“Saltney Social Press”

with

Alan Foster

 Jones Girls Turning Dreams Into Reality

Geoff Jones who flies in the Saltney Social Flying Club under the name GO Jones, famous in these parts for his very own breed of pigeon the “Go Slows” has always enjoyed taking part in the winter shows in and around the area. He has always said “I’d be made up with one or two wins and a dozen cards showing pigeons”, but that would be a normal year, that would be a year where the girls would take a step back. This year was different; the girls decided they would show their dad how to show pigeons to win!!

Daughters Carla 15, Ashlee 14 and Jamee 10 have always shown an interest in the pigeons, hey who wouldn’t?? To these girls though it’s not just a hobby, to these girls the birds are their pets, a few of many pets! You will always find them with one of the animals whether it be the dogs, chickens, horses or the pigeons.

Ashlee pictured to the left, Geoff in middle Carla on the right                Jamee holding Saltney show winner

Holding two class winners at Shotton

Geoff decided seen as the girls had taken charge he would take them to as many shows as he could find in the area to give them a better chance, he didn’t realise so many people would admire the condition the birds were in from start to finish. He let the girls pick out the birds for the shows and girls being girls they went for the really pretty ones.

The first show of the year was our very own show held at the Saltney tavern in Saltney near Chester, this was a show family run by the Jones’s themself, however to avoid controversy judges were found by the clubs secretary and the Jones were not notified until the day. This show was two classes Old Cocks and Young Cocks with a judge from the local area Ray Newell. The girls decided on around 6 or so pigeons to take. Amongst those were a few stock birds and this year’s racers. This was a tough class even though the time of year should say otherwise. The girls came out with a win in both classes, winning the old cocks with a top Gay Black Pied Stock cock who was a gift bird off a very good flyer from Hooton George Harrison this pigeon went on to win one more show this year for youngest daughter Jamee, and winning the young cocks with what turned out to be a judge favourite, a blue cock who was only taken because this was eldest daughter Carla’s pigeon. This went on to win four shows this year, Geoff couldn’t see what the judges saw in the pigeon until he walked over to the pen one day and saw the cock stand tall in the corner of the pen as if to say “come on then”. This was when he realised why the blue cock was getting card after card win after win.

Gallery of Winners:

A young Jannsen crossed with a hen of Ray Newell, Blue Cock Bred and Raced by Go Jones winning 4 x 1st shows (eldest daughter Carla’s pigeon)

A young Blue Pied Hen Bred and raced By Timmy Mawhinney, Gifted to and showed by Go Jones winning 4 x 1st shows, 2 x best in show & 1 x Best opposite Sex (the girls Pigeon)

An Old Jannsen crossed Van Reet, Dark Cheq Cock bred by Brother Jones, Lamb & Daughter, and Shown by Go Jones winning 2 x 1st shows. This pigeon was put straight into stock due to its brilliant look and pedigree (middle daughter Ashlee’s Pigeon)

A sweet Jannsen Van Reet Cross, Cheq Pied Hen Bred and raced by G O Jones. This pigeon had already won the Nantwich show before winning 1 x 1st in this year’s winter’s shows, (youngest daughter Jamee’s Pigeon)

A dark Cheq Janseen van Reet Hen winning 1 x 1st Held by Ashlee jones at the Thornton Hough Christmas show  pictured with her aunty Karen who is partnership in Jones, Lamb & Daughter who bred this pigeon

A Gay Black Pied Krauth Stock Cock bred by George Harrison and gifted to youngest daughter winning 2 x 1st shows

Second gift bird to the girls from Timmy Mawhinney, a young Cheq pied cock whose best show position was second at Bebington shows.

The girls amazing 73 card hall of 2016 winter showing

This was a fantastic start to the show season; none of them could believe their ambition was already complete after the very first show, they decided anything they went onto win now would be a bonus.

After a few more shows went by and a few more wins in the bag for the 3 girls I received a message from a top flyer both showing and racing, Timmy Mawhinney from Northern Ireland congratulating the girls on their performances so far from the results posted on Facebook by me. He offered the girls a pair of show pigeons bred and raced by his good self. The girls were admittedly over the moon with this offer and could not wait to get the birds. Timmy had the birds shipped over to the Doncaster show with a good friend who had a stand at the show, myself and Geoff went a picked the birds up. Wed never seen two pigeons as good as them, a blue pied young hen and a cheq pied young cock.

The girls straight away started showing the birds admittedly they were a bit weary due to a change in living arrangements but were still looking good. It took three shows before they showed what they could do with a second for the cheq cock and a first for the blue pied hen. Its acts of kindness like Timmy showed that this game really needs more of. He had single handily lit the smiles on their faces up.

It had come into the Christmas period with five shows remaining and current wins at 9 x 1st’s and a rook of other positions. With the ambitious aim for five wins in the last five shows the girls pulled their fingers out.

First Christmas show was our very own with three classes Any Age Cocks, Any Age Hens and a pretty class added in for the Kids who came to the shows. The girls won the Any Age hens class also winning best in show and an overall points win at the Saltney shows, with the Blue pied gift bird of Timmy’s, by now this pigeon had adopted the name Tammy with two wins to her name already.

It then came to the Shotton Christmas show were it would be old cocks and young cocks, the girls all had their own birds in along with pretty boy gift cock off Timmy. After putting the birds in the pen and having a look around, the girls didn’t think they stood a chance and were very surprised when entering the show hall to see the red card on one of their own birds and even more surprised when they saw it was the Gay Black pied who had won the first show, you’d of thought they’d of got use to that sight by now. Geoff certainly wasn’t, he was amazed every time one of the birds won, and it truly was a dream becoming reality for the Jones’s.

Third Christmas show and the Jones’s were bouncing, Bebington Christmas show, unfortunately the girls could not attend this show. This was a show for all card winners. The girls had five pigeons in one of them the pièce de résistance of their birds, Tammy the little Blue Pied Hen was in and looking very slick. This pigeon won the battle of a two horse race or in this case pigeon race, winning again her third win of the year and her second best in show. Geoff was overjoyed to see the girls had won their 12 show of the year.

Fourth Christmas show of the year, another card winners class held at Thornton Hough Flying Club with two classes Cock and Hens, a dark cheq Hen, full sister to an Alan Shinton Niort winner bred by Jones Lamb & Daughter from Little Sutton won the show for middle daughter Ashlee also winning Best opposite Sex.

The girls had won four out of the five so far, were they going to turn their dreams into reality at the Flexsys Christmas show held at the Flexsys Community Centre, the girls could not make this show due to Fire Cadets commitments and so on, however they sent myself and Geoff with their Secret Weapon, the Beautiful Blue pied Hen Tammy off our good friend Timmy. Was this bird going to be the one to complete the dream? With a young hens class which was sporting the highest attendance of the year with a few very hard pigeons to beat saw the blue pied hen triumph yet again completing the girl’s dreams of winning the five Christmas shows.

This is a very good family racing pigeons in the Saltney Club and there is much more to come from these girls, turning dreams into reality in the pigeon game. This is a wonderful thing to see when young fanciers are doing well; a final part to this article is a big thank you from the Jones family to Timmy Mawhinney for the top class sportsmanship shown by gifting these two wonderful pigeons.

Thanks for reading

Alan Foster

Saltney Social Press Officer