Kyleakin Lofts

That is the key problem Andy, the membership is dwindling and that issue should be the primary concern for the SHU. Never has it addressed this situation, never has it tried to get new members, never has it fought to keep everything as cheap as it can be for its membership.Its bad business imo This year the Membership Fee was reduced to £15 + 50p Medical Research and all other costs were held steady. That is a start and I know more ideas are at the planning stage.

Refer to post 13 and although there may be some dis-satisfied members, I think the Delegates are attempting to change things. Changes will not take place overnight, but every little step forward should improve matters. The original post was to intimate the meeting, not to open the floodgates for personal annoyances to be aired. I don't think this should become personal, but if points of general interest and for the betterment of the sport are raised, I am sure they will be considered. Everyone must also realise that priorities have to be met whilst attempting to strike a balance. There should be around 30 Delegates, but the meetings average around 15. I appreciate that distance is an obstacle to some. The Council must observe Due Diligence whilst attempting to strike this balance. A major difficulty is the falling membership causing a reduction in income, so a balance has to be struck between income and expenditure, as I stated in post 13. Please let's keep this discussion civil.

Good morning all.

Welcome to the site.

To be fair, I think all the Delegates are well aware of the current state of the Scottish fancy and are actively looking at ways to improve the situation for those who are still active within it. I am not happy at the sole method of communication since probably very few will have computer facilities or use them regularly. For me, there are two main points to be improved. The first and main one is the cost to the fancier. Whilst looking at cost cutting methods, we must remain effective in our management and administration of the fancy. Mail costs are a massive expense, so I partly understand the method of placing the information on our website and leaving it up to the fancier to print it for themselves, but it appears this is ineffective. To mail everyone will be expensive, so a balance must be found. Think of a pie. The more people sharing reduces the size of the slice they receive. Bringing me to point two, how to increase our membership to assist with cutting costs. Neither of these points are easy to solve.

Excellent result for Scotland to be 2nd and 3rd in this competition.

Just the same as normal, no changes here.

Hens out one day, cocks the next, weather permitting and whether I am able to be around.

As far as I am aware they are. I received a copy of the accounts and AGM agenda, possibly because I'm a Fed Sec and / or Delegate. I also received notice that this was on the website. I shall ask for future knowledge, just how this event is intimated to the members.

SHU AGM today and lessons have been learned regarding the show. This was the first time we had an auction and this point has been noted.

The SHU AGM is today in the Hillcroft Hotel, East Main Street, Whitburn at 13.30.

Happy birthday.

Good morning all.

Welcome to the site.

As stated, they always charge to get in, nothing is for nothing and it never has been. There should be stalls there. As far as I am aware Belgica was coming. Who Dares Wins were there, SS Feeds are usually there and quite a few others. They were all coming this year again, so this really surprises me.

Just checked some of your previous posts Paul. You can phone me anytime you want to and I'll do my best to help you or put you onto someone who will be able to help you if I can't. I'll see you soon at the next Fed meeting in February, once Mick has given me your contact details.

Hi Druid Lofts. Is that you Paul? As stated by the others, I cut mine in half before giving them to the pigeons.

Good morning all.

Happy birthday.

Excellent point and perhaps the way forward. Money into the sport and probably more participants.

