LET'S SCREAM A BIT
by John Clements
The Hunting Lodge (called ‘The Cage’) is on the outskirts of Stockport at an NT property called Lyme Park. Liberations of Welsh pigeons take place in this park simply because of its elevated position there is the absence of telephone wires and it has a clear view to the south-west. Those who built this tower were much closer to nature than we are today. Nature was a part of their everyday life. Who would not want their loft to be on top of such a building? The price would probably start at £3m and upwards if it included 5 acres of the park.
I have just watched the Italian Grand Prix on TV. The commentator gets himself into a right tizzy shouting and screaming down the mic as he describes the battle between 13th and 14th places. I wish pigeons could do the same sort of thing in pigeons hardly a whisper is ever raised outside the top two or three. This indifference to really good pigeons that happen to be just off the pace, largely from circumstances (such as wind) beyond their control, happens in pigeon racing all the time. We, in the modern sport, fail to analyse top races. We now prefer pedigrees or substitute pieces of paper than top results by top pigeons. We do not want to get them into our heads. I would at least like the top 100 National pigeons to get a full appraisal from someone who is knowledgeable and has some ‘in depth’ knowledge.
I think I know the reason. The commercial side of pigeon racing has turned us all into mindless consumers so things that do not fit into this consumer world of ‘Brand Name’ strains are no longer recognised. I am not suggesting money is unimportant - it is - but good and meaningful results and the history that goes with them is more important for it is this that binds the sport together and gives us our culture. A consumer society is one without a thinking culture. A culture based on monetary value alone will not do it and has never done it. All it will do is develop a consumer world where fanciers are expected to act like idiots knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing to quote Oscar’s well known aphorism.
Our press and scribes should attempt a wider view they should attempt to release themselves from price and take a leaf out of BBC Formula One commentators and scream a bit about really good, worthy, consistent pigeons that happen to not be, through no fault of their own, commercial. There is another language out there and that language is the one that describes good, but commercially unnoticed, real pigeons.
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Elimar - September 2014