It was 1971 when we moved our family
from Danforth/Woodbine to Don Mills. At that time I did not have a clue I
would get back into pigeons. If I had known I would have moved somewhere
North of Newmarket!
I got back in the pigeon game in the
fall of 1975. My 13 year old daughter
(Cathy) came home with a tippler (band number CNTA 68-27). How is
that for record keeping!! You want to know more about this bird? She was a
blue band and I lost her on May 27th 1976.
Reporting this bird to Mary Horton has
costed me all kinds of money! She told me about the great Toronto
Federation and what fun it would be to race pigeons again. I agreed and
had a small loft built in my back yard.
Racing success was slow to come. In
1977 the only prizes I won was from Parry Sound 26 lofts – 427 birds –
7th – 9th – 14th. Many times I went
to
In those days they were very strict
with their boundaries. The whole winter I had gone to the shows of the
Eastern Club in Frank Blackburn’s basement. Just before the races
started in 1977, I got a call
from
J. Higginson. He was the President of
the Eastern Club.“Where exactly do you live” he asked. I said “About
½ a mile south of Victoria Park. “Sorry he said you cannot fly with us.
You must apply with the Western Club. The boundary is Victoria Park. I
guess they had enough members in those days.
I still remember too that the Western
Club had an auction. Jack Hicks and Dave Booth were the owners of a
yearling Blue Bar cock who had won Nakina. In the auction was a young of
that cock. I wanted that youngster. The band number was CU 76-3251. The
Nakina cock was # 74 CU FN 38. I was bidding against John McLellan. He
stopped bidding at $30.xx and I bought the bird for $34.xx
How times have changed. The opening
bid now is $ 50.xx, does not matter how good or bad the bird is.
That youngster together with all my
other birds were killed on July 16th 1976. A raccoon got in the
loft and came very close to ending my hobby. I learned a valuable lesson
and a lifelong hate for raccoons.
