This being my first article for Feathered World it might be sensible for me to introduce myself
I first became interested in pigeons in general at the tender age of 10 years old. My father helped me make wooden fronts for two tea chests I acquired from the local grocers shop, I then cycled off to a local farm, and in the early evening was directed by the farmer to a hay loft. Here I was instructed to look for two birds that were sitting close together, these I was told would be a pair. I eventually caught four birds, two pairs, and I was off on the journey of pigeon keeping with my prized Fantails.
Over the years I progressed to keeping racing pigeons, and eventually became a junior member of the Bletchley & District Homing Society back in the late 1950s. The Club headquarters was at that time in the village of Woburn Sands. I was a member of the said organisation until the late 1960s, when as was my fate, I became interested in birds of a different kind, got married, and moved away from home.
I took up the position of Head Herdsman to a Mrs Noad at Hollytree Farm, Mill Green near Welwyn Garden City, and was in charge of the day-to-day running of a large herd of Channel Island dairy cows. I had, since leaving school, been a scholar of agriculture, my roots going back in my father's family who were farmers in the Finedern area of Derbyshire. They moved to Buckinghamshire in 1939, following the death of Father's youngest brother in a farm fire, and grandmother finding it too distressing to continue living at that farm.
Over the next 30 years I and my own family, were involved in agriculture, eventually farming on my own account until my health dictated that I found an easier way of living. I am now a funeral director, probably just as stressful, but not such heavy work.
