“The Original” Around The Up North Combine

Another, Best In Show For John & Alice Bell

By  Good Corn

   After the short write up on Showman John Elsdon about the Egton Show I received an email from Colin Farndale who I mentioned in my repot. Colin said he enjoyed the write up about John judging at the Egton Show with him hoping it will attract more entries for next year, as any publicity is good publicity. Colin no longer has any Pigeons due to health reasons, Colin parted with all his birds in June 2017 which must have been heartbreaking after starting up in 1964 where he went onto to be a very successful Showman. Colin did go on to say that I mentioned the late Harry Walker  who lived next door to my parents in Skinningrove in the write up, with Harry been a good travelling companion and very good friend of Colin's and also a very good Pigeon Man. Colin learnt a lot from all of the late Harry's experiences. They travelled many miles together to the Shows over the years, one year Colin recalled they attended 58 shows in a season, where Colin believed he saw more of Harry that year then Harry's late wife Gladys did. But there is a lot of water flowed down Skinningrove Beck into the North Sea since then. Thomas Newton also of Skinningrove started out racing Pigeons with his brother Raymond at the time Colin was great friends with Harry, with Thomas later going into the Show Racers which no doubt will have being kick-started by Harry & Colin. Like Harry & Colin, Thomas became a top Showman winning a number of times at the big Show events. The late Alan Treloar was another Skinningrove resident who was into Show Pigeons around the same time Harry, Colin & Thomas were showing their birds, but I'm sure Alan was more into the Fancy Pigeons. Alan & Harry would often call at at each others village lofts to talk Pigeons and see how their birds were doing, their was a good friendship among the four Showmen.

   Although Colin and his wife Ingrid gave up their Pigeons in 2017 they still have a great interest in the Showing side of their sport, where Ingrid is Secretary of the North East Counties Show Racer Society and also the President of the British show racer Federation, with Ingrid been the first lady to have held that post. They hold three Club Shows at their headquarters at Snainton, near Scarborough and they also hold an Open Show and the British Show Racer Federation (Northern Region) Show, which this year is on 18th November where they are hoping for a good entry of around 300 birds. Another name that springs to mind is that of Derryck Braithwaite who more than made his mark on the Show Racer circuit, Derryck was a regular at Harry Walkers loft. The Braithwaite family are very well known for their winning performances over a great number of years. 

   How can I not mention the top Showman, Alan Spedding of Cumbria. My brother Brian and myself came across Alan in the 1980s when he raced pigeons in Egremont, we visited his loft with our very good friend Dave Drinkhall who was racing Pigeons with Bob Moore at Brotton at the time. After spending some time at Alan's loft he took us back to his house where his wife had made  Sunday dinner for us all. Alan and his wife went more into Show Racers after taking over Don Spedding's top Show Pigeons. We would meet up with Alan when he was Showing at the North Of England Homing Union Shows when they were held at Peterlee, Alan called down to see our birds one year while the Show was on where he had a coffee, a bite to eat while agreeing to swap six youngsters the following year. We also used to meet up with Alan at the Blackpool Show where he could always be found walking up and down the pens checking on the entries to see who had won what. Alan who also became a top Showman was very easy to get on with, I miss the time in the company of Alan.    

Richard Parker Judging the Show Specials      -       Show Class Judge Peter Brookshaw

Steve Wheatley (jnr) eyeing up a Show Class entry      -      Show Judge Steve Wheatley (snr) checking over one of the Class entries

   I have received a second email from Colin Farndale with the result of the British Show Racer Federation (Northern Region) Show held at Snainton Village Hall, organised by the North East Counties Show Racer Society on Sunday 18th November 2018. This was the tenth year that Colin's Society has organised the Show on behalf of the Federation. This years event attracted a total entry of 328 birds which was on the numbers Colin had estimated in his first email, Colin who went to school with my sister Shirley went onto say that this was a very good entry considering it was held on the same weekend as the Olympiad Selection Show at Liverpool. The Show pulled in many exhibitors from all over the North of England as well as from Scotland, which is always nice to see when so much hard work has gone into organising the Show and the fanciers working extra hard to try and get a bit of a edge on their birds condition to try and get ahead on the rest of the field. This years Show Class judges were Peter Brookshaw, Steve Wheatley Senior & Steve Wheatley Junior of Middlesbrough, who are the son and grandson of Stan Wheatley who was a top Showman in his day. Stan has passed his vast experiences onto his son and grandson who in turn became top Showmen, I have to say that it is a great pleasure to have known Stan for a great number of years with him being one of the nicest and honest Gentleman I have ever come across. Richard Parker took on the role of judging the Specials, I'm sure all four Judges will have had a very hard time selection the winning birds.   

John and Alice Bell with Steve Wheatley (snr)             -            BOS Winners JK and JD Lynn with Steve Wheatley (snr)

   The Best In Show was won by John & Alice Bell of Catrine, Scotland with a Chequer Adult Cock, John & Alice need no introduction for they are a top class Show couple previously winning Supreme Champion at the Blackpool Show, winning BIS at the RPRA Southern Region Show, the Shildon Open Show, Shildon BSRF Open Show, the Clydesdale Open Show, SHU Open Show and the NEHU Open Show. I have to say that this is only a handful of top class winning performances John & Alice Show Birds have won over the years with many of their earth-shattering performance being won a number of times at the highest level often competing against up to 2,500 birds. John & Alice's  fantastic Show winning performances are a credit to them and the sport, they are proving very hard to beat with so many BIS. BOS and class winners under their belts. The BOS was won by JK & JD Lynn of Darlington with a Yearling Mealy Hen, with me not really being into the Show scene but I always like to see the winning birds at the Blackpool Show, I know nothing about this partnership other than I have seen their winning birds at the previous Blackpool Shows. I will spend  some time taking notes of the names and winners at the 2019 Show Of The Year weekend, in the hope of a few photos which will be helpful in my future reports.   

   I would like to thank Colin for the information and photo's, in the hope there is more to come.

With that it's time to sign off this report and start on the next one.

Any news to Good Corn 6 Boulby Drive Loftus Saltburn Cleveland TS13 4JN.

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