We are indeed blessed with a hobby to rival the best things in life, we have our pigeons in our gardens 365 days a year and we have the enjoyment of planning where our stud is going as to the standard we choose to chase or improve. The proof as to where we are at any given point in time is in the results on the exhibition circuit or in the air if we keep flying breeds such as Birmingham Rollers, Flying Tipplers, Racers or some other style of high flyers that keep us entertained with the enjoyment they all bring.
The only thing that we need to worry about is how much enjoyment and excitement we all get from breeding something that is a little bit special and the crazy thing is that we develop an eye for such little things, such as picking the nest bowl up when the youngsters are just three weeks old and saying to yourself - this one looks good. This could be this year's ring nomination winner at the National Young Bird Show, as I feel the young bird ring nomination competition should be at this show, it is for youngsters bred in the current year and where better to win than at this show for youngsters? Sorry but holding it at any other show puts it on the sidelines not mainstream, it's an add-on not the glorious main event it should be or do we have two, three or four events next year?
Back to the process of recognition - it is the same one we develop to become an experienced judge of the finer points of our breeds, in fact we develop it so well that it becomes second nature, we do not even give it another thought, it becomes locked in the mind's eye, you automatically look how the bird stands, how it handles, how long the legs are, how short is the beak, how much height is above the eye and so forth.
Sadly we have lost a great many of our older all-round judges and we are now in a position to try and fill the void that these guys have left in their passing. The one thing that we know for certain is that with the passing of time none of us will be here to enjoy this wonderful hobby in say 40 years time, not just due to popping our clogs but with the way things are going it will soon be against some more made-up rules to keep captive birds or animals. A little light relief as to a little gem my father gave me many years ago, he said 'It is no good worrying about life as none of us get out alive'. Three score years and ten and you are on borrowed time.
Question in the house, when does a breed club or society become destructive and not constructive? When do closing doors and closing ranks to certain fanciers who have different views become justified? Maybe, just maybe, when some of the more senior members of these so-called clubs and societies, who incidentally should know better, start to blackmail the secretary, saying that they will resign and take their toys away if certain fanciers are allowed to join the club or society? It is sad reflection that people can stoop so low as to these types of tactics, putting the secretary in such a terrible position. We are all the same, we want the best for the Fancy, it is not rocket science, we need everyone to have the enjoyment of being a member of their own breed club or society and to be able to go on the judges list if they have a desire to judge at shows.
