L J Parkinson
Last week I mentioned families and generations of pigeon fanciers, we don’t appear to have too many of those nowadays, some but not as many as there used to be. I have two photos this week, one that I took about 30yrs ago of Craig Wilkinson carrying his clock. The other was taken a few weeks ago of Craig’s sons Noah and Oscar carrying a crate from the transporter. Will they be pigeon fanciers of the future, that is something we will have to wait and see. I keep hearing fanciers saying that the sport won’t last much longer, I am sure there is still plenty of time left yet in racing pigeons, we just need to change the way we do things as they have abroad.
In Middlewich we have Mark Smith whose father Roy and his brother Tom raced pigeons for many years. Billy Wilson still races as W Wilson & Son then we have Dave Healey whose father Frank raced pigeons. Robert Carson’s father and grandfather raced pigeons for many years. Not forgetting Craig’s family who we know go back at least 5 generations as I know of. Ebony Crowley is also a member of the Wilkinson clan who probably have the most family members to race pigeons in the town. Peter Latham who goes back to the days of J Latham & Son, Peter’s father, and grandad and probably even further back and there are a few names we could bring up who have been connected to pigeons in the town. Then in terms of families we have newcomers to pigeon racing such as little ole me. I am the first and probably last generation of pigeon fanciers after 68yrs, either racing or connected to pigeons. There is of course Wayne who has tried to carry on, but health issues have prevented him from remaining in the sport. Dudley Niblett is another one generation family, his brother Tony had some at one time but that’s about it. A few of us, the ones I call newcomers, first generation fanciers who started racing pigeons in the 50’s when our mates from pigeon families had them and we joined in. There are some who started in that way, such as me, who have carried on with racing pigeons but not many. There are true pigeon fanciers racing pigeons because it has got under their skin, and you struggle to get away from the sport. Pigeon racing will carry on for years to come because it has become an obsession and there are always going to be some who are affected by them. The pigeon fanciers who cannot get away from going into a loft of pigeons, looking at them sitting on their perches and getting a great deal of enjoyment from what they see. I have spoken to fanciers through my job who have come back into pigeon racing now that they are at or near the point of retiring and looking for something to do. The young fanciers whose heads were turned by other birds, but now returning to the fold. The ex-fanciers whose heads we need to turn back to racing pigeons now that they need to do something in their lives.
Talking to.
I quite often talk to Ray Lunt and one recent conversation was about my young bird team. We do differ on the races we want because I have always been more interested in the National races and not the club. However, I have decided that I am going to compete more in the local clubs and give them the support which is what they all need. I was saying to Ray that they are not doing what I expect them to do. No more to do, he pointed out that I have put them at a disadvantage by not having them on the darkness system. The races have not been good for them because of the feather condition that they are in at this time of the year, and they have come across a lot of rain, which is like a jockey having weights put on them. Ray also pointed out that I am not losing them therefore they are well educated and ready for the yearling stage in their lives, where they are on a more equal footing. On the weekend of the 12th, we were racing from Cheltenham and Bath. All had been going well with the Unikon ETS but this weekend it all went belly up.
I was telling Craig Wilkinson about it, and he suggested I put the power booster on the end to send the power back down the line. The day didn’t start well because as I was waiting for the birds, I sat there thinking they should be here by now. Just then Lizzie came around the corner and a cock crowing. As I left the seat, I could see 7 pigeons were sitting on our house, 3 had made this their residency trying to nest under the solar panels. The other three were from the race team and no matter how I called them they were not moving. Lizzie said throw a ball at them, but where was that, anyway I spotted it and shifted them off the roof, so they spent a very short time in the air before the race birds dropped on the loft and went through the trap, I beat Ebony by a few seconds, but she did win the nom. Anyway, this is when it all went wrong, the ETS had decided not to go into action and do the job it was made for. I ended up wiping some, especially the 5B pigeons over the pads, they did work when I did it by hand. I did it for a few and then left them, some were registering while others didn’t. So, I left them to it and decided to feed them lightly and let them out at 5pm and call them back in before I disconnected the ETS system. This was to see how many would register. Craig thought it might be a power issue. What I did notice during the day was that rings were registering when there were no pigeons going not the loft. What was happening was those inside that originally didn’t register were flying up onto the inside part of the trap and registering. So, the pads and rings were OK, was it coincidentally a lack of power, we will never know.
Was talking to Mark Smith about the number of birds that were being marked at
Middlewich. This included fanciers who were using Middlewich as a central marking station and still competing in their own clubs. This is something that is going to happen more and more because of the number of fanciers we are losing. Middlewich are used to seeing members from other clubs with the NWCC headquarters being at this venue. I was also talking to Bobby & Karen Jones about the days when the Middlewich 2B was so strong and at times would have 200 plus clocks to set and that was in the days of the Toulets. Sooner or later there is going to be more central marking because of costs and smaller clubs, this is just the start of it.
