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Posted

This is a rather tatty photo of my first loft with my dad and brother (with fantail trapper), built on a brick air-raid shelter backing on to a coal yard in the centre of Portsmouth, 6X6 with a stray catcher trap, dated Summer 1962.

Posted

Loft No1 was quickly followed by loft No2, built late 1962 with racing in mind. Eggs on Xmas day & Boxing Day 1962 (remember that winter 62/63) were my team for the coming 1963 season. Still on top of the air-raid shelter and I used to sit on top of the coalyard shed behind the loft and enjoy the 'wonderful view' of a myriad of chimney pots all across Portsmouth. I was 15/16 in those pictures

 

 

Posted

Nice pics. Mick, I was born and still lived in Southampton then, I certainly remember that winter, did we not have gritters in those days? The ice on the roads was murder, I had an Austin 7 ruby at the time, no power, no brakes just about perfect for those conditions

Posted

Hi billt,

We had the blizzard on Boxing day and the snow stayed till March, We had to fit polythene covers to the front of the lofts to keep out the snow, the youngsters thrived though, they won me the YB averages that year, with 2nd& 4th Solent fed St Malo as the highlight (1st&2nd club).

Posted

Photos & posts evoke memories. I was a teenager delivering newspapers during that winter. Started snowing here around November and didn't stop till March.

Posted

Great photo's Mick,1962 is when I started up.I kept the birds in our coal house after the introduction of smokeless fuel and we got a gas fire.Then with the building of the Ford plant(Halewood L'Pool) on farmland in front of our house,I had an endless supply of wood so built my first loft.Happy days

Posted

In late 1964 we learned that our whole neighbourhood was going to be cleared and a new estate built, (you can see from the pictures that it wasn't the most grandest of areas). We were set to be rehoused by the Council and set about viewing offered properties, being a pigeon fancier they had to meet certain criteria and we ended up being one of the last to leave when we finally found a suitable location.

It was a far cry from the cramped terraced houses of Buckland, it was a veritable Shangri-La for a pigeon fancier. Situated on the Eastern side of Portsmouth, a short walk from Langstone Harbour with views across to Emsworth and Chichester and it backed onto a special needs school. For us, a dream location. Moved in February 1965, broke the birds in four days and timed in from Pau NFC on the day with a broke-off pigeon. Happy days.

 

Loft No 3

 

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted

This DCP hen was my first ever winner in my first ever race, it was a real snorter, a Hot thundery day, with a SE wind, from Dorchester 60ml, she won by a handsome 25mins I got 13/15 on a day when several members failed to time in.

 

Posted

In 1984, after a fantastic season in 1983, tragedy struck when my Father suddenly died of a heart attack in late March, we had just had the YBs out for the first time and I had to move the loft & birds to my garden quickly as the house had to be vacated. Being a much smaller garden I had to downsize and redesign the sheds, the Wife, who was much happier now the birds were in the back garden had to suddenly become pigeon-friendly, which she did, and still does, to great effect having timed in on numerous occasions over the years.

Here she is handling one of my (our) birds.

 

Posted

This was the set-up in 2005, the far shed is what remains of my previous loft built in 1965, nearing the end of its days structurally, the cups were won in 2005 when I had a good year with the OBs winning the OB Average in Club & Solent Fed.

 

Posted

3 yrs ago I decided that the loft across the bottom had come to the end of its useful life being over 40yrs old. A decision was made to remove it and replace with a 12 X 6 YB/Stock Loft on the other side of the garden to get a bit more length in the garden.

 

 

The most recent alterations I did (and hopefully the last) was adding external doors to all the sections on the widowhood loft for easier access.

 

 

The End

  • 1 month later...

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