Frag.pdf

The Keith Bush Legacy A ‘Certificate of Merit’ winner in 2017 by John Clements of Stockport What worries a lot of fanciers is the change in pigeon culture. Modern pigeon culture has moved away from the celebration of ‘National’ long distance and marathon racing towards a celebration of first prizes regardless of distance. This change has brought in its wake many smaller regional clubs. Modern pigeon culture also includes 'One loft Races' and anything that appears to make money . This change away from Long Distance has not happened overnight. It has been a gradual shift in attitude and inclination over 40 or 50 years so now very few awards are left that celebrate outstanding long distance pigeons. The NFC Certificate of Merit One of the few awards that still does exist but receives little attention by most fanciers is the NFC Certificate of Merit'. Needles to say this award is a difficult to win or even getting close to winning. Out of the thousands of pigeons that enter the Tarbes race every year less than 50 have ever qualified by flying Tarbes (the NFC's Longest race) three times. You would think these outstanding few would attract enormous attention as examples of the best and most reliable Long Distance pigeons in the UK. Unfortunately they do not. Luck Free This award is specifically designed to be Luck Free. Speaking for myself in the selling era that now controls the sport - I would like the ‘Certificate of Merit’ idea to become a top commercial brand in itself. I would like it to become a top brand like a ‘Ferrari’ or ‘Rolls Royce’ - This award should be the ‘Stradivarius’ of pigeon quality. . I think my hopes will never be realised unless a ‘Sea Change’ happens in the way we think about our sport and a further ‘Sea Change’ in how we measure performance here in the UK. My Third Report I am gradually working my way through this years award winners one by one with an article for each of the winners. My third report of this years 'Certificate of Merit' pigeons is of a pigeon from a loft that fits exactly into the non selling - non buying - only swopping category. Keith Bush is part of a dynasty of pigeon fanciers going back almost a hundred years. Keith's father won 1st open in the North Road Championship clubs longest race from Lerwick twice in the 1930’s. That was at a time when the North Road rivalled the NFC as a race of high status. Keith and his brothers have continued in this family tradition. They are all dedicated Long Distance fanciers who race to separate own lofts in different parts of the country. Keith’s pigeon is a Cheq Hen GB 13 N 64534 Her award winning performances are Tarbes 2015 12th Section 196th Open Tarbes 2016 2nd Section 18th Open Tarbes 2017 6th Section 113th Open ‘534’ was prepared the same way all three years. Paired late March with no training before racing. Racing started 1st Saturday in May with three land races to the coast then one short channel race from Carentan . She then went to nest on third round of eggs so she was on a small baby at the time of Tarbes basketing and on open hole from early May but generally the pigeons of Keith Bush pigeons do not exercise much around home but they are allowed to express themselves in an open environment. The sire of ‘534’ The sire of ‘534’ was 12th section Messac NFC and within the first 50 open places from Tarbes. He has bred other good pigeons my 2nd and 3rd birds this year are two sisters from him. Plus others 23rd Open and a lot more Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren that have proved themselves. . He was from a red cock who was 7th section Pau and 4th section Palamos timed 2nd day. His dam was from my brother Neil of S*expletive removed*horpe. This pigeon was a daughter of 1st section Pau x 1st section Saintes. The dam of ‘64534’ The dam of ‘64534’ flew Pau three times and was clocked each time but detailed records are not kept so what positions were is unknown. . She was from half brother/sister mating to a hen that was twice 95th open Pau and she was a granddaughter to my 2nd open MNFC Bergerac. All these pigeons are a family of pigeons Keith has had for many years. Very few introductions have been made in that time.They are certainly one of the very few still intact ‘Strains’ or a related family of long distance pigeons in the UK. Keith was brought up with pigeons and was interested from an early age. After Keith married he started on his own with chosen late breeds from his father so success was immediate. Keith was 4th open NRCC Lerwick at his first attempt. After that Keith was 2nd and 3rd twice and lots more in the first 30 open. A Few Introductions Part of the ‘Bush’ success is because pigeons is a family affair - for instance Keith bred his brother Neill’s ‘Nantes Hen’ the foundation pigeon of Neill’s loft. In return Keith got quite a few good related ones back to further strengthen his own loft. Very few introductions from outside the family have been made but one that has left its mark was a ‘Mick Spencer’ grand daughter of Mick’s famous ‘Scottish Lady. ‘Scottish Lady’ as many will recall has left its mark in many parts of the country including the lofts of long distance fanatics and treble Certificate of Merit award winners M/M E F Cannon of Wormley. This illustrates how the same UK good blood has a habit of emerging regardless of location or loft in various top lofts through the country. Another loft that has had influence is that of ‘Ken Hine’ but apart from those two, little else. The turn from North to South Because of a series of fast Lerwick races with the NRCC Keith decided to change direction and turn South. From this change came the 2nd MNFC Bergerac bred from the best of Keith’s Lerwick pigeons. This hen was also 35th NFC Pau and is one of the best in the loft to this day. In Keith’s opinion modern pigeon prices are ridiculous so he sticks with exchanges with offspring from proven Tarbes pigeons from his brother in S*expletive removed*horpe. Nevertheless it is a mistake to think the Bush philosophy is one of being grounded in the past. When technical improvements arrive Keith is not shy of adopting them. Keith registers and times his pigeons on an ETS system so they no longer have to be handled and for convenience during the hours of waiting for marathon pigeons - Breaks of all kinds are now possible but I would imagine even Keith has moments of sadness and regret if he fails to see the pigeon actually drop after flying 676 miles - especially when the pigeon in question has done it for the third time. Distance flying is the reason this loft exists. It is this objective that keeps Keith outside the pigeon ‘Matrix’ He has definitely not swallowed the ‘Blue acceptance Pill’. ’635’ Cheq Hen the Keith Bush NFC Certificate of Merit winner 2017