I was talking to Dudley Niblett about racing, and he is like me racing young birds on the natural system and considering the state of the molt and picking the races when it looks as if we might have a good day. That has not been happening very often, I think we had 5 weekends of unfavorable weather to send pigeons to the races. The first time I saw the Mid Cheshire Fed result I sat looking thinking something was wrong with the results.
So, I called Peter Latham who went on to explain what had happened. It appears the clock strike on Friday night was incorrect so the members whose clocks were set on the Benzing system that night were all disqualified. This was a lesson learnt, I wonder how many other races have been affected around the country through an incorrect strike. By the way P&D would have won the race and the section, these things are sent to try us and try us they do.
Results.
The third young bird race for the Mid Cheshire Fed was from Cheltenham when 66 members saw1377 birds liberated at 7.15am in a southwest wind. This was a good result for Sankey Bridges fancier I Hill collecting 1st 2nd 3rd 5th section & open recording vels of 1993 (3) 1992ypm. John Hankey from the Ashton in Makerfield club finished with the first 4 in the club plus 4th 6th 7th 8th Fed. 9th fed goes to Martin Magee with a vel of 1972ypm with an entry into the Sankey Bridges club. Ryads Lofts are 10th fed and take the next 4 places their first on 1953ypm racing with the Earlestown FC. Eric Tylor takes the first three in the Acton Bridge club on 1848/1723/1696ypm also topping the southern section. Cheshire FC sees J Stewart secure the top three positions in 1853/1852/1851ypm. Over at Frodsham Sidney Rogers & Son are 1st & 3rd clocking up 1420/1209ypm while in the Kingsway HS Mr & Mrs Burnett take the top three places on 1883/1882/1837ypm. Leigh & Atherton are another club where there is a clean sweep when J Chadwick fills the top three places on 1901/1895/1872ypm. T Hobson is 1st & 3rd in the Lymm FC on 1942/1908ypm with A Cookson coming in between on 1912ypm. 1st & 3rd in the Middlewich FC are Les Parkinson and Elizabeth Wilkinson with vels of 1827/1810ypm being split by great granddaughter Ebony Crowley in 2nd place on 1819ypm. A. Oates wins the Runcorn DHS plus 3rd with vels of 1910/1886ypm while R Hayes & J Pickstock are 2nd with a vel of 1893ypm. New members to the fed St Helens FC see’s J Tunstall record vels of 1878/1893ypm while securing the top 2 positions with Naylor Bros 3rd on 1865ypm. In the Tyldesley ICWJ Bradbury collects the red card om 1873ypm followed by R & D Gaskell in 2nd & 3rd places with vels of 1867/1840ypm. There was also an old bird race in the fed with the first 6 being D Skinner 1st club 1st north section 1st open after entering in the Leigh & Atherton club to record a vel of 1864ypm. 1st club 1st south section 2nd open are N & S Harvey from the Wrinehill HS. Simon Kennedy is 2nd club2nd north section 3rd open on 1689ypm also with the Leigh & Atherton club. 4th & 6th go to David Bullock recording vels of 1272/1060ypm leaving 5th for George Davis from the Cheshire FC. Now onto the Cheltenham race with the South West Cheshire Fed where 37 members entered 743 birds to be liberated at 8.45am in a southwest wind. The top 7 plus 9th go to Dickens & Wilkinson with the best vels being 1640 (2) 1637/1630ypm. Also, from the same club Les Parkinson 7 Elizabeth Wilkinson are 10th fed. The remaining fed position goes to P & E Mainwaring from the Halmer End FC who are 1st & 4th club on 1613/1570ypm. Plus, in the same club Mainwaring & Simpkin are 2nd & 3rd on 1583ypm with 2. Crewe West End sees another good race for Bob Humphries finishing 1st & 4th on 1552/1519ypm. Colin Lindop is 2nd with a vel of 1551ypm while C Sutton is 4th on 1513ypm. Duddon PFC winner is Gary Adamson on 1413ypm ahead of JL Evans & B Wright1373ypm. KW Walker & Sons 1255ypm and J Churchill 1147ypm. John Peever had a good race in the Greenbank FC with 1st 2nd 4th1516/1514/1467ypm being split by Troy Morrish 1477ypm. Mr & Mr Nigel Shaw took the first 7 in the Hankelow FC with the best vels being 1519/1472/1464/1463ypm. G&A&C Jones take the red card in the Winsford HS on 1534ypm. Chris Hitchin has them in top form taking the next 5 places with his leading vels of 1516/1515 (2) ypm.
Les Parkinson. 11 Rushton Drive, Middlewich, Cheshire, CW10 0NJ.
Tel: +44 (0)1606 836036. Mob: +44 (0)7871 701585.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web site: http://www.elimarpigeons.com