for this season are 13th October / 3rd November / 25th November (open show, also containing classes for Racing Pigeons) / 29th December.

Until he emigrated to Australia, one of the Society's mainstays was Doug McClary and indeed Doug was the secretary from whom I took over the position in 2004.  Doug was one of the society's founder members and helped make the Society what it is today.  As a mark of thanks for his work in the Society, members made Doug a life vice president when he stepped down from his Secretarial role to emigrate; even now, Doug still takes a keen interest in society matters and indeed is kind enough to include our show results in his Homing World articles.

When I agreed to take over as secretary, the society was "in my blood" so to speak as Dad (Mervyn Patt) was one of the original members and, as mentioned above, I have very fond memories of the shows and exhibitors from my childhood. Dave, my husband, holds the position of assistant secretary and performs excellent work in helping to run the shows. Dave was actually a non-fancier until I got back into show racers in 2000, but he is now a "dab hand" with the birds.

Our President is long time member and show supporter, George Hensley and our Chairman is Roland Thresher. In addition to being next door to a social club where refreshments are available, our society also benefits from the culinary skills of Bob Reeves, who is always on hand with a cuppa, piece of (homemade!) cake and a leg-pull or two!!  Bob is a lovely gentleman and a great character to boot - a real asset to the society!

Well Keith, I hope the above contains some information that you can use….(hope I did not prattle on too much!!).  Please give me a call if there is anything else that you need. Looking forward to meeting you on the 25th November and thanks again for kindly agreeing to judge some of the Show Racers for us. Best wishes - Jill.

C.H.A.S.E. Charity Show.          

The C.H.A.S.E. Charity Show staged annually by members of the Horsham R.P.C. has become one of the major winter show events in the South of England and this year’s event will be held this Sunday, 13th. January, at a new venue, The Y.M.C.A. Football Ground, Gorings Mead, Horsham. All previous shows have been held at the Barnes Green Village Hall, which has always proved to be a good venue, but the facilities at the new Y.M.C.A. venue are much better. The format of the show is the same with five handling classes and eyesign, with the entry fee being £2 per bird. For any more detail give the show secretaries, Gordon and Delia Marsh, a phone call on: 01403 732256. Let’s remind ourselves why the Horsham club stages this great show every January:

C.H.A.S.E. Children's Hospice Service is dedicated to the support of children who are not expected to reach their 19th birthday. For these children there is, at present, no hope of cure but they and their families still need care and support over the course of the life ahead of them. Ever since 1994 C.H.A.S.E. has been dedicated to the support of life-limited children and their families in Surrey, South-West London and parts of West Sussex. C.H.A.S.E. offers this vital service at no cost to the families 24 hours a day, every day of the year, in whatever way it is needed, emotionally or practically, at home or at Christopher's - the purpose-built children's hospice just outside Guildford. The life-limited children who C.H.A.S.E. supports suffer from a wide variety of conditions, sometimes genetic and often progressively degenerative. This means they need constant care, sometimes for many years, placing an enormous emotional, physical and financial strain on their families. C.H.A.S.E. offers respite and support that helps strengthen families and allows them to give their children the best quality of life. C.H.A.S.E. goes right to the crucial point of need - the home. Dedicated help is given in the family's own home, starting immediately after diagnosis, through bereavement and beyond. This practical and emotional support is provided by a multi­ disciplined and specially trained team of professionals. This support complements existing services from nurses, therapists, social workers and others.

Christopher’s Children’s Hospice.

This purpose-built hospice was designed to provide a home from home, where families can stay or take a much-needed break by allowing the C.H.A.S.E. Care Team to follow their child's routine. Christopher's also creates the opportunity for families to have fun together - that essential ingredient of any childhood. In addition to nine bedrooms, there are several play and therapeutic facilities: hobbies, multi-sensory, computer and soft-play rooms; a teenage den; hydrotherapy pool and Jacuzzi; sensory courtyard and outdoor play area. Christopher's provides families with time and space to make the most of the precious time with their life-limited child. With its atmosphere of warmth and welcome, Christopher's provides a safe place to rest and recharge.

Winter Show dates.

Important show dates to make a note of for this winter: 3rd November – The Winner Show - The Dome in Doncaster: 17th November – The Dutchy Show (South West Show Racer Society) – Cornwall: 25th November – Devon & Cornwall Show Racer Society open show – Kingsteignton, Devon: 24th November – NEHU South Shields Show: 1st December – RPRA Southern Region Show – High Wickham: 30th December – Southern Counties Show Racer Society open show – Gravesend: 13th January – C.H.A.S.E. Charity Show – Horsham: 19th & 20th January - B.H.W. ‘Show of the Year’- Blackpool. Enjoy your showing this winter!

“Drowning Maggots” (Part 1)

This series of articles are written by a pigeon fancier who loves coarse fishing. I’m no expert, but have caught one or two decent fish through the years and have enjoyed the hobby very much. I enjoy the experience of sitting by a river or lake, catching fish is a bonus! My whole family like fishing and since we have had the kids, it’s been a hobby we could do together, as a family. In recent month my grand children have started to take an interest and have caught fish at our local club lake.   

