Gordon Harrison Part 1

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I still find it hard to write about a life time friend even after all this time. I will never forget the day I received the news that Gordon had passed away as long as I live. The only comfort that I can draw from his premature passing is that I was able to get to know him as a true and real friend. Gordon was dedicated to the West of England Tumbler and even emigrating never stopped him pursuing the keeping of his beloved West's. He started from nothing and any West's in Australia and New Zealand are due to the dedication of Gordon's work. He was the reason that I started back keeping West's and reading his profile and mine you will see how closely linked they are. I just hope the hard work that Gordon put into establishing the West in Australia doesn't go to waste. I do know that Guy his eldest son is keen on the birds but work and other commitments stops him from being able to keep them at this time. I miss our long chats and exchange of views and information.

Again my grateful thanks to Gordon's wife Anna and their family for permission in publishing Gordon's profile

This month's Westerly Profile is slightly different from the norm in as far as we are going Down Under to talk to a very dear friend of mine, Gordon Harrison who emigrated to Australia 30 years ago. A lot of Gordon's story in the early days would be my story. Gordon and I knew each other for 10 years before he emigrated but I think it's fair to say they were the most influential years of anyone's life between 12 and 22 years of age. In life one has many acquaintances but only a few friends, I class Gordon as one of those few friends. You can out the hankies down now.

I have a lot of admiration for what Gordon has done for the West of England Tumbler in Australia. Gordon has persevered where many would have given up, and improved the basic material available to arrive at a very true to type looking West and encouraged quite a few Australians to keep the West. All of this in the early days with no one to discuss the problems with, and no dedicated West breeders to show or seriously compare his birds against, but he stayed with them and their popularity is increasing in Australia. It is Gordon that encouraged, or should I say nagged me every time he visited the UK and finally got me back into West’s again after his 1995 visit.

Let me tell you a little about the man. He left Bristol for Australia in October 1969 aged 22 years and settled in Newcastle, New South Wales, married a local girl (a Novocastrian) by the name of Anna and they have three children. Tania 27, Guy 23 and Gareth 18 and have just become grandparents for the first time with a grand daughter called Laura, DOB29/7/99 and have of course gained a son‑in‑law called Troy. Gordon and Anna have lived in Wallsend, a suburb of Newcastle, for 27 years in two different houses. Gordon, like myself, is handyman at DIY and woodwork and builds his own lofts as I do. I think we should put this down to an excellent teacher whose name, if I recall, was Mr Clouter. Something I have never forgotten from Clouter is Length, Width then Thickness. Or as Clouter would say Lousy Woodwork Teacher. A lot of the names around Newcastle are similar to those around Newcastle UK, like Wallsend, Hexham and Morpeth.

Gordon joined the local pigeon club: The Hunter Valley All Variety Pigeon Society (HVS) in 1972 and has been a life member for approximately 12 years. For those of you that know me I wear the pocket badge of HVS on my judging coat. Gordon has held various positions within the club over the 20 years or so including Ring Secretary and Treasurer and is currently entry co‑ordinator on the show committee.

Gordon's eldest son Guy has shown a strong interest in pigeons and has kept Voorburgs and CLLF Tumblers and always looked after the birds when Gordon was away. Unfortunately he is now working in Western Australia some 2500 miles from home and of course Gordon misses that pigeon banter he used to get with his son. So with phone calls only costing $9 (£4) for up to three hours (anyone from BT reading this please take note) I am the one that now has to take the ear bashing. Only joking, it's a pleasure to be able to communicate with a friend so dear. Unfortunately Gordon is in between jobs at present after a brief illness but I am sure it won't be too long before he’s back on his feet.

I think I have prattled on for far too long, so let's get down to the question and answer section, which I hope you, will all find interesting to read.

A. I emigrated to Australia in the October of 1969 at the age of 22 and settled in Newcastle, a City approximately one hundred miles north of Sydney in New South Wales. I was a single man with all my possessions in either my bankbook or one suitcase. Oct 4th made it my30th anniversary of landing at Sydney's Mascot Airport.

A. My first recollections as a small child living at Harringay in North London were pigeons nesting in the building where we lived. On the top storey in one of the rooms at the front of the building was a bay window seat which wash hinged and could be opened to inspect the lead‑lined channelled gutter for blockage~ and the like. More often than not there was a pigeon's stick nest surrounding two beautiful pearl white eggs. Unfortunately for this pair of "streeters" I was given the eggs and the nest destroyed until the next time. Also living close to Finsbury Park and being able to feed the ducks, wood pigeons and the feral street pigeons, together with the occasional visit to Trafalgar Square, I became hooked on birds and their eggs. We moved to Baldock in Hertfordshire when I was about five and this is when I got started into collecting bird’s eggs (something I wouldn't dream of doing now).

After my father died we eventually ended up living in Bristol. I remember one summer when I was 13, our class was on a school excursion to see a historic house in the old central part of the city. At the end of the day we were told by the teacher we could make our own way home. At that a whole bunch of us boys (Dave Walters, Mike Ashton, Roger Cooper, myself and one or two others) headed down to the City Docks in the search for young pigeons up in the beams of the then empty warehouses. That day we brought home a pair of black squeakers about 2 weeks old, and in our naivety we fed then bread soaked in milk, subsequently this mixture formed a solid cheesy lump in the birds' crop which they were unable to digest and soon died. Not to be thwarted by this initial failure we made another trip down to the City Docks in the heart of Bristol and got another pair of youngsters, this time feeding them with bread and water with success

Following this exposure to this wonderful bird, which could be released and let fly in the knowledge that they would return to whatever building you housed them in.

