My New Book!

The front cover designed by Andrew Page-Robertson

The Rear cover - designed by Andrew Page-Robertson

The designer, Andrew is my next door neighbour and a good friend.  He designed the covers without prompting from me and used birds he chose from the many I provided for him.  The birds used are of his own choosing and I doubt that I would have selected differently.

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* The book is available on internet on www.amazon.

* It is also being sold by Winckley Press, 197 Higher Walton Road, Walton-le-Dale, Preston, Lancashire PR5 4HS. The price will be 19pounds plus p&p

*  I will have copies at 3 Kunyung Road, Mount Eliza, Victoria 3930, Australia at $Aus.30.00 plus $4.00 post and packing within Australia, elsewhere at cost of the appropriate postal rate.

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The Book

I had thoughts of writing this little history some years ago and now, after countless hours spent reading and researching, I am able to present my findings. When I began my plan to write this history, it suddenly occurred to me that I have been involved in the hobby of showing racers for almost half of its history!  Whether that provides a qualification I do not know, but it is a matter of fortune that I have collected a huge amount of information, aided by my interest and my career in the police with its need to record matters as they occurred.  It has been a difficult task bearing in mind that over the hundred plus years of the development of the show racer, names and titles have changed considerably, as have the methods of exhibition and judging.  Shows and exhibitions have emerged and faded from the showing scene, but remaining consistent has been the desire to show our pigeons under the highest standards of competition. 

As to timing, I have used a date of approximately 1980 and included mainly material from before that year.  To have attempted to continue to the present time would have caused offence to some who were not mentioned or described adequately and also as a resident of Australia, I am no longer very up to date with current events.  Perhaps there is someone who will continue the story in due course.

The show racer is a beautiful pigeon.  It is a good looking form of the racing pigeon and it must always be thought of as this – a lovely looking racing pigeon.  It is easy to house, to breed and keep clean.  It can fly successfully and holds just about all the attractive features of the pure racer.  The racing pigeon itself is a wonderful creature, possessing intelligence, character and bravery and when these features are added to by good handling, body and balance, and attractive colours, the perfect pigeon is the result.

‘Since early boyhood I have raised pigeons and have found in them a hobby which has brought relaxation coupled with stimulation, to such a degree as to colour and enhance every phase of my life’  These could so easily be my words but they are those of Wendell M. Levi in his book ‘The Pigeon’ first published in 1941.  My sentiments are similar for ever since I was first introduced to pigeons as a boy, and then from when I saw show racers exhibited at an agricultural show in Cornwall I have felt devoted to this beautiful pigeon from that moment on.

The show racers in particular, but also other breeds of pigeons, have provided me with a consuming interest and a joyous hobby.  Despite all my administrative functions and writing, I have found relaxation through my pigeons to compensate for the stresses of my career and the work of raising my family.

In my first book, ‘The Show Racer – How to Show Racing Pigeons’ published in 1976, I opened with the following words, ‘The show racer is a pigeon of beauty, dignity and grace. Presented in peak condition it is a joy to see and it is little wonder that its popularity is ever growing.’ I still believe this, some six decades after seeing my first show racer and almost that number of years since winning my first ever prize card.

The show racer in Great Britain is almost unique to the countries of the United Kingdom. It has developed in a manner which is fairly typical of a country with such a long history, enjoying democracy and a constitution which is flexible and unwritten. Names have come and gone during the history of the showing of the racing pigeon but many have remained for long periods and made their presence felt in the development and enhancement of the sport.  Names within their respective countries which have done much for the sport might be as follows, without reference to any present day fanciers

England- Billington, Metcalfe, Record Bros., Worton, Hyde, Arrowsmith, Snow, Rigg, Dalzell

Wales –  Penhale, Evans, Simmonds, Griffiths, Parker, King

Scotland – Nisbet, Nicholl, Walker, Stark, Greenshields, Thornton, Bowes

We might all have our own ideas on who might be included in such a listing but these are mine based upon numerous hours of reading and also based on my own memories and of how such men were spoken of.

My intention of writing this little history – and remember it is A history and not THE history of the sport of showing racing pigeons; was to record its importance to the showing of pigeons and personally to leave something behind which others may find useful and interesting. The development has not been an easy one yet in the early years of the 21^st century the showing side seems to exist in harmony with the parent racing pigeon sport.  We have operated under the rules of the racing pigeon unions and have been subjected to control and regulation determined by them.  Some showing is conducted under the rules of the fancy pigeon associations, but generally the popularity of the show racer is the result of existing within the racing pigeon sport.

Perhaps as one grows older, the interest in historical fact grows stronger but I have been fascinated at the gradual development of the Show Racer throughout its history. We are talking about a period of just over a hundred years, a period not too far short of the history of pigeon racing in Britain.  I am so grateful that I have been able to keep and retain so much useful material which has aided my research.  I have maintained scrapbooks for over fifty years and these alone contain a mine of information.  Also, owing to writing for magazines over the years and expressing interest in historical facts, many readers have been kind enough to send me information in the form of letters, magazine cuttings, books and other material.

There will be but few breeds of pigeon with such a long history and even fewer with a written history of development.  This is my intention, to leave a history of the Show Racer which can be of interest and value to those who are fortunate enough to keep this wonderful and beautiful breed of pigeon in the future.

Douglas McClary,

Mount Eliza, Victoria, Australia

September 2012