Our CLub
The roots of Lancashire Show Pigeon Society and its formation can be traced back to the mid-1960s.
The Pilkington Glass Co whose base is located in St. Helens, Lancashire at the time (now Merseyside) was one of the biggest employers in the county, employing thousands of men and women in their glass production plants.
At that time peoples hobbies were numerous and very diverse and as you would expect a lot of the employees of Pilkington’s were such hobbyists.
The company had organised and held summer gala shows for such people to exhibit at among the exhibits all sorts of livestock, pigeons being one of them.
The venue for the summer gala shows was St. Helens Town Hall, the show secretary was a Mr Jack Garner, due to its popularity company employees and invited guests entries were only accepted, but the show was open for the public to attend and browse
Pigeon classifications had been available since 1961 with NPA certificates available to the winning fanciers. So it was here that the founder members of the Lancashire Show Pigeon Society met and formed the club. The founder members being Mr & Mrs A Roscoe, Mr B Pendleton, Mr G Morris, Mr D Derbyshire, Mr A Jackson, Mr P Hatfield and Mr B Hallhose.
The first Lancashire club show was held at the Ashton-in-Makerfield baths in 1969, affiliated to the NPA and achieving championship status in 1976.
Joint secretaries G Morris & D Derbyshire to be able to host a show in the early days would have to borrow pens & equipment to accommodate the numbers a championship show attracted. With the help from Southport Show Pigeon Society run at the time by Mr K Blundell and North Wales Columbarian Society run by Mr L Dillison and by committee members taking three days of work to collect the equipment, erect the pens at the venue plus pick up the sometimes up to a hundred pigeons from St Helens junction, Along with feed & water it was a lot of work carried out by dedicated serious fanciers who wanted to put on a first class show for everyone who came or sent there birds from all parts of the UK, not forgetting the dismantling and returning of the rail stock and the borrowed equipment once the show day was over.
Lancashire Show Pigeon Society has had several secretaries & venues over the years, G Morris, D Derbyshire, T Alty, T McGarvey and to date Miss H Seed. Apart from the venues mentioned the show has been held at Eccles, Clitheroe, Prescott and Preston.
Also many thanks to Mr Alan & Mrs Mary Roscoe for their help and kind hospitality in enabling us to put these facts together.