Over the past few issues of the magazine, my long-time colleague and fellow scribe Danny Southcott, aided by another of his friends, has been trying to convince you readers that there is a major rift in the thinking department of Club members regarding Archangels and Gimpels.
Contrary to the assumption that may be gleaned from Danny's writings the rest of us are not a collection of country bumpkins and we do all accept, without reservations that the Archangel and the Gimpel are of the same breed, being merely colour variations of it. So where/what is the rift? The so-called rift is not about the breed at all, it is all about Danny's self pronounced crusade. Let me explain.
It all started with Danny's avowed intention of making his life-long crusade that of joining the Archangels and the Gimpels under one banner. In fact for many years I have supported him, to the extent that even whilst Danny was inactive in the breed and Club, I was carrying on the fight for amalgamation almost alone. So far our ideals are all acceptable as we can all have our dreams.
Some time ago, now certainly over two-and-a-half years ago, the Archangel club members, following a request from a couple of Gimpel breeders, voted by a very narrow 11 - 9 majority to allow the Gimpels to join it and to be shown as colour variants under the auspices of the Archangel Club (formed 1884, making it the oldest Breed Club in the UK I believe). One of that slender majority, ie me, has since openly declared that my voting paper actually indicated that I was 'for' the amalgamation but 'against' the Club having to change its very historic name. That change of position in effect made the count 10 - 10 which rather gets up Danny's nostrils. According to logic, if the two 'breeds' are the same then, and I agree, they probably should share a single mutual breed name. But, a few facts: The Archangel Club being both senior and by far the best supported should be the obvious choice of name, especially as it was a few Gimpel breeders who wanted to join the Archangels, certainly not vice versa. The Archangel Club is financially healthy and extremely well run by a very efficient Secretary who travels far and wide to attend a great deal of our shows and is therefore in friendly, direct face-to-face contact with most of his members on a very regular basis. Danny on the other hand does not drive, very rarely (if ever) shows more than once a year, very rarely judges nor even attends shows and has openly stated that he will probably not show too much in the future. He also claims to have poor eyesight that apparently does not allow him to judge either. Some of the current Archangel Club officers, including its valued Secretary and President, have openly stated that they will resign should an amalgamation as proposed by Danny go ahead. Who would replace these very efficient, hard working club officers? Danny and Co! I don't think so.
