Moving the Sport Forward

[Guest]

There is a subject on the old message board, that I cant reply to as I cant log in, about Moving the Sport forward. My thought is that the older fanciers obviously had less to do years ago (less electronic things such as computers etc.) and spent more time outdoors than people do in these days, so we are a generation of soft people who winge at the slighest bit of cold or rain etc. And I personnally think that you cannot change the way the country has gone. The war brought people together and made a generation of people that appreciated being alive etc. Being young myself it seems that everyone is competing against each other to be better than the next, i.e. if you dont have the best clothes, car house PIGEONS (in my case) you are looked down on. This unless there is another disaster to bring people together will just continue to get worse and is doing so. So its not the sport itself that is having to go forward its people that have to change. Its not just pigeon racing that has gone down hill in the country, it is most sports. I am only 27 myself but love to talk to the older fanciers about the sport and this is the general feeling I get. Dont get me wrong I hope Pigeon racing is around for the whole of my life time, as I love it.

[Guest]

i totally agree sbelbin i love talking to the older fanciers as well as they are usually the ones who genuinley like to help you and they have usally got the information that is most effective when put into practice and as you i also hope the sport will continue for a very long time certainley in my life time

 

 

all the best

paul carter

[Guest Doostalker]

Shelbin, you are right about the differences between then and now. I have tried getting kids interested in pigeons, but the interest is usually short lived as there is so much else for them to be involved in. Lifestyles have changed dramatically, and pigeon keeping is only one pastime that has suffered. Cage birds keeping has gone the same way. Keep optimistic though. Things go in cycles so there could be a resurgence some day!!

[speedbird]

your dead right shelbin. over the years member numbers have fallen in my area think its the same everywhere i do hope its around for years to come as im a young member & i love the sport

[jimmy white]

i agree with the previous posts, and off course the membership is declining, no one can doubt that, its a completely differant age, and how do you manage this,? people dont seem to have the time now for racing pigeons, work commitments, new technology, and even the way kids are brought up, all point towards the decline of the sport, i often wonder  [just a thought[ if there were more one loft races, where, the painter the baker the candlestick maker, or any bussinesses, anybody for that matter, could own a  few pigeonsall racing to the one loft, which would also be a syndacate in a club fed etc   where they could have a loft result ,a club result etc, im quite sure after seeing their own birds race, a lot of them would become interested and want to  ,branch out on their own  all you would need is a peice of ground, a manager [free]  and a loft,if the local paper printed the loft result each week, im quite sure a few busseness men, would like a free advert ,  #  i had a dream#   jimmy white

[jimmy white]

p.s.    i love young paul carters  saying,at the bottom of his posts .            [  [ if you put the effort in your birds will be right in the end ]      stick in son   youll be there  SOON  jimmy

[Guest]

Jimmy, I thought a couple of years ago about holding a one loft race and when I went into the cost of keeping feeding medicating etc etc plus feeding the breeders on race day, there's nowt in it.

 

another reason I wouldn't run a one lofter is that you cannot guarantee the health of the birds you are taking in and the whole loft could be wiped out by sickness

[jimmy white]

i see what your saying hyacinth but i was thinking more of the lines of a small village loft which every one that owned abird or two would have to be a member of a union , which would enhance the union membership.then this way they would all be partnership in club and fed ,but also have there own loft result, then maybe from there they would catch the bug, and eventualy race on their own  im just talking about a loft with say 40  50   bird limit,   just in a very small way  just a thought jimmy

[snowy]

hi, me & my son westy are going to contact channel 4 & explain how racing pigeons helped us win the war etc with different bits of information from various websites & how the sport is declining & how helpfull most pigeon fanciers are, & try & get them to put a loft up on the next BIG BROTHER programme as they are in for 13 weeks or so & get a task to get the young birds to home, or put the birds in before the programme starts so they are already homed. just an idea? instead of them keeping chickens, i think this kind of viewing would have a big effect on the public & might get a lot of new fanciers into the sport, especially if there was a few pieds & pretty coloured ones. oh well im going to try anyway & volenteer to help them if they need help setting it up & im sure i would have a bit of help off you fanciers out there.? keep you all posted. SNOWY & WESTY.

[samantha]

I hope they go for it snowy, I think it would work well if they were already homed, it would be nice for everyone to see the progress over the 13 weeks, especially if they were settled enough to breed.

 

yes I agree I dont race my birds I just have them as pets, but it is a materialistic world. and when I tell people about my birds they usually laugh, especially with me being a yorkshire girl, they ask if I have a whippet aswell (which I have) but I dont race her either!!

[Guest]

Samantha

 

I am sorry but this is a hard fact of life you're going to have to get used to when you keep pigeons. Not onl.y because you are female but the ignorance of Joe and Jane doe. When I was in England I often heard my neighbours flapping their mouths over the fence about the disease I was spreading with my birds, what a dirty *expletive removed* I was and was often asked if I was any relation to Jack Duckworth.