I then set out to build a crude loft, about four foot square, in the corner of our unused garage which accumulated various pigeons, mainly strays, off the street which we caught using a lasso made from strong thread (cotton was to weak and would break). We would look for the strays with rings on such as Competition Tipplers, Racers and the odd West in amongst Streeters and coax them into a circular trap with wheat or bread. At this stage of my life I never had any show birds, just birds we could fly, breed and just look at. By the time I was 16, all had gone. But there's more.

In Australia, and on meeting my wife to be, I found that her family had a few pigeons in a small loft, ex budgie aviary, one of which was a red self Clean Legged Tumbler cock which tumbled all over place, beautiful to my eyes. Subsequently, soon after meeting married, I went out and bought a pair of black CLLF Baldhead Tumblers from a pet shop that always had pigeons for sale (unfortunately none exist today). These were installed in the garage until I was financially strong enough to build my first loft. This was August 1972 and I have kept pigeons ever since (to my wife's dismay) some 27 years.

A. Well in that first year I had odd pairs of allsorts to see what I'd like. There were bald marked Birmingham Rollers, black Gazzi Modenas (which produced a spread milky in each nest), Flying Tipplers, Satinettes, Fairy Swallows and Australian Performing Tumblers. This was my start back into the pigeon hobby but they were not exactly what I was looking for. I remember in my younger days back in Bristol when we were at school we knew these local pigeons only as Featherleg tumblers". These are, what I learnt later to be West of England Flying Tumblers, or better known as "WESTS .I acquired some yellow bald West’s soon after and have kept them as my number one breed forever 25 years. I have also kept and competed successfully with Norwich Croppers during the late seventies and early eighties. Through the eighties we had Voorburgs, Satinettes and Australian Saddlebacks which is a heavily muffed breed similar to Old Dutch Tumblers, but I have always had, and am truly hooked on the exquisite bird we call the West Tumbler.

On moving into our house in the middle of I977 with two small children, the priority was given to building the loft". We had a convenient piece of land behind the double garage hidden from view from the neighbours, the street and also our own backdoor. The shape of the land restricted the loft size to I5 foot long x 9 foot deep and was divided into three 9 x 5 pens which is now what I call my breeding loft. In 1981 had to make a trip to England as my Mother was seriously ill. Subsequently I'm glad to say Mum came through and I returned home to Australia, after four weeks away, all enthused after also being able o include the odd visit to a few West fanciers. I then decided that I needed more loft space and proceeded to build my second loft along the side of the garage. Again restricted by space I built a loft with two 6 x 6 pens, this being my young bird loft. The total floor area of my two lofts is 207 square feet

Q. What breeds do you keep at present, how many birds and in what colours?

At present I only keep West’s although I do get tempted each show I go to, as there are many magnificent breeds of fancy pigeon son display. Currently down under here in Australia we are just finishing our breeding season and this year l have put together28 pairs plus I have 5 spare hens in the young bird loft. My reason for holding these spares is that I rotate my best 2 cock birds each over3 or more of my best hens. Our breeding and show seasons are completely opposite to that of UK and the Northern hemisphere. Our breeding season ranges between July and December with the moult commencing about mid‑January through to late March. Last year I bred off32 pairs and rang I06 young West’s, so by the time I got to January I totalled 170 birds eventually giving away or selling approximately II0. This year I have bought 100 rings, but have decided I would fly a few sub show quality birds with mixed tailed or odd eyed and the like. This hopefully will help keep my numbers in check, as no doubt the Peregrine will take many (I stick to the principal, only fly pigeons you are prepared to loose).l try to keep all the basic colours and patterns and currently have balds in Red, Yellow, Black, Dun, Strawberry and its dilute. I have very few bars or chequers at present and the ones I have are inferior to the spread patterns, but I am making a concerted effort this season to bring them up to the quality of the others. My best birds at present are dun and black balds. In spangles I have some very good blacks and duns and also keep red and yellows, I did produce two indigo spangles last year but they weren't good enough to retain too long for my liking, something I detest in a West.

At the moment I'm currently working on three colour projects, which do not exist here as yet, they are Dominant Opal, Almond, and Brown. I particularly like the look of Khaki and Opal Bars. These three genetic projects I estimate will take me five years, possibly a little longer to get them up to the quality of my best blacks and duns. Providing this is done properly and not to the detriment of the breed, i.e. culling all the crosses out as you proceed to the next level of perfection, is a very satisfying achievement.

At this point we will leave the profile until next month when Gordon will take up where we have left off as you can see, Gordon has been involved with pigeons for many years and because of his isolation has become quite knowledgeable with most of the pigeon diseases and genetics and he is the first one hat I turn to when I have a problem. Next month we will listen to Gordon's future aims and some very interesting tips for the beginner, but most of all he will be expressing his personal views about the standard for the West. NOT TO BE MISSED.

Can I personally thank everyone that made the effort to make the Federation Show the success that it was. Look out next month for a different idea to the way in which the nominated pigeons are dealt with and one or two other ideas to improve next year's Federation Show. In the meantime, I hope you are all getting your fair share of success in the snow pens and I suspect by now you have all already paired up on paper. Seasonal Greetings to all.