Terry Little

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THE FEDERATION WESTERLY PROFILE

Fancier – Terry Little

This month I go on a short trip across Bristol to meet up with one of the Federations newest members Terry Little who lives in the Kingswood suburb of Bristol with his wife Marie. Terry and Marie have 3 sons all now in the forties and 12 grand children ranging from 10 to 20 years old. Terry will tell you himself how he started up with pigeons but I do know his biggest love is his Flying Tipplers but because of the hawk problems it is impossible to keep a kit of Tipplers in the air so he has turned his interest into keeping and showing the West of England Tumbler.

Terry was born and has lived in Bristol all his life moving to Kingswood 10 years ago after spending much of his life living the Easton district of Bristol, besides his pigeons Terry also has a passion for snooker and every Friday you can find him down at the snooker hall in Barton Hill playing and I have it on fairly good authority that he is a very good player (Terry told me!!). Terry also enjoys gardening and providing I write a good profile on him has promised me some tomato plants. Terry’s other love is fishing and by fishing I mean all types of fishing ranging from course to sea fishing. He also has two Jack Russell dogs both four years old Rhett who is all white and Scarlett who is Black and White

Terry is now 67 years old and semi retired from his occupation as a jobbing builder but likes to keep his eye in so these days he never works after 4 o’clock. Because of his occupation Terry has always had a small van to carry his tools but when he came to see me the other day was proud of the deal he had done for a car thinking he could carry a few tools in the boot. When you looked inside the car there was no room for anything else so I think it might be time to start looking for another van.

The last few years have not been to kind to Terry loosing two brothers and one sister he now has one older sister remaining.

A. About five years this time around – I began with West’s just for flying then I switched to my first love Flying Tipplers but flying these days is finished due to the Peregrine so I have gone back to the West with the idea of showing them.

I first got started with the bug as a lad watching a flock of coloured pigeons that bred on an island in Eastville Park a well-known locality in Bristol way back in the forties. I eventually enticed them within reach with breadcrumbs and grabbed a pure white one and legged it around the park but some guys chased me and as they caught up with me I reluctantly released it. I messed about on and off until the mid 60’s when I joined he Bristol and District Tippler and Tumbler Flying Society – I believe they were one of the biggest flying clubs in the world. I was reasonably successful and finished up running the club as Secretary for 3 to 4 years then finished up because of work commitments.

A. I have all West’s now and I am breeding from 15 pairs in Red, Black, Chocolate and Yellow Spangles, Silver, Duns and Creams. My real passion is Spangles but I soon realised that I was limiting my options for showing by only keeping Spangles so that’s when I got some other colours.

A. Breeding so far has not been as good as I would have liked this year but it is improving and by the time I have finished breeding should end up with about forty youngsters and hope to have 6 or so which should make up to be worthy of showing this year. I didn’t start breeding this year until the 25^th January as I was on holiday prior to this.

A. I have two lofts one is 12’ x 8’ and the other is 8’ x 6’ which I built when I started back with the pigeons five years ago. The small one is a garden shed, which I have adapted.

Q. What do you look for in a good West?

A. I am still very much a beginner when it comes to showing but I have observed that the bigger birds seem to be the ones that are winning. I do like a good pearl eye and width of feather in the flights. Feathers to feel silky not brittle the bird is not to be too high on the leg and be well balanced. The tail feathers when closed to look like one feather when handling. I like a nice rounded head and it’s very nice to have birds that are reasonably quite in the loft and the show pen (just like Dave Walters’s birds)

Q. Tips for novices?

A. Stating the obvious the only way to learn initially is from established fanciers. Go to as many shows and club meetings as possible. I have joined the Federation, The Bristol TTSS and Bideford clubs. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice any good fancier will be only to happy to help where they can. If you can get an established fancier to come to your loft ask their opinion on your birds and ask them to be frank and honest, brutal in fact and note their remarks

Q. What are your future aims?

A. My future aims are to carry on showing my birds and meeting and speaking to other fanciers. Improving the birds that I have got and to make it all worthwhile winning at one of the classic shows.

Q. What are your views on flying breeds?

A. Since I have started showing I have met a lot of fanciers for the first time and they all seem to be a good bunch of people, they welcome you and find time to listen to your points of view as well as willing to share theirs. It would be nice to see some youngsters starting up with the fancy but alas this doesn’t seem to be happening.

Q. Are there any people you would like to thank?

A. I would like to thank all the fanciers that I have met over the years with special thanks going to all those that have helped me get my West’s together in the form of Dave Walters with Creams, Red and Silvers. Harry Balchin with Chocolate Spangles and Khaki bars. Trevor Dryden with Yellows. Pete Holland with spangles and not forgetting Terry Gerrish. All of these guys are at the top of the tree for showing and they are ready with advice and suggestions. There is one other that I dare not miss out and that is the poor old pensioner (the Bristol lads will know what I mean by this) Colin Bidwell for his driving skills when going to the shows – thanks Colin

Terry thanks for your time and for those of you that don’t know Terry he is as little (not meant as a pun) as I am large and he has kindly offered to get down that back of my pigeon loft to help felt it. I think he was worried that I might get stuck and never be heard of again. Next month I may go over the Severn Bridge for a drive so if you live that way beware it could be your turn next.

Not really much news from the Federation except to say that the response for donations to Harry’s trophy has been excellent and the general level of opinion is that it should be awarded for the Best Red/Yellow Spangle, as we all know this was Harry’s first love. Anyone still wishing to donate please send your cheques to me made payable to The National Federation. I have even had a couple of donations from non Federation Members, which really meant a lot. One small correction to Mike’s report last month Terry McGarvey will be judging the Red and Yellow West’s and John Thomson the Barred West’s at the Queensferry show in October – Yours in sport – Dave Walters