The month of August 2006 saw ten of us drive down the M4 Motorway, for a week’s family holiday in the Cotswolds. Our family is getting bigger and bigger and with the recent arrival of baby Sophia, we now have four grand children, in the form of Sasha, Katie and Ryan.  My wife, Betty and I, normal have a week away in the summer with all the kids, staying in a caravan and try to fly away some where abroad to get some winter sun on our own, after Christmas. The family is getting so big now; we had to have two caravans this year! All the elder grand children love the pigeons and always hand feed my young birds on the loft floor, when they come over at the weekends. The eldest is Sasha, aged six, and she is a natural with animals and she has a wonderful repour with the pigeons, just like her mother had when she was a youngster. My daughter, Caroline, was my pigeon partner when she was a girl and judged on her own at many shows, including a couple times at the R.P.R.A. Southern Region Show. She was a great judge and a wonderful handler of pigeons, but my son, Mark, was never interested in pigeons. Mark has followed in his ol’ man’s foot steps and is a first class carpenter / joiner by trade, and has always been very keen on football and fishing. When he was ten years old, he caught a 10lb. Pike and unhooked it, and returned it by him self. I’ve got an old photo of him holding the Pike and it was nearly as long as him!

Where we stayed on holiday in South Cerney near Cirencester, it is well known for being a ‘Mecca’ of coarse fishing, with it’s hundreds of premier quality fisheries. We are pretty keen on a bit of angling and normally set a side a couple days of the holiday for drowning a few maggots. At that time the Cotswold fishing was ‘off form’ and we didn’t do much, being very disappointed with what we had a go at. We are members of the Woking & District Angling Association and on the weekend of our return from holiday we decided to have a go at one of our local club lakes at Send, to offset the disappointment of the holiday fishing. Just picture the situation, it’s mid-day on Sunday, I‘ve left it to late to get bate, as the three local tackle shops close at 12 o’clock and I’ve promised Betty that I would take her fishing! I wasn’t to keen on going in the end, with no real bate, but I promised, so off we went down the A3, armed with two tins of sweet corn and about three handfuls of ground bait, which was about two years old. Being a very good fishery, there were a lot of anglers there enjoying the sunny weather and their Sunday afternoon sport, but we managed to get two swims side by side and mine was 60% covered in water lilies. A really hard swim to work, that’s why on one was on it when we arrived on site! Second cast and I had a 2lb. Tench on the bank and I started to think to my self, ‘this is not all bad’. About an hour after we arrived, the young lad on the next swim packed up, because he hadn’t caught much and he gave me his left over maggots, so the bait situation improved a little bit. It just goes to show you, a bad swim, very little bait and it turned out to be the best five hours fishing I’ve had in a long time! I finished up catching seven Crucian Carp, loads of Perch (biggest 1lb.), loads of good Roach (including two at 1lb), a 1lb. Bream and two nice Tench (2lb. and 1lb.). Not bad for an ol’ boy with a bit of string and a safety pin! They say, ‘when it’s your day, it’s your day’, and it was my day, I couldn’t do anything wrong. The swim I was on was very high on the bank and had to return the bigger fish by using the landing net. I returned one of the 1lb. Roach using the net and when I pulled it back out of the water it had a Crucian Carp in it. I just couldn’t go wrong! Betty caught some nice Crucian Carp, Bream and Tench, but apart from our wonderful haul, not much else came out of the lake that afternoon. Fishing is very much like pigeon racing, it is a waiting game which needs a lot of patience. Some times fancier send pigeon to races and are not confident of getting success, and then win the race. Angling can be very much the same!

Just a bit of news!   

Brian Doick and I attended the Alliance meeting at Oxford on behalf of the L&SECC a couple of Sundays ago and had a good ol’ chat with Albert and Jan Deacon, who were there for the BICC. They both looked so well, I think retirement is really agreeing with Albert! Peter Bryant was in attendance and gave a good account of recent actions by the RPRA on the ‘Bird Flu’ and ETS. The bottom line of the four hour meeting was: Peter Bryant is going to compose a ‘letter to your MP’ protesting about DEFRA and their ‘bird flu’ seven day rule, which the National and Classic clubs will send out to their membership with their AGM matter. Members will sign the letter and send it to their MP, and if enough are sent in, it was felt that would be good for our case. It seems there is a lot of early problems with the ETS. I don’t pretend to know any thing about ETS, but what I gathered from the meeting and the letters read out, one or two of the systems are not compatible, and need to be sorted out. Some of the companies are not being straight with the price of the system, saying we can get set up for about £250, but in reality it turns out to be some times over £500! As I say, I don’t pretend to know any thing about the ETS, but a lot of time was spent on the system at the Alliance meeting. Just a bit of news! I can be contacted on telephone number: 01372 463480. See yer!

TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT

15/10/07