Lottery 'coo' for pigeon racers

Youngsters could learn animal care by becoming a pigeon racer

A pigeon racing club in south Wales has been awarded a £17,000 lottery grant to help them attract younger members and buy new electronic tagging equipment.

Members of the Hanbury Arms Pigeon Club in Hanbury, Torfaen will use the money to help them promote their activities in schools and youth clubs.

The new project will also help them work with lone parent families.

The Big Lottery Fund has also awarded 15 other projects with similar aims in Wales with grants worth over £3m.

According to Malcolm Anslow, the vice chair of the Hanbury Arms Pigeon Club, pigeon races can begin from as far afield as Germany and Belgium and competitions take place between individuals, clubs and on an international scale.

The race distances range from 55 miles to 450 miles.

The pigeons are transported to the race starts, set free and then their owners must wait for their return to the club coups.

The other good thing about the project is that it gets youngsters involved with nature and wildlife and gets them out into the open to enjoy the fresh air Malcolm Anslow, Hanbury Arms Pigeon Club

Mr Anslow said their speeds range from 45mph to 70mph if weather conditions are favourable and races take place 22 weeks a year in the summer months.

In the winter months, club members care for and exhibit their pigeons.

The lottery money will buy the Torfaen club a new electronic timing system which will allow members to more accurately measure their birds' race timings.

Mr Anslow said the need for the project was identified after a week-long pilot festival which demonstrated that young people wanted to be part of the club.

"Two years ago, we went into the schools and we found that there was a huge amount of interest in pigeon racing among the youngsters," said Mr Anslow, who joined the club when he was 10-years-old.

"The other good thing about the project is that it gets youngsters involved with nature and wildlife and gets them out into the open to enjoy the fresh air. It will be both fun and educational for them at the same time."

It is better being out at the pigeon club than sitting in the house Declan Smith

Members get to learn about animal care and even a little maths when it comes to working out the speed of the pigeons, said Mr Anslow.

The sport is even catching up with new technologies. Scientists are currently developing rings which can be tracked by satellites, similar to the navigational systems in cars.

"In the future, our members might be able to follow the progress of their birds on their computers," said Mr Anslow.

"Youngsters have so many other toys, computers and gadgets to keep them occupied today and I suppose they haven't realised that we're here. In Belgium on the other hand, pigeon racing is like a national sport."

One youngster to have embraced pigeon racing wholeheartedly is Mr Anslow's 12-year-old grandson Declan Smith who joined the Hanbury club four years ago.

"It is better being out at the pigeon club than sitting in the house," he said.

"I help my bampy care for about 150 pigeons and I love racing them. I do have my favourites - normally because of their colours."

Janet Reed from the Big Lottery Fund the £3m in grants would "have a positive impact on the lives of many people in the community".