STAFFORDSHIRE MOORLANDS & DISTRICT FEDERATION
by Thomas Garvie
Well the day of reckoning is upon us now with the BHW Show of the Year imminent. All our birds are ready for what is to be the culmination of the year for them [even though we are in to a new year] and my wife Liz has carefully selected our entries and has them in good condition. The rest is up to the judges and hopefully my wife's hard work will bear fruit. Any shows we enter, all the hard work is down to her and I just do the donkey work, namely carrying all the boxes and such like but we are a partnership and she does her fair share of work with the racing birds, so all in all it works out even.
We were recently invited to attend the second show on Boxing Day at the Macclesfield club and we took Rick Geary up on his invitation to attend this show and presentation. Unfortunately by the time we arrived the show was over and the birds were all but packed away but nevertheless we had a good day watching the club's annual prize presentation and the buffet which followed [my favourite part of the day]. The results of that show were as follows: it was old cocks through the wires and first and third was Paul Beck, second was Stuart Goldstraw, reserve and commended were Rick and Simon Geary, Kev Bowers was very highly commended and Collins & Stevens were highly commended. Young cocks now and with first place and a commended bird was Joe Flood, second were Collins & Stevens, with a reserve and a very highly commended bird was Bernie Barrett and Paul Beck had a highly commended pigeon. The members of the club would like to thank George and Pat Smith of Stockport for doing the judging and presenting the prizes and they also awarded the two class winners £5 specials. The winner of the points trophy was Joe Flood for the second year in a row. Well done to everybody in the show.
The club's yearly season prize presentation followed and the prize list read like a biography of Rick and Simon Geary, who had an amazing 13 first places and 11 second positions as well as 9 thirds, 9 fourths and 7 fifths winning £744 in to the bargain. Kevin Moore was next highest prize winner with 3 firsts, 2 seconds, 3 thirds, 3 fourths and 2 fifths and £187. Kev Bowers [club Press Officer] had 2 firsts, 2 seconds, 2 thirds, 3 fourths, 2 fifths and £150. Martin Hough had 1 first place, 4 seconds, 2 thirds, 3 fourths, 1 fifth and £147. Joe Flood had 1 first place, 1 fourth and 2 fifths and also £51. Alan Senior had 1 second place, 1 third and 1 fifth and £35. Roger Bowers had 1 fourth place, 2 fifths and £26. Bernie Barrett had 1 third and 1 fifth as well as £20. Brian & Jill Smith had 1 third and 1 fifth and £20. I would like to wish this couple well as they are retiring from the fed at the end of the season, Brian as president and Jill as secretary, so good luck in the future.
At the presentation, I took quite a lot of photos and I will add a few in this article and a few in forthcoming ones so if you are not in this one do not think you have been missed out.
George and Pat Smith
Joe Flood
Brian Smith - asleep?
Alan Senior
Stuart Goldstraw
Long suffering Sue Geary
I also received a small snippet from Roy Jones regarding some awards that had been presented. Alex Stewart from Berryhill has won in the West Midland region the Roland Berrey Memorial Trophy in the races from 251-450 miles. The pigeon, the MCC Fougeres winner, won 1st North West section, 10th Open MNFC Fougeres the following week and it also took Fed positions in the SMDF. Geoff Lindop has won the WM Region Service Award. Don Mackay is now the DY Region President so thank you for that information Roy.
And while sorting out the photos from the Mac show one or two of the photos did not turn out and I do sincerely apologise to the members I will be unable to publish.
As usual if you have anything for me send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or give me a call on 01663 733317 and if there is no reply please leave your name and number and I will get back to you. Apart from seeing all the articles in the BHW they can also be seen in all their glory on the fed website which is www.moorlandsfedpigeons.co.uk or you can view them on Elimar Pigeon Services Pigeon Portal. I have to say the websites do a splendid job with all the articles and they can be seen on these websites from the very first articles [the BHW also does a splendid job I might add]. So bye from TG.