A Look into the Future by John Clements The future of the pigeon sport appears bleak at the moment. If we look at the Hall report commissioned by the RPRA and examine the recommendations in that report it appears fanciers and organisations made up by fanciers - are not really good at organising. That is why outside bodies and outside managers are required to manage. All this is as it is now but in the future things could be entirely different. The running and the management of pigeon racing may be privatised and fanciers would then be customers of those who sell the technology and organise racing. . How it could possibly work is for a very minute chip to be inserted into the neck of every Pigeon. This chip could monitor blood pressure - heart beat - and the complete physical condition of the pigeon. This chip could also tell if the pigeon was affected by drugs or other performance enhancing substances. The chip and the software involved with the chip would of course be covered by copyright regulations so in fact it would be owned by the company that manufactured and sold the chip. . What this would mean that as the owner of the physical pigeon you would not own the chip. You would in fact be only racing the chipped bird under licence and did not in fact not own it. As we all know even today - you race the identification ring not the pigeon. This takes this concept of today to another level where you may be in breach of copyright if you gave the pigeon anything that the chip adversely detected; anything that may affect its performance or health. All this will happen when technology is advanced enough to follow the path of a an individual pigeon as it makes its way home. When this technology arrives the chip and racing will be merged and fanciers will no longer be in charge of the organisation of the sport. There will be so much money involved in betting - in advertising - in all sorts of other ways that the firms or firm that controls the chip technology will also want to organise the whole management and enterprise of the sport. For the ordinary fancier this will mean he will just turns up at the club - has his pigeon scanned - if he is a top fancier accept appearance money and enter the race. If he is well known he will have written into his contract the obligation to be interviewed on the TV. If he is an ordinary fancier he will be encouraged to take part by the superb facilities of the venue. These superb facilities will include a restaurant - car parking - something for the children and everything for his family to enjoy every time he races his pigeons. Of course I am looking into the future but almost certainly large companies with a staff to manage everything efficiently will emerge to run this sport of ours. This will probably happen within in the next fifty years. Certainly not more than that.

The NFC ‘Certificate of Merit’ Award By John Clements Almost everything in nature moves in cycles, be its the seasons - black spots on the sun or celestial orbits of every kind. The fitness or form of pigeons also is cyclical by nature. Form goes up and form goes down - the secret in pigeons is an attempt to regulate this form so that it coincides at a highpoint with the race date you have in mind. Ideally form should be on the way up when basketing so that if there happens to be a ‘hold over’ the form of the pigeons are still improving while they are still in the basket. No Control of the Weather Of course all this is subject to things which we have little or no control - the weather being one of them. Still, it is a good policy to have an ideal objective in mind so that we can set the ideal situation against the shortcomings we encounter during preparation. Rarely does everything go smoothly and fits neatly into place all the time. It's rather like election campaigns - political parties campaigning for votes are acutely aware of the unexpected event that could throw their carefully drawn hopes and plans out of the window. Pigeon racing is a bit like that. We have to cope with the unexpected as best we can. Consistency Again - thinking of political parties and their similarity to pigeon racing consistency in both is highly prized - If a party leader can win three elections for their respective parties as Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair did for their respective parties they are thought to be really good leaders. Even today many years after their period in office there are ‘Thatcherites’ and ‘Blairites’, but politics was so much simpler in those days when there was only two main parties. The same is true in pigeons - pigeon racing was once simpler than it is now, once upon a time we all thought in terms only of long distance pigeons - now there are sprint men, middle distance men, and long distance fanciers. Nevertheless there is always something we all want; a ‘champion pigeon’. if a particular individual pigeon can perform repeated top performances this repeat performance is regarded as being evidence of a superior pigeon - in short it is an authentic ‘Champion’. ‘Red Cloud’ a 2016 Certificate of Merit Award winner for Alwyn Hill flown into Section ‘I’ and clocked three times in the top 200 ‘Open’ places from Tarbes. ‘Red Cloud’ I enclose a picture of Alwyn Hill's 2016 NFC ‘Certificate of Merit’ pigeon ‘Red Cloud’ ; an undoubted ‘Champion’ . This inspired award first thought of by Tony Cowan is designed to find authentic ‘Champions’. Tony tells me comments of the time he first broached the Cert of Merit idea - many were of the opinion that there would be hundreds of pigeons that would qualify. How wrong they were. Only 32 pigeons have ever managed it . Less than the number of years it has been run. It is not necessarily for outright winning but more for absolute consistency. Alwyn Hill’s 2016 Certificate pigeon called ‘Red Cloud’ has flown in the NFC’s extreme distance event three times - he was one of only two champions to qualify for a certificate of merit in 2016. Any weak link - any doubt about fitness - any doubt about ability - will be found in a pigeon asked to fly 676 miles on three separate occasions. . ‘Red Cloud’ met these conditions. His Tarbes performances were :- 2014 156th open NFC Tarbes 2015 52nd open NFC Tarbes 2016 92nd open NFC Tarbes Tarbes distance to the Hill loft is 676 miles 1652 yards Those in the know; those who are aware of consistency being of a higher order than a single top prize, look for these pigeons for breeding for it is such pigeons that can be the foundation of a future dynasty and because of this they are often commercially undervalued but for those who do value such things, they are beyond price. Some NFC Sections have still yet to achieve a Certificate of Merit winner while other larger Sections may have earned five or more since the the award began. The NFC Certificate of Merit has been going for 37 years. It started in 1979 and has set the the standard ever since.

Well done.