STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION

by Thomas Garvie

Poole - September 2012

Well I am well behind with the articles for the young bird races mainly because, like everybody else, I like to go on holiday and for the last few years we have always missed out some of the young bird racing so that we can take a break. This year we took our two lovely greyhounds on a longish break to Northumberland. We stayed at the tiny fishing village of Amble, which was very nice and it had all we wanted on a doggie holiday; a small beach to walk on in the morning and a nice pier to have a walk round at night. I have to say it is a lovely part of the country with lots of lovely beaches all along the coast and we visited as many of them as we could. Also almost everywhere we went there was a castle and, sad to say, most of these castles were built to keep out the Scots but they never worked as I was in them! We visited Bamburgh castle and the beach there was lovely. It went for miles and the dogs love it when they get on to a beach. They just seem to go nuts. It must be the sand and water on their paws. It was a bit windy but at least it was dry the whole time we were there. Must be better on the east as we know there was a lot of rain at home while we were away - oh dear!

Again at Alnmouth there was a super beach which the dogs loved but I think the best beach we visited was one at a small village named Beadnell. The wind here was rather strong and there were not many folks on it, which suited us just fine as we were not harassed by many dogs running loose and running up to you. Why do folk think it is okay for their dogs to be off the lead and running up to you? They say ‘oh don't worry, our dog is fine’. Well one of ours is not fine with other dogs running up and sniffing and barking at them. That is why our dogs are on a lead because we think our dog Beauty was bitten when younger. She has a huge scar on her back leg and does not like other dogs running up behind her. Collies are the worse as they go down on all fours and stare at them then when you are past they run up behind. A lot of the places we walked did stipulate that all dogs must be on a lead and most were but you always get some idiot who think they know better. We did have a really good break there though as we just basically went for a rest, which I have to say, I did really take advantage of. Usually when we are away it is me that is always wanting to go out but this time it was Liz who was the instigator of our adventures as I wanted to catch up on some reading, something I never get much of a chance to do at home but every time I would just be getting into a good part of a book she would say we were going somewhere. If she thinks we are going to be sitting sunbathing when we get to Thailand later she can think again as it will be an exploring holiday!

I will try and add a few photos of the dogs on holiday in later articles but going back to our feathered friends, the fed was at the longest young bird race in Poole [Carentan would normally have been the longest race but it was cancelled this year due to a lack of entries in the 5 bird race] and the fed had 1,322 birds here and they were released at 10am. Winning the fed C. Shenton from Alton on a winning velocity of 1544. Well done as this is a new name to me. A&S Rushton from Berryhill were next on 1533 and third was Phil Green from Buxton on 1510. I have met Phil a few a times mainly at the country show in Bakewell. My wife introduced me to Phil and I think there has always been a bit of friendly rivalry between the two of them, both trying to win the shield there for best racer, which we happily won this year, but I do enjoy talking to Phil. I enjoy talking to anybody about pigeons. We occasionally see him and his wife out walking along the road at the farm; in fact we saw him quite recently when he was collecting brambles to make jam. You need to do more picking than talking Phil or you will not get much jam. You are welcome to go down our fields where the bushes are laden as nobody ever gets down there to pick any but leave the apples on the neighbour’s tree as they are quite tasty and occasionally some drop into our land, especially if I accidentally brush against it! Next place in the fed went to Mantle brs from Buxton on 1508. R. Given from Poynton was next on 1505 followed by Walley & Wilkinson from Packmoor with two on 1504. Next were S & I Ford from Alton on 1504. Kev Bowers, Macclesfield’s PO, was next on 1499 and Leigh & Musgreaves take tenth place on 1497. So that is the top ten and well done to all who are still flying.

A few club snippets now starting with Ipstones where three members sent 38 birds, a sign of the very hard season we have had with young birds. Taking the red card here are R&J Goodwin and son on 1483 with another two cards on 1414 and 1402 with A. Mace taking second on 1442. I should also mention the only other club member racing and he is B. Rowlinson and his velocity was 1358.

Hayfield now where 5 members sent 91 birds and back to winning ways was sprint wizard JL Gibb taking first and second on 1446 and 1417. Taking third and fourth places was the oldest father in town aka as Steve Warhurst on 1380 and 1323. This proved to be a sticky race for our club, just another one of the many we have had this year. I have spoken with a lot of folks this year and they are all of the same opinion and that is that this year has been the worse racing they have had in a very long time and a lot of things have to change next year, with one of them being the racing we had from France. This has got to be looked at long before they happen. A sensible solution has to be put in place at the AGM so that ALL members will fly with the fed instead of going elsewhere. We have to make the members feel that it is best to fly with their own fed and that they can have confidence and faith that the best is being done for the birds and surely it has to be the birds’ WELFARE that is of utmost priority and that must be taken before any other consideration. Fanciers have to stop thinking of themselves and prioritise the birds but I am afraid in some cases that will never happen. I would like to ask all members that when they attend the club’s AGM meetings they try and think of the birds and what is best to take care of them when they are racing and put forward any proposals that you might think can help the fed move forward. Also anything that you think can be done to enhance the care of the birds because with no birds there is no racing. The whole fed has to work together and not against each other to try and benefit any individuals. It is one fed and that is the way it should work with everybody in harmony to benefit the fed and have better racing and in fact to have a future within pigeon racing.

Macclesfield now where 8 members sent 161 birds where taking his second red card in a row is club PO Kev Bowers on 1499 with a home bred cock returning to the perch, a Ceulermans x Staf Van Reet. Taking the next two places were Rick and Simon Geary on 1488 and 1486. The first bird being a hen returning to the perch and is a Hybrecht x Soontjen and their other bird was flying on semi widowhood and is a Rietvink x Soontjen. Fourth place went to young Joe Flood on 1480 with a cock returning to the perch bred from stock given to him by fellow club member George Greenwood.

On to Packmoor now where I always get a story or two from Jeff Roberts who sends his reports and Packmoor sent 168 birds but Jeff never sent any as he had a family christening at 11am so there was no racing for them. You need ETS Jeff then you do not miss any racing. Also Rob Slack never sent as Jeff says he had a sore back and they hope it is better for next week as Rob entrusted the other members to do the result. Following on after their win in the Guernsey race were Wally & Wilkinson taking the first two places on 1504. Third place went to in form loft of A. Cliff on 1493 and yet again winning pool money. Fourth place went to T. Woolrich & son on 1489. Also some good news for a lad just starting and it also gives him a bit of encouragement in future, James Reiling taking a bit of pool money. Well done. The nom of £24 was won by Ken Hall and Jeff says he likes nothing better than winding Jeff's wife up on a Saturday night but it is all in good fun [something I think is distinctly missing in pigeon racing now]. First share of the pools again went to A. Cliff with the second share going to young James Reiling. Thanks for the report Jeff.

Well that is all for this race but please remember what I said about the birds in the upcoming AGMs and remember that the birds need to come before anything and anybody Another priority is keeping the fed harmonious and together so that all the members will want to fly with the fed and they can enjoy the racing. The more members that fly with the fed means better birdage and better convoys which helps the birds get home but also the members need to be able to trust everybody in charge of the birds and if that is in place then there should be nobody needing to send birds to other feds and they can send with Staffordshire Moorlands with confidence. So take care of your birds and yourselves. Bye from me for now.