 

Maybe you are lucky you live in Yorkshire, which has a long tradition of pigeon flying, I was lucky too living in Lancashire with the same traditions and was treated as an equal my the male members of my club.

 

In certain parts of America ladies who fly are often given a rough ride especially if they beat "The Good Ole boys" been there done it have the T shirt. One prominent USA flyer gave a speech in public at the Detroit Convention viciously attacking women with racing pigeons.  His feet didn't touch the ground on the way back from the podium, I saw to that.

 

You are also lucky that you live in the UK, high pressure media advertising by drug and cleaning product companies are convincing people that you can pick up germs from anything including a cockroach fart.  People are getting paraniod and pigeons are an easy target  since Woody Allens "Flying Rats" outburst.

 

Take no notice of people who makes jokes about pigeons, smile at them and let the words "Ignorant Wassock" go through your mind.

 

 

[samantha]

nice one hyacinth, you did make me smile thanks

[Guest]

same here Hyacinth, your words brought a smile to my face and will be going through my head when I have to talk to the anti pigeon brigade

[Guest]

same here samantha i also live in yorkshire and they say simlar things to me! however i live in east yorkshire

[samantha]

mind you I'd look gook in a flat cap! they would have a field day!!

 

I mix concrete in my workshop next to my loft and I was having a reaction on my hands, the first thing my friends said was, have you caught that from the pigeons! I suppose we are all guilty of being ignorant of things we dont yet understand! (if that makes any sense)

[jimmy white]

good luck to you snowy with your venture, at least your trying, and yes who knows, you might just have some thing there, and lets face it anything is worth trying to help a now declining sport, so i say good on you.

[Guest WINGS 04]

yes mew to snowy it would be batter than whats on the tv now

[jimmy white]

there are far more male fanciers than female  i think if you worked out the ratio  per female fancier per result youll find that female fanciers come up trumps, they are far more patient with pigeons  and ./have a way with them/  more than us males plus the fact they have common  sense, which a lot of us, boys, havent got.      surely thats worth a rating point samantha  ha ha  cheers jimmy

[Guest]

snowy and Westy.

 

Fantastic Idea, Steve and I have arranged several sports promotion projects and will be on;ly too willing to help you out from a distance.

 

Another line of thought, do the Boy Scouts in England have a Pigeon Keeping badge, they had years ago in America but it was dropped, the AU are now actively campaigning to have it re instituted.Another idea the AU are working on is that they are lobbying the US Postal Service to issue a commemorative Stamp depicting te role the Pigeons played in 2 World Wars.

 

Just a couple of ideas worth considering

[samantha]

theres nothing wrong with a bit of flattery Jimmy, you keep it up!! :K)

 

speaking of which Ive seen the photo of you in your kilt!! very smart!

[Guest Doostalker]

"and when I tell people about my birds they usually laugh, especially with me being a yorkshire girl, they ask if I have a whippet aswell (which I have) but I dont race her either!!"

 

Samantha, I know how you feel. I have the pigeons and a lurcher, and previously kept ferrets. I also have been known to wear a flat cap when I go fishing. My mates have a field day about it and usually ask if I know Jack Duckworth!!

 

Seriously, the image of the sport needs to be improved in the public eye, but we don't seem to have the wherewithal to do it. I think we need to do more.

 

 

[samantha]

don't get me wrong, It doest really bother me, the whole pigeon image, I was just really demonstrating that things have changed since pigeon racing was a more common sport, how my friends prefer to talk about which bmw to get, or laura ashleys new range in curtains, than the simple pleasures in life, I dont have a problem with that, I can talk curtains as well as the next girl, but not many see what I get from pigeons.

 

I think it is partly because there is more money around and younger people have more opportunitys open to them, whereas in my grandparents day it was an affordable pastime, I duno, but I certainly dont give a monkeys about people taking the mick, I give as much as I recieve

 

What I dont like is people who call pigeons vermin and complain about them for no good reason, an older lady across the road from me was trying to persuade me to stop feeding them, (not my birds, wild garden fantails)  complained that she was fed up of having to see them copulating!!   I dont know how I stopped myself from falling about hysterically!! :D

[jimmy white]

lovely photo ,samantha, is that you, jimmy

[Guest]

Talking about lovely pictures: The front page of today's Homing World. What a happy looking family group and what a great advert for the sport. Pity some of these photos don't get into the National dailies.

Young boy obviously takes it all a bit too serious though!!!

[samantha]

yes its me jimmy, I have an older dog too, I socialised them with the birds as chicks and now if one of my birds comes onto the ground and my dogs are out they know not to chase them (well most of the time, the puppy looks like butter wouldnt melt but she can be naugty!)